#And buddy will probably try to eat the shoe lace things on the front

[freebooter4ever]

I can promise you that if i show up at my friend's door wearing that jersey they will laugh for so long they will make me late \o/

[sisterspooky1013]

Only One Choice, Part 2, Chapter 12

Read it here on AO3 / Tagging @today-in-fic

He’s surprised how nervous he feels knocking on her door. This is far from their first date and, while not exactly planned, he’s already stayed the night at her place. But this date feels significant to him, and perhaps what he’s nervous about is how she’ll react to what he has planned. He takes a moment to pull in a deep breath, tugging at the hem of his T-shirt, but when she opens the door all his nerves subside.

She’s wearing jeans and a pink tank top that has thin straps and is relatively low cut, a small bow pinned to the center right above her breasts. Over it, she has on a black cardigan worn open, her hair down and a little mussed. She smiles warmly and his heart lurches.

“Hi,” she says, and steps forward, pushing on to her tip toes and placing a hand on his shoulder so she can kiss him. Is this the first time she’s been the one to initiate the kiss? He thinks it might be, and it makes his knees wobble.

“You look beautiful,” he says, openly dragging his eyes over her, feeling grateful that he doesn’t have to hide it.

“Well, after the other day I’m sure anything is an improvement,” she comments self-deprecatingly.

He cups her chin in his hand, tilting her face up to look at his. “You are always beautiful. You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen in my life.”

She scoffs and looks away.

“You don’t have to try that hard, Mulder. You were already gonna get lucky,” she says playfully, pushing past him into the hallway.

He stands there for a moment, stunned by her candor and wondering what that means. Does that mean she wants to have sex? Or is she just referring to what they’ve already been doing?

“You coming?” she asks, and he snaps himself out of it, stepping into the hall so she can lock the door behind them. “Where are we going?” she asks, slipping her hand into his.

He has half a mind to ask if they should just spend the evening on her couch, but he resists.

“You’ll see,” he says with a smile, and gives her hand a squeeze.

When they park outside the Queen Vic she gives him a curious little glance, but doesn’t say anything. In the lobby, he leans in to ask the host for a particular table, speaking softly so she can't hear him. When the host leads them to the same table they’d sat at the last time they were here nearly a year ago, she smiles broadly, but again makes no comment. She orders the same IPA, and they both get fish and chips. So much is the same, and yet it’s so different; her foot hooked around his ankle under the table, the times she reaches out to touch his hand, the unabashed way she beams at him, laughing at his jokes and peeking at him from underneath her eyelashes. They drink, and eat, and talk. They talk about their childhoods and their teenage rebellions, she tells him how she gets through particularly rough autopsies and he tells her about the Gunmen and how they keep asking to meet her. It’s so easy between them, and so right, as it always has been. But now, his heart fills to bursting knowing that they can see this thing through, that he will later get to kiss that little mole above her lip that she tries to cover with makeup, feel her perfectly manicured fingernails scrape against his scalp. There’s so much more to learn about her, but he knows he will. They have another chance, and it makes him feel like he could cry just thinking about it.

After dinner, he drives them down to the wharf and they get ice cream cones from a little stand by the water; she picks cookies and cream and he opts for rocky road. They walk along the boardwalk hand in hand as the sun eases its way towards the horizon.

“Are you going to maintain control of your ice cream cone this time?” she asks with a smirk, the first mention she’s made of the fact that he’s replicating their first date.

“Well, a lot has changed since last time, however the fact that I can’t take my eyes off of you isn’t one of them, so the ice cream cone is still at risk,” he retorts, rotating his cone dramatically for effect.

She laughs, the sweetest sound he has ever or will ever hear, and he pulls her over to the rail that separates the walk from the water. She leans her back against it and he bends down to kiss her, holding his ice cream off to the side. She tastes sweet, her lips slightly chilled, and the kiss devolves into lapping tongues and soft moans unexpectedly quickly.

She puts her free hand on his chest and pushes gently until he pulls back, then smiles dreamily up at him, licking her lips.

“Should I expect an after-hours baseball session?” she asks coyly, and he frowns.

“No, sorry. Byers, that’s my buddy who got the keys last time, said there’s a private event going on there tonight,” he says regretfully.

“Oh, thank god,” she says with a relieved sigh, and he quirks his head at her quizzically. “The only thing I enjoyed about that, Mulder, was you pressing your body against mine, and now we can do that whenever we want, no batting practice facades necessary,” she says with a smile.

“That does sound a lot more fun than baseball,” he replies huskily, “and I really like baseball, Scully.”

“I know you do,” she says in a syrupy voice before she captures his bottom lip between her teeth.

“Are you done with your ice cream?” he asks, and she looks at her half-eaten cone before giving him a determined stare and nodding her head.

He squirms in his seat on the way back to her apartment, stealing glances at her across the console intermittently. She seems perfectly calm and not at all affected, and he wonders if he’s misreading the situation. His cock jumps a little, threatening to spread into a full fledged erection every time he lets his mind wander to what might happen next. He suddenly wonders if he should have brought a condom, but then assumes she probably has them. But what if she doesn’t? It’ll be fine, they don’t have to have sex tonight. But he’d really, really like to. It’s not until they are parked outside her building that it occurs to him that she hasn’t actually invited him up and, not wanting to be presumptuous, he doesn’t ask.

———

Mulder seems jumpy, nervous even, and she finds it mildly entertaining. She’s been toying with the idea of sleeping with him, but ultimately decided to just let things unfold how they would; he’s already clearly demonstrated his skill in the area of foreplay so she can be sure to have a good time whether or not sex is part of it. They pull up in front of her building and he sits there with the engine running, looking at her apprehensively. She smiles, and decides not to mess with him.

“You wanna come up?” she asks plainly, and he lets out a huge exhale.

“Absofuckinglutely,” he says, unbuckling his seat belt and killing the engine.

They make their way into her apartment, Mulder still acting awkward and uncomfortable, and she thinks that maybe should mess with him just a little.

“Make yourself at home,” she says, draping her purse over the back of a chair and kicking off her shoes, “I’ll be right back.”

He nods and sits on the couch, and she ducks into the bathroom. She’d worn a decently cute bra and panty set, but not the kind that can be classified as lingerie. After emptying her bladder and freshening up a bit, she sneaks into her bedroom and changes into a red lace thong and matching bra. She considers herself in the mirror, debating whether she should put the clothes she was wearing back on, or something else.

“Hey Scully?” She hears Mulder call through the crack in the open door.

“Yeah?”

“Do you want to watch a movie?”

Her mouth quirks, an idea taking shape.

“What?” she says in response, brushing her palms over her bare hips.

“Do you want me to put a movie on?” he repeats.

“I can’t hear you, Mulder, can you come in here?”

Her heart starts up a steady thrum of excitement, but she keeps her demeanor calm, watching her reflection and smiling at herself.

She hears the door open behind her.

“I was wondering if you wa-” he begins, then stops abruptly.

She can’t see him from this angle and she waits a beat before looking back over her shoulder. He still has his hand on the doorknob, his mouth hanging open mid sentence and his eyes hooded with desire. She glances down and sees him growing stiff under his jeans, the knowledge setting off a throb between her legs. She turns to face him, slowly crossing the room and threading her arms around his waist. As soon as they make contact, he puts his hands firmly on her hips and slides them down to cup her bare ass cheeks with a little groan.

“Do you want to watch a movie, Mulder?” she asks rhetorically, flexing her pelvis against him.

He shakes his head, stooping to lift her off the floor before he walks them over to her bed. Setting her down gently in the middle, he moves to hover over her and she bends her leg, planting a foot in the middle of his chest.

“You’re wearing way too much clothing,” she observes, then watches him as he strips off his shirt and jeans, standing before her in black boxer briefs. She hasn’t had a chance to really see his body yet and she sighs as she takes in his firm yet slim torso, muscular but not bulky. Her eyes wander down further to where his erection tents the fabric of his boxers, and she smiles. “You look good without clothes on,” she says softly, and he smirks self-consciously. She almost asks him to take the boxers off too, but decides not to deprive herself of the opportunity to do so, so she motions for him to join her on the bed instead.

He carefully crawls up beside her, lying on his side while she remains on her back. He reaches out tentatively to brush his palm over her belly, his eyes poring over every bit of skin he can see until they rest on her face. They hold eye contact for a beat and she reaches up to touch his neck, inviting him to kiss her. They start slowly, softly, and he trails from her lips to her cheek, down her neck until he’s dipping his tongue into the space between her breasts. His hands trace along the hem of her panties, brushing up over her knees and back down the inside of her thigh. His touch is soft and exploratory, igniting nerve endings and building anticipation for a firmer touch in a more exciting place. It’s a slow burn and she is happy to let him take his time.

He slips the tips of his fingers just beneath the hem of her panties and slides them back and forth from hip to hip.

“Can I take these off?” he asks, his teeth grazing her hardened nipple through her bra.

“Mmm, yes,” she answers.

He sits up and peels her panties slowly down her legs; the damp gusset is easily visible against the red fabric and she’s only had them on for about five minutes. When he reaches her feet, he plucks them off her ankles and bunches the fabric up in his palm, pressing it to his nose briefly before tossing it on the floor. She gives him a surprised smile but recognizes that even if she finds it a bit odd intellectually, it does turn her on.

He returns to his spot beside her and she rolls onto her side so that they are facing each other.

“Can I get some help here?” she asks in mock incompetence, tugging at the strap of her bra.

“Of course,” he answers in mock seriousness, reaching behind her to deftly unhook the band and watching as the cups slide away from her breasts.

He helps her pull the straps free of her arms, then sighs as he looks over her naked form.

“You look fucking amazing without clothes on,” he says, full of awe.

“Thank you,” she replies, tilting towards him until he has rolled onto his back, then hitching a leg over his hip, straddles him. Sitting fully nude on his lap, his erection pressing into her ass as he stares up at her with lustful eyes makes her feel like a goddess, like Aphrodite at the altar. She brings her hands up to gently cup her breasts and he groans, his fingers flexing against her thighs.

“Scoot up,” he commands, and she gives him a questioning look but does it, now planted on his chest with his sparse hairs tickling her damp lips.

“More,” he says, in an equally authoritative tone. Normally she wouldn't appreciate being ordered around like this, but the look on his face makes her want to comply.

She shifts her weight to her knees, preparing to scoot just a touch higher, when he threads his arms under her thighs and slides down, pressing his face into her vulva.

“Oh god!” she startles, totally caught off guard, and reaches one hand out to steady herself on the headboard.

For a moment she just perches there, out of her element as Mulder begins to flick his tongue across her clit before dragging it up and down over her lips. This isn’t something she’s ever done before and while it doesn’t feel bad, it doesn’t necessarily feel good, either; it’s hard to relax while holding herself up over him.

As if reading her mind, Mulder wraps his palms around the tops of her thighs and pulls her down hard until she is fully sitting on him, her weight no longer her own to support. She’s afraid she’s suffocating or hurting him, but then he starts humming and moaning against her like he’s enjoying the most delicious meal of his life and she realizes that this is exactly what he wanted; to be suffocated by her pussy. She leans forward and rests her head against her forearm, further relaxing and acclimating to the position.

Unlike the flicking and licking sensations of the typical position for cunnilingus, this affords more pressure and area of contact. Something, must be his tongue, is probing at her opening, flexing against her walls deliciously, while something else, perhaps teeth, scrapes gently against her clit. The more she relaxes into it, the better it feels, and the heavier she sits on him, the more he groans and sucks at her. She feels a slight rhythmic jostling and glances back to see that he’s freed his turgid hard-on from his boxers and is pumping up and down vigorously, and the image pushes her close to the edge. She drops her head back onto her arm and starts flexing her hips against his face, putting the pressure right where she wants it to be, and feels the tingle of an impending orgasm building in her toes. The more she moves and flexes against him, the more he moans and the harder he pumps, and the more she can tell that he is clearly getting off on this, the more turned on she becomes. The cycle builds and builds until it crests, the gathering pleasure bursting all at once as she comes hard against his mouth, his tongue tucked snugly inside her as she pulses around it, coming undone. Soon enough he cries out and she feels his cum spurt hot on her back, running down over her ass and pooling on his sternum.

As her own orgasm subsides, she suddenly feels like she’s made of jelly and slumps to the side, cringing in realization that the cum on her back is now on her comforter. She looks over at Mulder, his chin glistening as he breathes heavily, his eyes on the ceiling. She looks down at his spent cock, shrinking away from the pool of liquid it left behind.

“Well,” she says, “that was...different.”

He turns his head to the side and gives her a lopsided smile. “Was it?”

She shrugs. “That was a first for me,” she says shyly, feeling silly.

“Oh,” he says, clearly a little surprised but not unpleasantly so. “Well, what’d ya think?” he asks with an expectant look.

“Uh, it was...it was terrible, honestly,” she says, feigning a very business-like tone. “I hated it.”

He gives her a cheeky smile. “Oh, you did?”

She nods with a matter-of-fact look on her face.

“Do you normally come that hard when you hate things?” he asks curiously.

She grins at him then, done with the joke, and he grins back.

“Let me get you a towel,” he says, rolling off the bed carefully to contain the mess.

“And they say chivalry is dead,” she retorts, earning a chuckle.

After they have cleaned and re-dressed, they do end up watching a movie. She falls asleep halfway through, the comfort of his large frame wrapped around her making her feel so safe she can’t help but drift off. This time, she invites him to stay the night, and is delighted to find him wrapped around her again when she wakes in the morning.

[olivinesea]

Wait on the Sun

a/n: hello! It’s been forever, I had to turn my brain off for a hot second but I’m back, ready to roll. Some implied/referenced abuse but it’s vague.

Tadpoles are turning into frogs; or Aaron & Sean spend a day at the river. ~4.4k

He was running. He’s not sure where he’s running to but his breathing tastes like blood and he can feel the menacing presence chasing him gaining ground. He can’t quite hear its approach but the fear of it grips his heart like a vice.

He knows he can’t stop running.

If he stops he will be caught and pulled into the vortex of fury he feels close on his heels. Sweat rolls into his eyes, blurring his vision and he misses his step, ankle rolling and knees giving out. He crashes hard onto his palms and knees, feeling the skin ripping away on impact. Whatever or whoever has been chasing him closes the remaining distance between them. He hears whistling as something large and heavy cuts through the air, aimed at his helpless form. He opens his mouth, sucking in air to scream in fear and frustration, caught once again.

*

A small hand patted his cheek insistently, his name whined in concern. His eyes flew open as the strangled scream died on his lips. He blinked rapidly, bringing Sean into focus, standing right beside Aaron’s bed, small eyebrows drawn together.

“Aaron?” he repeated, worried.

He closed his eyes, inhaling through his nose, noticing that the air still seemed to drag through overexerted lungs. “It’s okay, Sean,” his voice was raspy and faint. He felt lightheaded but ignored that to push himself upright, sliding his legs over the edge of the bed. Sean pressed his small body against his side, leaning into him, seeking comfort for them both. Aaron wrapped one arm around his little brother’s bony shoulders and used the other hand to rub the remaining sleep from his eyes. He felt as drained as if he hadn’t slept at all. With dreams like that one a common occurrence, it was rare that he got any meaningful rest at night. It left him a little dazed, a little slow during the day. If anyone noticed they thought he was being sullen. He found he didn’t mind what they thought as long as they didn’t ask questions. His shirt stuck to his skin with sweat from the nightmare and the hot, humid air that hung thick from the moment summer began. Sean twisted to look up at him, bottom lip sucked in between his teeth.

“‘m hungry,” he said.

Aaron let out a soft laugh, more exhale than laughter. Sean was always hungry. This didn’t bother Aaron, in fact it was the opposite. He took pride in caring for his brother, watching how he grew bigger year to year, hitting all the appropriate milestones for a kid his age. Rather than feel resentment at the contrast in their childhoods, he felt a desperation for Sean’s to be perfect, for him to have everything he needed and more. He was relieved at Sean’s lack of hesitation to state his needs, to assert his presence in the world.

