#And I’m exhausted cause I got up early TO STUDY and that’s just making it all worse

[ahecktonoffandomsinoneblog]

My sister avoiding have to play family board games by saying she’s studying… as though I don’t have to either

[lovelettersfromluna]

⋆ ★ Once again, for the first time ⋆ ★

{Ellie Williams x Reader}

Summary: Being in love with your best friend has got to be one of the most emotionally exhausting things someone can experience, so it’s time you put your foot down and moved on….at least, try to move on

an: God it almost feels wrong to just come back after so long without a continuing chapter to what I’ve been working on, pls don’t be mad at me 😵‍💫. I’ve been really busy you guys! I just got home yesterday and while I know you’ve all be asking for other things, I just haven’t been feeling super inspired to continue them RIGHT NOW, and I feel that’s why I’ve been MIA for so long. While I say I’m not inspired to continue them right now, that doesn’t mean I’m abandoning them! I will be coming back to them don’t worry! For now, I hope this little angsty fic is enough for you all, and I hope you’ve stuck around to read it, and if you haven’t, that’s okay too. Anyways, I’ve missed you all so much, and I hope you like this one 🖤🖤🖤.

Warnings: ANGST!!! Eventual smut in future chapters, Ellie is an oblivious idiot, Quiet!reader, momentary alternative love interest (it’s just for the story I promise 😉), jealous!Ellie, possessive!Ellie, Please let me know if I missed anything!

Part 2 can be read, here!

The warm glow of your tv screen became blurry with each passing second. You could barely make out the erratic movements of the video game characters beating each other to a pulp as Ellie’s fingers tapped away at the buttons on the game controller, soft huffs leaving here lips ever so often. “Fucking dick..” She mumbled under her breath, eyebrows knit in deep concentration, eyes almost growing watery from her lack of blinking.

You on the other hand, you were nearly fast asleep. Cuddled into your sofa, resting your head against a pillow that was propped up against the arm of the couch, a plush blanket draped over your body as you watched your best friend control a scantily clad character to violently fight the opposite person.

This was tradition for you and Ellie. She’d come over, you would force her to study with you because she was often too stubborn to do it without you, you’d order shitty take out, watch her play video games, and then you’d fall asleep. It always ended with her dragging you to your bedroom, staying with you for a bit before she left, and then in the morning, she’d be waiting for you outside your apartment to go to school together.

And that was life, life with your best friend that is. It had been that way since you were practically babies, your routines changing and adapting to whatever phase of life you were both in within that moment, but it was always more or less the same. And you couldn’t complain, you wouldn’t change it for the world.

Not even if you were given the chance to have her as something more.

Ellie had always been a charmer, and unfortunately, the extent of her charming demeanor had made its way to you. It was something you noticed early on, as soon as you were able to decipher feelings of love, you were able to link those with Ellie. When people would explain love to you, or you’d see it in others, you thought of Ellie. You realized quickly after that though, that Ellie was your best friend, and feelings would greatly complicate the long history that you two had together.

And so, you swallowed them down.

It wasn’t like it was painful or anything. Sure, seeing Ellie with other girls wasn’t great, but you coped. Life went on, and you promised yourself you’d never let your feelings get in the way of Ellie’s life, your life, or your friendship.

“Man…I’d let Mileena rip my head off any day…” Ellie sighed out, the girl never a stranger to gawking at the make believe video game characters in her favorite games. You let out a sleepy hum, giving her a nod as you cuddled further into the couch, not fully able to comprehend your friends words due to your sleepy state.

The sounds you made caught Ellie’s attention, causing her to sit forward a bit so she could catch a glimpse of your nearly sleeping face. She chuckled softly, shaking her head a bit as she reached forward for the controller, turning off the console followed by the tv before she stood up, taking your hand in hers and pulling you slightly.

“You have the energy of a seventy year old woman…come on, let’s get you to bed grandma” she teased, and it only causes you to whine softly. The couch is so comfortable, and you’re more than happy with sleeping there for the night just so you didn’t have to move and lose the blissful drowsy feeling that came with the sounds of Ellie playing Mortal Kombat lulling you to sleep.

“I’m fine here…” You tried, knowing that she wouldn’t settle for you sleeping there on the couch all night. And she didn’t need to be told twice, she let out a soft hum, one that almost sounded like she’d leave you there, but suddenly you’re being lifted off of the couch, into Ellie’s strong chest, even stronger arms wrapping around your body, which once again caused you to whine.

No matter how tired you were, how close to sleep, you can’t ignore the burning fire in your chest when she holds you like this. Even though being Ellie’s friend was the furthest thing from painful, it was times like this that it got a little too hard. Ellie was always a very affectionate person, especially with people she was close to, and you happened to be at the top on that list.

So, when she’d do things like this, pull you up into her arms and carry you to bed, or slip her arms around your waist and spoon you from behind when you were watching movies together, or when she’d pull you close to her when you were in a crowded room, it was easy to imagine how things would be if it were different, if you were able to have her in the way you wanted.

Only for a moment though.

Ellie hummed softly as she gently rested you on your bed, making sure to pull your socks off because she knew you’d kick them off in your sleep anyways, and pull the blanket, not the duvet, over your body because it was how you preferred to sleep. She knew exactly what to do with you, and it always made your heart tug.

She smiled softly down at you, watching as your heavy eyes grew even heavier once your head hit your soft pillows. She gave your elbow a gentle nudge before she turned off the lights in your room, closed the door, and left your apartment.

And even though you were already falling asleep, you couldn’t ignore the urge you had to ask her to stay. The urge you always had to ask her to stay with you.

You let out a soft yawn, rubbing your eyes a bit before you began writing down in your notebook again. Your headphones played soft music into your ears, the blessing of a noise cancelling headset always making it easy to study in your college library, for a moment, pretending as if you were the only one there.

Until Ellie showed up.

She gently pulled one side of your headset up, her lips close to your ear as she approached you. “Hey stranger” she giggled softly, causing you to whine as you pulled the headset down to rest against your neck. You gave your friend a soft smile as you set your pen down, watching as she promptly took the seat next to you and tossed her bag onto the table.

“Hey yourself…came all the way to the library to see me?” You teased her, propping your elbows onto the table and resting your head against your hands as you watched her slump down into her chair, oversized hoodie hanging on her broad shoulders, light washed denim jeans hanging loose on her hips, short hair lazily tugged up into her signature half up half down ponytail, pretty strands falling down and framing her face perfectly.

God she was a fucking dream.

Ellie groaned softly, her head falling back as she blew air past her lips, staring up at the ceiling of the library. “I have time between classes…so I came to bother my favorite little scholar” She hummed out, giving you a lazy grin as she turned her head back towards you, causing you to roll your eyes at her words.

“You know, you could use this time to study” you try, narrowing your eyes at her playfully, which causes her to roll her eyes right back at you. “Ahhh, please. You’re probably the only one here that actually does that shit” she hummed out, which causes you to shrug, closing your books and stacking them upon one another. “True, but I have the grades to show for it” you nod to herself before you push your things to the side, turning back to your friend and giving her your attention.

“So? What’s happening. You look like you’re just itching to tell me something” you smirked softly, knowing your friend all too well. Whenever became fidgety, or absolutely needed to find you, there was something on her mind.

Ellie smirked softly, staring down at her ring clad fingers before she let out a soft hum, purposefully keeping you waiting with anticipation before she began speaking.

“Do you think Sofia is into girls?”

For a moment, the twinkle in your eye, and the soft smile on your lips as you watch your best friend drops completely. You’re glad she isn’t looking, because you’re sure anyone would be able to see the visible disappointment written on your face as soon as she says it. You only let it fall for a moment though, because you’re immediately collecting yourself, picking yourself up off the ground and giving your friend a soft, reassuring nod.

“Has being straight ever stopped a girl from being into you Ellie?” You tease her, recalling the frequent times girls claimed they were straight, yet somehow always ended up chasing after Ellie after they’ve had one too many drinks.

Ellie groans softly, shaking her head as she sits forward a bit. “No man…I don’t wanna just hook up with her..or..or be her fantasy or something. I wanna…ask her out or something” she mumbled out, cheeks burning red as she toyed with the shiny rings on her fingers. You blink a few times, trying to find the right words to encourage your friend to do it, to pursue whoever it was that she wanted.

No matter how much the words tasted bitter on your tongue.

“Well…ask her, or you can ask around? A close friend of hers would definitely know if she was interested in girls or not” you tried again, watching as your friend frowned in concentration, eyebrows furrowed, green eyes narrowed.

Whoever this girl was, Ellie was doing her head in over her….

It almost bothered you that this was your first time hearing about her.

“You think? I’ve just…I’ve had my eye on her for a while and I think I’m ready to finally make a move, you know?” She sighed out, and you nod slowly, giving her a soft smile paired with a reassuring nod.

“Then go for it, Els. The worst she can say is no, and even then, there are plenty of other fish in the sea” you assure her. Because it’s true, Ellie never stayed single for long. There were always girls interested in her, or her them, and it wasn’t long until she was introducing you to a new, pretty girl that she’d have on her arm for the next however many months.

She smiled softly as she nodded, your words clearly getting through to her, as they always did. She gives a determined nod, moving to stand up from the chair she was sat at. “You’re damn right there is…hey, I’m gonna try to find someone to talk to, but I’ll catch you later, yeah?” She nods, slinging her bag over one of her shoulders, already walking away from the table as her eyes never left yours.

You give her a soft nod, eyes lingering on her form as you let out a low hum. “Always” you confirm, knowing that it was true. You’d always be there when Ellie needed you.

She beamed back at you, giving you a nod. You could practically see the excitement shining off of her body, seeping through her pores. “And I’ll catch you this weekend! Your place!” She shouted, causing your eyes to widen at her volume, the other students instantly shushing her. You give her a quick nod, your hands fanning away as you shoo her out of the library, a soft giggle leaving your lips.

You ignore the little cracks in your heart, because the smile on her face makes up for it. You know it’ll pass, you know this is merely a phase of your life that you’ll look back on and laugh at once you’ve found the person that was right for you, one that filled up the little holes that Ellie left in your heart.

And oh how you couldn’t wait for that day to come.

You don’t see Ellie that following weekend.

In fact, the last time you actually saw her was that day in the library, with the few times you saw her in and out of classes that the two of you shared.

Ellie ended up talking to Sofia that same day, and it turns out she was interested in girls. From the texts that she sent you that night, she was raving about the day that they had set up after hours of talking out in the courtyard. She tells you she’s sorry, that she can’t make it out to your place for your routine weekend together, and you tell her it’s fine, to have fun and tell you all about the date the next morning.

And suddenly, you can’t remember the last time you spent more than five minutes with your best friend.

You text here and there, and she catches you outside of class when you happen to make it there at the same time sometimes, but you don’t really have lunch together anymore like you always do, you don’t sit outside in the courtyard to kill time between classes together, she doesn’t visit you in the library, all of those things just suddenly stop.

And then she tells you, she’s dating Sofia.

She tells you they made it official after the first four dates, and at first you feel it’s a bit fast, but you realize they spend all of the time that you and Ellie used to spend together, with each other instead, and it suddenly makes sense. Ellie had a girlfriend now, and it was the explanation for the sudden lack of her presence, the absence of your best friend on weekends. While you stared at your tv screen alone, she was with Sofia.

And you were happy for her, of course you were happy, why wouldn’t you be? She was your best friend and she had gotten the girl she wanted for so long, just as you expected she would…

But the happiness you felt for her lived alongside the sadness that you felt. The two emotions becoming tenants in the home that was your heart, sitting across one another, glaring at each other as they battled for control of you, controlling how you dealt with the situation, how you coped with the sudden disappearance of your best friend.

So, you didn’t give either one control, you ignored them both after a while, and you simply carried on as if nothing had ever happened.

Ellie really was the only person you occupied any free time with, opting to be with her rather than anyone else, because it felt good. You liked it when it was just you and Ellie, it was easy, and it was easy to not overthink things and simply be, rather than worry about how you were behaving.

So without her, you simply did all the things you did with her, just on your own.

Ellie tried to make time for you, while juggling the escapades that come with the early stages of a relationship, you couldn’t take that away from her, but you saw how hard it was. You didn’t want her to feel bad, or feel like she was neglecting you, or her friendship, even if she sort of was. You convinced her it was fine, that she deserved to enjoy her new relationship, and that it needed more attention than your friendship ever would, not right now at least.

And Sofia was great. She was beautiful, and kind, and sweet, and after meeting her a few times, you considered her to be somewhat of a big sister figure. Seeing her made it clear to understand just why Ellie was so keen on taking her off the market as soon as she could.

But that seemed to make it even harder to deal with.

It was on days like this one where it hit you a bit harder, Ellie’s absence. You didn’t mind being alone, but walking to and from classes without her constant banter and jokes definitely wasn’t the best, and heading out to the cafes for lunch was far too quiet on your own, but, you prevailed.

You were making your way out of your third and last class for the day, a soft sigh leaving your lips as you adjusted your bag on your shoulder. The week was finally closing in, and you couldn’t be happier. You yearned for the warmth of your home, your cozy little bed, your favorite mug filled with your favorite hot chocolate, it called to you as you pushed past the large doors of your college building, making your way out to the brisk outdoors of your campus.

The sound of quickening footsteps behind you was almost drowned out as you took your headphones from behind your neck, and began setting them onto your head. A hand suddenly pulled them down, forcing them back around your neck, which caused your eyebrows to furrow as you turned around to see who in their right mind would try to fuck with a girl and her music.

You almost passed out when you were met face to face with your best friend.

Seeing her made you realize just how long it had been since you saw her. You tried convincing herself it had only been a few weeks, but you found it hard to remember the last time you were staring up into those big green eyes, and not imagining them instead.

Your frown was quickly replaced with a soft smile, adjusting your bag on your shoulder as you stared up at Ellie. “Ellie…god…I was ready to start throwing punches” you joked, pulling your headset from around your neck and pushing them down into your beg before you looked back up at her.

Ellie chuckled softly, watching as you went about putting your things away. Her smile was so bright, eyes twinkling, cheeks red, all signs that pointed towards the same thing.

Ellie Williams was properly smitten.

“I’ve been looking for you, dork…you’re always hiding these days” she groaned out, which caused you to hum softly, giving her a slight shrug. “Been busy studying Els…I’m sorry” you tried, giving her a half smile.

Knowing that your studying was not the cause of the divide in your friendship, and neither was it you hiding.

She pouted softly, stepping forward so that you two could walk together. “I miss you…” She hummed out, staring down at the Nikes on her feet, nearly swallowed up by her baggy jeans. Her words make your heart tug as you stare up towards the large trees, swaying with the autumn wind, sun peeking in between the thick foliage of the leaves.

“How are you And Sof? Things going well?” You questioned, opting to ignore the way you heart beat faster when she said she missed you. You were also genuinely curious, you wanted to hear more about Ellie’s relationship, you wanted her to confide in you and trust you as anyone else would trust their best friend with their relationship.

Ellie instantly smiled bashfully at the mention of the girl, a soft hum leaving her lips as she nodded. “Fuck…she’s amazing, man. She’s like a fucking dream, I swear, I’m honestly not sure what I’ve done to deserve her” she sighed out, voice sounding so dreamy and love sick, you can’t help but smile.

“You like her…don’t you? I mean…you’re my best friend, your approval is one that’s pretty fucking important to me” she chuckled out as she looked over at you, head dipping down a bit to try and her a glimpse of your down casted face, her hands shoved into her pocket.

Her words make you hum, and you’re giving her a soft smile as you look up at her. Her expression is written with one that is concerned, concerned that you approve of her relationship, that you think she’s making the right move with Sofia.

And you know in that moment, you have the power to break it all. You have the power to rip things to shreds, just by telling Ellie you think Sofia isn’t the right girl for her, because you know she’ll listen to you. You know she’ll take your feelings into consideration, because she trusts you.

“I think she’s perfect for you, Ellie” you breath out, giving her a reassuring smile.

Because just as much as you know you have the power to be horrible, and rip everything away from them both, Ellie doesn’t deserve that, and neither does Sofia. They don’t deserve to hurt for the sake of your feelings, at the expense of what you feel for Ellie.

And the smile you see your best friend shoot your way makes it all worth it, because it’s like she’s been waiting for those words to leave your lips to go all the way, to give herself to Sofia completely and give into her as she wanted to this entire time.

“Fuck…you don’t know how happy that makes me” she sighs out, looking up towards the sky and letting her eyes flutter shut as she takes a deep inhale, and you know she’s truly happy.

And that makes you happy.

“Hey, are you busy next weekend? There’s a party Sof and I are going to, you should come with us” she says as she looks down towards you. You know it’s a bad idea, because it means you’ll third wheel the entire night, tucked away in a corner to avoid watching them make out all night long until it’s time to go home, where you’ll be just as miserable there as you are in your house.

But you know Ellie won’t take no for an answer.

You let out a soft sigh before you give her a nod, paired with a half smile, and she’s already cheering loudly, causing people around you to stare, and you groan softly as you give her a gentle shove, urging her to stop.

“I’ll text you the details! Sof and I will pick you up” she confirmed, and you give her a soft giggle before you nod. “Get out of here…I’ll see you then” you promise, and she’s smiling brightly as she begins walking away.

And despite the fact that it’s the first time you’ve talked to her in far too long, and it was mainly about her girlfriend, you can’t ignore the way your heart ignites for that small interaction on its own, and the excitement you feel knowing you have plans with her in the near future.

It’ll be fine, you remind yourself. It always has been, and it always will be. And with that, you made your way home.

The following week, is when you met Alex.

You were making your way to your first class of the day, the early morning sun shining down on you, giving you only a bit of warmth from the brisk air that swirled around you and the other students scattered about within the large courtyard that served as a main point sprouting out to all other campus buildings.

Your eyes were trained on your feet, a habit you had that had caused you to run into many people, many times. It was an easy way for you to stay deep in thought, focusing on the way your shoes sounded hitting the pavement with each steps, watching as they crunched against leaves.