“Go put on some clothes and I’ll make you breakfast,” he said, giving Sean a gentle push between the shoulder blades, pointing him towards the doorway. Once Sean was out of sight, he carefully peeled off his shirt to exchange it for a clean one. He hesitated, it was far too hot for long sleeves, even for him with his perpetually chilled skin. The summer air was more than just hot, it was heavy and it pressed close against him. He glanced down at himself, taking a quick inventory. There wasn’t much to worry about, nothing he couldn’t explain away with a shrug and a vague comment about clumsiness. Besides, he didn’t plan on seeing anyone today anyway. He put on a loose t-shirt and some old jeans he’d cut off at the knees.

Sean was already waiting for him in the hallway, his pale blue dinosaur shirt on backwards and a grin on his face. “I want pancakes,” he said in his chirpy child’s voice. Aaron reached down a hand to ruffle his hair but glanced at their parents’ closed door.

“C’mon you,” he said quietly, steering him to the staircase. He strained his ears but didn’t hear  any sounds of movement. If he was lucky it would be awhile before either of them made an appearance.

Once downstairs he pulled a bowl and cereal out of the cupboard and milk from the fridge. Climbing into a chair, Sean whined a little. He really wanted pancakes. But it was far too hot to be cooking anything plus Aaron didn’t want to risk the mess that came with the production of pancakes. He set a bowl of sugary cereal in front of Sean and tried to encourage him to eat it by pretending to steal a bite. When Sean just sat and pouted at him, he chewed on the corner of his lip, trying to think of what else he could offer that wouldn’t be loud or messy.

He returned to the fridge and found a package of raspberries. Sean kept his eyes on Aaron’s back as he busied himself with something on the counter, out of sight. Aaron turned around and approached the table, hands behind his back. Sean watched him, spoon in one hand, eyes narrowed. Aaron had the slightest smile on his face, just the corner of his mouth quirked up. Once he was within reach of Sean he swung his hands in front of him, wiggling his fingers in Sean’s face. His surprised giggle was the sweetest sound, breath catching as his eyes scrunched up. He grabbed one of Aaron’s hands with both of his own, pulling it close in order to bite off one of the raspberries, not being particularly careful about sparing Aaron’s fingers in the process.

“Hey!” he snatched his hand back from the ferocious five year old. “I need those.” He then slid the remaining raspberries on top of Sean’s cereal, popping the last one in his mouth. The fruit juice woke up his stomach, which growled around its emptiness. He glanced briefly at the bowl of cereal Sean was now happily crunching through, wistful for a moment, almost tasting the competing soft and crispy textures, the overly sweetened milk. He debated getting some for himself, maybe just a small bowl. He rubbed his fingers together as he thought, weighing the risks of indulging his craving, giving in and eating something that was expressly not for him.

Sean looked up at him smiling around the spoon in his mouth. “Can I have some more?”

Aaron laughed, “That’s probably enough sugar for you. It’s not even nine a.m., kid.”

Sean pursed his lips, prepared to argue his case, filled with promises of good behavior and doing exactly as he was told all day. Aaron had heard it all before. The kid could never overcome the sugar rush, no matter his sincerest intentions.

“I’ll make you a sandwich. Drink your milk.”

Aaron was in the middle of slathering bread with peanut butter when a loud crash came from upstairs. He looked up startled, then over to Sean who had been pretending to be a cat as he lapped at the milk in his bowl. He looked up at Aaron, milk on his chin, expression curious, unsure.

“Go put on your shoes,” Aaron said in a low voice. He anxiously wrapped up the sandwich as Sean disappeared into the washroom behind the kitchen. He put everything away, making it seem as if they were never there. Straining his ears, he thought he could hear the muffled sound of voices. He closed his eyes, willing himself to keep moving, he didn’t need to listen to know what sort of conversations were being had.

He found Sean fumbling to tie his shoelaces, still a little too uncoordinated to be successful. Aaron shoved his feet in his own sneakers, not bothering to untie them, heels folded under his feet. He handed Sean the sandwich and knelt down to quickly arrange the uncooperative laces.

“I can do it myself!” Sean protested but Aaron shook his head, still listening to assess whether anyone was coming down the stairs. He’d fallen asleep to the bitter sound of his mother crying and he didn’t want Sean to see whatever might emerge from their bedroom first thing in the morning.

“Let’s go,” he stood up and pushed Sean gently towards the back door in the same motion. He closed the door softly behind them, eyes lingering on the little bit of the interior he could see through the window. Turning around, he saw that Sean had wandered off into the open space beyond the house. He was looking closely at the ground as he walked, searching for treasures only perceptible to young children. Aaron jogged to catch up with him, shoes slapping against his heels. He wiped a hand across his forehead where sweat beaded already. He was worried Sean would ask questions, would wonder at the connection between the sounds from upstairs and their swift exit. But when he looked up, his childlike features round and open, there was no trace of worry. His cheeks were flushed in the heat and his shirt was sticking to him. He shifted his shoulders, trying to adjust the fabric so it didn’t cling and looked longingly back at the house.

“It’s too hot out here,” he was trying not to whine but the heat was truly unbearable. It hadn’t been much better inside, the air still and oppressive, but at least there hadn’t been the sun glaring directly down on them.

“I know, buddy,” Aaron was sympathetic. He also wished for somewhere cool and safe but he knew they wouldn’t find that inside that house. “Let’s go to the river.”

Sean brightened, immediately launching into a list of things he wanted to look for along the water. He started moving again, more purposefully, brushing his fingers along the tops of the tall grass that covered the field. Aaron walked beside him, half listening to his elaborate plans, half of his attention taken with calculating how long he could keep Sean out of the house. The summer came with far more problems than he liked. It would be a surprise to learn that someone so young had such an ambivalent view of the season most children anticipated with restless excitement—the chance to be free of rules and routine for a few endless weeks. To allow their thoughts and feet to wander in ways they didn’t have time for the rest of the year.

But to Aaron, all that unstructured time only increased the instability in the foundation of his existence. Nowhere to be meant nowhere to hide, no routine meant more opportunities to accidentally cross paths with his father. And now, since Sean had gotten old enough to be more independent, unafraid to be away from his mother’s side, Aaron felt it was his responsibility to make sure he stayed out of harm’s way. Keeping a kid out from underfoot required a lot of energy, a lot of ideas for activities to occupy him. He did his best to distract him from the tension of frayed nerves that threatened to snap at any moment as the heat constricted their movements. Each day was a test to see how far he could make it without attracting his father’s attention, how long he could successfully keep to the background. It usually meant taking Sean out of the house (it’s hard for a five year old to play quietly all day long) and as the days got deeper into the summer, the weather outside became more and more unbearable.

They reached the trees that marked the edge of the woods, the river only a little further beyond the border. The shade dropped the temperature by several degrees, the soft dirt absorbing rather than radiating heat. Like a pebble rolling downhill, Sean’s steps sped up as they got within sight of the water. Aaron followed closely behind, only just catching him by the back of his shirt as he tripped on a rock and started to pitch forward into the water. Instead of being scared Sean screeched with excited laughter, the joy of being at the river completely outweighing any earlier disgruntlement.

Aaron let go as he regained his balance and they both kicked off their shoes. The chill of the water was bright and sharp against his skin as he stepped into a shallow sandy patch. He felt the fine grit of the dirt between his toes and smiled, wiggling them slightly. He turned to Sean who was silent beside him, squatted down so low on his knees he was in danger of fully sitting down in the river. He was peering closely at the water that pooled between larger rocks along the shore. His eyes waited for the silt they’d dislodged to settle again and reveal every child’s favorite prey.

A few moments later there came a happy shriek, “I see one!” Aaron bent forward to get in line with Sean’s view and spotted the the little brown tadpole, its tail wiggling furiously. Then, like a lens coming into focus, they could suddenly see dozens, hundreds more of the oddly proportioned creatures, with round front halves that nearly overbalanced them. Their tails waved frantically to propel them, lurching from place to place. They congregated thickly along the edges of the rocks and in patches of underwater grass. Some of the larger ones even had tiny back feet poking out to the sides, not yet large enough to be helpful but showing the beginnings of a promise fulfilled.

The boys stepped carefully a little deeper into the river, positioning themselves in a way that corralled the tadpoles in front of them. From there, they bent close to the water, hands poised just above the surface. They froze like that long enough to convince the tadpoles the shadows they cast were nothing to fear, then scooped down swiftly, attempting to capture one of the wiggling creatures. The tadpoles were fast and burning with self-preservation instincts, their only aim to evade capture and achieve the next step in life—something more autonomous, more independence available with the addition of limbs and lungs. They were awaiting the chance to be predators rather than prey. Until they made it, they would use every trick they possessed of speed and deception and camouflage to survive their uncertain youth.

This didn’t dissuade the brothers’ enjoyment in any way, the chase was entirely the point of the activity. Sean’s hands were too small to have a good chance at catching one but Aaron managed to cup one, bringing it carefully to Sean’s eye level. They were hypnotized by the way  it launched itself from side to side in its new enclosure, burrowing against the cracks where his fingers met, searching for a tunnel to freedom. No matter how hard it thrashed its tail, it couldn’t build up enough force to escape. After a minute Aaron gently lowered his hands to the water, releasing the tadpole, which dove down and away from them as fast as it could.

Aaron felt an odd sense of longing as he watched it go. Surely it was ridiculous for a human to feel jealous of a tadpole, and yet, their lives were so simple, so inevitable. He was snapped out of the thought before it went too far by a large spray of water against his side. Sean looked at him with a wicked grin and splashed him again. Aaron retaliated with a much larger wave of water. The two boys laughed and shouted, splashing each other, quickly making enough noise to scare the tadpoles into further hiding, seeking calmer locales to continue their single minded development into frogs.

To stop him from splashing more, Aaron pulled Sean in against his side, laughingly begging for mercy from the vicious water attack. Sean’s giggles died down into a sigh as he rubbed his face against his brother’s hip, inhaling the familiar scent of laundry and river water. He loved his brother so much when he was like this. When he was smiling and playful, not distracted or insisting Sean be quieter. Sean thought the world would be perfect if he could have this Aaron all the time.

“I wanna swim.”

Aaron sighed, “Not today buddy.” He wasn’t up for swimming and all the risks that it might entail. Sure they were alone right now, but anyone could appear at any moment. It was more than hot enough to drive people to the nearest water source and frankly, he was a little surprised to have the place to themselves. Swimming meant a level of vulnerability that he couldn’t deal with right then. He was too tired, barely able to sleep between the nightmares and the sounds that haunted the hallways of their home late at night.

“C’mon, let’s get out. You’re wet enough to have been swimming anyway. You look like a drowned rat.”

“Do not!” Sean swung his hand across the surface, splashing them both heavily with the displaced water. Aaron laughed and picked him up under the armpits, carrying his squirming body, all muddy feet and wet hair, back to the bank. He set him down and warned him not to wander too far before finding a flat rock to settle on himself. Sean hummed at him, back already turned and engrossed in a new curiosity. Aaron leaned back, eyes heavy as he watched his little brother use a stick to poke at the ground along the shallow edge of the water. He smiled a little, thankful that, though opinionated, Sean was usually good about following directions. He wandered slowly, occasionally bending close to the ground to get a better look at something.

Aaron’s thoughts drifted, floating as aimlessly as a dandelion seed, the kind people said to make wishes on. He’d never had any of his wishes come true so he’d stopped trying. Though maybe it had been his own fault, maybe he’d had the wrong kind of wishes in the first place. He’d never wanted normal things, tangible items like a new toy or a puppy. Things that could be granted instantly. The things he wished for took time—strength, security, love. Maybe it was just a matter of patience.

He wondered if Sean had learned about dandelion wishes yet and decided he’d show him and hope the kid had better luck than he’d had. He felt drowsy though he knew he needed to keep an eye out, Sean was fairly responsible but still so young, too young. His stomach growled and he wrapped his arms around himself, pulling his knees into his chest, trying to trick his insides with external pressure. Mindlessly he picked at a scab on his shin, the result of a bug bite he’d scratched at too much. He had a hard time leaving them alone, always worrying at it until it bled, always making it worse somehow. His eyes closed, the heat wrapping him like a down comforter, the exhaustion catching up to him now that he was relaxed in this moment of relative safety.

A heavy buzz in his ear startled him, his eyes flying open as he waved a hand to swat at the mosquito. He looked for Sean and didn’t see him immediately. He scrambled to his feet, cursing himself, horrible scenarios jumping easily into his mind.

“Sean!”

No response.

“Sean!” he yelled louder. He ran a hand through his hair, pulling a little too hard. He was inhaling to yell again, stepping off the rock to search, when Sean appeared, standing up from a crouch, much farther away than Aaron would like. The next time he called Sean’s name it was sharp and angry and the smile he’d had when he saw Aaron faded a little. He trotted back, clutching something to his chest. He stumbled once on the uneven ground but regained his balance without letting go of whatever riches he’d amassed.

“You shouldn’t go so far away,” Aaron scolded.

Sean shrugged and unrolled his shirt, glancing at Aaron to gauge his reaction. He revealed a dozen or so small, flat rocks and long streaks of mud. He was clearly proud of his findings and though Aaron grimaced at the dirt, he did his best to match Sean’s excitement. He would just rinse the shirt out before they went home. They sorted them into piles of larger and smaller rocks and found a place to stand where the water was widest in order to practice skipping them. Sean was still learning but had been getting better this summer, finally coordinated enough to get the tiny rocks to jump two or three times before sinking. Aaron, with his longer arms and a decade more of practice, could reach a much higher number, one even making it all the way across to the other bank. Sean sucked air through his teeth, impressed.

“I wish I could do that,” he pouted. He was determined to be just like his big brother.

Aaron laughed, “Don’t worry, it’ll happen buddy.”

Attempting to get Sean to smile again, Aaron, now out of rocks, pretended he was going to use him as a skipping stone. He’d lifted him under the shoulders and knees and was swinging him back and forth, pretending to gauge his throw when the first thick raindrop landed.

At first it was a relief from the unrelenting heat, turning their faces up to the cooling drops, eyes closed as the water rolled down their cheeks. But the rainstorm intensified quickly and they could hear thunder crack loudly in the distance. Aaron quickly pulled Sean out of the water and away from the river. Almost instantly, the world had turned a dark purple, clouds thick and menacing above them. Aaron, kneeled down, scrambling to get Sean’s shoes back on, while Sean stood wide-eyed, still gripping his last rock tightly in his fist. He was busy tying the second shoe when lightning hit again, this time close enough that it illuminated the sky for a moment, the thunder following quickly behind it. Sean grabbed Aaron’s shirt with his other hand, fabric bunched in his small fist. Aaron softly disentangled Sean’s fingers as he stood up and put his feet in his own shoes. He used a finger to pull the heel out from under his foot while continuing to hold Sean’s hand with the other hand. It was now raining so hard there was water running into his eyes.

He straightened just as the lightning cracked again, striking a tree on the opposite bank. He was blinded, no sense of anything beyond the thunder immediately sounding and the air that smelled like burnt wood and ozone. Aaron stared at the tree, drawn in by the powerful electricity, tempted by the burn mark. He was fascinated by the way the change was so instantaneous. No waiting, no build up, no years of patience in order to become something else. Just here and then gone in the space of a heartbeat. He was completely frozen by the thought, an unexpected shortcut through the dull regularity of time. Distantly he felt Sean’s hands tugging at his shirt, heard his small whimper. Guilt flooded his system when he looked down at his face, blond hair plastered down, water soaked through his clothes. Sean needed him here now.

“Hop on,” he turned and bent his knees so Sean could climb on his back, wrapping his arms tightly around Aaron’s neck. The pressure was a little too strong, narrowing his windpipe but he didn’t say anything. He shifted him slightly, making sure he had a good grip on his legs before running back toward the house, away from the river in the woods and the tree with the enticing burn. The sky lit up a few more times and they heard more thunder as they raced back to the house. Aaron’s lungs were burning by the time they got there, both completely soaked through. He ran up the back steps and opened the door, too high on adrenaline to consider what he might be rushing them into.

Their mother was standing in the kitchen, chopping vegetables. She turned her tired eyes to them as they crashed into the house. As Aaron helped Sean slide down to the floor, she eyed the puddle they dripped around them.

“Don’t wake your father up,” she sounded dull, voice monotone. She wore a turtleneck, sleeves pulled down to cover her thin wrists despite the stifling heat. Aaron closed his mouth, face now expressionless, the wildness of the lightning draining away, leaving a hollow obedience. He nodded, compliant. Sean went to take a step off the mat and Aaron pulled him back against his legs with a palm against his small chest.

Sean made a sound of protest. He was home, he was safe; he also had the energy of the storm running through his skin and all he wanted was to run to his mom and press himself against her warmth. Aaron rubbed his thumb in a small soothing circle against his collarbone, feeling how Sean’s heartbeat danced against his ribs. He met his mother’s eyes and they exchanged a silent understanding.

Sean wriggled harder against the restraining hand. He felt like he might cry, whether from fear or frustration or relief he didn’t know. He just knew that this scene they found themselves in felt off, the contrast of the silence of the house with the chaos outside amplifying his discomfort. He twisted, ready to lash out at his brother. This was all wrong.

“Come on,” Aaron said quietly, “let’s get you cleaned up.”

He picked Sean up, which was not exactly what he had wanted, but the closeness brought some comfort. He wrapped his arms around his brother’s neck and rested his head on his shoulder, his breaths evening out, warm against Aaron’s wet skin. He couldn’t understand the look he’d seen in his mother’s eyes. Like Aaron, sometimes she confused him, happy one moment and solemn the next. He was never sure what he’d done to make her draw away from him. He sniffled into Aaron’s shirt collar.

Aaron rubbed his back as he carried him up the stairs. “It’s gonna be okay, buddy.” He tried not to grit his teeth as he said it, wanting so badly for it to be true.

Sean nodded against his chest, still willing to believe his big brother would take care of everything.

[fe-semi-decent-scenarios]

Congrats on 100 followers!!! If it's no bother could I request head cannons for how protective the BL group is over their s/o? Thanks :))

[I’m assuming that these are just general jealousy level / worry-wart head-cannons? We’re not tapping into yandere on this blog lol. I’ll keep it simple, how ya like it :3] 

Dimitri: 

11/10

Boy worries 

People out there want him dead = people out there want you dead too

Some might even try to take advantage of you due to his high status 

Makes him hella clingy sometimes. Nightmares when you’re in ‘unfavorable’ circumstances aren’t rare

Even in his emo phase he’s still like this- just even more because the world is basically his enemy 

Don’t let feral dima be around when soldiers talk smack to you. He will put them in their place without mercy 

Doesn’t help that you’re basically the closest to family he’s got aside from Dedue

Dude you’re his future and he knows it. There is no one else who would stick with him through everything like you do 

Even if there was, he wouldn’t want them. No one can ever replace you

He’s not so much concerned with someone else putting the moves on you 

Okay, wait--hold that thought 

He trusts you but goddess forbid someone makes you uncomfortable. He will use his authoritative presence to make them feel like a pebble next to a boulder 

Totally glares at anyone with wandering eyes when you’re not looking. He’ll put one arm around your waist and nudge you away from them without hesitation 

  Dedue: 

3/10

He can’t stop people from making advances- he knows that 

He also can’t take action on your behalf

Sure, he doesn’t like it when people make advances towards you. The whole point of being in a relationship is so people know that you are each other’s partner 

Most of the time he just lets you deal with it. You can take care of yourself 

His mood goes foul if people dare to do it in front of him. If people thought he looked intimidating before then d a m n 

He’ll casually place a hand on your shoulder (which if you know him well is actually the most unusual thing) and ask if you need anything else before dismissing himself 

Just a little expression of clarity that you’re with him, you know, chase the bugger off  

Surprisingly not a worry-wart in any aspect aside from health 

It’s easy for someone to neglect their health; mental and physical

Don’t be surprised if he encourages you to get check-ups ritually 

If something’s an issue he expects you to come to him when you’re ready

Not pushy in the slightest 

Felix: 

8/10

Asserts d o m i n a n c e towards all threats 

His attitude is one of the top three causes for any arguments. You know the snarky remarks are part of the Felix package, but would it kill him to have some restraint occasionally? 

Despite his intelligence Felix tends to make quick assumptions. The guy has a bit of a superiority complex and doesn’t like when other people get cozy with his s/o 

Pity the fool who challenges the Fraldarious 

He views it as them not taking him seriously. 

Also slightly afraid you’ll ditch his difficult ass

He can and will tell them off. Doesn’t matter the time or scene- if he feels someone’s being too buddy-buddy then he’ll make them to get lost 

Hence the arguments. It can get bothersome when he acts out towards someone you’re friends with or if he causes a scene 

He knows that it’s out of line and that you can make your own choices, but he can’t help it 

Will apologize begrudgingly, but only to you. The other person can just live with it 

You might be able to milk it and get an apology hug lol 

In other aspects of life he’s the same way. If a politician tries to screw you over he’s right there watching from the sidelines, if you’re in battle then he’s constantly glancing at where you’re stationed, etc. 

Ashe: 

7/10

He’s your silent protector lol

Not because he’s ‘quiet’ but instead out of fear. He doesn't want to annoy you 

Ashe has a lot of insecurities. No matter how many times you tell him otherwise he’ll always think you’re out of his league 

If anyone flirts or makes suggestive comments towards you he’ll get upset 

Like, really upset 

extremely upset 

 He’ll watch from the sidelines as you diffuse the situation, lacing one hand with your own with a smile. Just you’re normal not-confrontational-at-all-Ashe. At least that’s what you see 

On the inside it’s a raging storm of emotions going on. He’s so afraid that one day you’ll wake up and realize that he’s not good enough. That he’ll have to watch you walk away and return to an empty home again 

Que nervous sweating 

He becomes a doting mother if you’re ever ill or in danger. For weeks on end he’ll become you’re second shadow 

If someone ever dares to hurt you while he’s nearby they’re getting an arrow in the back. No mercy. The fury borderline snaps the arrow between his fingers 

Hates leaving you behind or being away. Not knowing if you’re safe, happy, healthy, etc. eats him up inside 

Literally fragile glass. He can’t even tinker with the thought of you dying or he gets a stress-induced headache 

Sylvain: 

5/10

He’s so neutral towards everything that it’s honestly scary 

The fellow Lions would even say ‘creepy’ for some occasions. It’s so far off from how he behaved towards his past partners and other friends 

With his past and reputation people would think he’d at least get defensive when other people flirt with you 

He knows what players are looking for since he was one. He’s been in their shoes

Yet??? He’s indifferent towards everything???

It takes a lot to get Sylvain worked up. His laid back way of approaching conflict tends to rub off on those around him and therefore helps in avoiding arguments 

It would take either you expressing your discomfort or for the other party to attempt physical contact to make him hostile 

Even then though he’ll simply push them back before leading you away. No harm no foul,  just in and out before things escalate 

When it comes to big decisions or outbreaks he also follows a neutral approach. He waits for you to express your own wants before giving his opinions 

You want to fight in the next battle? Cool, you’re registered. What battalion are you with? Well, looks like your going a different route than him. Are you sure that’s the one you want to follow? Yeah? Nothing he can do then aside from wish you luck. 

Doesn’t mean he won’t be concerned at all though. I mean, it’s natural to be. 

His mindset is that if he doesn’t worry then you won’t either. Anxiety is contagious and you don’t need extra stress in bad situations. 

Annette: 

7/10

She doesn’t w a n t to be like this, but sometimes it’s hard to hold back jealousy 

Annette is one of those people that likes attention from the person she cares about. It makes her happy, so being ignored for someone else would really hurt 

She’s nothing special in this regard. Like any person in a relationship she’ll have her moments, but for the most part everything is fine and dandy 

The whole reason she’s above average is because of other reasons

She’ll nag you about safety precautions with logic from her studies. Being a goodie-two-shoes from a young age has her nerves spiking whenever you take needless risks 

If she wasn’t reading up on faith magic before then she is now 

The fear of being left behind is also something to chalk up on this list. If you’re gone longer than expected she’ll become antsy 

The others can always tell when she’s worried. Annette isn’t very good at hiding that kind of aura from taking over 

All in all, she’s not a very protective person. A better term would probably be “anxious”

Mercedes: 

10/10

While she isn’t the staple of ‘overprotective,’ she is still exceedingly mindful of possible disasters  

Are you really surprised? Mercedes cares about everyone no matter who they are.  

She legit prays for the souls of her enemies. The woman is a saint in human skin

This also negates any jealous bone in her body. If she ever does feel uneasy it’s just a quick pang in the chest and then it’s gone 

She doesn’t like to dwell on ‘what ifs’ because then she can’t live in the present- where people need her  

She can seriously be a bit much other times though. If you even sneeze near her she’ll ask to take your temperature 

Doesn’t matter where, who, when, etc. Mercedes takes care of everyone 

Don’t ever deny her either. She can be pushy if the situation calls for it and sometimes it’s just easier to let her do what she wants 

She’ll pray to the goddess for your safety before any battle, and send you off with extra healing potions for the times she won’t be near 

During these times she’s extra vulnerable and is more open to showing her own personal strife to others. She tries to keep optimistic but nobody’s perfect. If it becomes too much she may seek to talk with a close friend (aka Annette) 

However, her thoughts remain unclouded when others are in need. She suppresses her personal feelings until those in front of her are taken care of 

Ingrid: 

0/10

She isn’t worried 

You know better than to wrong Ingrid 

Enemies know better than to wrong you 

Either happens and someone’s gonna die 

[poptod]

The Game (Baxter x Reader)

Description: You’re either a weirdo or a psychopath. Or both.

Notes: so this is um. kind of weird. but i guess thats kind of my thing at this point WC: 1.7k

+

"Didn't think this was how it'd go, did'ja?"

"I would really like it if you took these handcuffs off."

"Why? Cause they're yours?"

You stepped closer to his chair, dragging your gaze over every knot you tied around his body. The rope around his ankles and chest, the metal handcuffs behind the back, the gag unceremoniously hung round his neck ever since he wrestled it off.

"Does that bother you?" You asked as you bent in front of him, a wide, toothy grin spreading across your lips. "Being tied up by your own tools?"

"Shut. The fuck. Up," he hissed out beneath his breath, staring straight forward with a glare that could kill. As usual he completely avoided your own eyes.

"Aww, tiny cop is a little testy today, isn't he?"

Shooting up from your position on the floor, you wandered into a darker corner of the room, where the fluorescent light shining over Baxter couldn't quite reach. There you kept your bookcase stocked full of a variety of your tools. Mostly books, but several of the shelves held cases for knives and bug specimens, two of the most beautiful things you imagined one could have. The white light reflected off the glass case and into the detective's eyes.

"I think you need to calm down," you said as you dug into one of the bookcase drawers, feeling around for a lighter and cigarette. "You smoke, right?"

He remained quiet, that glare still piercing the wall in front of him.

"Doesn't matter. I've seen you smoke. I watch you a lot, you know," you spoke through the cig, clicking on the lighter in your hands before a flame burst.

The steps you took towards him were small, calculated, and gentle with your tapping shoes on the cement floor. This room didn't have the best sound quality, and every little noise was magnified by the stone walls. The minimum amount of furniture had made way for the same echo.

"You're very interesting to watch. You're the only cop that's actually interesting. Did you know that?"

With how low his seat was on the ground his face was right in front of your hips, and you spared him no mercy. Instead you stepped even closer, till he was forced to lean back with uneven breath, ire lacing his stare that had nowhere else to rest but you now.

"I've met a lot of cops in a lot of different countries," you admitted thoughtlessly, taking a long drag from your cigarette. "But you're fun. And so fuckin' pretty."

You knelt once more, this time nearly sat between his legs, and blew smoke into his face. His nose scrunched up as his eyes shut, annoyance clear on his pursed lips.

"What the hell do you want from me?" He said in a low, quiet voice that you had already come to know quite well. The moment you recognized it another smile spread across your face, big and unsettlingly happy.

"A good time, hopefully," you said, raising your hand to his face. At first he flinched, twitching away from you, but your need was relentless. Your palm landed on his cheek, allowing you to stroke the small cut along his cheekbone.

When at last he raised his eye to meet yours, the first thing you noted was fear. Fear permeates every emotion––it raises itself above all else, tells on itself before any other emotion can. There were other things beneath that, of course; anger, contempt, the usual when someone is forcefully tied to a chair in the middle of a nondescript room with no windows.

"Don't worry," you chirped. "I won't hurt you. Much. I just... I have these cravings."

Before turning back to your bookcase, you took another slow drag from your cig, watching the end burn till it nearly touched your lips. The smoke you blew out was half in his face and half not, though by his expression it might as well have been all of it.

You reached into your pocket, pulling out the key to one of your glass cases. It wasn't a terribly secure location for the contents, but that little bit of danger was always thrilling––never knowing if your prey will manage to reach those knives. 

Your largest was closer to a sword than a dagger, and though it did its' job of intimidation, the easier tool was the small silver knife engraved with cuneiform. The most painful was the jagged-toothed blade, who tore at skin instead of slicing it. That was for another time.

With the silver knife in hand you turned back around, a knowing smirk on your face as you once more approached the detective.

"Jim Baxter. James. Jimmy-boy. How ya feeling? Good?"

No reaction from him. Perfect.

"You want to know something? Little tid-bit of information. Little fun fact about me," you said with a sigh as you knelt. "I don't like your line of work. Not just because you guys are always tryin' to bust my ass and ruin the fun, but I don't like the government in general. The perfect society is an anarchal society. It's probably too much to ask what your leaning on this is, right? I think I know anyway."

You fiddled with the knife in your hands, toying with the handle and picking at the blade.

"White-picket fence boy," you added.

"The hell does that mean?"

"You know exactly what it means. It's just––I think it's a little funny. All around you're such a law-abiding person, so nice, so plain, and you've got all this flavor on your face."

By the way his eyes widened, you could tell what came to his mind. It was what came to most people's minds when you tried to explain the essence of flavor in human personality; cannibalism.

"I'm not going to eat you," you clarified, chuckling when his breathing returned to normal. "I could, though. I have no qualms against it. Peel off the skin of your face, fillet that shit... probably taste like chips."

"Why are you doing this? What – what even are you doing?" He finally asked, succumbing to the confusion and curiosity that had plagued him ever since he woke up here.

"Intimidation. Kidnapping. Those are still illegal, right?"

"Yes."

"Right. Well, anyway, those are just some crimes that I by no means on purpose committed. It was just the only way to get what I really want," you said as the tip of your knife pressed into his clothed knee, running down the fabric and leaving a small scratch mark in his pant leg. He jerked away, but you only pressed harder, keeping him in place with a tight hand around his ankle.

"Don't be shy now," you grinned.

"You think you're hot shit –"

"I am."

"– but I'll find you, and –"

"It seems to me you already have."

"Would you shut the fuck up?!"

"Sorry. Go on."

"I'm gonna put you in jail, where creeps like you belong," he said through gritted teeth, his jaw set as he met your awaiting eyes.

"You think I'm a creep? I'm the most sane out of all my friends. Though, I do suppose we live in two different worlds," you said with a shrug.

His type lived in the light. Sunny-day type people, warm homes to come to at the end of the day, dark green grass and clean highways. Yours is more in the style of broken down street lamps––burning rubber from car wheels and the warmth of a lighter. At least that's the way you liked to put it, romanticized into the sweetest fashion so it's easier to swallow.

Honestly, most of your friends are coke dealers. There's one that sells guns to minors, but he's not a friend of yours. Just someone you know. All of them are good people, you can't deny that, but it's not a gentle environment.

Not that you're any bit unlike them. You do, after all, kidnap people and taunt them for fun.

"Alright. Question for you. Ever had sex?"