“Excuse me?” A soft voice broke you away from your locked gaze on your feet, your eyes blinking a few times as you looked up to figure out who it was that was trying to get your attention.

When you laid eyes on the person looking at you, you nearly passed out.

It was a girl, she was tall, with pretty eyes and a charming smile. Her jacket hung loosely on her shoulders, bag draped over one of her arms, a paper in one of her hands. Her features were strong, yet soft at the same time, mixing together both masculine and feminine and almost making your mind go completely blank as her beautiful eyes stared into yours.

“Um…could you help me? It’s my first day and I’m sort of lost” she chuckled out bashfully, her hand reaching up to run through her hair as she tried handing you the paper in her hand. You simply blinked a few times, watching the girl almost in awe as she stared down at you, before you realized you were in fact gawking at this woman.

You cleared your throat, giving her a quick nod before you giggled. “Yes! Yea…sorry..I…can I?” You question as you gestured towards the paper, which caused her to chuckle softly and nod as she handed it to you.

Your eyes scanned over the paper, furrowing a bit in concentration before you zeroed in on the first class she has in her schedule, and it made you smile.

“Oh, that’s where I’m going! You must be the new transfer student the professor was talking about” you explain, your heart beating a bit faster as you come to the conclusion that not only is this insanely hot girl speaking to you, but she’s also in your first class of the day.

She smiles brightly, pearly white teeth flashing your way as she raises her eyebrows. “No way…would you mind if I walked with you then?” She hums out, eyeing you carefully before you look up at her from the paper, giving her a shy smile as you nod. “I wouldn’t mind at all…come on”

You learn that her name is Alex, and that she was supposed to start the semester with everyone else, but there were issues with her documents so she had to transfer instead. The entire way to class, you take your time together, strolling along the pathways and hallways of your school, getting to know one another. You realize that although it’s your first conversation with her, you feel as comfortable with her as you do with…

As you do with Ellie.

When you realize that, you realize that you’d gone the longest without thinking about Ellie than you had in a long time. Alex takes her off your mind completely, because she’s pretty, and her smile makes you swoon, and being with her feels comfortable.

And you reckon you could get used to it.

When you both finally reach your classroom, there are students scattered about, waiting for the professor to arrive and for the lecture to start. You hum softly as you look over at your usual seat, turning around to look up at Alex. “I sit over there…there’s an empty right next to me if you want” you suggest.

The empty seat used to be taken up by Ellie before she started dating Sofia.

Alex smiles brightly as she nods before you can even finish your words, and that alone prompts you to grab her hand and drag her along through all of the seats to get to the two seats tucked away in the corner, the ones you used to look forward to making your way to almost every day that you had class.

When you two are settled, you fall into a comfortable conversation, your head resting against your hand as you listen to her speak. She tells you about her old school, about her favorite books and movies, her favorite music. You’re so caught up in the conversation with Alex…

That you don’t even notice Ellie walk into the room.

She walks in as she usually does these days, laughing softly at something Sofia said, her arm draped around the girls waist, keeping her close. Had it been any other day, she would’ve made her way down to the usual seats in the front that she has recently taken with Sofia, but the sound of our laugh quickly catches her attention.

At first, she realizes she hasn’t heard the loud sound in quite some time. The only thing she’d received from you in the small moments she shared with you were tiny giggles, or small hums, but never that deep, belly laugh that she loved so much.

Then, when she looks at you, head tilting back as you cover your lips, laughing loudly at something she was oblivious to, her eyes finally fall on the person your body is turned towards. A head of short hair and a leather clad, broad back is turned towards her, and suddenly Ellie is frowning.

Because that seat, is hers.

Ellie gives Sofias waist a soft tap, mumbling for her to wait for her at their seats as she presses a soft kiss to her cheek, green eyes never leaving you and Alex as she continues to make you laugh uncontrollably.

She doesn’t think about much, other than the annoyance she feels that someone is in her seat, regardless of the fact that she’d left that seat empty, leaving you alone for weeks on end. All she knows, is that she doesn’t like that someone is sitting in her seat, she doesn’t like that this is the first time she’s heard you laugh in weeks…..

And she sure as hell doesn’t like that it’s this mystery person that is causing that laugh in the first place.

“I know! I can’t believe you like that show too, I was convinced that-“ your words are cut off by the dark, looking presence that is suddenly hanging over you and Alex. It makes you frown softly, looking up to find a very angry Ellie standing in front of both you and Alex.

“Ellie? Hey! What are you doing here?” You question softly, unable to remember the last time you’d seen Ellie up there at those seats with you. The question is genuine, and for a moment you assume something might be wrong, but Ellie’s expression seems to be even more annoyed than when she first got there.

Instead, Ellie completely disregards your question, the girl annoyed with how innocent and genuine your words are, your big eyes blinking up at her with a twinge of worry as you await her reasoning for being there with you. She looks at Alex, her tongue pressing against her cheek before she nods her head towards the seat she’s sitting in. “That’s my seat” she deadpans, not leaving any room for argument.

Alex raises her eyebrows, staring up at Ellie before she turns to you for a moment, humming casually as she gives a half shrug. “I was told no one sits here anymore” she hummed out, staring up at Ellie in a challenging manner. It causes Ellie to scoff softly, rolling her eyes before she inhales deeply, and you know it’s because she’s trying to control her temper.

“Well I do, so you should find a different seat” she barks back, her tone progressively becoming more and more irritated with Alex. Alex simply chuckles softly, clearly taking Ellie for a joke as she sighs out. “Doesn’t have your name on it…so I’m not going anywhere” she finishes off, clearly done with the conversation with Ellie. Ellie raises her eyebrows, finally looking over at you as if to silently ask if you’re just going to let someone speak to your best friend that way.

And it annoys you to no end.

It annoys you because Ellie didn’t care about the seat for the past however many weeks since she’d been dating Sofia, you were sure it had been a good month at least, and suddenly she cares about it when someone is taking up the spot.

Taking up her spot.

You frown softly, staring up at your friend before you let out a soft sigh. “I think Sofia is waiting for you, Ellie” you try, giving her a slight nod as if to remind her that her girlfriend was in fact waiting for her down at the bottom of the sea of chairs. You hope it’ll clear her head, and whatever this sudden urge to come and check up on you with it. You see a flash of something ripple across her face, something you can’t quite make out for a moment, but once you do, it’s clear as day.

Betrayal.

She inhales deeply, eyes never leaving yours, only when they dart over to Alex. She wants to stay and say more, try to get the idiot next to you to sit somewhere else, anywhere else, but suddenly you’re turning your attention back to Alex, a soft smile on your lips as you fall back into conversation with her as if Ellie wasn’t standing right over the both of you. Ellie feels like she could burn a hole through the floorboards with how much it makes her seethe.

And the worst part is? She couldn’t even understand why it made her feel that way.

Soon, she’s stomping off like a child, down the stairs of the lecture room towards Sofia. She gives you an apologetic look from her spot at the bottom where she sits with Ellie, and it makes you so confused because why is she even looking at you that way? As if she was to blame for her girlfriends behavior? You give her a small smile back, and she turns around towards Ellie, her small hands rubbing the girls back gently as she bent her head down and pressed a soft kiss to her head.

You eye them for a moment, but your eyes don’t linger like they used to. You’re quickly looking back at Alex as she speaks to you, making you forget all about the very strange behavior your best friend just exhibited.

“Sorry about that…she’s…she’s great, I promise. I’m sure you two would like each other” you nod, giving Alex a reassuring smile. Alex hums in response as she looks down at Ellie, her eyes narrowing down at her for a moment before she nods. “I’m sure we would” she smiles out, and you can tell despite the rude interaction they just had, she’s genuine, and she seems to want to know more about Ellie.

But you save that for later, because you’d much rather get to know Alex than talk about Ellie.

[yangfleurs]

he calls you clingy (pt. 2)

maknae line

pt. 1

jisung

your fingers pressed keys like you were running on autopilot. it had been hours since your argument with jisung at the convenience store and you had no time to so much as even process how upset you were still about it. instead, your eyes stayed glued to the laptop screen, the same way it had been for the past few hours, all the way from the afternoon to well into the night.

you stretched a little, feeling delirious at this point. the soft, continuous grumbles in your stomach had quickly morphed into a gnawing, unbearable pain. you were starving, and with no money in your pockets and your food with jisung, you were stuck sipping on water to momentarily satiate you. 

not only were you running on a stomach so empty it felt like it was trying to digest itself, but you were beyond exhausted. you had been hunched in the same position for the entire time you had been in the library, only getting up once to use the restroom. the worst part was that you still had a whole page left to write, and it was only a matter of time until the library closed. even with finals scheduling, the library would close at midnight---only half an hour from now.

you sighed, focusing back in on your paper, praying you would be able to finish it in the remaining time. you typed quickly, putting in your best effort. just as you had gotten back into your paper, a familiar voice perked your ears up.

“y/n? y/n! are you here?” jisung’s loud voice permeated the quiet library, making you cringe. you knew he’d be getting shushed by the librarian any second now and just as you thought it, an aggressive “shhh!” came just in time, making jisung apologize in a still very audible “sorry”.

as much as you wanted to turn and lead him to you, you were still pissed. he didn’t come for you when you walked away from him, you weren’t going to help him find you after the fact. you went back to work, letting him search cluelessly. it’s the very least he should suffer after what he’d put you through earlier in the day. you yawned, getting back to your work.

“y/n! did you not hear me yell for you?” you heard a voice next to you whisper-yell suddenly. you jumped, turning to face an obviously stressed out jisung.

“I did.” you muttered plainly, turning back to your work, “I don’t have time for you right now. you can leave.” 

you saw jisung flinch a little at your callous tone, but you didn’t care even a little. you were busy and if he got to be an asshole, you could be a little selfish and worry about your own issues, too.

“y/n, please, we need to talk.” he said in exasperation.

“again, I’m busy. leave.”

“I’m sorry!” he blurted out.

“I don’t care, jisung. you had literal hours to do this, where the hell were you?” you sighed, “and besides, right now is not a good time. I need to finish this.” you mumbled.

“I thought you needed space. y/n, please---”

“jisung. go. home.” you said sternly, eyes never leaving the computer.

he gulped, finally relenting to your tone, but not before grabbing your chin and forcing you to look at him.

“I will wait outside until you’re done.” he told you firmly, turning and speeding off before you got a chance to protest.

you just sighed. you checked the time---twenty minutes. you just needed to crank out another half a page and you would be done. you forced yourself to keep your eyes open and ignore the aches in your stomach as you willed yourself to continue typing.

♡♡♡

you stretched, feeling accomplished as you stumbled out of the doors of your school library fifteen minutes past midnight. the librarian kindly let you finish your paper after a desperate plea and you turned in the paper early. you would be able to focus on other things now, like studying for your upcoming exams and---

“y/n!”

jisung.

you didn’t walks towards him, letting him come over to you to talk. you didn’t say anything, not wanting to deal with the hurt he’d caused even now. you held your breath as you waited for him to join you.

“babe,” he sighed. “I’m so sorry.”

“are you?” you replied nonchalantly, rolling your eyes.

“I-I am! I feel really terrible about how I treated you a-and it wasn’t fair to you.” he stuttered, picking at the skin of his fingers.

you hummed, feeling the exhaustion settle into you once again. “I don’t forgive you.” you said.

“w-what?” he grabbed your arm abruptly, making you face him. “why?” he asked meekly.

you took a deep, deep breath before you finally decided to spill. “you basically called me a needy bitch in front of the convenience store employee and made me seem like a clingy child. not to mention, you didn’t even bother to find me to apologize until hours after the fact. there’s literally no excuse for that, jisung. you had no right to make me feel so awful.” you sniffled a little as the hurt hit you again like a fresh wave.

“I know there’s no excuse, y/n. that’s why all I can say is that I’m really sorry. I mean it, I really do.” he said softly, looking down.

“whatever, I just want to go home.” you mumbled. you clearly weren’t going to get an explanation from him and you were too tired to put up a fight. you just wanted to go home, raid the fridge, and then knock out.

you both walked home in silence, neither one of you wanting to break the tension between you both. as you finally arrived to your apartment, jisung opened the door and let you in first. he made a beeline for the bedroom without a word, closing the door behind him as a way to tell you he needed to be alone. you rolled your eyes and sighed. of course he needed to be alone once again, even after being without you for the whole day. 

you shedded your jacket and left it on the couch. you headed straight to the kitchen, looking for something that would satiate you. but as you passed the dining table you saw a covered bowl with a sticky note stuck to it.

my y/n,

it isn’t a lot and I know it isn’t enough for me to earn your forgiveness but I hope it’s enough to fill your stomach for now. I’m so sorry, and I love you always.

jisung

you uncovered the bowl and found a big serving of omurice, decorated with lots of cut up vegetables and a cute ketchup heart to top it. it was falling apart but it warmed your heart. you were touched; it was obvious jisung had worked really hard on it, and considering how he was usually terrible at cooking to the point where he never tried, this was a big step of sincerity from him. it was as if you could feel his apology radiating from the warm meal.

you made your way straight to your bedroom without a second thought, ignoring the obvious sign of jisung wanting to be alone and bursting through the door. you were met with a jisung curled up in bed, completely wrapped up in the sheets and staring up at the ceiling. his head snapped towards you.

“thank you for cooking for me.” you gulped, as you met his eyes.

he looked at you blankly, blinking a couple times. he then started tearing up, and a few spilled tears soon became an unstoppable faucet pouring out of his eyes.

you rushed over to him, wiping the tears as he cried loudly.

“I’m r-really s-sorry, y-you know that r-right?” he wailed, wrapping his blanket-covered arms around you.

“I know, I know. it’s okay.” you rubbed his back to soothe him.

“I just wanted to be alone and I took it too far and I know I shouldn’t have been so harsh, you’re never too clingy for me, I shouldn’t have ever accused you of something so stupid, and I should’ve ran after you, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.” he rambled, holding you tighter.

you shushed him lightly, holding him tightly and telling him everything was okay. you both stayed like that until jisung had finally calmed down from full waterworks to an occasional soft hiccup. you slowly pulled away to meet his eyes. you smiled a little to reassure him and he returned it, sniffling lightly. he stood up and grabbed your hand.

“come on, I’m gonna watch you eat every last bite. my poor baby must be starving.” he pouted, dragging you to the dining table.

“what if it’s bad?” you quirked an eyebrow at him as you sat down at the table.

“you’ll eat it anyway because you’re hungry and you love me so much.” he nodded with conviction, scooping the food into your mouth.

“mmm...salty.” you mumbled as you chewed.

“hmmm what was that? it’s good? thank you, baby.” he complimented himself as he shoveled another bite into your already full mouth.

you laughed loudly, almost choking on your food, making jisung laugh with you.

felix

the doorknob of your front door jingling and creaking open is what awakens you from your deep sleep. you groaned, slowly opening your eyes to see felix bent down and undoing his shoes.

“hey, baby! I missed you so much earlier today and changbin said I should come down here and sleep at your place instead of the dorms and I thought it was such a great idea, I have so much to talk to you about---” he rambled on as he put his jacket away and put his shoes on the shoe rack.

you don’t say anything as he shuffles around, immediately sending warning signals off in felix’s head. he finally turned to look at your spot on the sofa and his eyes widened as he took in your bleak appearance.

“y/n...what’s wrong?” he asked softly, rushing over to comfort you, “bad day, baby?” he whispered, going to wrap his arms around you. you flinched out of grip and stood up abruptly, walking away from him with no particular destination in mind. you just couldn’t stand to be comforted by the same person who had put you in this awful condition in the first place.

“y/n?” the panic in his voice was clear as day, “did I do something, love? come on, let’s talk about it. please?” he scurried towards you anxiously, gently gripping your wrist. he stood behind you, waiting for you to open up. you gulped and sighed shakily.

“go back to the dorms, I’m tired and you woke me up.” your voice cracked as you walked away from him and into your bedroom, locking the door so you could break down.

“y-y/n!” he knocked against the door, “baby, please tell me what’s wrong.” he yelled in distress. you curled up in your bed, using your pillow to muffle your crying. you didn’t even notice the knocking stop after a while past the sound of your own sobs. you couldn’t be bothered to check what happened, too exhausted by your emotions and an entirely too overwhelming day. you soon fell asleep to the sound of your own hiccuping cries.

♡♡♡

you woke up the next morning feeling renewed and with a fresh perspective. you washed your face in the bathroom and combed out your hair. after a long night of sporadic crying and contemplating, you had made up your mind, deciding you would give felix exactly what he wanted. if he thought you needed too much attention, then you could just stop seeking that attention from him. as much as it made your heart ache, you swallowed the pain and told yourself this was what felix wanted. you headed out of the bedroom and found felix at the foot of your door.

“y/n? are you alright, baby? do you want to talk about last night?” felix shot up right away, shaking all signs of drowsiness off as soon as he saw you.

“I’m fine, just a rough day at work.” you smiled, walking past him. you made your coffee as he joined you in the kitchen.

“you’re sure?” he asked cautiously, wrapping his arms around your waist. you froze up a little, not leaning into his touch like you would usually.

you hummed and ignored the suspicious look on his face. you poured your coffee and quickly rushed out of the kitchen.

“you aren’t making mine?” he pouted. it was your daily routine to make both of your coffees, but you couldn’t. not anymore, anyways.

“nope, gotta head out. bye, lix.” you said quickly, not even stopping to kiss him or tell him “I love you”. 

“alright, I love you!” he yelled after you. a door shutting was the only reply he received.

♡♡♡

as much as your sudden cold attitude bothered felix, he knew he didn’t have time right now to worry about it. it weighed heavy on him though, and the members could tell as soon as he started practicing.

“you alright, lix?” chan asked him, throwing him a water bottle, “it’s not like you to miss steps, especially in the chorus.” 