Nothing. You giggled, crossing your arms on his knees.

"Ever kissed someone? You don't seem like the person who would like any of that stuff. I'll still be surprised if you haven't, though. The idea that no one tried to jump your bones? Yeesh. I don’t think that's possible," you rambled on, making a few vague hand gestures as his glare never faded.

The surly twist in his face reached a high point, ending with him spitting onto your face with a deep irritation in his expression. It took a second or two before you quite processed what had just happened, but when you did you had no hesitation in your response; licking the flat of your tongue up from his jaw to his temple.

"You like that? Into that kinda thing?" You asked in a booming laugh as he spluttered, desperately trying to worm away from you. "That was on you, buddy. Come on. Admit it."

"I'm not going to –"

"Come on, say it! You deserved that. Right?"

You grabbed his chin in a tight grip, forcing him to look at you.

"You get everything that's coming to you. You deserve everything you'll receive within the next... hmm, let's say, three months? Depends on when I get bored of you," you hummed, glancing to the side as you thought.

"The next three months? What are you gonna do in that time?" He asked almost softly, brow furrowed in the same consternation as his eyes.

"Have a little bit of fun, for once. I hope you prove to be more entertaining than the last girl," you said with a grunt, pushing yourself to your feet. "In the meantime... you can't be missing for too long, baby."

"Wh –"

With the butt of your dagger in hand, you whirled back around, hitting him right in his temple. The hit of the massive gem on his skull knocked him out, muscles untensing as he fell limp in his restraints.

You smiled and breathed a sigh of happy relief, as though you had finished swimming in the brisk water of a lake.

"Ah... he seems nice."

Thirty minutes and he's waking up, waves of pain throbbing from his cranium. He hissed as he tried to sit up, realizing with much comfort that he was back in the linen sheets of his bed, the comforter all tangled and mussed beneath him. By the look of the clock, it was the morning of his first shift of the week.

And the first thing he has to tell his boss is that there's another psycho on the loose.

[sugarsugarmoon]

Ice Cream (m)

**Summary: **You just wanted to eat your ice cream bar, but when Jungkook storms out of the room, you get a surprise you weren’t expecting.

**Genre: **Smut

**Warnings: **Masturbation, unprotected sex (please use protection IRL), honestly it’s pretty vanilla, flustered JK is best JK

**Word Count: **2664

**A/N: **Jeon Jungkook got me feeling some type of way after that fan meeting, you know? Anyway, this is probably the most vanilla one shot I’ve ever written. I hope you enjoy it!

** **

You sit on one of the barstools in your kitchen, unwrapping an ice cream bar that you had just pulled out of the fridge. Your roommate, Jungkook, is sitting on the couch, hood pulled over his head, playing on his phone.

You had lived with Jungkook for about 6 months, and it had been a good situation for both of you. You had caught your ex-boyfriend cheating and needed a place to move ASAP, and Jungkook had made a flyer and posted it on a bulletin board in the student center because his old roommate had graduated the previous year and moved to the city for a job. He couldn’t afford to live alone, so, when you came along, he said yes right away.

He had come out of his room and saw you standing in front of the washer. You were wearing his shirt and a pair of cheeky lace underwear. You figured since you were doing laundry anyway, you could just wash the shirt with the second load and give it back to him. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw you, and, when you turned to look at him, he face was red and distorted in a weird way that you couldn’t read.

“Is that my shirt?” he asked in a tone you’d never heard from him before.

“Yeah. Sorry I didn’t ask I was gonna wash it in the next load…” you say hesitantly.

“No. Take it off,” he says lowering his eyes and shaking his head.

“Okay, jeez, I’m sorry,” you start to pull the shirt over your head, exposing your tummy and the bottom swell of your breasts.

“Not here! God! Are you not wearing a bra? Oh my god. Just...go to your room and take it off,” he practically shouts.

He turns on a dime and disappears into his room. You stand there bewildered for a moment, then you go in your room, take off his shirt, and throw on one of your own. You walk over to his door and gently place the shirt on the handle. You can hear JK moving around inside his room, but you decide it’s best to leave him alone. 

You never talked about it after that, but, after a couple of weeks, things went back to normal between the two of you. Two really long uncomfortable weeks. You were playful and sarcastic, and Jungkook loved pranks and could take it as well as he dished it out. The two of you spent a lot of your time together laughing and making fun of each other.

Today, you are in a bad mood, having seen a post from your ex with his new girlfriend online. She’s cute and he looks happy and you’re burning up inside. You decide that ice cream is the answer to your problems right now. The ice cream bar was one of those with the hard chocolate coating and inside was vanilla ice cream with chocolate and peanut butter swirls, aka the best sad food of all time.

You pop the bar into your mouth and crunch down on the chocolate coating. It is sweet and rich, and your mouth is filled with vanilla and chocolate and peanut butter flavors. It’s so good. You can’t help it; you don’t even realize it, but you let out a deep moan as you finish your first bite. 

Jungkook’s head snaps toward you, eyes wide. “Did...did you just moan?”

Your cheeks immediately flush, and you avert your eyes from his gaze. “It’s really good, okay?”

“Apparently,” he says with a slight chuckle.

You bring your attention back to your ice cream which has started melting down your hand. With an _oh shit _to yourself, you quickly lick the melting ice cream off the bar and take to cleaning off your hand with your tongue. You hear what almost sounds like a whimper from the living room, and, when you look over, Jungkook is staring at you with the same look he gave you when you stole his shirt. You finish licking the finger you’re on and then stop.

“What?” you ask as you pop your pinky out of your mouth.

“Nothing,” he grumbles and stalks off to his room.

You let him go because you’re not sure what to say. You finish your ice cream and decide that you can’t let the weirdness between you and Jungkook stand. The last time it was weird like this and he looked at you like that, you didn’t talk for weeks, and you didn’t want to have to endure that again.

You march over to his bedroom door and fling it open. The sight that meets you leaves you instantly speechless.

Jungkook is in his desk chair, sweatpants low on his hips, hoodie tossed aside. He has his cock in his right hand, and he’s gripping down hard on the arm rest with his left. He’s panting, and it’s clear that his eyes were closed, head thrown back just moments before you entered. You feel heat immediately radiating in your face, your belly, and your core.

His eyes snapped open when you opened the door, and he stopped the movement of his hand. Freezing for a second, then scrambling to put himself back in his pants. 

You stand there with your mouth open, eyes wide, suddenly very aware of how your panties feel against you.

“Fuck! Y/n, what the fuck?! Do you not know how to knock?!” Jungkook exclaims.

You feel yourself rub your thighs together, creating friction that doesn’t relieve the tension in your belly, and you see Jungkook’s eyes follow the line of your legs, watching you do it. You are still frozen in place, speechless. 

You can’t deny that you had pictured this before. Jungkook was undeniably hot. He is fit and good looking and sexy and cool and every other positive adjective. You told yourself you couldn’t go there because he’s your roommate and, when you moved in, you had just gotten out of a bad relationship. But you were still a hot blooded woman with eyes. Sometimes at night, lying in bed with your fingers in your panties, you’d picture what JK might look like on the other side of the wall, cock in hand. You’d used that mental imagine to cum more times than you care to admit.

And now, here it was, in front of you. And you couldn’t say anything. You couldn’t move. Jungkook is standing now, a deep flush on his cheeks and ears.

“Can you please leave or say something or do anything? This is maybe the worst moment of my life,” Jungkook says, panic and shame in his expression.

“I…” why won’t your words come out? How hard is oops, sorry, let’s pretend this never happened. See you later, buddy? Except you don’t want to pretend it never happened.

When your feet finally decide to move, they take several steps toward the flustered man in front of you. Your chest is flush with his now, and you’re staring up into his eyes. You can feel his heart pounding in his chest, and his breath is short and rapid.

You really don’t know what possesses you to do it; you feel like you’ve completely lost control. You stand up on your tiptoes and brush your lips over his. A whisper of a kiss. 

“Y-y/n?” he asks with wide eyes.

Your hand finds its way from your side up his solid bicep and across his collar bone. You look at it, surprised. Your whole body seems to be moving without consulting your brain first. 

“What happened just now?” you finally managed to ask. “The last time you looked at me like that and came in your room, we didn’t talk for weeks after.”

Even though you’re controlling your words, your hand is causing your nails to dance circles on Jungkook’s chest, just below the collar of his shirt without any forethought.

“Are you seriously asking me that right now? As if you don’t know? As if you aren’t torturing me on purpose?”

You pout a little bit, looking up at him. You honestly don’t know what he means, but he clearly thinks you're doing something on purpose.

At the puzzled look on your face, he continues, “with the moaning? And the licking your fingers? Not to mention it’s a white creamy substance you’re licking off of them? Seriously? Are you trying to kill me?”

“Oh...no…JK, you have to believe me I didn’t do any of that on purpose to tease you. I was just eating really good, melty ice cream…”

“And I’m just supposed to believe that? Like when you just happened to be wearing my shirt with those sexy little lace panties. I guess that wasn’t to tease me either, right?”

“Yeah. You are right. I was doing my laundry. JK, I’m never actively trying to tease you...” you say.

You can’t believe that he thought that you were teasing him, and you try to think back to every interaction you’ve had. You are always just friendly and maybe a little too comfortable with him. He makes it easy to just be yourself. If you were telling the truth to yourself, which you rarely did, Jungkook was the kind of boyfriend material you wish you had.

“Right. Sure. So right now, your hand is in my shirt because you just need to check my heart rate?”

You look down, and, once again, that unruly hand astounds you. You’ve dipped your hand into the collar of Jungkook’s shirt, ghosting your hand over his collarbones and his sternum.

“See, now...I know it doesn’t help my argument, but I also didn’t do this on purpose,” you explain as you pull your hand back to your side. “It seems like both of our hands are doing a little exploring today.”

You give him a smirk and a wink, and his cheeks flush again.

“Well, if you’d like to continue your exploring, I’m always down for an adventure,” he responds, bringing his hand to your waist.

“Woooow. Jeon Jungkook, that was cheesy,” you giggle out as you slide your fingers across his scalp and tangle them in his hair.

“And yet, here you are. Falling for my irresistible charm. No woman can resist it.” He runs one hand up and down your arm, from your fingertips to your shoulder.

“Oh? Is that why you were in here alone with your hand just a minute ago?” you ask as you continue to giggle, bringing one hand out of his hair to rest on the back of his neck.

“As much as I would love to continue this banter, I’m so hard. Can we take care of it, and then you can go back to making fun of me for how lonely I am and how often I think about you when I jerk off?”

“I guess,” you whisper as you lean in to finally kiss him how you want. It’s hard and sloppy and filled with lust and frustration. You still have the slight taste of peanut butter and chocolate on your lips, but it mixes with the taste of Jungkook’s mouth. You melt into him, like the ice cream down your hand.

He picks you up and carries you over the bed. He sits on the edge and places you in his lap, straddling him. He grabs the hem of your shirt and slowly slides it and his fingers up the skin covering your ribs.

When he pulls the shirt over your head, he says, “do you never wear a bra or what?”

He takes one of your nipples into his mouth, gently sucking and rolling his tongue around it. He has your other breast in his hand, lightly massaging it and flicking the nipple softly as he passes over it.

“When I’m at home? No. I’m not trying to impress anyone,” you say just as a whimper escapes your mouth. You grind down on JK, and you can feel his hard cock under you. 

He smirks, “well, I prefer this way.” He puts his mouth on your neck and collar bone, kissing and sucking gently enough not to leave any marks.

He slips his hand into the waistband of your sweatpants and panties and runs his fingers across your folds. He whines a little at the back of his throat, and you pull away to look at him.

“You’re so wet. I want to make you cum before I fuck you, but I just...I’ve been hard so long…” he breathes out.

“It’s okay. You’ll just eat me out later, yeah?”

He coughs a little bit, taken aback, but then he looks at you with his dark, lust-filled eyes. “I’ll lick your pussy until you beg me to stop because it’s so good.”

You both pause for a second, and then you burst out laughing. He looks a little hurt.

“Oh my god, Jeon, stop being so cheesy,” you say through giggles. He pushes your shoulder gently. “Hey, I’m clean, and I’m on birth control. Do you want to use a condom still?” you say as you climb out of his lap. He looks at you with the same wide eyed expression he’s been giving you all afternoon and shakes his head vigorously. You pull down your pants and underwear, and he pulls his sweatpants down his thighs.

You wrap your fingers around his cock and pump it a few times while you stand over him, then you straddle him again. You take him and line him up with your entrance. Your eyes meet his before you sink down onto him. A sharp intake of air and a soft mewl spill over your lips.

You slowly start to grind up and down on Jungkook’s length, sucking on his neck and collarbone while you do. You run your hands through his hair again and yank it a little as you feel yourself clench around him.

“Oh shit y/n,” Jungkook growls into your skin. His hips start to buck up underneath you, and he’s fucking you harder and faster now. He wraps his hands around your shoulders, holding you into place while he fucks up into you.

“Where should I cum?” he asks through ragged breaths.

“Inside,” you manage to breathe out.

“Shit,” he whispers as his thrusts lose the same rhythm they had, becoming desperate.

He exhales the breath he’s been holding and spills inside of you. He thrusts through his orgasm, painting your walls. He rests his head on your shoulder, panting.

You’re the one to break the silence. “So exactly how often do you jerk off to me?” you ask as you slide off his lap and into his en suite bathroom. When you walk back into the room after cleaning yourself, he’s looking at you in amused disbelief.

“I mean, a lot. But certainly a lot more often now.” He flops back on to his bed and beckons you over with his hand. “We should probably talk about this.”

“Yeah, yeah,” you say, “but, first, I believe you promised to ‘lick my pussy until I begged you to stop because it’s too good,’ and I really can’t reschedule that.”

He yanks you done on top of him, both of you laughing.

“If you keep making fun of me, I won’t do it,” he says. When you pout in response, he grabs your face and says, “fine. Give me 10 minutes to recharge.”

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

[lumosinlove]

Sweater Weather

(A/N: Thanks for being patient guys!)

part vii

“Can I have everyone’s attention for a second?”

The entire room looked at James who was sweaty post-practice like the rest of them and making his way to the center of the locker room with a shit-eating grin on his face.

“What the fuck, what did you do?” Kasey said, beginning to look around himself warily, as if something was going to spring out at him and it was all James’ fault.

It wouldn’t be the first time.

“Cap, what did you and Pots do this time?” Logan asked.

Sirius, however, shrugged. “I don’t know anything. Honest.”

Even Sirius laughed about how dishonest that sounded.

“I swear on my goal streak,” Sirius said, and Logan raised his eyebrows.

“Heavy stuff,” Logan said.

“Excuse me, hello, hi,” James waved his hands. “This isn’t a prank,” he heaved a breath. “Although it might sound like one…I have an announcement.”

Remus had been very carefully avoiding looking at Sirius all day, but he did now. He wanted to see his face. Right then, he had stopped fiddling with the laces on his skate and looked up, brows lowered. No doubt he was wondering what James could possibly have to say that he didn’t already know.

“Well?” Kasey said. “We’re all looking at you, Pots.”

“Right.” James was staring at Sirius and nervously cracking his knuckles one by one.

Remus couldn’t help but smile a little bit. Even if James was telling the entire team, this message was for Sirius.

“Yep, okay,” James cleared his throat and spread his hands. “Lily is pregnant.”

There was a beat of silence in the room. Someone made a high noise, someone else laughed, and someone else gasped. Remus couldn’t stop watching Sirius’ face.

It remained completely still for a few moments, like his brain hadn’t quite caught up to what he’d heard. Then his eyebrows raised. Then a smile, slowly, spread across his face and he stood, dumbstruck.

“Holy shit,” Sirius said, then laughed, breaking the silence. “Holy shit.”

Then he was striding forward and gathering James in a tight hug—James who definitely looked like he was going to cry a little bit.

Sirius snapped the rest of the room out of it and they practically hollered. The team swarmed them, yelling about champagne and congratulations and a baby Potter.

“Let’s hope he or she doesn’t get your hair, eh?” Pascal grinned, looping an arm around James’ shoulders. “Félicitations, mon ami.”

James laughed, a little wetly. “Thanks, Dumo. Any advice?”

Dumo smiled. “Try not to spoil them. It’s impossible.”

Kaner nodded solemnly from James’ other side. “It’s true. When Justin was born I thought it was bad, but wait until you have two. They’re the cutest fucking things I’ve ever seen and I can’t say no.”

Kasey snorted. “Spoil them as much as you’d like, I’m still going to be their favorite uncle.”

“Please,” Logan scoffed. “we all know Sirius is going to be the favorite uncle.”

Sirius laughed, arms crossed over his chest and looking at James fondly. “I think any one of us will be guilty of being wrapped around the kid’s finger.”

“How far along is she?” Leo asked.

“Almost five months. We’ll be able to tell the gender when Lily goes to the doctor’s next.”

“You kept this a secret from everyone for five months?” Kasey said. “James!”

“Well, it was Lily’s call! And…” James smiled, “not everyone.”

Sirius spluttered a little. “Who knew?”

Remus felt his neck heat a little even before all the eyes in the room followed James’ to him.

“Loops?” Kasey laughed, “Lupin! You traitor!”

“Remus knew?” Sirius said faintly, and then Remus couldn’t help but look at him.

Since this morning, he had been practically religious about sticking to his work, about keeping to himself. Last night, when he had finally gotten home after the party, he had laid in bed mulling over what Sirius had said—what he had said.

It’d be worth it.

Too hard.

And Sirius—Sirius wanted him. He’d wanted him for a long time. Remus couldn’t look at Sirius, not knowing that. Not knowing that every time he’d looked at Sirius, Sirius had been looking back. Sirius wanted him.

Remus had imagined that confession a million times over, but never once had it been like that. He’d never thought that it would hurt.

The worst part was, he wasn’t even mad at Sirius. Maybe he should be. If anything, Sirius had led him on, at least a little. But Remus understood. He understood that Sirius was lost, and all he could do now was hope he’d given Sirius enough information to help him figure out what he wanted to do. Remus wanted to help, but he had to protect himself, too.

He wouldn’t be strung along. He wouldn’t be an experiment. He wouldn’t be an embarrassed late night call.

Sirius knew how he felt. Now, he just had to figure out how he himself felt.

And Remus would wait, but not for the wrong reasons, and not forever.

They had a day off tomorrow and it couldn’t have been timed more perfectly. It wasn’t often that Remus wanted to get away from hockey entirely but, right now, all he wanted to do was curl up on his couch and sleep, or catch up on the book he was reading. Hell, he wanted to watch endless hours of television. He was tired, bone tired. It turned out that mutual confessions of feelings that lead to nowhere was even more exhausting that dismissals.

He could still hear some of the guys celebrating and talking loudly about James and Lily from where he was in his the kitchen. He was making himself a warm tea for the road when there was a cough from behind him. He turned to look over his shoulder, then turned back around. He cleared his throat, too, and carefully lifted his tea bag out of his cup and into the garbage.

“Hi,” he said to Sirius, back turned.

“Hi,” Sirius said, and then he came to stand next to Remus at the counter. Remus could see him out of the corner of his eye. He was turned towards him completely.

“Please look at me,” Sirius said, voice dropped quiet. “You haven’t looked at me all day.”

Remus raised his eyebrows, staring down at his tea as he tried to muster the right response. He sighed, finally, and turned to face Sirius, too, leaning his hip against the counter and crossing his arms.

“I don’t exist to look at you, Sirius. If that’s what you’re missing, then you can move along and we can forget about our Halloween conversation entirely.”

Sirius’ eyes widened and he all but tripped over himself to speak.

“No,” He said, a little loudly, and he looked around and dropped his voice again to match Remus’. “Fuck, Remus, that’s not what I meant at all.” He leaned back a little. “That’s what you think of me? That I’m some jacked up jock looking for an ego boost?”

“You fucking held me all night long and then told me you’ve liked me for you don’t even know how long but were never planning on acting on it!”

Remus felt his expression morph into one of surprise. He hadn’t even really know he wanted to say that until he did. He didn’t even know he was this angry about it all. He hadn’t thought he was angry to begin with. Sirius’ expression matched his own.

Remus turned back to the counter, taking a long breath. “How do you want me to feel, Sirius? I can’t just be buddy-buddy with you until you decide whether you can risk wanting me or not.”

“It isn’t just about me,” Sirius began but Remus cut him off.

“I know that,” he snapped, then pressed his hands over his face, groaning. “Fuck, I don’t mean to yell at you about this.” He dropped his hands and looked at Sirius again. “I told you I understand and I do, I just—this is…God, Sirius, you’re standing right in front of me and I want you, too.”

Sirius made a soft noise and his hand curled around Remus’ wrist. “Re.”

Remus shook him off, swallowing hard and picking up his cup. “Go be with your best friend. He’s having a baby.”

~

The Lions crowd was littered with signs wishing Sirius a happy birthday. The rink guards had even let a few little kids and their signs come down to the glass for warmups and press them where Sirius could see them.

Remus was watching Sirius smile happily as he tossed pucks over the glass for them to catch. He knew he probably had a wistful expression on his face, and there was a sure weight in his chest when Pascal skated over to the bench, stopping hard and leaning his forearms on the boards.

“Hi, Dumo,” Remus said.

Pascal only looked at him, head tilted. Then, he spit out his mouth guard into his hand and nodded at Remus. “You should come over for dinner tomorrow night, Remus. Me and the family—and Logan, of course—are throwing Sirius a little dinner party, just us French Canadians, for old time sake.”

Remus raised his eyebrows. “I’m not French Canadian.”

“You basically are. Besides, I’m inviting you. Me, Logan, Sirius, Celeste, and the kids. Very casual. I know James is having him over tonight—the little shit took his actual birthday—but Sirius used to practically live at my house.”

Remus laughed a little. “You complain about billet housing, and yet you seem to have an awfully hard time letting your kids go.”

Pascal shoved his arm. “He is all alone in that great big house of his. It’s true, I’d shove him back in my basement with Logan if I could.” Pascal smiled, “But don’t tell him that.”

Remus looked back to Sirius, who seemed to be communicating with a very young fan through waves and taps on the glass.

“He’ll want you there,” Pascal sing-songed.

“I don’t know,” Remus sighed.

Pascal placed a glove on Remus’ shoulder, pulling his attention back to him. His eyes were serious, but soft.

“I do,” Pascal said, then shoved his mouthguard back in with a wink and skated away to start the game against the Hufflepuff Badgers.

~

That was how Remus found himself knocking on the Dumais’ door at 7:00 o’clock sharp the next evening.

The door swung open to reveal Pascal with Katie on his hip.

“Remus!” he grinned, “Right on time, as usual.”

Remus smiled, stepping inside and shaking some snow off of his collar. It was early, but his weather forecast had told him there was going to be a severe storm tonight. He hung up his coat and slid out of his shoes at Pascal’s direction.

“Hi, Dumo.” he smiled, waving at Katie. “I hope you guys have candles. Apparently there’s going to be a huge blizzard tonight.”

“Really?” Pascal said absentmindedly, already turning back towards the warm kitchen. “I hadn’t noticed.”

“Blizzard!” Katie said, clapping her hands, “Kasey!”

“Parfait, ma chou.” Dumo kissed her cheek exaggeratedly, making her laugh. “Exactement.”

They walked into the kitchen and Remus shivered as the warmth hit him.

“Remus,” Pascal’s wife, Celeste, greeted him with a kiss on each cheek and then pressed a glass of wine into his hand which Remus took happily. Celeste smiled, “We are so happy you could come.”

“I am, too, thank you so much for—”

“Remus?”

Remus turned around, lowering his wine from where he had been about to take a sip.

Sirius and Logan were standing there, at the top of the basement stairs. Sirius had stopped dead in the doorway and Logan was behind him, peaking beneath Sirius’ arm. Sirius’ eyes were wide.

His chest squeezed and he smiled. “Hi, Sirius. Tremzy.”

Logan waved, and when Sirius still didn’t move, he rolled his eyes and shoved him, making him stumble a bit into the kitchen.

“Welcome to French court, Fruit-loop,” Logan grinned, punching him lightly in the shoulder. He stepped around him and pressed a short kiss to Celeste’s cheek. “Where the food is the best. And there’s little monsters to chase.” Logan growled playfully at Marc and Katie, who shrieked and laughed, running away from him as he chased them around the kitchen island. Pascal’s two slightly older children, Adele and Louis, looked like they were trying very hard to look unimpressed and like they were trying not to smile at the same time. The kids and Logan’s socks were slipping on the floor, whatever was simmering on the stove smelled incredible, and Remus was filled with an unmistakable sense of home.

He smiled briefly at Sirius again, who was still staring like he’d never seen Remus before, and turned back to the room.

“I can see why you can’t get rid of Logan.” He nodded at Celeste. “Dinner does smell incredible.”

“Are you here for dinner?” Sirius had finally torn himself away from the stairs and had come to stand next to Celeste.

Celeste clucked her tongue, hitting Sirius’ lightly in the chest with her dishtowel. “Sirius. Où sont tes manières?”

“No, I…” Sirius closed his mouth, flush. “I just didn’t know you were coming.”

“Oh?” Remus looked over at Pascal, who was very busy with stirring a pot on the stove. “I thought…”

“I think dinner is ready,” Pascal clapped his hands and grinned. “Adele, set the table, Louis help your mother bring the food out.”

“Katie and Marc could do it for once,” Adele grumbled, but hopped off her stool dutifully.

Remus looked back to Sirius when there was a rustle of bringing everything to the table. He had poured himself a glass of wine of his own and fell into stride with Remus as the followed the others to the dining room.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. I thought Pascal would have told you, that’s all.” Remus took a sip of his drink, carefully not looking at Sirius. “I was as surprised as you to be invited.”

“Remus.”

Remus stopped and turned at Sirius’ hand on his arm. He looked up at him and tried his best to keep his face passive. A crease appeared between Sirius eyebrows that Remus badly wanted to smooth out.

“I was surprised to see you,” Sirius said. “Not unhappy to see you.”

Remus swallowed. “Oh. Well, good.”

Remus ended up between Sirius and Katie at dinner, and sitting across from a very smiley Pascal who kept shooting him looks like he knew something Remus didn’t. Once or twice Remus tried to subtly ask him what the hell was up with his eyes, but Pascal always looked away with a soft laugh. The kids and Logan kept most of the conversation going, and Sirius laughed and played along, but Remus could feel it every time Sirius’ eyes fell his way. He was sure Sirius could feel the same whenever Remus looked at him.

There was a tug on his shirt from his left, and Remus looked down at Katie’s large blue eyes.

“Joues-tu au hockey?” she asked in her soft voice. “Like my papa?”

Remus smiled, but shook his head. “I wish. I’m not as cool as your papa.”

“Finally! The praise I deserve.” Pascal said, and Celeste rolled her eyes, but she was smiling.

“I used to, though,” Remus said to Katie.

“Did you?” Pascal tilted his head. “I didn’t know that.”

Remus shrugged. “It’s…you know. I miss it, so I don’t talk about it much.”

“Jesus f—fudge,” Logan sent an apologetic smile to Celeste, then looked back to Remus. “You’ve got to play with us, bud. How did we not know this?”

“He’s already promised,” Sirius said, raising his glass to his lips. “All we have to do is win a Cup.”

All three players knocked on the wood of the table at the same time. Remus rolled his eyes at the superstition.

As soon as they knocked, the lights flickered out, making Adele squeak and throwing the table into semi-darkness. The moonlight reflected off the snow falling heavily outside and the wind practically howled.

“Whoa,” Logan said.

“Oh, a storm!” Pascal said, sounding far too delighted. He threw his napkin down. “I’ll get the candles, you were right, Lupin, you were right.” On his way out, he bent to drop a kiss to Celeste’s head.

“Well. The weatherman was right, really.” Remus stuttered.

Celeste scooted her chair back. “Pascal will never know where the candles are, I’ll be right back.” She hesitated then nodded to herself. “Why don’t we all go to the living room. We’re all almost done anyway and it’ll be more comfortable there. I’ll light the stove and bring coffee, too, non? And dessert.”

The kids scrambled at the mention of desert in the dark, giggling and begging Logan for a piggy back ride as they filed out of the dining room. He ended up groaning and laughing under the weight of the two smallest clinging to his arms and neck.

“I didn’t realize it was going to storm like this,” Sirius said as he and Remus followed the others.

“Me neither,” Remus glanced out the windows as they passed them. “I was mostly joking when I asked Dumo about the candles.”

“Guess the x-box isn’t working, then.”

Remus couldn’t help but laugh a little. “No, I guess not.”

“What,” Sirius said, bumping their shoulders lightly. “You don’t like x-box?”

Remus stopped just in the door, out of view of the dimly lit living room. “You aren’t allowed to do that right now.”

For a moment, Remus was worried he was going to have to explain himself from the look on Sirius’ face, but then Sirius stepped back. “Sorry, I…I’m sorry.”

Remus sighed, “You keep saying that.”

“I know.”

“Boys, go sit down!” Celeste yelled from the dark kitchen, and they dutifully went.

“Can I drive you home tonight? And we can talk?” Sirius murmured as they sat on the couch. He kept his eyes on Remus even as Katie wiggled her way into his lap.

Remus opened his mouth, but then there was a flickering light from the corner of his eye. When he looked, Dumo was there holding a chocolate, beautifully homemade cake. Celeste clapped her hands and Katie started the rather off-key version of happy birthday, only made better by Adele’s pretty voice.

Sirius had to tear his eyes away from Remus then and a smile broke out over his face despite himself. It was Remus’ favorite smile, with dimples and completely unselfconscious. Gorgeous. He wondered if Sirius had ever been treated like this at his real home. The thought brought an ache to his chest.

“Guys,” Sirius said, rubbing a hand over his cheek, which Remus noticed was more stubbly than usual. “Merci…thanks.”

“Le gateau!” Katie said delightedly.

“Oui,” Sirius said in his lovely, drawn out way. “Will you help me blow out the candles?”

“What are you going to wish for?” Adele said from where she was leaning forward in her chair.

Remus smiled a little. She absolutely had a crush on Sirius. Don’t we all, Remus wanted to say.

“Well, I can’t tell you.” Sirius hesitated. “It won’t come true. And…I think I need this one to come true.”

Sirius glanced at Remus again, then blew out the cake with Katie.

They were eating and drinking coffee when everyone’s phones started lighting up with severe storm warnings.

“Oh, would you look at that,” Pascal said, holding his phone close to his face. “Dangerous roads.”

Celeste hummed thoughtfully and went to the window. “Oh,” she said, pushing the curtain further aside. “God, we can barely see. I didn’t know it was going to be this bad.” She turned back to them. “Well…I don’t know if I want you boys driving in the dark like this. Especially after all the wine, the food…”

Remus looked down at his wine glass. He had been drinking freely because he had thought he was going to take a cab back. He wasn’t sure the cab services would be running now.

“You both should stay here,” Celeste said, coming back to the table and picking up her cake again. “Just to be safe. The snow plows will come in the morning. The worst that could happen is practice being delayed a little. We have a guest room, if you don’t mind sharing.”

Remus felt Sirius look at him, and was a little grateful. Sirius was giving him the opportunity to turn it down. But the roads looked bad. He would never forgive himself if he made Sirius drive in this weather and he got hurt somehow.

“That would be wonderful.” Remus sent Celeste a small smile. “And I don’t mind if Sirius doesn’t.”

“No,” Sirius said quickly, then cleared his throat. “I mean no, I don’t mind. At all. It’s fine.”

“Are we having a sleepover?” Katie said, relaxing back into Sirius’ chest and tapping his wrist for a bite of his cake.