“I don’t know, hyung,” he sighed, “y/n’s been acting weird. she hasn’t texted all day, she didn’t stay to eat with us yesterday and then she texted earlier saying she couldn’t come by for lunch after practice, either. I’m just confused and worried.” he spilled to his best friend.

“well, did you try to talk to her? maybe she’s just busy with work.” chan suggested.

“no, I know y/n. and I’ve seen her busy with work, and this isn’t it. there is something else bothering her, but she won’t talk to me about it.” he sat down, feeling defeated.

“go home early today. you’re not gonna get anything done here when your mind is somewhere else.” chan said, patting him on the back before heading back to practice.

felix didn’t argue with him at all. he wanted nothing more than to go home to you and relieve some of the anxiety he felt. he quickly packed his things and waved a goodbye to the members before heading to your apartment. he walked slowly, thinking through all of the things he wanted to ask you. his mind raced as he thought of all the possible reasons you could be acting the way you did. he walked up the familiar stairs of your apartment complex and took a deep breath as he stood in front of your door. he let himself in and saw you watching tv on the couch.

“hey.” he announced his presence as he took his shoes and jacket off.

“hi.” you said shortly, glancing at him for a quick second before going back to the show. not just any show either, but the show you were watching together with felix.

“you’re watching without me?” his heart sank. even if it was a small thing, it hurt him.

“yeah, I got tired of waiting, sorry.” you mumbled, not looking at him.

“y/n.”

“hm?”

“we need to talk.”

“about...?”

he grabbed the remote out of your hand abruptly, quickly shutting off the tv and standing in front of you.

“baby, what is the matter? I know you and this isn’t like you at all. talk to me, please?” he asked desperately, sitting next to you on the sofa and holding your hand in between his. you stayed silent, not wanting to look at him. you knew the second you did, you wouldn’t be able to keep your guard up any longer. you avoided his eyes, pulling your hand away from him.

“I’m fine.” you muttered, picking at the fabric of your pants to distract yourself.

“no, you’re not,” felix’s voice cracked, “and it’s killing me that you won’t tell me. I’m so worried I can’t even eat, sleep, or work, I can’t think of anything except you.” you knew that tone in his voice too well and it sent a rush of panic through your spine. he weeped quietly, trying to hide the soft whimpers that escaped him and wiping his cheeks furiously.

you got up, suddenly feeling suffocated. you rushed to the bedroom so you could let your tears run free away from felix. the tears rolled down your face freely and even the clamped hand over your mouth wasn’t enough to hide the sobs rising from within you. as much as you wanted to hold it together for felix, you couldn’t stand the sight of him upset or hurting. it was too much for your heart to bear.

you heard the sound of light footsteps enter the bedroom as you cried. in the midst of your panic, you realized that you’d neglected to lock the door behind you. you felt felix’s arms snake around your waist as he pulled you flush against him. he buried his face into your shoulder, saying nothing.

“what’s hurting my baby this much, hm?” he whispered into your ear, still sniffling and tearing up.

you turned to face him, putting some distance between the both of you. you couldn’t stand it anymore. this was clearly hurting you more than you could handle and it wasn’t making felix happy either, so what was the point? you couldn’t hold back anymore.

“you think I’m clingy and needy for attention! I overheard you talking to chan y-yesterday so don’t even try lying!” you wailed out, crying inconsolably.

“is that what this is about?” he cried out.

“so it’s true?” you yelled out, crying even harder at his immediate acceptance.

“y/n, oh my god! if you had just listened for another five seconds none of this would’ve happened,” he held your face with both hands, wiping your tears aways with his thumbs. “I did say you were clingy and that you needed a lot more attention than what I’m used to. but I love those things about you, baby. I love taking care of you, it makes me so happy. and I love that you do just as much for me.” he smiled through his tears as he looked you in the eyes.

“really? you said that?” you sniffled.

“yes, I swear! do you want me to call chan? I can call him, he’ll tell you the same thing, I promise.” 

“I believe you.” you hiccuped. you reached over and wiped his tears as he wiped yours.

“I love you.” he sighed contently, pulling you into a tight hug and kissing the top of your head firmly.

“I love you, too.” you mumbled into his chest.

“if you really love me,” he quipped, “you’ll restart the new episode so we can watch together.”

“okay, come on!” you giggled, running back to the living room with his hand tightly holding yours.

seungmin

you woke up with a soft groan as your eyes met the pitch black darkness of your living room. your neck and back ached as you sat up and checked the time on your phone.

4:50 a.m.

you sighed, getting up to use the bathroom when you stumbled on something hard in front of you. 

“shit!” you yelled, catching yourself on the coffee table before you fell.

“what, what happened?” the something, or someone rather, in front of you said frantically as he shot up from his sleep.

“seungmin? why the hell are you asleep on the floor?” you asked him, bewildered.

“are you okay, first of all?” he asked, still catching his breath from the adrenaline rush of being kicked awake.

“yes, I’m fine. explain yourself.” you crossed you arms and looked down at him.

he stayed quiet, picking at his fingers and pulling the blanket on him closer to his chest. seeing he wasn’t budging, you sighed and turned.

“wh-where are you going?” he blurted out.

“the bathroom. you figure out an explanation before I come back.” you yawned, walking away to use the restroom. you took your time, trying hard to fight the drowsiness that kept washing over you. you hated being awake at this time of the night, and knowing the conversation waiting ahead of you, you dreaded leaving the comfort of your bathroom even more.

after a solid fifteen minutes, you dragged yourself back to the living room, where seungmin had moved up onto the couch with his blanket. he passed you a cup of tea as you sat next to him and pulled your blanket over you. he took a deep breath and looked down at his own cup.

“I couldn’t sleep,” he mumbled, “how could I? when you were asleep in the living room by yourself? I couldn’t stop thinking about something bad happening. what if someone came in and hurt you?” he sighed shakily, “so I thought I should come sleep next to you, even if it meant sleeping on the floor. then, if something did happen, I could protect you.” he looked to the side, clearly embarrassed at how vulnerable he was being with you.

you reached out and intertwined your fingers with his and kissed the top of his hand. “I’m really grateful for you,” you smiled weakly, “but we do still have to talk about what you said before we went to sleep.” you reminded him.

he cringed at the memory before he spoke up again. “I’m sorry. I know it’s no excuse but practice has been exhausting me to the point where I can’t even think about anything other than resting. I know you meant well trying to get me to eat, you always do. I’m grateful for it---for you---even if I have a shitty way of showing it.” he gave you an apologetic half smile as you leaned on his shoulder and hummed.

“to be fair, i was kind of pushy.” you chuckled.

“you were right to be, I would’ve done the same if it was you.” he nodded.

“well, the sun is already rising and we both skipped dinner, so...” you thought carefully, “you’re forgiven if you pay for breakfast.” you winked.

“deal! go put on your jacket.” he said giddily, getting up to grab his own.

jeongin

you huffed, still buzzing from the anger of the situation that happened only moments ago. you couldn’t believe jeongin lied about you to his friends so blatantly like that, making you look bad just so he could save face. you buckled yourself into your car and took a deep breath, trying to calm down a little before driving. you knew it wouldn’t be a good idea to drive while your emotions were raging, but you had to get away from the dorms, and jeongin, as soon as possible to escape the embarrassment you felt.

you drove off towards your home, your mind wandering as you tried to think about anything but jeongin. you sighed, hoping for your phone to go off any moment with a text or call from jeongin soon. as upset as you were, you didn’t want something so stupid to jeopardize your relationship.

 as if it read your mind, your phone started ringing. you snapped your head towards the passenger seat to see who it was out of instinct. you went to check your phone and subconsciously started steering towards the right. out of nowhere, your steering was met with a harsh stop and you jerked forward, hitting your chest against the steering wheel. you groaned at the pain, looking up to see that you had hit a pole to the side of the road when you had gotten distracted. 

the phone kept ringing as you reached over to grab it, feeling an agonizing pain shoot through your abdomen. you declined the call coming from jeongin and dialed for an ambulance.

♡♡♡

you laid quietly in the hospital bed, breathing shallowly to not aggravate the pain you were in. the doctor checked you carefully before turning to let you know your condition.

“alright, y/n, looks like you just strained your neck a little and have a bruised rib. these will heal on their own with some time, but I’ll prescribe some meds to help with the pain.” the doctor told you, smiling as you nodded.

“we’ve contacted your guardian to come get you. you can fill out the release papers in the meantime.” the nurse said, handing you a clipboard. 

you gulped, filling out the information as you thought of how jeongin was probably reacting to being told you were at the hospital for a car accident. just moments later, you heard his voice fill the hospital with a panicked air as he asked the receptionist for you. you felt his eyes on you as the receptionist directed him towards you. you heard his hurried steps as he walked to where you were.

“y/n! oh my god, baby, are you okay? they said you were in an accident, but they didn’t tell me how bad it was, let me check you.” he started poking at you immediately, lifting your arms and legs to check for bruising. you hissed loudly as he tilted your head, feeling the burning pain in your neck from the strain.

“shit, did I hurt you?” he gasped as he stepped away from you.

“I’m okay,” you sighed, “ just a strained neck and a bruised rib.” you mumbled.

“I’m so sorry about earlier, y/n. I was out of line lying like that just to save face in front of the boys. I told them the truth right after you left.” he looked down, ashamed.

“it’s okay, but if you ever do it again, jeongin, I won’t be so forgiving. that shit hurts.” you sighed, receiving an earnest nod from him.

“I promise. now tell me, what happened, y/n?” he asked you gently, holding your hands and crouching to meet your eyes.

“it’s not important.” you muttered. you knew jeongin, and you knew if you told him that the reason you crashed your car was to answer his call, it would crush him.

“ please?” he coaxed you, squeezing your hands.

“I-I went to check my phone and got distracted,” you whispered. 

he dropped your hands right away, getting up and distancing himself from you, “jeongin---”

“It’s my fault, I’m sorry.” he stood away from you, not daring to look at you. he was tearing up and you knew it. the guilt was evident on his face as he wiped his face harshly, “I’m sorry.” his voice cracked.

“jeongin, why would it be your fault? it’s just an unfortunate situation. besides, I’m okay.” you smiled at him, slowly getting up to get closer to him.

“you might’ve not been.” he sighed shakily.

“but I am. and that’s what matters.” you hugged him cautiously, cringing a little at the pain radiating from your ribs.

“hey come on, sit down, you’re already in so much pain.” he nagged, leading you back to the hospital bed.

“baby, can I ask something from you?” he turned to listen to you.

“anything.” he nodded intently.

“get me out of here.” you moaned.

“on it!” he chuckled, kissing you on the forehead and getting up.

[sweatervest-obsessed]

Spencer Blurb!

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Reader

WC: 500

A/N: I am in the trenches with finals rn so I needed something positive to think about as well as a distraction from what I should be doing.

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

“I’m starting to realize why people commit murder.” You grumbled to yourself. 

Honestly, you were a sight to see. You had claimed the living room of your apartment with Spencer and books were everywhere. Your laptop was front and center and papers were scattered about as if a storm had come through. 

Spencer peeked his head out of your bedroom, eyebrows furrowed. “I’m sorry, what.” 

The frustrated sigh that left your lips almost knocked the curiosity right out of him. 

“It’s just…” 

Spencer had met you in the Boston Public Library, where you had been writing a paper for one of your classes, and you couldn’t find the statistics you needed. Enter Lover Boy with all your answers. He was only nineteen, completing his third Bachelors over at MIT and you were a sophomore over at Harvard, studying psychology. You were slated to graduate a whole year early, but it wasn’t your intellect that drew Spencer to you, it was your charm, the way you spoke your mind. 

You said anything and everything to him, and he wanted to listen to every single thing you said. You started dating six months later. You ended up following him down to DC a little while after that, and supported him while he completed his first Doctorate. You loved living with him, even when his life got hectic, even when he decided he wanted to go fight crime for a living. 

So when six years later, you’re working on your Ph.D at Georgetown, and you said you understood why people murdered others, Spencer wasn’t sure he wanted to keep listening. 

“Just what.” He walked over and sat down next to you, taking into account the four cups of coffee, three mugs of tea, a banana, two empty Panera bags, and a myriad of gum wrappers. “When’s the last time you left the apartment?” 

“Like a week ago, when I wasn’t trying to finish my fucking draft of my dissertation. I don’t know how the fuck you did this Spence.” 

Spencer kissed your head and took your hand. “Why don’t you go to the library or something. Get out of here for a bit. Go on a walk.” 

“I’d go to the library if you came with me.” You smirked a little bit as you fixed his tie, causing his cheeks to blush at the memories you were reminding him off. 

“Thats–that’s not what I meant.” 

“That’s why I suggested it.” You kissed his cheek, and looked back at your laptop, the moment of joy on your face disappearing. “Can’t you take the day off Spence?” 

He started to shake his head, but then saw just how exhausted and overworked you were. “I—give me a minute.” 

Spencer kissed your head and went into the bedroom, where you heard him make a call to Hotch, claiming he needed the sick day. 

You smiled and started to clean up your space, excited to spend the day away from your work, and with your favorite person.

[slvt4em1lyprenti2s]

Forbidden Love: Chapter 1 Next Chapter

Shy?

Masterlist

Criminal Minds Masterlist Emily Prentiss Masterlist

Summary: Professor!Emily x fem!student reader, what happens when profesor prentiss and the reader finally give into their feelings?

Word count: 1.5k

TW: Making out, I think that’s it?

Pairing: Emily Prentiss x female reader

A/N: Should I make this a series? Idk it might be fun!

Studying behavioural profiling is, well, different. It’s like science, criminology and psychology and smooshed into one subject. But the best thing about it, you ask? The teacher. Emily Prentiss is the most divine woman to ever step foot on this earth and no one can tell me otherwise. The way she strides along the front of the lecture all, her raven hair that falls in front of her face when she bends down to click something on her laptop, her eyes that always seem to find mine in a room full of students, her veiny hands that brush over mine when giving back a test. Ugh god, I swear I’m falling in love with this woman. 

It’s 7:45 am on a Wednesday and I’m walking across campus so I can get to lesson a little early to touch up my notes from my other class with Agent Morgan and to go over my- okay I’m bullshtting I just want to see Emily. And to be honest, I think I’m one of her more favourite students so I think she doesn’t mind me being early. 

I push open the door to the lecture hall and start walking down the steps, laptop bag slung over my shoulder that contained notebooks, pens, pencils etc, all the essentials. In my hand I held a travel coffee mug with my favourite hot chocolate in it because I wasn’t too partial to coffee. As I reach the front row I notice that Professor Prentiss has been following me with her eyes and watching the sway of my hips as I walked in. ”Morning Professor.” I try to say as if her eyes all over me weren’t causing a blush to creep up my neck. I took a quick check behind me finding out I was the only one in the room. 

“Hi, y/n. How are you today?” She asked her eyes staring into mine, genuinely curious.

”Good thank you, tired but good, what about you?” I smile as she chuckles lightly at my comment.

“Just about the same as you darling.” She replies with a smirk on her face seeing my face instantly bloom with red at the pet name. I shuffle my bag slightly before she says “I was out on a case for the last two or so days and I, only just, made it back in time to teach you guys. Lucky me hey? The only reason I’m even slightly okay with having to wake up at the ass crack of dawn is because of students like you. You actually listen and care, god knows that kind of work ethic is rare these days.” Emily looks exhausted and about ready to jump into bed at any second but the words that she said seem to cloud my head so I don’t pay much attention to her disheveled state. 

Students like me? What does that even mean? Well, she explained what it meant but I still wasn’t convinced. Nonetheless I responded “Yeah, it really is. All the people in this class want to be profilers or something along the lines of such and yet none of them take their education seriously. I want to throw something at them every time they talk over you. I might actually do it one day, it's so annoying!” She smiles fondly at my words making a cage of butterflies escape into my stomach and I smile back. 

“Now, I can’t have you throwing things at people, can I now sweetheart? That’ll get you kicked off the course. And I don’t think you want that, I certainly don’t want that, and besides don’t worry about the others. You’re doing amazing ah, that reminds me can you stay behind at the end? I just want to speak to you about your grade on our most recent exam. It’s nothing bad, I promise. You’ve done exceptionally well, in fact so well that I want to talk to you about further opportunities you have open to you.” She places her hand on my shoulder as we now stand face to face, she got up halfway through talking to lean on the front of her desk. I smile and subconsciously lean into her touch. The remains of the blush from the pet names yet again lingers but I say a small “Thank you Professor.” 

At that moment the door to the lecture hall swings open revealing another student in their own little world unaware of the building tension in the room. I give her one last smile and go make my way to a seat in the front row. I get out my laptop and notebook and start writing the dates and titles. I could feel eyes on me the whole time, I look up and lock eyes with Emily, finding her already looking at me. She sent me a wink and glanced back down at whatever she was working on. A crimson flush invaded my face and I returned my eyes to my page.

After the lesson I packed up slower than normal so that I’d be able to stay behind a little longer than she probably ment. I put my laptop in my bag and zip it up and grab my now empty hot chocolate. I walk up to Profesor Prentiss’ desk and find she’s already looking at me, again. 

“You know, you should stop staring at me so much. People might get the wrong idea.” I say, suddenly feeling confident, a teasing smirk on my lips. 

“What if I want them to get the wrong idea? What if I want them to think you’re mine?” I quickly shut up at that remark, all my confidence suddenly disappeared and I turned into putty. Heat rose to my cheeks and my head dipped to avoid her piercing gaze, it wasn’t mean, more admiration. But, any look from Emily Prentiss is intense. “Cat got your tongue honey?” She had a shit eating grin on her face as she saw me nod slowly. 

“Anyway, your grade! Okay you scared the highest in the class, and you got full marks. This isn’t anything new for you I'm sure, you’re a bright young woman. But, scoring this high in a test this hard, it opens doors for you. So, I’m here to offer you a chance to shadow me and the team for a week to see how we handle cases and what the job entails really. I also wanted to let you know that if you have any interest in joining the team I would accept you in a heartbeat. You’re a brilliant profiler.” Yet again for what feels like the millionth time today, heat rises to my cheeks. She stalks the way round her desk and stands in front of it. 

“That sounds amazing, oh my god, really?” A smile broke out on my face immediately. She looked pleased at my reaction and took a step closer. 

“Yeah of course really, why would I joke?” She laughed softly. I muttered a small ‘true’ and kept shamelessly checking her out as she still came closer to me and lowered her lips down to my ear and whispered, “Do I make you nervous darling? Is that why you get all shy whenever I’m around?” I nodded again while looking down, her hand found my chin and tilted it up. “Look at me when I’m talking to you.” I felt a strange tingling in my lower stomach as she said that. 

I looked her in the eye and she bought me closer. “Is this okay?” she muttered, her breath fanning across my face due to the proximity. 

“Yes.” I breathed out. That was all the confirmation she needed to softly press her lips to mine. She held me like I might break at any minute, so tentative and caring it made my heart flutter. My hands found their way around my waist and I pulled her closer. She moved us around so now I was the one against the desk as she deepened the kiss, her tongue moving into my mouth. I instantly let her take control of the kiss and press her hips against mine. A small whine left my lips and I lent into her arms which were on my hips. 

She pulled away and looked into my eyes before whispering, just to me even though there was no one else there, “I don’t want this to just be a fling, just to make that clear.” I smiled wide and pecked her lips once more. 

“Neither do I.” She pulled me in again and we kissed with smiles on both of our faces. We knew we would have to be a secret for a while obviously but it didn’t stop me from fantasising about what was to come.

[suugarbabe]

I’m OBSESSED WITH UR FICS OMG- can u do a Mattheo or Theodore FIC x Reader based off of karma?! LOVERRRRR

Hii anon!

Sorry it's been a minute since you asked this :( I'm not super good at lyric fics but I did try my best so if it's shite dont come for me 😬

pairing: Theo Nott x reader

warnings: angst angst angst, no happy ending

You're talking shit for the hell of it

Addicted to betrayal, but you're relevant

You're terrified to look down

'Cause if you dare, you'll see the glare

Of everyone you burned just to get there

It's coming back around

You did your best to walk through the halls with your head high, but you could still hear the whispers of others around you as you passed. In the beginning it absolutely crushed you to know that Theo was saying awful things about you. You never thought the man that kissed you so softly, or wiped away tears from your cheek would be the one to inflict so much pain that the tears were because of him. 

The thing was, you were really happy with Theo in the thick of it, you didn’t understand where things were starting to go wrong when they did. About two months ago, when you were still together, Theo started being…distant. He all of a sudden wanted to study alone, was doing extra time on the quidditch pitch and going to bed early. 

You felt like you couldn’t be too mad at him for these things, end of term exams were coming up before winter holiday, and Theo was really serious about his studies. And to be honest, a lot of your study sessions ended up well…studying human anatomy (which was not a real subject at Hogwarts). 

And Slytherins quidditch team had gotten a new chaser recently, so Theo wanting to spend some extra time doing that didn’t seem off, he was essentially the lead chaser, and with good reason. You figured the combination of extra studying and extra quidditch was why he was so exhausting and going to bed early. 

You were definitely sad he was being distant, but were doing your best to play it off. Apparently you weren’t doing that good of a job as one night Theo had gotten particularly snappy with you. 

“What’s wrong with you?” he asked it without even looking up from his textbook. It was a rare occasion that he was actually studying with you in the common room. You shook your head, “Nothing’s wrong Theo, I’m glad we’re doing this together.” 

He left a puff of air through his nose, “W’dya mean, we always study together.” 

“I-I just meant you’ve been studying alone a lot lately, I’ve just…missed this with you,” you didn’t know why your voice was a little shaky. He wasn’t normally like this with you.

“You know you don’t have to be by my side all the time? I can have space to myself too,” Theo started packing away his things.

“I-I know, Theo, I wasn’t - I didn’t mean…” you trailed off, not sure what to say. 

“You know what, I'm just going to go to bed, guess I’ll see you tomorrow.” You watched him walk away from you, up the stairs, down the dorm halls. You don’t think he even noticed that he showed you zero affection before he left. Didn’t tell you he loves you like he always did, didn’t even kiss you. 

Spider-boy, king of thieves

Weave your little webs of opacity

My pennies made your crown

Trick me once, trick me twice

Don't you know that cash ain't the only price?

It's coming back around

You were starting to get used to Theo not really being there. It seemed like the only time he ever gave you attention was at meal times, and you figured that was only because his friends were your friends and vice versa. You dared not make any forms of PDA unless Theo initiated it. You stopped doing that last week when you felt him tense up grabbing his hand in the hall. 

You weren’t completely oblivious. You knew something was going on, but you just didn’t know what, or why. However two weeks ago you got the confirmation you never wanted. It happened later after dinner. Theo told you he had to go to the quidditch pitch to help train the new chaser again. However you happened to run into said chaser, quite literally, as you were headed back to the common room. 

You had turned the corner quickly, stuck in your head about everything going on in your relationship and not paying attention to where you were going. That’s when you slammed into a strong chest, arms grabbing hold of you so you didn’t fall down. 

When you looked up, you saw the face of the very person your boyfriend was supposed to be with. “W-why aren’t you with Theo?” 

He looked confused by your question so you continued, “Aren’t you supposed to be on the pitch with him? You’ve been training with him for like the last two weeks.” 

His face fell, “Sweetheart…we haven’t done any training together since I joined the team.” Your chest was tight, like someone had hold of your heart and was squeezing the blood from it. 

“I-erm, I have to go,”. You pushed away from him, walking quickly back to the dorms. He called after you but you didn’t hear him. It was like the blood squeezed from your heart was rushing to your brain making you deaf. 

You found yourself walking to Theo’s dorm instead of yours, wanting to confront him and not delay the inevitable any longer. 

But that’s when you caught him. Caught him right in the act. As soon as you opened the door you saw him, naked and tangled with someone else. His eyes locked with yours, and there was no remorse. 

You closed the door behind you, he didn’t even follow you. You saw the girl he was with go towards the girls dorm. She avoided your gaze. At least she felt guilty.

You stayed in the common room, hoping maybe Theo would try and find you. Try and give you an explanation, but he never came. 

'Cause karma is my boyfriend (karma is my boyfriend)

Karma is a god

Karma is the breeze in my hair on the weekend (weekend)

Karma's a relaxing thought

Aren't you envious that for you it's not?

Sweet like honey, karma is a cat

Purring in my lap 'cause it loves me

Flexing like a goddamn acrobat

Me and karma vibe like that

It was Enzo who found you that night. Enzo who asked you why you were crying and what was wrong. Who swore to you he didn’t know what Theo was up to and offered to hex him if it would make you feel better. 

You found yourself spending more time with him. It got your mind off Theo and he was treating you so kindly. 

Surprisingly Theo seemed bothered by your new interactions. But you didn’t care, he lost that right when he did what he did. 

When he started rumors about you being the one who cheated with Enzo instead of the truth, you were hurt. But Enzo was there for you, wiping your tears and letting you cry on his shoulder. 

He told you that it didn’t matter to him and he would stick by your side the whole way. So today, when whispers and conversations were still happening around you, you held your head high. 

You walked by Theo in the corridor, his eyes trained on you the whole way as you walked up to Enzo. He greeted you with a hug and a kiss to the top of your head. Your relationship was platonic, but you could see how to the outside person it may seem like more. 

You didn’t notice Theo come up to the two of you, “Taking my sloppy seconds, Lorenzo?”

You stiffened at his words, but Enzo was quick to defend you, “Seems like you’re the one who got sloppy Theodore.” 

You chanced a look at Theo, his jaw was clenched. Enzo didn’t stop, “Shame you were such an ignorant bastard. You never deserved her in the first place.”

Enzo put a protective arm around you, pulling you into his side. Theo opened his mouth to reply, but Enzo pulled you away, headed toward your next class together.  

Theo was left standing there, steaming. Karma was a bitch.

[mara-tevith-solo]

Learn Something New

Reader One-shot with Hunter

Pairing: Hunter x Jedi!Reader 

Rated: 18+ NSFW 

Warnings: SMUT! This is a Heat fic so be warned. Some angst but not much, established relationship, female reader, not A/B/O sorry

Words: 2.8k+

When you had woken up that morning, you hadn't felt quite right. You had a very slight fever and you were exhausted despite having slept decently well in one of the cockpit seats, but you shrugged it off as a biproduct of working with Mos Eisley locals during the last job. It wasn't like any of the others could get sick, even Omega was engineered with an amazing immune system. So, you'd taken some painkillers and resolved to go about your day as usual. Hunter smiled softly as he handed you a cup of caf soon after you had all entered the parlor, his gaze warm though his pupils were dilated more than normal "Are you alright?" You asked softly before taking a sip, humming at the caffeinated goodness as it warmed you from the inside.

He took a step closer, crowding into your personal space, his nose almost pressed to your forehead as you both looked at each other, mutually surprised by his actions "I'm feelin' alright, cyare." He assured you before taking a moment to press a tender kiss on your forehead "You're just harder to resist today." He pulled away with a teasing wink, laughing softly as you stuck your tongue out at him.  

"Alright, alright!" The grating voice of Cid broke the moment, left it shattered like glass as everyone's attention focused on her "No romance in the bar, yeesh! I've got a job for ya, just a quick delivery to Tatooine."

"Awww! We were just there!" Wrecker complained with a loud groan right as you began feeling very not right, suddenly leaky and sore even though there was no real reason to. It was too early in the month for your period, and the last mission had been extremely smooth, not even a verbal spat was had between Echo and Wrecker.

Hunter seemed to know the very moment the change happened, his warm hand pressing against your lower back, comforting and welcome "Are you alright?" He asked, his brow furrowed low as he studied you worriedly.

"Ya," You nodded with a tight smile, not realizing that you had began leaning against the bar, the cold metal soothing the heat you were beginning to exude. "Perfectly fine." You lied, not wanting to worry him even though there was a decent chance he could tell you were lying.

He frowned and opened his mouth to call you out, but Cid beat him to it "Uh-huh, sure. You look like a wreck, Y/n. You should sit this one out." Even when expressing concern she still sounded so demanding and offended.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Cid," You deadpanned at the Trandoshan who just shrugged back at you "I'm fine, really. Nothing some painkillers and more caf can't fixxxxx... oh kark." A cramp rolled through you as you spoke, bowling you over as you clutched at you lower stomach, trying to relieve the new ache.

"You're not fine, Y/n." Hunter's firm voice was filled with concern as he quickly scooped you up and held you tightly to his chest, the motion triggering another cramp and a soft keening whine that only he could hear. His scent invaded your nose, smelling of musk and sweat with something almost herbal and spicy underneath, making you drunk as you pressed your face into his neck with another soft keen. "Y/n and I will sit this mission out." Hunter's words were strong, but his grip on you increased, holding you almost possessively.

Wrecker groaned again "Missions aren't the same without her!" He complained like a child, though you knew that he meant well.

"Statistically, if a Peléian is falling ill, there are only two causes, and both require rest. Get better soon, Y/n. We'll see you both when we return." Tech rattled off with a concerned frown as he adjusted his goggles, studying Y/n's change in behavior but not voicing his suspicions, Hunter was already on edge with concern and he did not want to make it worse.

Without another word Hunter was leaving the bar behind and going up the stairs to the apartment that all of you shared, bee-lining straight for your shared quarters and depositing you on your bed. His hand felt cool against your forehead as he pulled back enough to check your temperature, frowning as you tried to nuzzle into his hand "You're burning up, cyare." He rumbled with worry, trying to pull back to get you some ice but you clung to his hand like a lifeline, a whine leaving your throat as you looked up at him pleading shining in your eyes.

"Please Hunter, please stay with me. I don't know what's happening." You confessed as your legs pressed together. Your core was quivering with need, gnawing with want that wasn't going to let itself go ignored for very long. It was loud and insistent. A cramp rolled through your lower belly, making you curl into yourself slightly with a keen, your mind swiftly becoming drunk with desire, Hunter's scent filling you again. "Please." You begged, trying to pull him closer.

He could smell the change as soon as it happened, it was sweet and alluring, filling him with desire and need that shot straight to his cock. He knew that he needed to leave you in that moment, knew that if he didn't he'd fuck you senseless, and you were sick. He couldn't do that to you, he couldn't wear your already waning strength like that. You needed to rest, like Tech had said. "I'll be back with some water, mesh'la, just rest." He promised quickly and gently pulled himself from your hold, damn near running out of the room the moment he could, his cock straining painfully under his codpiece. He could hear your wordless begs through the door, could still smell your arousal, but he pulled himself away from the door and retreated to the kitchen on the other side of the apartment, pulling out his comms. He needed Tech's expertise before he karked it all up to hell. "Tech," his voice was rough even to his ears, his breaths sharp as his body strained to keep smelling your delicious scent like a man possessed "Tech, come in." He ordered, trying, and very nearly failing, to keep himself in check.

"Hunter, I wasn't expecting you to contact me this soon. We have not even left yet." Tech's voice filtered from the comm though he wasn't being unkind about it.

"Tech, she's burning up and her scent changed. What medicine does she need?" Your smell became stronger in that moment, permeating the entire apartment and he tried to breath through his mouth to stall his inevitable reaction, but tasting it... oh stars it made it worse. His self control was hanging by a thread as it was, but that thread was getting pretty thin and frail.

He could imagine you on the bed, all laid out and on display just for him, moaning with desire even though he hadn't even touched you yet, just watched your pretty pussy as it drooled for his cock. He wanted a taste. He groaned into his fist, his self control nearly none existent. His next actions were going to hinge solely on whatever Tech told him, and even then he might have to call in a droid to help. "There is only one thing it can be," Tech's voice broke through the lust filled haze in Hunter's mind, bringing him back to clarity even if just for a moment. "She's in Heat."

Hunter's eyes widened at the news "What? Wouldn't she know how to prepare us for that?" There was a touch of aggression to his voice that he tried to reign in, though it wasn't directed towards anyone per say, it was mostly directed towards his need for restraint.

"Well, that would depend on whether or not her mother was able to teach her what to watch for before giving her to the Order. From what I have been able to research, most do not because most that are given do not find their Mates." Tech's words rang through his head as he stared at his own bedroom door, his heart hurting for his Mate at the realization that she was expected to never find him, how close they came to never finding each other. How she was never taught to prepare or manage herself if she ever had.

"How do I help her?" Hunter's voice was ragged with emotion as he spoke, his mind made up that he was going to help her, no matter what it took. She would not weather the storm alone.

"I'm sure you know the answer to that, Hunter. Just remember that this is when she is at her most fertile, and both of you need to stay hydrated. Don't do anything in my room. Signing off." Tech's voice held some amusement at his Sergeant as he spoke, though he kept it purposely brief. He could only imagine how tortured Hunter was as they spoke.

Hunter set the comm on the kitchen table and set about preparing a kit for the both of them, his armor becoming more and more uncomfortable with every minute as he filled canteens and grabbed a packet of nerf jerky before marching straight into your room. He almost dropped everything on the floor at the very sight of you, barely hearing the door close behind him as all the blood rushed straight to his already throbbing cock. You were completely bare on top of the blankets, covered in a soft sheen of sweat as one hand gripped desperately at your thigh, the other was trying to grant you some relief, your fingers furiously rubbing your clit as breathy moans filled the air. The room was saturated with the scent of your arousal and need, blinding him to anything and everything else but you. "Hunter..." You begged breathlessly, your eyes locked on him, your pupils blown as wide as they could be despite the bright overhead light "need you in me. Please Hunter, please baby." Your voice broke him from the spell, calling him to action in a flurry of movement. He was off balance as he practically threw his armor and clothes off, hopping on one foot at one point when his pantleg got stuck over his ankle.  

His skin was hot against yours as he took a spot between your legs, eyes locked on your fingers as they slowed their ministrations to your clit, reveling in his attention as you bit your lip. "So pretty, cyare, such a pretty pussy." He groaned against the sensitive flesh of your inner thigh, so close and yet so far away from where you needed him. He smiled as you moaned under his lips, every cell in his being begging him to taste you, even if it was just one lick, he needed you on his tongue. You smelled so sweet, so ready. So fucking needy for him. "Open your legs for me, mesh'la." He ordered gruffly as he licked his lips in anticipation "Show me where you need my cock."

You had to readjust how you were laying, but you were quick to obey, hands gripping your thighs, holding them up under his hungry gaze. He groaned before diving in, lapping at you like a man starved, his tongue carving broad strokes through your folds in a bid to collect every drop of your sweet nectar. It was almost too good for him as he began to buck into the mattress, his cock needing something while he fucked you with his tongue. He knew he wasn't going to last long if he allowed himself to continue as he was, making himself pull away from your glistening folds and climb up your body like a predator stalking its prey, every movement carefully controlled so that he didn't accidently hurt you in his excitement. You pulled him into a kiss with a hand tangled in his hair, pulling gently as you moaned into his mouth, sharing in your taste on his tongue. He entered you in one swift motion, hilting immediately as you arched your back and screamed his name. His mouth latched onto your neck as he kept thrusting into you at a devastating pace, his tip hitting electrifying places inside of you as his teeth nipped and clung to your pulse point. His name was a chant, a prayer, a hymn of praise as he continued to fuck you. When he pulled out, you wanted to sob at the loss, his warmth leaving you as he sat back onto his knees and grabbed your thighs. He growled as he flipped you over, tempted to just fuck you into the mattress, but primal need won out as he grabbed onto your hips and pulled you up, presenting you to him again.