“Cap and Loops are having a sleepover, mon cher,” Logan said, then stretched out his foot to nudge her feet until she laughed. “You and me can have a sleepover, how’s that?” He looked at Remus and raised a shoulder, “I’m just saying because she really will climb into your bed if you say yes.”

“Tremzy.” Katie sighed happily.

Celeste laughed, “She really will. I speak from experience. Anyway, finish you cake and coffee and I’ll make up the bed for you.”

“We can do that,” Remus took a bite of cake.

“Speak for yourself, Fruit-loop,” Pascal laughed. “I’ve never met a hockey player below 25 who can make up a bed for himself.”

“I can make a bed!” Sirius protested.

“We’ll see, won’t we?” Pascal raised his eyebrows and took a large, final bite of cake, grinning through it obnoxiously and making his kids laugh.

Celeste rolled her eyes fondly. “Stop teasing the boy, Pascal.” She waved towards there food. “Eat up, or I’ll have children begging for left over cake for the next week.”

Remus didn’t know how the Dumais’ had so many extra toothbrushes laying around, but he was glad for them and for Logan throwing extra t-shirts at them both to sleep in.

“You’ll have to suffer through two day underwear,” he had laughed. “As if you’ve never done that before.”

It was busy with the warm sounds of the kids getting ready for bed and yelling for Celeste, needing this or that. Remus felt relaxed by the lull of it, the presence of so many others in the house. He wondered if Sirius felt the same, if he also felt like he had too much room to know what to do with at home.

He was relaxed until Sirius closed the door behind them after wishing the family goodnight (Pascal giving them both exaggerated and smacking kisses to the cheeks) and they were alone and quiet.

Remus rubbed his hands nervously on his jeans before deciding to go over and pick up the shirt Logan had lent him. It was too big but it would be comfortable to sleep in. It had Logan’s name and number on the back and the Lions’ logo on the front. Remus looked at the Tremblay that spread between the shoulders and suddenly pictured a different name there. A different number. Black. 12.

“Ah, do you want the bathroom first?” Sirius’ voice cut into his thoughts and Remus turned abruptly.

“Oh.” He held the shirt against his chest, as if Sirius could see the evidence of his thoughts on it. “No. Go ahead.”

Sirius nodded and retreated to brush his teeth. Remus expected him to close the door but instead, he came wandering back out a second later, toothbrush in his mouth. He held it between his teeth by the bed, and Remus watched with raised eyebrows as he struggled to take his shirt off around it. When he succeeded and pulled a plain gray t-shirt over his head with minimal dripping from the toothpaste, he noticed Remus’ gaze.

“Quoi?” Sirius asked.

Remus kept his eyes firmly towards Sirius’ face and shook his head. “Nothing. Just—a funny order of operations you’ve got going there.”

Sirius looked down at his shirt, then at Remus, and shrugged, going back to brushing.

Remus tugged off his own shirt to change.

Sirius made a noise that was sort of a high pitched hum and Remus looked at him again.

“What?” he asked.

Whatever Sirius responded with was garbled by toothpaste and he disappeared into the bathroom. The back of his neck looked a little pink.

Remus let out a breath. He wasn’t going to survive the night. He figured he could brush his teeth, too, if Sirius wasn’t closing the door, and he picked up Logan’s shirt and tugged it over his head as he walked. He blinked against the bright light of the bathroom and stopped at the left sink. Sirius was running water over his face, and when he reached for the washcloth, he missed by a few inches. Remus pressed it into his hand and Sirius blinked water out of his eyes.

“Thanks,” Sirius said.

Remus nodded, putting toothpaste on his toothbrush. “Yeah.”

Sirius straightened. “Logan gave you that shirt?”

Remus looked at him in the mirror. Sirius question sounded like he was almost appalled by the notion. It made something in Remus’ chest squeeze.

“Yeah. He probably just picked two up from his floor.” Remus leant down and spit, running the water. “I’d guess we’re wearing week old laundry right now.” Then, he couldn’t help adding, “why?”

He watched in the mirror as Sirius’ eyes ran over his back, over Logan’s name and number. Sirius’ nostrils flared a little as he took a large breath.

“I don’t know,” Sirius finally said, then turned and went back into the bedroom.

Sirius was already in bed—on the right side—when Remus came. Sirius had drawn the covers back and was on his phone, one knee bent and raised out of the sheets. Remus collapsed on the left and doodled around on his own phone for a while. It was…nice. Sitting beside someone. Even if they were completely quiet, Remus liked the company, the weight in the bed. It felt like something he wouldn’t mind getting used to.

The wind howled outside, and they both jumped when they heard what sounded like tree branches brush against the window.

“Jesus,” Remus said. “Wonder what the world’s going to look like tomorrow.”

“Yeah,” Sirius clicked his phone off. Remus was going to remind him to silence it before they slept. “That sounds pretty rough. Mind if I…?”

When he trailed off, Remus looked to see his hand hovering by the light.

“Oh, yeah. Go ahead.” Remus turned his phone off, too. He was doing fine on battery, but he would need to borrow a charger over breakfast. The light flicked off and they were left with the wind and the dark. They’d closed the shades and Remus could barely see his own hands.

Remus listened to Sirius breathing for a moment, wondering if he was just going to fall asleep. That would be fine, probably better, really, but a small part of Remus had hoped that, maybe—

“James asked me to be the godfather,” Sirius said suddenly into the dark.

Remus couldn’t help but turn to look at him, even if they couldn’t see each other. “Sirius. That’s amazing.”

Sirius made a soft noise of acknowledgement, then fell silent for a few moments again. Remus let him think.

“How does he know?” Sirius whispered.

“Know what?”

Sirius let out a breath. “Nothing. Sorry, nothing, I just had to tell someone. I’ve been—God, I’ve just been thinking about it since he asked and…I’m so happy, I am, I just…”

“It’s a daunting thought for anyone,” Remus said softly.

“Right. Yeah. It is.”

“I,” Remus swallowed. “I get why it would be, especially so for you. But being scared by it doesn’t mean you’re the wrong choice. It means you’re the right choice.”

Sirius laughed softly. “You always know what to say to me, don’t you?”

Remus let out a laugh of his own. “No. No, I really don’t.”

They fell into silence again, staring up into the dark. Remus tried to close his eyes, but all that turned into was listening to Sirius’ breathing and remembering that morning when he had woken up in Sirius’ arms. Sirius’ hand in his hair and his breath against his neck. Now that he knew that, even then, Sirius had wanted him, it made it all hurt even more.

“Were you pretending to be asleep?” Remus asked quietly.

“Now?”

“No,” Remus sunk back against his pillow. “The day you slept in my hotel room. After we lost to the Rangers. We woke up and we were—together.”

“Oh,” Sirius said. Remus heard him take a breath. “Well. I…I didn’t think I’d get the chance again. I’m sorry if that’s weird.”

Remus closed his eyes. “No. I just…I don’t know, I shouldn’t have asked.” Remus kept his eyes closed, took a breath, and said, “I was pretending, too.”

Sirius groaned a little, “Remus.”

There was a rustling as Sirius turned on his side. Remus turned towards him and he could just make out Sirius’ features as his eyes adjusted to the darkness. Sirius was shadows and silver outlines, fuzzy with the quiet in the room.

Remus mirrored Sirius’ position. Their hands were tucked between them and Remus inched his head closer to Sirius’ on his pillow.

“This is probably the last thing you want to be doing right now,” Sirius breathed. “I’m sorry.”

Remus shook his head. “It’s more like the last thing I should be doing. But it couldn’t be closer to what I want.” Remus paused at Sirius’ sharp intake of breath. “I already told you that.”

Sirius’ eyes moved down to their hands and they rested on Remus’ open palm, soft on the mattress between them.

“I wished for something when Dumo brought the cake out,” Sirius looked back at Remus. “I’ve wished for the same thing almost every year of my life, but this year it was different.”

Remus could feel his heart in his fingertips. “Oh?”

“I used to wish that—that I could be different. Or maybe that I would stop being different, I guess.”

Remus raised his head off of his pillow a little, heart pulling. “Sirius…”

Sirius shook his head and pressed his cheek farther into his pillow. “I wished every chance that I had that I could just stop—wanting. Stop wanting what everyone around me was implying that I couldn’t have. Stop wanting what I knew I couldn’t want.”

Remus let out a breath. It made sense now. How cold Sirius had been in the beginning. He’d been beaten down. He’d beaten himself down, and he’d been beating himself down for his entire life.

“I didn’t wish for that tonight,” Sirius whispered. When he looked at Remus again, his eyes were shining in the dimness. He reached forward and pressed his palm over Remus’, slowly sliding their fingers together. “Remus, I didn’t wish for that tonight. I couldn’t. I was wrong.”

Remus squeezed his hand, pulling it against his chest. He couldn’t help it. He needed Sirius to know he was there. He hoped Sirius could feel how hard his heart was beating in his chest.

“Wrong?” Remus asked.

Sirius blinked, eyes steady. He looked crumbled but beautiful, like a ruined cathedral that was now open to the sky. “I don’t want it to stop. I know the risks but—God, Remus, when I look at you how could I wish for anything else?”

“Sirius,” Remus breathed. “God, Sirius—”

Sirius pushed himself up then, just enough to bend over Remus in the dark, their hands still locked between them, resting on Remus’ chest. Remus wound his fingers in Sirius’ hair and pulled him down, their noses brushing.

Sirius groaned. “Please don’t let me trap you. Please, Remus, you have to be sure. I can’t—I can’t offer you anything except behind closed doors. Not right now, at least. Not yet.”

“I know,” Remus hushed, fingers stroking the nape of his neck. “I told you, I already told you, and you have to listen to me, okay? Listen.” Remus released Sirius’ hand and cupped his jaw, thumb stroking over his bottom lip, and then his temple, his cheek. “You are worth it, Sirius. You’re kind and good, and I want to be with you even if it’s only when we’re alone. I’ll know. For the entire day when we can’t do anything more than glance and smile at each other, I’ll know what each look means.”

Sirius dropped their foreheads together, his lips pressing just beside Remus’ mouth with a soft sound. Remus closed his eyes, entire body feeling coiled with tension, waiting. Wanting.

“I don’t know how many times you’ve heard that you aren’t good enough,” Remus whispered against Sirius’ skin. “But I’m going to make you forget each one.”

Sirius shuttered. Remus felt it as Sirius let his chest rest against his, pressing them together.

“Re,” Sirius had barely breathed out, and then Remus pulled their mouths together and kissed him.

Sirius groaned into it and Remus heard himself do the same as Sirius’ fingers found his hip and cheek, keeping him steady while Sirius angled his head to deepen the kiss, running his tongue along Remus’ lip. Remus pressed up and against him, hands smoothing from his neck to his waist, rather shameless about feeling each rise and fall of his body along the way. Each stroke seemed to make Sirius kiss him harder, more frantically, like he was making up for lost time.

“Fuck,” Sirius murmured as he kissed down Remus’ jaw, pausing at the place where it met his neck. Sirius slotted his thigh between Remus’ and Remus gasped. Sirius was a hard, hot line against his hip and he was relentless in the presser he was applying in warm rolls against Remus’ quickly filling dick.

Remus let out a sigh at the feeling, pressing his arms to Sirius’ upper back and feeling the muscles move beneath his skin as Sirius worked himself against Remus’ body.

“Oh God,” Remus panted. “Oh God, we can’t have sex in Dumo’s guest room.”

“We can if we’re quiet.” Sirius kissed Remus again. “Je vais garder ta bouche occupée.”

Remus groaned. “I can’t fucking translate French right now.”

Sirius laughed softly. “I can keep your mouth busy.” Then he kept kissing him, slow and dirty. Remus couldn’t help but mirror his smile and tucked his fingers back into Sirius’ dark hair. He pushed up into Sirius’ mouth, then broke to kiss across his cheek slowly, savoring the scratch of his stubble against his lips.

Sirius hummed happily and settled back down against Remus’ chest, nose against Remus’ neck. He was too tall for their current position, and Remus lifted his head a little to see his bare feet dangling a little off of the end of the bed. He laughed, but simply wrapped his arms around Sirius’ broader shoulders and pressed his nose into the hair that curled out above Sirius’ ear.

“You’re not a lion, your a cub, an oversized cub. Somehow I always knew.”

Sirius mumbled something and smacked Remus’ hip lightly before pressing a kiss to his neck.

“Okay,” Sirius said with another kiss, then pushed himself up onto his forearms. He looked down at Remus.

Remus tilted his head, fingers still threading gently through Sirius’ hair. “Okay?”

A small, disbelieving smile appeared on Sirius’ face and he leaned down for a much softer, shorter kiss. “We can’t have sex in Dumo’s guest room. You’re right. But I can hold you without pretending to be asleep now, oui?”

Remus nodded. He thought there might be nothing left in his chest but his heart now.

“Oui,” he replied softly.

Sirius rolled away, pulling Remus with him until he was tucked beneath Sirius’ chin, ankles hooked around each other.

Remus wouldn’t have thought he’d be able to sleep, but when he closed his eyes, and with Sirius’ heart beneath his ear, he found that he’d never felt more calm.

“Je suis content,” Sirius whispered with a kiss to Remus’ forehead.

Remus smiled, and tilting his chin up for a kiss felt like the most natural and practiced thing in the world.

“I’m happy, too.”

[saintstrawberry]

When the Night is Over/Just What I Needed

Second Chapter is up!

Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27733207/chapters/68086045#workskin

Ships:

bokuaka, kuroken, kagehina, daisuga, daiaka, iwaoi

Description:

A surprise visit, mariokart, and Oikawa. Malibu also makes an appearance (Or multiple).

Notes: Akaashi has a bad memory. Relatable content.

Songs I recommend for this chap are Dionysus by the Buttertones, Best Interest by Tyler the Creator (for Kuroo), and Shampoo Bottles by Peach Pit for the ending. I promise Bokuto will show up in the next chap! >.<

I also make a reference to Natsume Ono because she smacks! Read her manga Not Simple; it is fantastic!

Thank you for reading!

—————

Shampoo Bottles

It’s Saturday, something Akaashi doesn’t realize until he is flying halfway out his front door and huffing a breath at his phone screen’s mocking display: 6:30 AM, Saturday, June 14th. Exactly a week before Hinata’s birthday.

He blinks and remembers the night before, when he was nursing a red wine and a deadline for his “Ono Natsume: Shouting for the Voiceless” article. He remembers, vaguely, submitting the piece at 11:50 and dropping his head right there on his cheap Ikea desk, exhausted.

Presently, he’s nodding awkwardly at his neighbor (leaving the complex to work out, no less) and trying to make it look, somehow, like he meant to open his front door only to close it seconds later.

Toeing off his work shoes and entirely caught off guard by the idea of a day off, Akaashi retreats to his bed. He passes out almost as soon as his foggy head hits the pillow, dreaming of nothing. The next time he opens his eyes, his breath and body still completely.

“Mornin’, sleeping beauty! It’s ten, I’m surprised you slept so long!”

“Kuroo-san, why are you in my apartment?”

The offender offers no answer but grins brilliantly, gold irises level with Akaashi’s blue-green.

“And just how long have you been here anyway?” Kuroo ignores him again, instead choosing to stand from his squatting position. His hands at his hips, Kuroo wears a white oversized Bouncing Ball hoodie and black skinny jeans. Much to Akaashi’s discomfort, he still has his shoes on- red and white high top sneakers with the laces tucked in. As always, the guy’s flawlessly disheveled, silver jewelry glinting from his ears and neck.

Akaashi groans and plants his face in his pillow. It’s too early for the young, beautiful, and rich.

Kuroo, unsurprisingly, doesn’t yield Akaashi’s thoughts and scoffs once. He moves to draw open the curtains in his room. Keiji can’t help but grimace as he feels his skin bathed in hot summer light.

“Man. You should really dust your windowsills. Do you even ever open these things?! You’re not some bat, ‘Kaashi. You need fresh air.”

“I think bats need air too,” Akaashi mumbles into the pillow.