He was tempted to taste you again as your pussy drooled in anticipation for his cock, glistening slick audibly dropping onto the sheets making his heart skip a beat. His head was barely past your folds before your were rocking back on him with a filthy mewl. It was all he could do but watch you swallow his cock as though he'd starved you of it. It didn't take him long to begin meeting you thrust for thrust, the pleasure making his eyes roll back in his head every time you tightened your walls around him, milking his cock every time he pulled almost completely out. With every thrust in, his balls slapped just hard enough against your poor clit that you squealed, every single time. With every thrust your pussy made the most deliciously filthy squelches that he'd ever heard. Every single one was like a symphony composed just for him, and he loved every single one. He lifted your hips slightly, changing the angle just enough to hit a very special spot inside of you, making you see stars and scream his name, slick gushing around his cock as the squelches became absolutely obscene. "Want me to fill you with my cum, Y/n?" He growled through grit teeth, feeling the end approaching "Want me to fill you full? Make you pregnant?" You moaned loudly as you nodded into the sheets, looking at him from the corner of your eye, trying to communicate how much you needed his cum "Oh you like that don't you?" He laughed breathlessly, his rhythm beginning to falter as the tip of his cock assaulted your cervix, bringing you to a whole new height of pleasure. "Gonna make you so full of my seed you can't, ummfff, can't help but become round with my child! I can just, mmmghh, just see you now..." He continued, the fantasy flashing before his eyes, the idea of you carrying his child awakening something new inside of him, something basal and wanting. "Fuck, Y/n! Gonna... FUCK!" He came with a roar, his hands gripping your hips tightly as you screamed in pleasure with him as he erupted. You clamped around him, not wanting a single drop to escape as he continued to pump you full, holding you tight to him.

It took him a whole minute to finish coming, like the man had been saving up just for you. He coaxed you down on your side, his softening cock slipping out of you as you moved, some of his cum leaking out. You whined at the loss but all he could do was stare as he caught his breath, the sight was something so erotic and intimate, and he was sharing it with you. You instantly cuddled up to him when he laid next to you, his heart thundering in his chest. "I love you." You murmured into his flesh, your ear against his chest as you listened to his heart beat.

"I love you too." He hummed with a broad smile, holding you tighter before he dropped off into an unexpected nap. He woke some time later to you pumping his cock languidly, your movements unhurried as he hummed, the scent of your need in the air again, making his cock throb in your palm "Again?" He chuckled, the sound quickly dropping into a hiss of pleasure as you began paying more attention to his drooling tip.

"Yes, please, Hunter. Please fill me with your cum again. I'm so fucking addicted to it!" You begged as you climbed up onto your knees, the movements wafting the faint scent of his drying cum around you both.

"C'mere." He ordered, a hand already dripping your hip to guide you as you eagerly straddled his hips. As he slipped inside of you with a throaty groan, he was resolved to fuck the Heat out of you, no matter how long it took, no matter how many times he had to cum in your willing pussy. He'd do it happily. It was one addiction he could get behind.          

[herofics]

Extra fluffy start of uni comfort, with StSg

I officially started uni today and I’m exhausted. (I was in an open uni program in the spring but now I’m officially in the sociology degree program) Anyway, I wanted to do more of my good Geto au (summary: Geto never went rogue, saved Mimiko and Nanako and brought them to Jujutsu High, and he stayed together with reader and Gojo). I needed double the comfort so I wanted to write more of this AU. I’m so fucking anxious about the whole uni thing, and I need some reassurance I’m doing okay and doing the right thing for myself. This is set when they’re all in their early twenties and the reader is starting uni. Who could’ve guess I’d write about what’s going on in my own life. I started writing this a couple of days ago and wanted to post this yesterday, but I couldn’t finish it because I had to go to sleep. No warnings on this one, just pure fluff and comfort

Word count: 1,6k

“Fuck, fuck, fuck” you groaned as you paced back and forth in front of the couch.

“You need to stop stressing about this. You’ll be fine” Gojo sighed as he and Geto watched your pacing from the couch.

“Can you guarantee that? Can you absolutely promise me I won’t totally embarrass myself or do something idiotic that will make all my classmates hate me?” you exclaimed with an annoyed tone.

“Well no, but-” Gojo started but you cut him off.

“Yeah, so don’t tell me not to stress, that doesn’t help me at all” you snapped.

“Satoru doesn’t mean anything bad by it, he just sucks at wording things in a good way” Geto said, giving the other man a disapproving side eye.

“I know, I know. It’s just that I haven’t really studied in a long time, and I’m also nervous about not fitting in. I know I get along with people okay, but that doesn’t mean they’ll like me or that they want to be friends with me” you sighed as you sat down between the two men on the couch.

“Like Satoru said, you’re going to be fine. You’re of course allowed to stress about it, but don’t drive yourself insane thinking about all that could go wrong, because those things you’re worried about are not likely to happen” Geto said, squeezing your thigh comfortingly.

Gojo was nodding furiously in agreement with Geto.

“Thank you, Suguru” you said and kissed him on the cheek.

“Hey! Where’s my kiss?” Gojo complained in his usual dramatic manner.

“You need to earn it” Geto smirked, as he pulled you closer to him by your waist, and away from Gojo.

“I think that’s up to her, more than you” Gojo remarked as he leaned closer to you.

You knew these two idiots both had the ability to be very competitive and possessive, and while it usually didn’t cause problems, there were times when it definitely did.

“Guys?” you asked as Gojo was basically looming over you and Geto was holding you against himself by your waist.

“Yes love?” Geto asked, still looking Gojo in the eyes rather than turning his attention to you.

“I’m really not in the mood for this right now” you muttered and got up from the couch, heading for the bathroom while muttering something about needing a shower.

Gojo and Geto just looked at each other with surprised expressions, before sighing in unison. If you weren’t in the mood, that was totally fine, but they wanted to help you relieve stress in some way.

“I don’t think she even knows what she wants or needs, but she needs us to help her, that’s for sure” Gojo grumbled as he threw his head back over the backrest of the couch. “Got any ideas?”

“I’m gonna go take a shower with her, and you’re going to make us some dinner” Geto said as he got up from the couch.

“Why do you get to take a shower with her, and I have to make dinner?” Gojo whined.

“Because you’re the best cook out of all of us and you just took a shower in the morning”

“That’s fair… I guess…” Gojo muttered with a pout.

“Stop being a baby about it and go cook something” Geto said, before pressing a kiss on Gojo’s forehead and disappearing after you to the bathroom.

Gojo sighed deeply and made his way to the kitchen, starting to look through the cabinets for something to use. He quickly realized none of you had been to the store for a while, so he had to do that too.

“Damn it Suguru” Gojo muttered as he grabbed his wallet and walked out the door.

Meanwhile, you were standing under the warm water, wondering if you really even wanted to get out of bed for the start of school the next day. You heard the front door slam before the bathroom door opened and someone pulled aside the shower curtain, stepping into the shower with you. He placed his hands on your hips and kissed your neck from behind.

“Suguru…” you mumbled, but your voice was drowned out by the rushing water.

“Let me help you”

“Mmmm, where did Satoru go?” you asked as you turned around to face him.

“The store I assume, he agreed to make dinner” Geto explained, his hands still on your hips.

“Ah, well then… How do you want to help me?” you asked as your hand traveled up his abdomen and stopped on his chest.

“I’d like to wash your hair, I know that relaxes you” Geto smiled, before closing the distance between your lips and kissing you softly.

“Hmm I’ll agree to it, if you let me wash yours” you complied as he pulled back.

“Certainly” he smirked. “But you first”

You sighed, but agreed anyway. You wet your hair properly before standing in front of Geto with your back to him. He squeezed some shampoo into your hair and started massaging it in.

You had to admit, he was right, it was very relaxing to have someone else wash your hair. It was such a nice form of intimacy. You almost felt like your head was melting as Geto kept massaging your scalp, it was so damn nice.

“Mmmmm” you muttered, leaning back against Geto’s chest.

“You really do like this, huh” he murmured, looking down at you.

“Mmmhhmm” you nodded with your eyes closed.

Geto just chuckled. It wasn’t bad for him either, he enjoyed making you feel good.

After a couple more minutes of him washing your hair, he moved his hands away from your head and spun you around. You almost protested, but you knew it wouldn’t last forever, and you wanted to wash his hair before Gojo came back home anyway.

“Sit down on the shower stool, you’re too damn tall” you commanded with a smirk.

“Yes yes, I’m aware” he rolled his eyes playfully as he sat down.

You slathered your hands in shampoo and started washing his hair.

Geto closed his eyes and just enjoyed your touch. He knew you had been stressing about starting university for months, but now that it was so close your stress was very high. He really just wanted to help you relax and make sure you were able to manage your stress in a healthy way.

You were just humming one of your favorite songs as you washed Geto’s hair. His hair was longer than yours, had been for a couple of years now. It was like silk. You had always wondered how his hair was in such a good condition, but you never were able to figure it out and he never gave you a straight answer either.

“Thank you” you whispered into his ear as you finished washing his hair.

“For what?” Geto asked as he stood up.

“For helping me destress a bit. It was nice” you shrugged.

“No problem” Geto smiled.

You both rinsed out your hair and got out of the shower. Geto wrapped you in a big bath towel and wrapped one around his waist as well, after drying himself first. You both wrapped your hair in smaller towels too and went to put some clothes on.

“I’m baaaaack!” Gojo’s voice rang out through the apartment as he opened the front door.

“Hi” you peaked your head out of the bedroom and saw him carrying two bags of groceries to the kitchen.

“Hey doll, you look better” Gojo smiled and walked up to you.

“I feel better too” you smiled and pressed a kiss on his lips.

“Hah! I earned it” Gojo celebrated, blowing a raspberry at Geto, which made you laugh.

“Yeah, yeah, go make dinner you child” Geto rolled his eyes.

“I was gonna do that anyway, not because you told me to” Gojo said mockinly and marched into the kitchen.

“You want some help?” you asked as you followed behind him.

“Sure” Gojo smirked.

You and Gojo made food, while Geto sat by the kitchen table, sipping a can of cider. He just watched and smiled as you and Gojo kept arguing about which vegetables to use, only to end up using all of them. Geto couldn’t help but keep smiling as he watched the two of you. Gojo caught every discarded piece of carrot you threw at him and threw them right back at you.

“I think we should finish making the food instead of playing with it” you noted.

“Yeah, you’re probably right. You two get cranky when you’re hungry” Gojo motioned at you and Geto with his spatula.

“No I don’t!” you and Geto exclaimed in unison.

“See, cranky” Gojo smirked with such a self satisfactory expression it made you want to throw another piece of carrot at him.

You and Geto looked at each other and then both of you proceeded to roll your eyes at Gojo. Who gasped very dramatically in response, before swiftly turning back to his cooking with a sassy: “How dare you?”

“Aaaw Suguru, I think the baby’s upset” you said sarcastically.

“No I’m not” Gojo argued meekly, which was obviously an act for attention.

Of course this worked like a charm. Geto got up from the table with a sigh and walked up to Gojo, wrapping his arms around the other man’s waist. You also glued yourself to Gojo’s side, before you and Geto pressed a kiss on each of Gojo’s cheeks.

Gojo was basically purring with delight as he finished cooking. He was such an attention whore, but you and Geto definitely fed that side of him shamelessly and Gojo absolutely relished in that.

The three of you ate, talking about whatever and laughing together. You felt so much better and you were barely even thinking about the things you were stressing about earlier. It was a fun evening and you were definitely able to destress thanks to both of them.

[onsunnyside]

Imagine him as your son’s history teacher who you sleep with cause your son is bad at history and he needs to pass that subject.

And oh, you really thought he’s the sweetest man ever and only do vanilla sex but he surprised you when he fucked your brain out the first time and suddenly you don’t seem to want to get out of his bed.

You’re the hottest milf in the school and he didn’t want to miss the chance of fucking you..

UHM sleazy history teacher (daddy) and rich milf!reader 😖😖 I’m in love:

It all started when you were just a concerned mother stopping by her son’s school to talk with his history teacher (“don’t even try, mom. He’s such a hard-ass for no reason.” You son warned). You show up to the school in your tight pencil skirt and white blouse since you just came from work, your heels clicking off the floor on the way to his classroom.

You’re sitting close at his desk and discussing your son’s study habits, the older man nods intently, adding advice where needed.

Perhaps some flirty looks turn into gentle touches.

“—I make sure he studies at home, but I can’t say the same for when he visits his father.” You roll your eyes at the thought of your ex. “I’ve told [lloyd or maybe sleazy actor daddy devin peters] how important this class is, but he’s just too stubborn. He only wants to do things his own way.”

“You sound really tense, it must be stressful raising him all by yourself.” His big hand lands on your knee, “You must be exhausted after coming home from work, hm? Always doing everything by yourself.”

He can’t resist—you’re here in a tight skirt and red bottoms, your cleavage basically calling his name. And you’re letting him touch you.

Oh, the other teachers/his friends are going to so jealous.

They’ve got a nickname for you, Mrs. MILF bc you’re the hottest mom at the school. They as in his close friends and coworkers, Mr. Levinson the PE teacher, Mr. Barber the law teacher, Mr. Rogers the art teacher, and Mr. Everett the woodshop teacher. They’ve had countless conversations about you: about your tight work out clothes that hug your body, your ‘sexy boss’ work clothes, and the way your perfume lingers long after you’ve left. They’re all frequent visitors to your social medias where you post (major milf) bikini photos, and pics of you in tiny tight dresses when you go on a mom’s night out with your friends.

You have a great reputation throughout the faculty, everyone loves you !! You help out with fundraisers and volunteer, you also donate a bunch of money to the school. (“If I was still in college, I’d ask her to be my sugar mommy.”) if Lloyd isn’t the father, may haps he’s the principal 😳

For the past three years, they’ve desperately hoped for your son to be in their class just so they could see you/talk to you on parent-teacher nights. This year was a blessing bc your son was in all of their classes, well all of them except Mr. Levinson who was incredibly bitter about it. He still makes it a point to chat with you on the days you show up to drop off your son’s lunch, or pick him up early.

“Your son is close to failing this class, but I suppose we could kill two birds with one stone, sweetheart.” His hand slowly slips up your thigh high stockings to the garter strap that secures them. “I could help you out. Relieve all that tension in your body, and maybe… bump up your son’s grade. Does that sound good, honey?”

And bc I’m a slut, he definitely makes you call him daddy 😫✋ I LOVE SLEAZY DADDIES !! GIMME ALL THE SLEAZY TEACHERS !!

[theguardiansseries]

From the Beginning - Chapter 4: Danny Is Brave Despite His Friends’ Best Efforts (He Also Discovers The Benefits Of Soup)

A/N: When you have your outline squished together so what should have been separated into two chapters is instead one big chapter, but that just makes it read better anyways. Enjoy the "Mystery Meat" episode!

Reminder that updates are (hopefully) every Wednesday and Saturday and that I survive off of comments and kudos!

–

Rating: Teen Audiences

Summary:

Dani Fenton (who is sometimes starting to go by Danny Fenton) is a fifteen-year-old almost sophmore who was just going about her normal life when she figured out she sort of liked being seen as a boy. Oh, then he (he had definitely been a he at the time) got shocked by a machine his parents built to view into another world that they believed contained a world of ‘ecotplasmic entities.’

Danny really isn’t sure how to tell them that they were right and that he was in the machine when it turned on and that maybe he isn’t so human anymore. (He might also not be a girl anymore, but that one was a little more difficult to explain than the fact that he ((she?)) might be half-ghost.

AO3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/54944266/chapters/139959616

Chapters: <<First>> <Prev || Next>

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Chapter Four: Danny Is Brave Despite His Friends’ Best Efforts (He Also Discovers The Benefits Of Soup)

It was more of an effort to not laugh than it should have been, but Danny figured he was allowed to laugh at his friends’ misery when he was suffering from the same thing. 

Sam didn’t seem to think so, glaring up at him and muttering a whisper-soft, “I know where you live.” The words were nearly drowned out over the frenzy that was the cafeteria room, but it still managed to make Danny give in and laugh fully.

“Yeah, you do, but could you even make it up the stairs to kill me? I’m pretty sure you’d collapse before even making it through the front door.” The sad part was, it didn’t seem like much of an exaggeration when all three of them were exhausted, sleep deprived, and trying to figure out how the hell they had been given so much homework when it was only Friday of their first week. “C’mon, guys, at least we have the weekend to look forward to!”

“Yeah, the weekend we’ll be using to do fifty pounds of homework,” Tucker muttered, everything about him dripping with bitterness. “Do you think the teachers hate us? Is that what this is? Or are they trying to weed out the weak?”

“Probably want us all to commit suicide so they don’t have to deal with us,” Sam grumbled, Danny fighting to not laugh again even as Tucker did. “School was not this exhausting last year.”

Danny shrugged, nibbling on a fry, “Dunno. Maybe they’re trying to figure out the smart ones from the dumb ones early.” A glance down at his tray showed that while he had eaten a lot of his lunch already, there was still a good amount left. He was still starving and hungry as hell a lot, but he at least wasn’t scarfing everything down that he could get his hands on like he had in the beginning of the week. “Which means me and Tuck are doomed.” 

“Hey,” Tucker frowned. “I’m smart!” Mm… was he, though? Danny figured the thought must have shown up on his face since Tucker looked even more offended. “Hey!”

“I mean, don’t get me wrong, Tuck, you’re a genius when it comes to coding and hacking and tech and stuff, but… You kind of suck at everything else.”

There was a long silence, Danny waiting for a response before Tucker looked away and sullenly started sipping on his chocolate milk. It was way more hilarious than it should have been, especially when he saw Sam trying to fight back her own laughs. It was possible all the homework might have caused them to suffer from a little bit of hysteria.

“Okay, okay,” Sam said as soon as she was able, sitting back up. “Whose house is up first for homework duty-”

“Not it!” Danny and Tucker both shouted immediately, which, excellent. That meant a study session at Sam’s who was rich and, therefore, had the best study snacks. Sam didn’t even look surprised, anymore! 

“How generous of you boys, truly,” Sam drawled, Danny quickly taking a bite of whatever was closest to hide the stupid grin he could feel forming. It wasn’t his fault being counted as ‘one of the boys’ was starting to become a pretty good feeling. “Speaking of you boys, Danny! Did you finally learn to breathe between bites?”