Kuroo waves a dismissive hand and turns to survey him, arms folded across a broad chest. Keiji reluctantly turns his head to address his stare, squinting without the aid of his glasses or contacts. Kuroo’s bedhead is seemingly even worse today- probably from whatever plane he just hopped out of. The latter smirks devilishly.

“Well. Are you gonna welcome me back or what?”

“So you didn’t expect to land in Tokyo until Thursday?” Akaashi asks this of Kuroo about 45 minutes after his intrusion into the writer’s apartment. The pair are getting brunch in some needlessly swanky rooftop restaurant, one where Kuroo insisted he wouldn’t get recognized. Akaashi raised his eyebrows at that- his friend had stuffed his signature messy locks into one of Akaashi’s ratty baseball caps and donned aviators the moment they got outside.

No matter to him, anyway. Akaashi got fancy champagne out of the deal.

“Sure didn’t. Management canceled the show in Singapore last minute. Something about the venue. Fuck if I know,” Kuroo explains almost incoherently through colossal bites of egg.

“What matters is nobody got hurt. We refunded tickets and rescheduled the gig. S’all good. I’m just happy to be back home with my buddy!” Kuroo reaches over to slap Akaashi on the back with a friendly grin.

He’s sputtering over his mimosa when Kuroo continues, “Can’t wait to surprise Kenma tonight, either. Can you imagine his face?"

“Yeah, actually, I can,” Akaashi slouches his shoulders forward in his chair with an uninterested expression and quirks up an eyebrow ever so slightly, impersonating his best friend.

“Hey, that was pretty good! Though I guess it’s not that hard for you. You’re both pretty stoic. Like Easter Island Heads.”

Akaashi swats at him half-heartedly. Kuroo laughs.

“Anyway, you’re lucky I didn’t call him immediately this morning- or the police for that matter,” Akaashi says matter of factly. Kuroo clutches at his heart dramatically.

“Akaashi-kun. You wound me. I am the furthest from a criminal.”

Akaashi huffs a laugh.

“Tell the Osaka police force that.”

“Hey! What, a guy can’t take a piss anymore?”

“Not, apparently, from the top of the Umeda Sky Building-”

“To be fair, I didn’t know the police officer was right there,” Kuroo interjects.

“-After downing half a bottle of Malibu with Oikawa. And you were 17. You were lucky you didn’t get charged with public indecency.”

Kuroo pouts but offers no petition.

“Guilty as charged, I suppose. Hey, speaking of police officers-”

Akaashi clears his throat and interrupts, “Speaking of drinking, how was Singapore?”

Kuroo takes the hint and stretches back in his chair, raising his third bloody mary to his lips.

“Didn’t get much time there, only about four days before I got the call about the cancellation. Flew straight here after the news.”

Straight to Kenma, Akaashi supplies mentally, grinning fondly at his friends’ relationship.

“Anyway, it was pretty mild, all things considered. Bokuto seemed to like the clubbing scene more than I did. Matter of fact, he’s staying there ‘til the next concert.”

“Bokuto?” Akaashi says, cutting into his eggs and watching the yolk spill onto his fork.

Kuroo, now onto his nearly 2,500 yen crepe, takes a break from his meal to look up at him with a puzzled stare.

“My tourmate? Bokuto Koutarou? X. Ace?”

Akaashi meets his eyes blankly.

“I guess it makes sense his stage name doesn’t ring a bell, but I’m surprised you don’t know about the guy’s v-ball career.”

The blue-eyed 24 year old drops his gaze to the napkin in his lap.

“Sorry, sorry. Touchy topic.”

Pain-in-the-ass-Kuroo-san.

“Anyway, you should really check out some of his matches with the Panthers.”

“He was signed with the Panthers?” Akaashi sputters, clapping his mouth shut immediately after.

Kuroo cackles.

“Don’t give yourself a heart attack, Akaashi. It’s okay to be impressed- it’s impressive. He’s crazy. You’ll be meeting him soon.”

Akaashi only hums in response.

"You're coming to the show, right?"

Akaashi hums again.

"Big talker today, huh, Keiji?"

"Bah."

“Right. So.. you baited yourself a hook yet?”

“Beg your pardon?”

“You know. After Daichi,” Kuroo tries again.

No, he really hasn’t.

Akaashi downs the rest of his drink. He peers into his empty glass in response.

“Haven’t thought about it really. He said it himself- I don’t have the time.”

“Oh, Keiji. Nevermind him.”

“Don’t sigh like that. Did you fly all the way from China to pity me?”

The rapper shakes his head, “No, I didn’t. I just want you to-”

“Be as happy as you are with Kenma,” Keiji finishes.

Kuroo gives a gentle smile, “Can you blame me?”

“God. You two are worse than the shoujo manga I have to review.”

“But twice as fun.”

“Shut up and eat your crepe.”

Kuroo happily complies, “Don’t have to tell me twice.”

“I’m glad you’re home, Kuroo-san,” Akaashi remarks. And he is. Even with his busy lifestyle as a chart-topping artist, Kuroo somehow manages to draw Kenma and Akaashi out of the house.

Kuroo and Kenma are both relatively new to their fame- about three years out from Kuroo’s first breakthrough hit and four since Kenma first started his Bouncing Ball Youtube channel- but their fans are… dedicated. Akaashi often marvels at how even Kenma takes it in stride. He's entertaining to watch and a seasoned video game expert. And Kuroo... Akaashi looks to the man and the ketchup stain on his lip.

"What?"

Well, they both deserve their good fortune.

"Nothing, nothing."

He has interviewed them each multiple times for the journal. The good thing about his friends’ famous status is that Akaashi gets to profit from it as well. He tells Kuroo as much and the latter almost chokes on his stupidly expensive breakfast laughing. Even Akaashi cracks a small grin.

“I told that was him!” The writer hears two girlish voices behind him, talking in excited whispers.

“E-Excuse me, K-Kuroo-san?”

The rapper breaks out in a large grin and stands, bowing formally at the pair.

“Yes? Hello, ladies. Are you two fans of mine?”

“Yes!! Very much so! I loved your new song!” The girl, about 17 with dark lashes and fire red hair, praises politely.

“Would, would you mind taking a picture with us!?” The other chirps.

“Not at all! Akaashi, my pal, would you be a dear and snap some shots?” It takes everything for Akaashi not to roll his eyes.

“But of course.”

--------------------

This is how Akaashi comes to search up the 2018 Panthers roster on his phone’s Google. He gives up his sleuthing when he realizes he doesn’t remember the guy’s name or know what he looks like.

He forgets about the whole thing until later that night, at Kenma’s celebration party for 5 million followers. It’s small, of course, about ten of them drinking champagne and playing drinking games. Akaashi knows Hinata did all the planning anyway, despite the event being at Kenma’s. The trio is standing off to the side when Akaashi pulls out his phone briefly to check the time.

Kuroo should be here any minute, he thinks. Hinata peers too, instinctually curious.

“Hey! Whatcha looking up the Panthers for? That’s not the latest roster, you know! Ooh, you’re looking up X-Ace, right?! Seeeeee, I knew you’d like him!”

Akaashi looks down at the picture Hinata points to. The guy’s sturdy and smug with one thick eyebrow raised. His chest is broad and his eyes are perfectly golden. The first thing Akaashi notices, however, is his hair. Absolutely ridiculous, he thinks. Makes sense that this guy’s Hinata’s idol.

Kenma raises his eyebrows.

“What made you do that?” he asks.

“Oh, uh, just...curious.”

Kenma looks like he’s about to say more when Oikawa joins their group with a boisterous, “Pudding Head! Congratsssss!” He pinches the smaller’s cheeks, who just about hisses in response.

Akaashi, grateful for Oikawa’s interruption, takes another quick glance at… X-Ace, and pockets his phone.

Hinata grins wide when Tooru, seemingly already a bit tipsy, ruffles his hair.

“Thanks, Oikawa-san," Kenma begrudgingly replies.

“You know, Kuroo is-”

Akaashi, ever vigilant, cuts in immediately, “-is so happy for you, Ken.”

Oikawa seems to get the hint, his eyes widening in realization.

“He sure is! Want some more alcohol?” The chestnut-haired friend of Kuroo’s quickly shoves his bottle of strawberry rum in Kenma’s face.

“You know I hate your sticky Malibu. Why are you guys acting all weird?”

Hinata, completely oblivious to the unspoken diaogue between Akaashi and Oikawa, tugs Kenma’s shirt.

“Kenma, Kenma! We should stream!!”

“Hey, that’s not too bad an idea, Shoyo,” Akaashi adds, if just to distract him.

“Sure, we could play some Mario-Kart. My fans seem to like you guys. Just don’t do anything stupid, Tooru.”

“Who, me?! And when do I-” Oikawa starts dramatically. The rest of the men send him a collective stare which answers his question before he can even finish it. He crosses his arms with a huff.

“Whatever. I call Princess Peach.”

--------------

After Kenma finishes setting up the Livestream and the small group has gained over a couple thousand viewers, Akaashi is in dead last as Blooper. Well, almost dead last, expect for...

“How am I losing? No fair, Kozume!” Oikawa whines.

“Me? What did I do?” Kenma-san replies, uninterested. Unsurprisingly, the Youtuber is in first place with his signature Toad.

“I don’t know, your fancy settings or something. Iwa-chan! Back me up, here!”

“It’s ‘cause you suck, Trashy-kawa,” Iwaizumi-san, whom the quartet bribed into playing with agedashi dofu, doesn’t hesitate to retaliate. His player, Bowser, is in second, with Hinata close behind as Yoshi.

“Take that, Hajime-san! Oh, shoot, sorry, Akaashi-san!” Hinata shouts, rising from his seat as he hurls a red shell, accidentally hitting Keiji.

“Hinata, language!” Kuroo’s smooth voice floods the apartment in mock disapproval. Kenma whips his head so fast he drops his controller. The blonde doesn’t say anything but slowly rises to his feet, then breaks into a short run at the sight of his boyfriend. The former picks up Kenma effortlessly and twirls him in a tight embrace. Akaashi looks on fondly.

“Kuroo-san!” Hinata exclaims, jumping up excitedly.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever, Tetsuro’s home. I’m about to kick all of your asses!” Oikawa waves away his entrance, sticking out his tongue. Iwaizumi slaps him on the back of the head.

The stream chat has exploded at the sound of Kuroo.

bb-corp: is that Kuroo???

applephi: NO WAY djwhdnbwibdfwq

yoyotetsuro: couple goals

kurokenxx: will anyone ever love me like Kuroo loves Kenma?

keeeeenmaaa_: I think this is the first time BouncingBall’s lost at Mariokart

----------

A little tired and a lot tipsy, Akaashi insists on taking a cab home. It doesn't feel right to invade Kenma's when the Kuroo's home. Keiji could tell the pair... needed their space for the night. He splits the ride with Hinata, who talks his ear off the whole way about Kuroo's arrival and how badly he wishes he had the money to go to a concert. Akaashi smirks at that, just a little. Shoyo exits the vehicle with an enthusiastic, "Bye, 'Kaashi-san!! I'll see you soon! Maybe I'll come to the store, or, or, you can come to see me and Tobio-chan! He didn't come out tonight because he has a game tomorrow, but-" The rest of his goodbye is drowned out by him closing the door.

"I apologize for the noise," Keiji addresses the driver. She makes a noise of recognition and drops him off 15 minutes later. He thinks about his conversation with Kuroo about "baiting his hook" as he enters his living room, dropping his keys unceremoniously on the floor next to his door. What does that even mean? Akaashi doesn't exactly meet a lot of people with his work and his friends are all, well, with each other. He's happy for them and all, but sometimes being around so many couples gets a bit nauseating. Akaashi is struck with a small wave of loneliness when he waters his small bamboo plant, made worse by the two shots of Malibu Oikawa shoved down his throat. This is all I have to come home to, a fucking bamboo plant. Akaashi stares at its braided stalks with a vengeance. Not a second later, he pets the leaves in apology. I shouldn't take this out on the plant.

He's always been relatively independent, but having someone felt kind of... nice, for a change. It's been almost a year since Daichi left, and probably 6 months since he and Suga got together. It's one of those things that Akaashi didn't process for awhile, forcing him to fend for himself when the realization came to knock him on his ass months down the line. He's been confronting turned over picture frames and empty sheets ever since.

And so it goes.

He pads over to his bed with a sigh and for the second time today, falls asleep and dreams of nothing.

[dammitadolfnomorecake]

Once Bitten, Twice Stupid prt 139

139

Cuba was loud. Loud and people everywhere. Lance had bugged him to call Shiro, his brother giving him a hard time for forgetting, but Matt had already called to let him know that he and Lance had a very... intimate reunion. Stupid perverted wolf. He was having a moment with his boyfriend, not some kind of scandalous tryst.

Lance didn’t talk as much as he thought he would. So Keith didn’t push it. He’d sent Shiro a proper message explaining Miriam had passed and that Lance needed a little more time before they’d be headed back to America. Matt had let Shiro know, but Keith felt like maybe that’d been Lance’s place to say. Shiro and Curtis sending their condolences. Each time Lance would point something out, Keith tried to take as many photos on his phone as he could, so Lance would have physical evidence to match his memories.

Stopping for lunch near the beach, Keith realised how screwed he would have been without Lance there to translate for him. Sure, there was English to cater to the tourists, but Lance made it look easy. Chatting away with the servers, swimming in the jumper that he was wearing. His boyfriend had already managed to get him new shoes. They weren’t shiny red converses with smiley faces on them, but they were sneakers because Lance simply rolled his eyes at the idea of boots in the heat.

Sitting across from his boyfriend in the cafe, Keith realising that Lance actually looked a little older. He couldn’t put his finger on what it was, but there was something there. Then again, he hadn’t seen his boyfriend’s face in the sun like this in far too long

“You’re staring”

“You’re cute”

Lance huffed at him. Keith couldn’t help how in love with Lance he was

“Can... can you maybe... not compliment me as much?”

“Nope”

His boyfriend huffed again. Did Lance think he was complimenting him to cover other feelings? Or was hating on himself so hard that he struggling to see how beautiful he was? All he had to do was look at Lance and he wanted to say nice things. The Keith from this time last year wouldn’t have believed it. He probably would have broken someone’s face had they suggested he’d be like this with anyone.

Forcing his attention to the meal, he wasn’t sure what it was. It smelt really good. Keith wasn’t sure about the beans, his diet didn’t consist of much outside green beans and baked beans. Baked beans banned because Shiro’s farts were no joke. Pointing with his fork, Lance explained what they were eating

“It’s Ropa Vieja. It’s very good. It’s mostly pulled stewed beef with veggies”

“I don’t think I’ve even heard of it”

“You missed out. Mami used to make a mean ropa. It’s like Cuba’s number one dish and she would come back and murder me if you didn’t try it at least once”

Lance was right, Keith’s eyes widened at the first taste of beef, scoffing down a second forkful. Lance seemed to find it funny enough that he laughed. An actual, proper, barking laugh where he scrunched his face up and people stared. Swallowing quickly, he got hit with the heat of the spices, Lance’s shoulders were shaking with laughter

“What’s so funny?”

“I told you it was good and you still looked like you’d come in your pants at the first bite”

“It is good... Wait, are you trying to say I make weird faces during sex?”

“You make very manly and sexy faces... but that face was gold”

Keith pulled his phone out his pocket, snapping a photo of Lance who sobered as he drew his brow realising what Keith had done. It’d make the perfect proof of life photo for Pidge

“Did you just take a photo?”

“You mocked my “oh” face”

“You have a many manly sex face. Just be careful with where you’re taking photos”

That was thing? Then again, there kind of seemed like a vague memory that maybe a thing

“I didn’t think about that. It was nice seeing you laugh, even it was at me”

He had no idea of the etiquette of Cuba, probably acting like the dumb America tourist he was

“It’s fine here. Mami and I came here a bit on the way too and from the hotel. On Wednesday’s they clear out the tables at night and they have dances”

“I bet Mami loved that”

“She did. We mostly shuffled on the spot but she said it reminded her of when Papi took her dancing. It’s weird when your mum gropes your butt”

“I bet she winked too”

“Yep. I wish I’d come back here sooner with her. I feel like I wasted time not”

“Nah, I’m sure she was happy. Oh, I better text Pidge and Hunk. Is there anything you want me to say?”