“Ha ha,” Danny said with as dry a tone as he could muster, not keeping it up long before he was smiling at his friends’ looks. “I dunno, just… I’m still really hungry, but it doesn’t feel like I’m Godzilla waking up from a thousand year long nap, you know?”

Tucker snorted with laughter while Sam shook her head, smiling anyways, “At least there’s that. How’d your check up with the doctors go on Wednesday?”

“Yeah, how’d your escape from the second half of classes go,” Tucker pretended to frown, Danny rolling his eyes and flicking a fry at him. At least, Danny was pretty sure it was a fry. 

“It went fine.” Which was something Danny had already told the two, but, God, it would take someone a lot stronger than Danny to get them to stop worrying over him. “I’m still, you know, not the best, but they’re happy that I seem to be stable and don’t have anything that’s, like, really wrong, you know?”

Not to say he was perfectly alright. He was still dropping almost everything he picked up or tried to hold, but he wasn’t shaking or losing his balance as much anymore. His breathing still wasn’t the best, either, and his heart rate was still kind of trashed, but he at least didn’t struggle for air after walking from his house to the end of the block! 

“The only thing that sucked was that Jazz spent an hour grilling the doctors about the best way to follow the aftercare instructions,” Danny continued, trying not to think back to the pure embarrassment at Jazz’s motherly concern and craziness. “Not sure if she’s just that worried, or if she was trying to make some kind of point because Mom and Dad weren’t there.” Ah… and there were the shared looks.

Tucker was the first to speak, as the more ‘relaxed’ friend, so him speaking first made it seem less like an interrogation, “Your parents didn’t go to the appointment with you? Or were they waiting in the car or lobby or something?” 

Sam was next, pushing in deep and trying to drive the point home and get Danny riled up into confessing what they all already knew, “Don’t be ridiculous. Of course Danny’s parents would go with him to a doctor’s appointment when it comes to something like this.”

“You know,” Danny finally managed after a few seconds. “This was a lot more effective before I broke down your team interrogation techniques. Now it’s just sad.” Ah, the annoyed, upset looks of his best friends. Balance was restored. “They were at home working on the Portal- I mean, I told you guys what happened, right? The whole self-sustaining thing?”

As expected, Tucker was quick to leap onto the subject of self-sustaining energy, “Dude, I still can’t believe your parents might be about to crack into a source of self-sustaining energy that’s actually, you know, self-sustaining.” 

“Might,” Sam stressed. “If this really is running off of- Of ectoplasm or whatever it is, then we have no idea what that could do to someone if they’re exposed to it. I mean, we once thought radiation was safe, too.” 

“Damn,” Danny muttered, looking at Tucker. “I think she won that one because that’s… That’s a really good point.” 

“But she always wins!” Before Danny could think of a response at Tucker’s loud, dramatic whining, he felt his back bend and his nails dig into his palms at the sudden race of electricity that burned through him like he had shoved a fork into a socket and- “Danny? Hey, whoa, what’s wrong?” 

“I-” Danny cut himself off, shuddering as the feeling began to fade, instead turning into something like a low, pouding sense of worry at the back of his mind. “I just- It felt like I was just shocked, just now, but… not. You know?”

His friends both had looks that made it seem like no, they did not know, and Danny wasn’t sure whether to be annoyed or grateful when the bell warning them of their next class screeched through the air. Shaking his head and standing up, Danny muttered a quick, “Nevermind. Probably just the normal static shock.” Except it hadn’t felt like it. 

It was more like an exposed wire had been pressed to his skin and then pulled away only to linger in the air just behind him, ready to zap him all over again the second he made the wrong move or choice. It was like an ever-evolving anxiety attack and he was half-tempted to ask Jazz if any of her psychology books had anything on something similar because jesus. 

Already keyed up even while the three were just dumping their trash from lunch, he wasn’t even surprised when some loud banging from the kitchen sent him jumping into the air and almost knocking both himself and Tucker to the ground. “Whoa, dude, you okay?” 

“I-” Danny cut himself off, grateful that he had already thrown his trash into the actual trash can rather than flinging it onto Tucker or some random kid behind them. “You guys heard that too, right? The…” Words running out, Danny gestured vaguely towards the kitchen. 

“Sounded like someone back there might have knocked a pot or something over,” Sam said, standing close by on Danny’s other side and hovering like she was about to catch him. It would have been sweet if Danny wasn’t ready to crawl out of his skin from anxiety. 

“I- I mean. I know the bell just rang, but would- Would you guys come with me to just check? Real quick?” Danny should not be this close to some kind of anxiety attack. He had a weird feeling and now he was just feeding into his terror or something like that. Jazz would have had the words for it, but Danny knew enough to know that he was just scaring himself and he needed to calm down. Still. What if it was something and not just a bad feeling? 

“Yeah. Yeah, sure. We can check it out real quick.” Sam headed for the kitchen doors with a sense of confidence and purpose that meant no one would stop her, Tucker still sort of holding him up as he followed after her and tugged Danny along. (She wasn’t really feeling much like ‘Danny’ anymore.)

“Well, that’s a fun thing to learn,” Dani muttered under her breath, not surprised when Tucker noticed and gave her a questioning look, because Tucker only ever seemed to be observant when she was freaking out. “Not really feeling much like a guy when I’m this… anxious?” 

“There’s probably some insanely long lecture on feminism that Sam has memorized to explain it if you want to ask,” Tucker teased, Dani feeling a little better. 

She then felt a million times worse when they all got to the kitchen door and pushed it open to see that the lights were flickering and dimming before shutting off entirely. Dani gulped and she felt Tucker go still, whispering a horrified, “We’re in a horror movie.” 

“We are not in a horror movie,” Sam snapped, which was a clear enough indicator that she was just as on edge as them. “The lights probably started acting up and caused one of the cooks to drop something.” 

“Are lunch ladies really cooks?” Tucker asked, injecting just enough stupid humor into the situation that Dani didn’t feel like she was going to faint in terror as they crept forward into the kitchen. The door swinging shut behind them made her feel like some dramatic death toll should be going off in the background. “Like, genuinely-” 

“Yes, they are,” Sam said firmly. “And also because one of the cooks here identifies as a man, and it’d be rude to refer to him as a ‘lunch lady.’” Huh. Dani wouldn’t have really thought about that even a couple months ago, but that was a good point. 

“Maybe he likes being referred to as a lunch lady. Maybe he finds it funny.” Ah, Tucker. He was doing his best, but Dani could hear the way his voice was shaking. Not that she was much better, gripping onto Tucker’s arm hard enough that it was probably going numb.

Before the ‘fight’ could continue, there was another clanging sound, like something heavy and metal hitting the floor. It had all three of them poorly stifling their screams as they jumped into each other hard enough to nearly send them to the ground. Dani wasn’t sure how they managed to catch their balance, but all three of them stayed standing.

Dani hadn’t even looked up from making sure her feet weren’t about to trip over each other again when she felt static rolling across her skin, nowhere near as strong as it had been earlier, but enough to make her snap her head up to see that there was some light in the kitchen. 

And it was coming from a ghost. 

Dani couldn’t tear her gaze away even as she wanted to look at her friends’ faces to see if they were seeing the same thing. Judging by the way Tucker was now gripping her arm tightly enough to bruise, she had to assume they were. 

“Oh dear, oh dear… No, no, this is all wrong.” The actual real life ghost in front of them was speaking and mumbling to herself like some fretful old lady who had forgotten something. It was definitely a ghost, though, because Dani could see through her to the wall of pots and pans behind her. She could also see the way she was floating seven inches off the ground. (Seven? Six? It was enough to be noticeable!)

“Oh, hello, dearies.” Ah. The ghost had seen them. The ghost was now talking to them. “Could you tell me who changed the menu?”

Dani opened her mouth to maybe pray to some god she wasn’t sure she actually believed in when Tucker beat her to it. “Do you mean all the salads and junk that Sam added?” 

That was enough to get Dani to turn her head to look at him, shocked that one of her best friends was that stupid. He was even pointing at Sam! Who looked just as incredulous! Yeah, okay, there was no accounting for what someone said when they were going through shock and extreme amounts of fear, but still! 

“Oh. You changed the menu?” The ghost who looked like a lunch lady straight out of the fifties with a pink uniform and hair net and gloves and everything was looking at Sam now and Dani was really hoping that this was some weird dream she would wake up from after falling asleep at lunch. Or maybe they were mass hallucinating. That was a thing, right? “You changed the menu.” Oh. That wasn’t a question that time.

Before Dani could say anything, she saw some of the pots behind the ghost beginning to float up into the air, wrapped in the same glowing light that came from the ghost — who was looking a lot angrier than she had a second- Holy fucking shit. 

Staring with wide eyes at the huge cast iron pot that had slammed into the wall hard enough to dent it after just barely missing Sam’s head, Dani was pretty sure her brain went offline for a couple of seconds in shock. She then decided she could go into shock when she was dead and shoved Tucker hard enough that she might as well have body-checked him before doing the same to Sam and screaming, “Run!” 

It was then Danny who turned back and kept himself between the ghost and his friends.

Let me be brave, Danny thought to himself fiercely, because Danny wasn’t the shy, meek little girl who avoided any sign of confrontation and tried her best to be quiet. Danny was someone who was learning to speak up for himself and was bad at it, but was trying. Danny was the one who was starting to let himself take up space and try to figure out just who he was. 

So it was Danny who grabbed the fallen pot off the ground as his friends ran and threw it up into the air at another one that had been flying towards them. Through some miracle of luck it actually managed to hit, the two making a loud clanging sound that hurt his ears and had him hurrying out the door after his friends.

He didn’t bother to waste his breath to tell his friends to keep running, only shoving them forward when he saw they had slowed down to make sure he was behind them. He made sure it was a decently powerful shove considering he heard more pots clanging into the walls and door of the kitchen, the cafeteria now empty with no witnesses which meant no one to see what the hell was going on. 

It wasn’t until they were a couple of hallways away, all empty since everyone who didn’t have a deadly sense of curiosity was in class, that Tucker was squeaking out a high-pitched, “What the hell?!” 

“Inside, inside, inside,” Sam chanted, jerking open a door into an empty classroom before pushing them all inside and then shutting and locking it. Danny watched as her legs gave out and she slid down to the floor, Tucker not doing much better as he propped himself up against a desk. “That- That was… Was that really-?”

“That was a ghost.” Tucker’s face was paler than Danny had ever seen and enough to spur him into grabbing a chair and dragging it over before pushing him into it. “That was actually- Ghosts can’t do shit like that- Ghosts aren’t real like that!” 

Still gasping for breath he didn’t have, and knowing his heart was going way too fast, Danny finally managed a weak, “That wasn’t a ghost.” As soon as his friends looked at him like he was insane, he shook his head. “No, listen, that- That was everything my parents have ever told me about. That was an ectoplasmic entity or whatever it is that they’ve been studying.” Which meant… “Holy shit, they were right.” 

“Dani, girl-”

“Boy again. Sorry.” 

“Danny, man, I love you, but what the hell does that have to do with what’s going on right now? And the fact that we’re about to die?” 

Making a note to beam over Tucker’s casual acceptance of how he was switching between genders like dresses before a party, Danny forced himself to focus and dug out his phone. “It means that we can call my parents and they can come down here and actually do something about it.” 

Pulling up his contacts quickly, Danny heard Sam muttering something before her voice pitched up in something between offense, rage, and hurt, “You ratted me out to a ghost?” 

“I panicked! I thought-! She looked like my grandma, I didn’t think she’d suddenly start throwing kitchenware at us!” Alright. That was a decent point, actually. 

Phone ringing, Danny blew out a breath when it connected and he heard his mom’s voice. “Danielle? Sweetie, what’s wrong? You’re supposed to be in class right now, aren’t you?” 

“Mom-” Voice breaking, Danny realized just how tense and terrified he still was, all his energy thrumming under his skin like static before lightning struck. (He really needed to stop focusing on the static and lightning analogies, if only so he could stop remembering how much he had screamed.) “Mom, I need you and Dad to come to the school, right now.” 

“Danielle, honey, we’re right in the middle of our work. Something odd is happening with the EMD and we need to figure it out before it can cause any problems. Are you having a bad day? I can call Jazz and she should be able to come and pick you up-”

“You were right!” Danny blurted out, loud enough that Sam and Tucker both jumped and rattled the door and chair they were each leaning against or on. “Everything you ever said about- About ghosts and ectoplasm and all of it, you were right, okay? Everything. You were right and we’re looking at the proof and you need to get down here right now!”

Silent. The other end was silent and Danny felt ready to scream as he pulled his phone away to make sure the call hadn’t dropped. There was nothing but a black screen, Danny clicking the power button to bring up the call. Nothing showed up. He clicked it again, a couple times, and it was like a dawning horror to realize his phone had just died. 

“Shit,” Danny muttered, trying a couple more times before giving up and shoving it into his pocket, other hand held out towards Tucker. “Phone. Mine died.” 

Tucker nodded and moved to get it, Danny snapping his hand back with a sharp gasp as that same feeling from lunch, that same burning jolt of static, shot through him with enough force to have him stumbling away and looking around the room as if something was about to jump out at him. 

He wasn’t wrong. 

The ghost from earlier was suddenly in the middle of the room, both his friends jumping to their feet with enough force to send them stumbling back. The look of fear in their eyes had Danny’s skyrocketing, but at the same time it made him feel angry. 

“You dare change the menu?! The menu has been the same for fifty years! Fifty years of tradition! Of getting it right! And you would dare change it?!” 

Let me be brave, Danny thought once again, watching as one of the desks glowed with that strange energy and light the same as the pots had. Danny saw where it was going to hit as it flung itself through the air on a trajectory right towards Sam. 

Before he could even think he was moving, hands outstretched and shoving Sam away and into Tucker, knowing he would catch Sam. He then braced himself to feel a whole lot of pain as the desk flew- Right by him? 

Okay. Well. He wasn’t about to question his luck there when the desk was in splinters against the wall and they now had a clear shot to the door, Danny shoving them forward with another command to, “Run! Outside!”

His friends didn’t question it and began running at once, Tucker panting out strained words as they rounded the corner. “Danny, that desk- It went through you!” 

“Yeah. I know. Really close miss,” Danny panted out himself, the burn in his lungs starting to remind him really clearly that his doctors had talked about him having problems with breathing at his last check-up. “Talk later.”

“No, man, it went through you!” Okay, they would have time to talk about Tucker’s fear hallucinations later, Danny decided. 

“Outside, outside,” Danny said, raising his voice so Sam could hear, who was already making the turn for the front doors. “We need to get out. Lead it to my parents!” If they could get to his house — or more accurately if they could get to ‘Fenton Works,’ his parents would probably have something in the lab that could deal with everything. 

“We- We can’t!” Tucker gasped like he was about to stop breathing, Danny slowing just enough to make sure he could keep Tucker ahead of him and catch him if he collapsed as they raced down the stairs and out onto the front lawn of the school. Unlike Danny’s possible likelihood, Tucker did have asthma. “We can’t skip school!” 

“Get your priorities straight!” Sam shouted back, enough breath in her lungs to yell at them. It was extremely unfair, in Danny’s opinion. What was more unfair was that the ghost or ectoplasmic entity or demon or whatever it was was right in front of them again, like all their running hadn’t even mattered. It also had grabbed Sam by the wrist and jerked her to a stop harshly enough that Sam let out a short scream. 

Danny didn’t even think. He didn’t stop, or scream, or gasp, or anything. He just kept running, fear and anger pounding through him at seeing Sam’s terrified face, before he slammed into the ghostly lunch lady that was looking at them with burning red eyes. He was honestly surprised when he made contact, and apparently so was the ghost since he saw her grip on Sam loosen enough that she was able to free herself. 

“Danny!” The warning came a second too late, Danny wincing as it was his arm grabbed that time. He heard Sam scream again, and Tucker too, but it was a little hard to be sure when all of his focus was on the searing pain in his arm as he was lifted off the ground higher, and higher, and higher-! Too fast, this was all going too fast, he couldn’t even think-

“Now, dearie, it’s quite rude to interfere,” the ghost chided him like he was a misbehaving child, Danny swinging almost twenty or thirty feet up from the ground and trying to hold back a scream. The pain in his arm was enough to make him think it was dislocated, all of his weight hanging by the grip around his wrist. “This should fix that, and you should be just fine, even. Just a few broken bones, is all, I think!” 

Danny looked up at the ghost who smiled at him like she was being genuine and just putting him in some sort of time-out before he realized he was falling through the air. 

For a brief second that had to have been controlled by hysteria Danny decided the feeling of falling through the air felt like when he had jumped from a swing as a kid or when coming down after bouncing too high on a trampoline. 

The next second had the panic overwhelm him, a voiceless thought that he didn’t want to feel that much pain again, but it was quickly drowned out by fear that Sam and Tucker were next. 

He didn’t give a shit if he got hurt along the way, but he was not going to let some insane research of his parents hurt his best friends. He wouldn’t. He wouldn’t. No matter what it took, he was going to protect them-!

A sudden jerk had him stopping in his descent, Danny braced for the pain. He instead felt a wave of shock at there being none. He then realized there was no pain because instead of hitting the ground, he was floating a few inches above it. 

In the seconds before he dropped the last few inches to the ground, Danny looked at Sam and Tucker to see they were stunned, completely still and silent. He also looked at the ghost who looked as scared as he felt. 

A part of him wanted to just sit there and just give into the urge to sob in terror, but then he realized what he was looking at. She was scared. That meant there was something that could stop her. 

Rolling over and shoving himself up onto his knees, Danny saw the ghost was still up in the air, still too surprised to move yet. Danny, now an expert at pushing his panic attacks away until later, furiously tried to think on what he could do. 

A whisper. 

A nudge to his back. 

A swirl of soft blues and purple that he couldn’t see but somehow knew was there, the faintest, Backpack. 

Following the nudge, Danny didn’t stop to think as he ran for Tucker and turned him around before he ripped his backpack open, ignoring Tucker’s sputtering and squirming. Instead he found just what he had been looking for. 

He had almost forgotten, but that time at the lab, on the day of the Accident, he had seen Tucker grab something from one of the tables. He had probably been wanting to play around with it and see what it did, but Danny remembered his dad talking about it. It was an old thermos he had converted into a container for ectoplasmic energy. 

He had no idea how it worked, absolutely no clue if it would do anything towards the ghost that had almost tried to kill him, but he didn’t let himself hesitate. 

Let me be brave, Danny thought as loudly as he could, ripping the cap off the thermos and fumbling to turn it around towards the ghost that was quickly getting over her shock. Let me protect them!

“Soup isn’t on the menu, child.” The ghost was smirking like she was someone who knew they couldn’t be hurt, but Danny forced himself to not believe it. She had been scared, after all. 

She had been scared and so, with every scrap of hope he had left inside of him, Danny held up the themors and pressed the bright green button on the side of it. 

There was a moment — a second — where nothing happened and Danny felt like his heart was about to throw up. Then he felt the metal in his hands heat up with enough force and speed that it took everything in him to not drop the container, eyes wide as a beam of bright white light or energy or something shot out and hit the ghost directly. 

Danny braced himself as he felt the container vibrate in his hands, the ghost screaming as it looked like she was almost being pulled into the thing. He expected her to rip away from it and escape until the last second when both the ghost and the energy coiled back in on itself, Danny capping the thermos without thought. 

“Sorry, lady,” Danny said, a laugh of what was definitely hysteria leaving him as he suddenly felt a million pounds heavier, not helped at all when he heard what might have been his parents starting to shout at him. Or maybe it was Sam and Tucker? “But it looks like lunch is over.” 

Letting out a breath, Danny tried to figure out just what to do with a container that had a ghost in it like straight out of an old sci-fi movie. He also tried to figure out how he was going to explain this to his parents and maybe even the teachers. 

He then realized the black at the edges of his vision hadn’t gone away — had only grown stronger — and that was probably a bad thing. 

After that, all he knew was that it was dark and quiet and he was tired. 

A nap would be fine, right?

—

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[thelocalmuffin]

"making suggestive dirty jokes" with asoryuu for the prompt ask? if u wanna of course!

Oh boy.

I admittedly am a terrible flirt IRL so I hope this is alright.

Title: Is that Karuma or are you excited to see me?

Word count: about 800 words

Summary: After a long week, Ryunosuke comes home to see Kazuma cooking and they catch up about the day before one gets a bit flirty.

Tags: domestic life, minor mentions of angst, post canon, dgs 2 spoilers, fluff, based on a headcanon by my friend Sigma that Kazuma didn't make it too far as a prosecutor

Finally, the weekend has arrived. Ryunosuke can finally decompress from the horrible week he had. He's glad he's finally realised his dream of becoming a lawyer, but no one told him how exhausting it would be.

Case after case, client after client, complaint after complaint, he's done with this awful day. He really could use some time to decompress.

When he gets back to his small home, there’s a strong aroma of a delicious dinner being crafted in the kitchen. He's grateful that dinner is about ready. It's one less thing he has to worry about.

He pokes his head to see Kazuma finishing up dinner. He’s in one of his casual hakamas, biting his lip as he focuses on cooking. It’s a new hobby of his. Ever since he’s returned home he's been dutifully trying to make up for all the trouble he's caused.

Not even six months after they crossed swords, Kazuma had been removed as a prosecutor. From Lord van Zieks' letter, apparently they both started getting a little too curious of what else the Crown had been hiding. When they were caught, Kazuma took the brunt of the accusations and was immediately fired.

Apparently, the new Lord Chief Justice also had not been thrilled at the aspect of a Japanese student studying underneath the Crown, so it was the golden opportunity to rid of the apprentice.

He was a wreck when he came home. Kazuma looked so defeated that all Susato-san and Ryunosuke could do was embrace their friend. After wrapping their arms around both, Kazuma asked if he could have a place to stay as he got back on his feet.

Even though it hadn’t been long, Ryunosuke offered his home to a struggling friend. It had first been just two roommates, but soon, the subtle romantic feelings had resurfaced and their passionate flame sparked after a night of shogi and a very heavy heart-to-heart. The conversation was both admitting their flaws and dreams, realising their bond had been strained, not damaged and it could be fixed.

So, they've been taking it slow. Well, as slow as two lovesick individuals who couldn't keep their hands off each other, anyway

Even so, Kazuma’s been determined to make up all he’s done to Ryunosuke and Susato-san with his freetime. Be that by helping around the house, running errands, or whatever he can do to make their lives easier as they adjust to their new busy schedule. If he’s not here, he’s helping clean up Susato-san’s home to make sure she doesn’t come home to a mess.

Today he was supposed to be elsewhere, though…

“Home early?” Ryunosuke asks as he pokes his head in. “I thought you were going to the university to see if you could continue your courses.”

“Hmm, lost track of time again, I see. You’re actually home late. It’s almost nine.” Kazuma hums, flipping the fish. “You look exhausted. Sit down and I’ll take care of you.”

Nine...

Ryunosuke glances at the clock, realising Kazuma is right.

“I appreciate the offer, but I’ve been sitting all day. I'd rather stand.” Ryunosuke shrugs the suggestion off. Kazuma’s still pretty curt, as per usual. “I want to help out.”

“There’s no need for that. I’m almost done anyway.” Kazuma opens the rice steamer, raising an eyebrow and closing it again after shaking his head. Without looking up, he continues. “What kept you so long?”

“We’ve been swarmed. That’s what happens when you try to fix up the entire legal system with a small team.”

“I know. You know, I could come in and help with some of the paperwork. If I learned anything from my time in London it's how to sort out cases efficiently and quickly."

“I might take you up on that. I appreciate the clean home, but Susato-san and I are swarmed.” Ryunosuke pauses. “Wait, what about-”

“Let’s not talk about how the university conference went today.” Kazuma whispers, each word peppered with defeat. His head hanging down as he exhales his next words. “I don’t want to damper the mood.”

Oh...they were not thrilled about what they learned...

“I think I can figure it out by context.” Ryunosuke swallows, moving to his partner, wrapping his arms around Kazuma’s waist. “I’m sorry.”

Kazuma’s head hangs down before exhaling. “It was a natural consequence of my actions. I’ll figure out what to do. I always do.”

“Well, you can work with us until you find a new fitting.”

Kazuma pauses, then nods. “Of course. I wouldn't mind at all. Saving me again, Naruhodo. What would I do without you? By this point, I’ll be indebted to you for the rest of my life.”

“Well, we got a lot of time to sort that debt out.” Ryunosuke’s hands move towards the hem of his clothes, before pressing his lips on Kazuma’s shoulders. “I jest. It’s alright. I don’t mind helping you find your path.”

It's silent as the fish sizzles in the pan and Ryunosuke closes his eyes. Kazuma's sweet vanilla lavender scent is so nice...

“Oh!” Kazuma breaks the silence before chuckling. “Is that Karuma or are you excited to see me?”

Ryunosuke pulls away, realising that Karuma’s hilt did indeed poke his arse.

He laughs before he wraps his arms around Kazuma’s waist once again, holding him closer. “Nope. Just Karuma. For now, anyway.”

Kazuma hums, a grin raising from his lips. “Mm, I like the sound of that. I think we could both use a good stress reliever after today. After we eat?”

“After we eat.”

[thewickerking]

sorry for the essay in your asks I’m just studying child development/psych and I Have Thoughts

nonono ur so fine! i enjoy conversing abt it :] im a psych major so were in similar boats! i keep being disappointed in my fellow students ways of talking about children, especially in childhood development focused classes, and there was a particular instance i will never forget of describing a a case study of a young child who was being violent to others, and the first and only question another student asked being "is this disorder often found in serial killers? cause this sounds like what ive heard abt serial killers" and my jaw fucking dropped. I was wearing a mask so no one really noticed but MY first reaction to the case study was "hey a lot of these behaviors were present in MY BROTHER and while he's doing a lot better i wonder if there's anything i can learn from this study that might help him" and we didn't get even close to that. i didn't need psych classes to be appalled at the way adults think of and treat children, but it was certainly not fun. these things are also deeply personal to me because of my own violent behavior as a child due to an amount of trauma that would easily quadruple the length of this post. luckily for me, my mother had similar experiences and reactions to them, and was able to meet me where I was at and found outlets for energy and stress even before she knew about all of the things that were happening to me. getting into martial arts (and later therapy) was not a cure all but was incredibly effective in stopping me from attacking other children and feel more capable of expressing what i was feeling. I was still a kid so its not like i became perfect lmao but it helped a lot. my mom didn't have the same treatment and to this day will get comments about people who knew her as a child that are "just glad she's not a serial killer" and it very much affects her to this day. i know friends who have been told BY TEACHERS that they seem like they could be a serial killer when they grow up. my uncle, who died by suicide, was the son of a serial killer and his family refused to raise or help him because they were afraid he'd "turn out like his father" of whom he never met due to being born in prison. in turn he was extremely abused by the foster care system and relied on intensely unhealthy coping mechanisms and struggled to raise his children and died as their sole provider and leaving them behind. My brother has also displayed violent behavior and made violent threats to other people and struggled with a lot of things because of that. people frequently express they're glad he's not in prison. i may have clung to specifically the serial killer comments a bit longer than necessary because of personal association, but while it's something i study, it's also deeply close to home, and i know how awful long terms affects can be. while that context is not necessary to know why i care so heavily about this, it does make insensitive off hand comments from my alleged peers cut deep.

SORRY this got tangenty and heavy and complaining abt psych majors is not targeted towards u anon lol its just exhausting to have been around unforgiving teachers and adults and seeing its negative affects on me, my family, and my friends, and then seeing similar mindsets in my generation that claims to want to be better than our predecessors. psych is genuinely interesting to me, and due to my early intervention and good luck with therapists, ive seen what benefits people can glean from experiences with the psychiatric field. unfortunately, ive also seen countless ways its failed countless people, and being able to see the start of harmful thinking in my peers makes it incredibly difficult to be optimistic and also pisses me off lmao. as much as this is my choice of career and it matters to me, there are extremely harmful ideas that make up the foundation of modern (and obviously past) psych and seeing people take this at face value makes me spectacularly miserable. 🫠🫠 but its very nice (and refreshing) to talk to other ppl abt these topics from a shared pov that kids aren't evil. Which sounds so much simpler and more common than it actually is 😮‍💨

[stars-of-kyber]

I just read your newest one-shot "Your favorite things" and absolutely loved it! Could I make a request for a fic? Could you write about Anthony helping Kate deal with post-partum depression after having Edmund?

HELLO!

Gotta be honest here, you got me working like crazy with this prompt. It’s a bit far from my comfort zone and on such a sensitive topic like this, I ended up spending a bunch of time reading about PPD on the internet. But it was great to push myself like this. Thank you.

Actually, like most stuff, it got away from me and started getting pretty long, so I decided to divide it into two chapters. I’m posting the first part now and I’ll finish the second one in the next few days, hopefully. I’ll have it here and on my AO3 account.

Well, I hope I did your request justice and I’d love to hear your opinions on it.

Enjoy!

———————————————————————

Viscountess Kathani Bridgerton loved her son. She really did. Edmund was a lovely little thing, with coppery skin and a shocking amount of chestnut-coloured curly hair and he looked so much like Anthony it was startling. And he cried. A lot. Every single time she’d try to hold him, to be specific. And he refused to latch, he simply did not want her to feed him at all. But she really did love him.

She was just tired all the time, despite the fact she spent her entire day laying in bed, so sore and exhausted. All she seemed to have the disposition to do was take a stroll around the house before retiring back to her chambers. She sometimes would sit with Anthony in the study, watching silently as he worked. Sometimes she’d walk to the kitchen for some biscuits, even if she did not really feel hungry at all. She rarely visited the nursery, though. She did not want to risk sending the baby into another crying fit. But most of the day, she’d spent holed up in the sleeping chambers she shared with her husband, alone, doing absolutely nothing at all.

And yet, when night came, sleep eluded her. She’d toss and turn, her mind refusing to be lulled into the sweet relief of slumber, watching as Anthony’s breath would even out, even if he was a horrible sleeper. Most nights she saw the moon run its course in the sky, climbing steadily before falling down, the red and orange rays of sun dawning in the early morning sky.

And she’d feel hollow. She preserved most of her strength for the daytime when she had callers, mostly just family wanting to see the baby. Mary had stayed with her until a couple of weeks after she gave birth when Kate had insisted she’d go to Edwina, who was having a very complicated beginning of her pregnancy. Mary had not wanted to go, but Kate had insisted. Edwina had no family in Prussia but her husband. She had the entire Bridgerton brood to help her.

Kate enjoyed the people coming and going to visit her and the baby. They kept her distracted, even if it was just sitting with them as they interacted around her in the usual chaotic Bridgerton manner.

The problem was when they left and she was allowed time alone with her thoughts. During those long lonely periods when Anthony was in the Parliament, or working in the office, when she’d sit, the baby sleeping in a basket next to her or taken up to the nursery and Newton by her feet, she felt so completely miserable. During the darkest hours of the night, when she’d stare at the ceiling, her darkest thoughts caused the most ridiculous wind whirl of feelings and she had to get out of bed so Anthony wouldn’t wake up to her crying.

The doctor had assured her it was most common for her to still be having humour oscillations in the first few weeks after childbirth, as the body was still adjusting to a new reality. Yet, two months had come and gone, and the oscillations had turned into a melancholy she couldn’t quite shake. And she knew Anthony had noticed and he worried about her. She could tell by the way he watched her, the purple bags under her eyes more and more pronounced, the way he noticed her food going untouched more often and tried to always have something for her to nimble if she wanted, the way she didn’t spend enough time with their adorable little baby, avoiding the nursery all together if he was awake. But he didn’t pressure her.

Every time she’d get up from bed in the middle of the night, his arms would be waiting for her, ready to tug her back close to him “in his sleep”. He’d fill their silent meals with chatter about his siblings’ antics, his latest bill in the Parliament, a spot of trouble their tenants were having, the last correspondence from his Aunt visiting Lisbon. Anything but the baby. He’d sit behind her in bed, her hairbrush in his hand as he carefully pulled her tangled curls apart as she’d sit in stony silence, staring at a fixed spot on the wall.

And she did not deserve it.

He was the sweetest, most gentle person in the world and she did nothing to warrant it. He had chosen her to share his life with, to be his partner, the mother of his children and she was failing him in every single one of the accounts. She had trouble managing the household and the staff, her mind jumbling around the words as the maid came to her with menus to approve and correspondence to reply. Most days, she couldn’t keep much of a conversation, nothing of note coming to mind as they’d sit together, his voice trying a little desperately to fill the cold silence. She was barely a mother, escaping the presence of their child altogether most of the time, watching him and the baby from afar as he visited the nursery, Anthony being the loving and doting father she’d always known he’d be. She felt guilty. She felt worthless. She was terrified of the moment her husband would realize what a mistake loving her was. Maybe there was a reason she’d always been so sure she’d have no children at all, in the end.

She broke down nine weeks and three days after Edmund was born. The nurse had brought the sleeping baby to her, placing his resting form next to her on the large bed. Even the nurse seemed to understand it was for the best if she only saw him when he was not awake. She longed to touch him, place her hand over his little chest and feel his soft breathing, but she was so, so scared he’d wake and refuse her once again, that he’d start crying. She did not want him to cry. She did not want to feel angry at his little desperate tears. She should not feel mad at her baby because he was crying.

So she sat there, just looking at him, her hands wrapped around each other carefully over her lap. It was how Anthony found her, some forty minutes after the baby had been handed to her. He entered the bedroom, his eyes flickering from her to Edmund. Had he been looking for her? For Edmund? Had he been worried about leaving her alone with the baby? Should he be?

With the softest smile, he placed a tender kiss on her forehead before reaching his hand out to stroke their son’s mane of curly hair.

“Don’t!” She cried in a sharp whisper, her hand closing around his wrist a little desperately. “He’s sleeping.”

Anthony eyed her for a moment before nodding, sitting himself opposite her, the baby between them as they both watched his chest rise and fall with each breath, silence stretching itself into long minutes. Eventually, Edmund began to stir, his little fists opening and closing as his head moved from side to side, making panic swell into her chest, settling there with a vice-like grip, making it difficult to breathe.

“Kate…” Her desperation must have been obvious in her eyes because she could hear the hurt resignation in Anthony’s voice when he called out her name.

“Can you take him back to the nursery?” Her voice was high-pitched, quivering slightly as she pleaded with her eyes for him to understand. “Take him back to the nursery now, please.” The words were harsher than she intended when he didn’t move at first, but Anthony did not look angry, just sad. In a second, he had the wakening baby in his arms, cooing softly as he exited the room with just another worried backward glance at her.

Kate just couldn’t deal with the desperate, sad, despondent looks, with the burning disappointment she just knew he was feeling. She curled up on her side of the bed, her knees pressed tightly to her chest, sobs wracking her body. She heard the door open and close behind her and the shuffling sound of quick footsteps before Anthony’s strong arms pulled her shaking sore body against him, her back to his chest. Her sobs had subsided to a silent stream of tears as his hand caressed her arm soothingly.

“I don’t think I love him.” She confessed miserably, her eyes focused on the curtain closed over the window ahead of her, her voice so low it was barely a whisper, but she knew he had heard her by the way his body stiffened at her words. “I want to but I don’t think I know how.”

Anthony was silent for a very long time as if deciding what to say to her. Would he express her disappointment in her weakness? Would he be angry? Would he tell her she was being ridiculous because every mother should love their child? He didn’t. He didn’t point out her mistakes, or called out her deficiencies or even tried to tell her how she really was feeling.

“I am so sorry you feel this way.” He whispered against her hair. She could hear the way his words seemed pained, his voice catching at the end of the sentence.

“I don’t think he likes me either.” Saying these things out loud, things that previously only belonged to the inside of her head in the dark hours in which her thoughts roamed free, was painful. It felt like admitting to her failures, like accepting they were there, that they were not just some silly ideas in her head. “He cries every time I’m around, and I get angry at his crying, and he cries, even more, the angrier I get. And I feel horrible because I shouldn’t be angry at my own baby, should I?” Kate was thankful for Anthony’s silence as she took a deep breath, willing herself to let the thoughts pour out of her chest. It was easier to do so with her back turned to him but his arms comforting around her, his hands caressing her softly, patiently, the heat of his body enveloping her. “I barely feel like leaving the bed most days. Everything irritates me. No book interests me, I barely wished to touch any food at all the past month and I can’t even sleep. I feel like a horrible mother. Which mother hides from their child all day long? What is wrong with me Anthony?!”

“There is nothing wrong with you. You’re not a horrible mother.” He affirmed into her hair, his tone still gentle but firm now, his heart pounding against her back. “You’re feeling overwhelmed and you need some time to yourself to understand it. My mother…”

“Your mother had just lost your father, the love of her life!” She snapped, her voice harsh, making him flinch. “She was greaving. I have absolutely no reason to be feeling like this.”

“I don’t think you need a reason to feel like this, my love.” He commented quietly, his hand resting on her waist.

“Sometimes, I think…” She forced herself to speak, her eyes closed, the tears leaking from their corners, forming little wet circles where they landed on the sheets. It was her dark, most horrible thought, the one she, herself avoided thinking about at all. In her worst moments, when she was most lonely and desperate it would surface in her mind, leaving her sick and dizzy afterwards. “Wouldn’t it be better if I died when Edmund was little, so he wouldn’t have to remember me at all?”

Anthony swirled her around forcefully, his hands harsher than they’d ever been, until she was face to face with him, chest to chest, his eyes a little wild as he stared down at her.

“There is absolutely no reality in which you leaving us could be better, Kate. You must understand that. Please. I cannot do this without you.”

She could see the pained tears forming in his desperate eyes, his face just a couple of inches from his, his breaths shallow. He gathered her in his arms as she dimly noticed her entire body shaking. Her breaths were raggedy and fast as the tears washed her face harder than before.

“I’m sorry.” She sobbed against his shirt. “I don’t know why I am like this. Most of the time I am horrified at the idea, but some moments I just feel so miserable and…” She needed to stop speaking to be able to catch her breath. “It makes me feel sick, thinking about it. It only comes to me when I am too overwhelmed. I don’t understand it. I don’t know why I feel like this. I’m sorry.” The silence took over the room, only her harsh breathing echoing in the walls. He held her close, his face on her hair and his arms wrapped tightly around her as if he was afraid she’d vanish in a moment. His hands were trembling lightly around her back.

“After my father died…” He began, speaking the words in a hushed whisper into her curls. “My mother barely left the bed. My siblings were destroyed. Eloise would scream herself hoarse every night. Francesca simply stopped speaking for four months. Greg was so little, he didn’t understand. He kept asking for Father. And I couldn’t feel anything at all. It was like my entire body was numb. I would go through my day because I had no other choice. My siblings needed me. The estate needed me. It felt like I would never feel anything ever again. I couldn’t even bring myself to cry.” He spoke methodically as if he had been nothing but a spectator on it all like he was recounting someone else’s feelings. “I used to wish it was me instead of Father.”

“And how did you make it stop?” His brow furrowed as if it was the first time he’d ever stopped to think about it before he shrugged.

“I don’t know.” She watched him as he tried to puzzle out what had happened in the months after his father passed when he’d taken over all the responsibilities that should not have been his. It was a topic they had discussed many times before, but every time there was some side of their loss that seemed new. “I remember sitting with Hyacinth one night when she wouldn’t sleep some eight months after he died. I think Eloise was there as well. She was barely sleeping at all at the time, El. I was tired. It was close to the harvest and there was so much work to do. And Hyacinth would wake and only settle with me. So I’d take her to the office. We were sharing a glass of warm milk, I think. You know Hy, she could never stay still for long, not even as a baby. She managed to hit it and drop the entire thing on me. Not a drop on her, even if she was on my lap. She let out these big adorable baby giggles. Then I looked at Eloise, she looked shocked for a moment. I thought she might cry, her face was all red, her eyes huge, and then she surprised me. She started laughing so hard she could barely breathe. I think it was the first time I heard her laugh aloud since father passed.” Kate gently ran her fingers on his cheek, wiping away the lone tear that he had barely seemed to notice that had escaped. “Eloise started laughing and I felt so… relieved. Because Eloise would be okay. And so would Hyacinth and Greg and the others. I ended up laughing with them, completely covered in warm milk, in the middle of the night in the office.” He took a deep breath, his eyes finally drifting down to her face, watching her with so much tenderness it had Kate’s eyes watering all over again. “I think this was the moment I realized that things would be alright. It would never go back to what it was before. Not without my father. But that… hollowness? That would eventually go away.” He cleared his throat, pressing a loving, soothing kiss to her forehead. “It will go away, Kate. It will pass.” He whispered into her skin, his words burning into her, settling deep into her heart. “No matter what, my love, you’ll still have me. You’ll always have me, Kathani Bridgerton.”

“Thank you.” She whispered into his shirt, closing her eyes and allowing the scent of her husband to surround her, his warmth soothing away her tears. She was not exactly well, but pushing her feelings out of her chest, having them out in the open, raw and painful for him to see, seemed to make her entire body lighter, as if a weight had been lifted from her.

She was not close to being better. She suspected that it might be a long and hard way before she’d be back to herself, if she ever truly would.

The feeling of guilt and shame still swirled on her chest, but something else was there, blossoming as a flower coming back to life during the spring. Anthony loved her. Anthony understood. He might be frustrated, worried and hurting by seeing her like that. But he would never desert her.

And there, with her husband’s hand on her back, his caring words, his easy reassurances, she felt less alone.

And well, that in itself was a step forward, was it not?

Send me a pairing and a number and I'll write you a drabble.

[iridawn]

Time Keeps On Slipping

wahoo new jewel box lite entry! honestly i was gonna write more of chapter 9 of SBS/edit chapter 8 of BFS but i kinda got into a funky headspace and i dunno if ive got it in me RIGHT right now. maybe a bit later.

i decided to kinda wind myself down by writing something cute and rough. it's not really anything crazy or super concrete, i just thought of the concept and wanted to put make it. so now im sharing it! its not perfect, but eh, sometimes you just wanna write something a bit imperfect. it's fun

dawn gets a lil too focused on taking notes and studying her matches, so irida comes in and helps her snap out of it, so to speak

“Dawn?”

Dawn shot up in her seat, as she didn’t realize how slouched she was. Dawn was engulfed in taking notes - she was studying some previous matches from the last Champion Summit again. It was something she felt helped a lot, honestly.

She had really given her all in these ones, but she really wanted to crack the code on what went wrong, what she could do better, the works. Analyzing her own choices, everything that happened, would give her a better idea of what to focus on in the future.

Dawn had even been studying the matches of her opponents, who they faced, the works. She was making as many detailed notes as she could. And so, she had kind of tucked herself away in the spare room that was mostly just used as a room for whenever Dawn needed to crack down and study her matches. She had her laptop set up, her rather large notebook that she kept notes like this in, the works. And she had been working away for quite some time.

Irida, now, stood in the doorway to that room, staring at her with an expression that was a mixture of concern and seriousness.

“Wha?” Dawn blinked for a second, before shaking her head and easing into a smile. “Oh, Irida. What’s up?”

“I just wanted to check in, since I had been out today, but… How long have you been at that?”

“…A ‘lil bit, I guess.” Dawn tried to think about how much time had passed, but it really had been a while. She scratched her head, but it really had been a while now. “I haven’t kept too much track of the time, admittedly. Let me see…”

She started bright and early at 8:30, knowing that this process could take a while (especially with how thorough she was), but lost track of time as she got invested into it. Taking out her phone, Dawn looked at the time. It was now…

Her eyes widened. “Uhhh…”

It was 8:30 PM. As in it had been twelve hours.

“…Guess it’s been a bit, heh.” Dawn grinned nervously as she recognized the time. “Sorry about that. You know I get invested into this…”

Irida nodded. “That I do, but… did you eat, Dawn?”

She felt nervous once more. “…I had a light snack earlier, does that count?”

Irida’s worried expression only grew. That was a no, she assumed. Dawn gave a small, defeated grumble as she rubbed the back of her head.

“…I just gotta do a bit more, really. Then I’ll stop. I just want to make sure I understand everything I did, and it’s not like I’m all that beat up about it, cause I did great. It’s just important to study, and-“

Dawn was interrupted by a very loud sigh as Irida came over, and without warning, effortlessly picked Dawn up off the chair and scooped her into a princess carry. “Hey!!!!!!!”

“…You’re surprisingly easy to pick up.” She looked surprised by the fact.

Dawn rolled her eyes. “Not all of us trained with Gaeric, y’know.”

A light giggle came out of Irida. “Well, that’s true. But still, you need to rest.”

Irida carried Dawn, who truthfully, didn’t resist much. She did feel very embarrassed at the situation, but part of it was kind of romantic, with Irida literally sweeping her off her feet and carrying her like this. That seemed to distract her enough, really.

Irida brought Dawn up to their room before putting her into the bed and under the covers.

Suddenly, every single feeling of exhaustion Dawn had seemingly been suppressing hit her all at once, now that she was actually lying down.

“Ooooohhhhhh…” Dawn sunk into the bed, her entire body practically becoming motionless. Irida gave a light laugh as she slipped into bed besides Dawn, snuggling up nice and close.

“I know you can get absorbed in that, is all. Believe me, Dawn. I’ve been there before. But it’s important to take care of yourself, too.”

Dawn smiled weakly, wrapping her arms around Irida. “Yeah, I just… tend to fixate on it, I guess. I’m always bad at following my own advice, heh.”

“I’m always happy to help you remember it, then.” Irida gave Dawn a soft kiss on the cheek. “After all, I want my shooting star to be as happy and healthy as she can be.”

Letting out a happy sigh, Dawn closed her eyes, nuzzling her head onto Irida’s shoulder. “And I’m very thankful my shining pearl is as sweet as she is. I love you, Irida…”

Irida planted a light kiss on the top of her head. “I love you too, Dawn.”

Dawn was grateful for Irida bringing herself back down to Earth, so to speak. It was very easy for her to get incredibly lost in what she was doing, and she knew it was easy for Irida to do the same. After all, she’d do something similar whenever Irida would get lost in her own worries back in Hisui, or anything like that, really. It was nice that Irida was able to do the same thing for her.

They enjoyed the soft embrace for a few seconds, before a small realization hit Dawn.

“…you think there’s any places open for food? I’d make something, but…”

Irida giggled as Dawn looked up at her. “Well, I figured we could place an order very soon. I think with how hard you’ve worked, you deserve something nice. Not like I’d know where to go, anyway…” Irida snuggled in closer. “But I’d rather cuddle for a few minutes, first. I haven’t gotten to do this all day…”

“Heh. Fair enough.”

And so, they enjoyed the warmth of one another, with Dawn feeling very grateful (and very, very tired). The two would worry about ordering something later - they just wanted to enjoy this embrace, with Dawn truly happy she fell in love with someone so amazing and supportive.

It was just nice, really. And she appreciated that.

(The two, later, ordered a simple pizza from one of Dawn's favorite places. After all, she had worked very hard today. She deserved a nice treat.)

[lindsaywesker]

Good morning! I hope you slept well and feel rested? Currently sitting at my desk, in my study, attired only in my blue towelling robe, enjoying my first cuppa of the day. Welcome to Throwback Thursday!

On this page, ‘Throwback Thursday’ is all about memories. So, what do you remember? If I was to say the word MOTIVATION what immediately comes to mind?

The word ‘motivation’ came to me at 4.00 p.m. yesterday. After three days of teaching, 4.00 marked the end of three days on campus. Today and tomorrow, I can work from home. At 4.00 yesterday, I was like, “If I can just get to 4.00 on Wednesday in one piece, my reward is virtually a four-day weekend.” It might not seem like much, and I will have Zoom calls later in the month, but it still feels like a four-day weekend. Oh, yes! I am motivated! Keep it clean and tidy Monday through Wednesday, and the four-day weekend awaits! I just need to keep myself healthy. Those three days on campus are exhausting. Early to bed. Make sure my immune system can fight off anything.

In the past, my motivation has been personal pride and not wanting to appear flakey. If you tell people you’re writing a novel, you can’t say that forever, you have to finish it! If you keep telling people you’re writing it and you’re still saying that two years later, you just look like a shaper. You can’t talk about it and not deliver it. So, that has definitely been my motivation. I didn’t want to take a shame! And you know what it’s like; some people are talkers. They talk and talk but never do anything and, on the flipside, you’ve got the do-ers. People say to me, “How did you find time to write three novels?” I made time. I made damn sure I made time. I don’t want to be a talker, I want to be a do-er. So, maintaining my reputation has always been a driving force. I might be a crap husband but I’m not a flake. I never want to be thought of as a flake. I think we all know more than one or two of them!

So, on this Throwback Thursday, what kind of memories, thoughts or emotions does the word MOTIVATION conjure up for you? What MOTIVATES you?

A 13-year-old schoolboy told police 'looks like I've got my first kill' after running over a grandmother in her own car, a court heard, as he admitted causing death by dangerous driving. Marcia Grant, 60, died outside her home after being hit by the vehicle, operated by the knife-wielding youngster. The boy, who was 12 at the time of the incident in the Greenhill area of Sheffield in April and cannot be named for legal reasons, was due to go on trial this week accused of murder. Just think about those words, “Looks like I’ve got my first kill.” Was this gang initiation? Or is this ‘Call Of Duty’ language? For many of these kids, a human being is just part of their game. If the human being dies, it doesn’t matter; it’s a notch on their belt, it’s a feather in their cap, it’s a ‘kill’, as if they are the hunters and we are their prey. This boy had no thought for her, no thought for her kids and her grandkids. She was merely part of his sick, twisted world, but how many other kids in Greenhill are caught up in this game? The police need to find out before another worthless, godless, no-neck toe-rag murders another innocent person.

Have a throbbing and thrusting Thursday (with hopefully a few thrills through your thoroughfare?) I love you all.

[foxymoxynoona]

Hellooo good morning/night/afternoon! I got the email for flux this morning and my plan was to get up and study but no! I spent the whole morning reading cause that chapter was so loooong and that made me sooooo happy🥰 thank you 언니! No worries, I studied anyway eventually😫.

Okay so the feeling of stress from the events of last chapter is definitely still lingering. As soon as I started it I was like “oh god she has to do it all again💀💀💀” but it actually got better gradually! Tbh my feelings of uneasiness are mainly because of the whole foreigner thing. Based on what I gathered some Koreans actually make a big deal out of dating a foreigner and that just… I mean do each their own but it’s a bit stressing because it doesn’t feel like it’s coming from a place of curiosity most of the times🙁. But that’s probably why Sasha is stressing the fuck out too! Terrified of mortally offending somebody because she comes from a totally different background.

And talking about background! Eomma was determined to get to know in 5 minutes what us readers (and dear jk) got to know in 2 books, almost two years, more than a million words and many tears. Honestly it was so amazing to read about what’s going on in Sasha’s mind when she’s in this kinds of triggering situations. To read (once again) about how she sees the world, how she would randomly think of her sister, whether she lived or not, and witness that thought coming out of nowhere all of a sudden was so intense and real. That’s stupid lol but idk that part really got me! Makes you think of how many things she actually has to deal with on a daily basis.

Apart from the questions, I was so happy to see eomma warming up to Sasha! When jk told her to “be the mom she never had” I know for a fact eomma was right there with him. She was like “alright daughter! Come here and cut potatoes”. Basically like saying I love you🥰❤️. Can’t wait to see what else is there for them! And little Misuk too! She was so cute, PLEASE GO HUG SASHA FOR ME!😭

PS. the Russian thing about childbirth! 10 children!! It was removed this year??😶 when I was reading about it definitely sounded like something older. I think Italy had something similar during fascism, like families being exempted from taxation if they had more than 6/7 children. And they also had the help of the church that helped in banning contraception! What else could go wrong?🤡

PPS. This, right here foxy, I’m not forgiving you for editing this chapter and still leaving it in:

“The countdown for Jin-hyung’s enlistment was on and still no word of exemptions.”

DON’T. YOU CAN’T SAY THIS. APOLOGIZE WITH TEARS. RIGHT NOW.

(So this is long, as usual… Sorry?😭)

🌸

"“oh god she has to do it all again💀💀💀”" yeah this is how I keep feeling for her too haha. It's why I felt like I wanted to take the chapters as needed to go through it all slowly so we're right there in this experience wiht her, really feeling how exhausting it is. It's so exhausting!!

Eomma will continue to be a lot of fun to develop and explore, that relationship between them won't necessarily be quick and easy (though nothing like The Mother in Lowlander haha) but it's SUCH an important one in the series. She definitely wanted to use to use Mother-in-law privilege and see what info she could get haha. She probably figures too that Jungkook may just not have asked/pressed much. She knows her son!

As for the Mother Heroine thing, from what I found in research is was active from the Soviet times until like the early 90s, and then it turned into just a title and medal for 7 kids but no money attached to it. But then this year they bumped it back up to 10 and put the money back on it. The disclaimer is so fucked up though: you get the payout on the first birthday of your tenth child as long as the other nine are either all alive or died in specifically sanctioned ways (like in the military.) CRAZY. Trying to avoid exactly what happened with Sasha's family though ooooops.

As for enlistment... I think a part of me had hoped that if I wrote it one way (assuming excemptions didn't come through) the opposite would happen IRL. Oops. :(