“Just tell them I miss them. I do... miss them I mean, but at this stage I’m not sure how to face them”

“Then it’s a good thing I’m here. Coran kept getting pushed out the way so Pidge could talk to me. He actually looked annoyed”

“He’s got a hard enough job. He paid for all of this. I mean, I know he used funds from VOLTRON, but that hotel isn’t cheap...”

“He did it because he loves you. I’m sure there’s plenty of funding, and I’m sure there’s things you haven’t cashed in on because you didn’t want to make a fuss”

“He did try to give me my blood for free... I feel better when I’m paying. More independent and not like a teen getting money from dad”

“See. There you go. This is like really good, can you make this at home?”

“You want me to?”

“Heck yes. Don’t get me wrong, Rome is like a food lovers paradise but pasta gets sooooo repetitive”

“You better make the most of it. There’s still a lot of dishes to try”

“What about going out for dinner? With Matt and Rieva?”

Lance fumbled his fork. Keith kicking himself but the words had slipped out

“I’m... I was really rude to them”

“I doubt they care”

“I care. I ran the first time I saw them”

Keith raised an eyebrow at the thought of a pregnant Lance thinking he could leg it from two werewolves. His boyfriend had zero chance

“Babe, they missed you”

“They’ll want to talk about what happened and I’m... telling you is...”

Right. Lance was still trying to tell him what he could, how he could...

“... telling you is because she saw you as her son. Telling them, I just... it’s harder”

“We don’t have to tell them the things you’re not comfortable with. If we have dinner, we can go after... but it’ll be a good step”

“What if they can’t forgive me?”

“The only person who can’t forgive you is you. Just put it in the back of your mind”

“I’ve been thinking about it too much...”

“I’m shocked you’d over think anything ever”

“Now you’re being mean”

“You still love me. Seriously though, this is really good. Can I help you make it?”

He was going to text Pidge but his food was too appealing. Shovelling down another forkful, Lance swallowed as he watched him, seeming a little flustered. Keith wished he knew what kind of expression he was showing the man he loved

“Uh. I guess... we should eat. We’re heading back to the hotel after this. I can’t seem to make it through without my afternoon nap”

“I’ve deprived you of your morning nap, haven’t I?”

“Yeah... and my morning self wallowing”

“I’m like the worst boyfriend ever”

“Nah. You’re pretty much the best I’ve ever had”

It took Keith a long moment. His heart filled with pride at the praise until he realised he was the only boyfriend Lance ever had. Lance chuckled when the realisation hit him, Keith kicking him lightly under the table. His boyfriend was a brat.

*

When Lance went down for a nap, Keith was shooed off to let him sleep. The cafe was the perfect distance back to the hotel for Lance to have processed eating and be needing to throw it back up. The vampire had eaten enough human food to rival Matt. Keith could keep up, though he tried. Everything tasted amazing, and all he wanted to do was bask in his food coma, then Lance had kicked him out because his hand had slipped a little too low rubbing his boyfriend’s belly. It wasn’t his fault he loved feeling the swell... Lance didn’t trust him to behave. Lance declaring his arse off limits.

Throwing himself down on the sofa in the living area, he was bored already. He’d messaged chat rather than just Pidge, then avoided checking the messages he got in reply. Shay knew he was in Rome for work, and that Lance was on holiday visiting family with his grandmother. Their chat looked rather sad. Shay had expressed her condolences, which Keith accepted on Lance’s behalf. He didn’t have much to do on his own. People were tiring, the noise reaching the hotel room through Lance’s still open bedroom door. If they were going out to dinner, he really should make the effort with Matt and Rieva. Lance was sleeping and he was sure the pair would let him know if Lance needed him back.

Doing what any normal person would do, Keith climbed over to their balcony, knocking on the back door rather than going out into the hall and all the way around. Rieva opened the door with a laugh

“We were wondering how long it’d be before you came over. Couldn’t take the front door?”

“Too much like effort”

“Fair enough. Come in. Mi casa es su casa. Matt, Keith’s here!”

Their hotel room was as nice as Lance’s, decorated the same, complete with clothes everywhere. Keith ignore the thin lace thong hanging off the corner of the sofa as he stood there with his hands in his pockets

“I know Keith’s here! I heard him!”

Matt was rubbing sunscreen on as he came out of his and Rieva’s room. The werewolf having either squeezed too much out, or accidentally burst the tube. The second option seemed more likely seeing it was in his hair. Rieva laughed at her boyfriend, walking over to him. Keith thought she was going to help with the mess until she drew a dick on Matt’s chest. Matt rolling his eyes at her as he smeared sunscreen across the outline to erase it

“Anyway, what brings you over? I didn’t think you wanted to be balcony buddies”

“Leave him alone. You know he only arrived last night”

“He did? Really... Hey!”

Keith snorted as Rieva slapped her boyfriend hard enough for Matt to double over

“Ignore him. I told him we’d go to the pool and he’s been acting like a hyperactive child since”

“Who says I’m not a hyperactive child in disguise?”

Rieva smacked him again

“It would explain so much. Anyway, how is Lance? We saw you two left earlier?”

Keith shrugged, it was really awkward standing there with lingerie just laying around

“About as well as can be expected. Convinced himself that he needs to be strong for everyone else. He’s worked himself up about being rude to you”

Matt huffed, giving up on rubbing in the sunscreen in favour of wiping it on Rieva’s arm. Both werewolves had new scars. Making a face as Rieva wiped sunscreen back on him, Matt sounded as chill as expected

“Lance is “bro-dude” for life. He gets the only free passes we give”

“We really do owe him so much. Garrison is such a lovely town. My boss even let me keep my job despite everything. Now we just need to turn Matt into a respectable member of society”

“I am pretty respectable... This sunscreen is awful”

“As awful as those dead things we found on the beach?”

Matt lit up

“I forgot about those! Hang on...”

Dripping sunscreen from his hair, Matt jogged back into the bedroom. Rieva seemed to know what was happening here.. he was sure he hadn’t missed a hint

“What’s he doing?”

Why was he questioning Matt’s action. He was weird as hell every day of the damn week

“You’ll see”

What was that supposed to mean? Matt calling out

“We found these last night. We thought something had washed up dead on the beach... like a whale or something because there’s sharks and the stench. Anyway, we thought you’d find it interesting”

Coming out with his red converses, Keith could have hugged Matt

“I thought I’d lost them!”

“You would have if we hadn’t been making sure you and Lance were okay. Rieva stopped me from rolling in them...”

“They’re new!”

“They still smell like your feet! And where is the thank you?”

“Thanks guys! Lance had to pretty much organise a new pair for me... you guys are awesome!”

“You’re lucky someone didn’t steal them. Don’t go leaving them around again”

Handing his shoes over, Keith really could have kissed Matt. Finally his stalkerish ways were beneficial

“I had to stop Matt from rolling on them last night. You can take the wolf out of the country, but that doesn’t make him civilised”

“I’m just happy he didn’t chew them... Any way, I wanted to know if you two wanted to go out for dinner with me and Lance tonight? It’s nothing special, and Mami is kind of... he’s still processing. He goes from not being able to say a thing to telling me all about their trip”

“We’d love to. Do you want to come down to the pool with us?”

He’d love to... but he should get back to Lance. Lance had had long enough to fall asleep and he wanted to show him the smiley faces on his shoes...

“I better head back, but I totally owe you for saving my shoes”

“You can pick up tonight’s drink tab...”

“Not with the way you drink. That bill would be higher than both sets of sneakers...”

Matt huffed at him, crossing his arms and channeling the most “Pidge look” he could... Failing on account of the sunscreen

“Cheapskate. Fine. Go back to Lance. We won’t be hurt that you’re bailing on us”

Pidge would have been much more aggressive, with more threats of “ankle biting” or “dick punching”

“It’s only until tonight... I know he’s been... well, Lance, but I’m glad you guys came down here to be here”

Rieva seemed to have “baby fever”

“We couldn’t leave him alone. Did you see how big he’s gotten!? I can’t wait to see the twins... he looks so cute!”

“Careful, babe. Keith might stab you if you make a move on Lance”

“I missed him! Plus werewolves love pups... I can’t wait to see the nursery... you are living in Garrison, right?”

“Oh. Yeah. That’s the plan. Shiro and Curtis are going to live in Platt...”

Matt rolled his eyes

“They should just move out to Garrison. Curtis is going to have fun with those horns of his”

Coran was going to have a proper look at Curtis when he returned. Breaking his horn had had affected his quintessence, now he had two... It was science and quintessence stuff above him

“Yeah. Anyway, thanks for this. I’ll just hop back over the balcony. See you guys later”

*

Lance was still awake when Keith came back with his shoes. Leaving them in the living area, Keith washed his hands then headed into Lance’s room, Lance raising his head to smile at him

“Have fun?”

“I thought you were sleeping”

“I heard you go...”

“I didn’t want to disturb you sleeping”

“It’s fine... they’re your friends”

Moving over to Lance’s bed, Keith pulled his shirt off before climbing under the covers in with his boyfriend. Spooning up around him, Lance rolled over onto his back, biting his lip as he did

“What’s up?”

“Nothing... just wanted to look at you”

Tucking back a stray curl behind Lance’s ear, he realised his boyfriend had a few small grey hairs. Lance had lamented the lack of grey in his hair...

“What’s wrong?”

“You’ve got grey hairs...”

He expected Lance to shoot up and rush to check. Instead his boyfriend nodded

“Yeah. I look a little older too... Coran pointed it out. He said it’s because so much energy is going into the pregnancy”

“Are you okay? Are the twins okay?”

“I... yeah”

Lance wasn’t telling him everything. He could tell. Gone was the Keith that didn’t pick up on social cues

“Babe, there’s something you’re holding back”

“If I tell you, you’ll hate me”

“That’s impossible. Is it to do with the bleed? Is there some kind of complication?”

“It’s... kind of Coran trying to work things out as it progresses. He said some things, that he’s only guessing... he said I might not carry to full term. That they could be born early. I mean, twins usually are. But another bleed could bad... like actually really bad. He did some genetic testing too... that was scary. A big huge needle right into the stomach...”

Keith’s heart was sinking. That didn’t sound like something people did when things were normal

“Was there something wrong?”

Lance’s hands went to his belly, his boyfriend cared more about his bump than he’d let anyone see

“It’s just a theory that I’m sick because these two are full human, with your blood type instead of mine. Despite floating around in me, feeding on my blood and nutrients and all that, they’re human. But that... could change. I mean, they really should be part vampire... it’s possible that my body could get too weak and start feeding off them... when they’re bigger... My body is kind of unique... I’ve been spending... a lot of time trying to eat as much as I can. You saw me at lunch. I’ve had pretty much no appetite since Mami passed, but I’ve been working hard for them... it’s so frustrating throwing everything back up when I’m trying so hard”

This was the kind of thing Coran should have told him... Coran had tried to talk to him alone. He’d been so desperate to get to Lance... he could have kicked himself. As it was, he didn’t know if the twins were from his weak pull out game or a dodgy condom. He’d never doubted paternity. Lance wasn’t like that... but he was pissed that Lance hadn’t told him this sooner

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because... because I’m trying so hard. I promise I am. I have fresh blood brought to me and I drink more and sleep more and I’ve been careful about not tripping or slipping...”

“Their my twins too. You have to stop taking everything on your own shoulders”

“You weren’t there! You weren’t! I know you couldn’t help it but you were gone and I had to cope the best I could!”

Lance rolled away from him, curling around his stomach as he started to cry. Keith didn’t want to not be there

“I couldn’t help it!”

“I know! I told you to go! And I hate that I did! I hated it! I wanted to go. I wanted to go find you but I couldn’t even be that courageous!”

“Yeah, well it wasn’t that fucking easy being away from you either! Matt and Rieva got hurt! People died! Lotor is now a fucking prince of a whole damn empire! We were being hunted by those loyal to Zarkon. Honerva turned her magic on Curtis! He nearly ended up dead! It was fucking shit!”

“How am I supposed to know this if you don’t tell me?!”

“I don’t know, how am I supposed to know if you run off with our twins and won’t even fucking face all the people that have been there for you!”

“Get out!”

Lance bellowing at him froze Keith. What had he done...

“Lance...”

“Get out!”

“Babe...”

Lance covered his ears, shaking his head

“No! Get out! Get out! Get out!”

“Look... look, okay. Okay. I shouldn’t have snapped, but... I can’t be there for you if I don’t know. I feel shit enough for all I missed”

“How could you think I’m not trying!? You left and everything fucking fell apart! I didn’t know if you were dead or had just run off with someone else!”

“What’s going on here?!”

Rieva and Matt rushed into the room. Rieva demanding to know. Lance was crying on the bed. Keith in tears too

“Lance, I think that’s enough. Keith never looked at anyone else. He was pathetic about missing you the whole time. If there’s something wrong with the twins, you really should have told him sooner”

Rieva growled at her boyfriend, eyes turning yellow. Matt shutting up

“Both of you need to go”

“Bu...”

“Go. You’ve upset him enough and I’m disappointed. Yes, Lance should have told Keith, but when has he had the chance? And when he does, everything turns straight into a fight. Can’t you see how much he’s hurting thinking about the twins? I’m upset that you guys would even consider him capable of hurting the twins”

Keith never said he thought Lance would... He was hurt he hadn’t been told properly. And angry again that Lance seemed so ready to give up on him... He’d never given up on Lance. Then again. He didn’t lose his mother last month and have to deal with his douche siblings

“I didn’t think he’d hurt the twins... but... I... I’m supposed to be the father. All I want is him to lean on me more. To be able to tell me these things, and not act like he’s protecting me by not telling me”

“How am I supposed to tell you I’m defective! That it’s not enough to be fucked up but I’m defective on top of it!”

“You’re not defective! There’s nothing about you that I don’t love!”

Rieva let out a level breath

“Matt, take Keith and go for a walk. I’ll stay with Lance until he calms down”

“But...”

But he was Lance’s boyfriend...

“I think you both need to cool your heads”

[ontheoddoccasioniwritestuff]

Goodnight, Aaron (Aaron Hotchner x Reader) Chapter 3

Summary: Day 2 of the trial, a Sunday where Jack is allowed to choose his own adventure with Sebastian along for the ride.

AN: I hope you are all taking care of yourselves <3 and that tomorrow is kind to you.

Tagging: @sunlight-moonrise, @clean-bands-dirty-stories, @genevievedarcygranger, and @davidrossi-ismydad

Chapter 2 // Masterlist // AO3 Link // Chapter 4

“Morning, Jack,” Sebastian greeted the soporific Jack Hotchner as he entered the kitchen. Jack mumbled back and climbed into his place at the table. Sebastian set the place, poured his cereal, got his juice out as well, before joining him in breakfast.

They ate in quietude, that is until Sebastian’s phone buzzed with a text.

Once he’d read it, he held the phone out to Jack across the table, “Hey, do you wanna talk to your Dad? He’s free to call you quick if you want.”

A bolt of energy shot through Jack and he clutched the phone tightly.

There was Sebastian’s watchful eye remaining on Jack while he was clearing up the dirty dishes. Jack knuckled one of his eyes every now and again, but there was no doubt that he was beyond excited to speak to Hotch. His legs swung under the table.

“I love you, Daddy,” Jack said before he passed the phone back over, but Hotch had already hung up. Pocketing it, Sebastian finished up his breakfast with Jack officially cheered up – for now at least.

“I was thinking we could go out somewhere, treat ourselves.”

“The zoo!” Jack crowed immediately

“The zoo?”

“I haven’t been for ages and ages!”

“Well, I shall see if that’s possible while you go brush your teeth.”

Completely unplanned, Jack was dressed in a green polo that matched Sebastian’s shirt. Not the pattern but they were the exact same shade.

“My mum used to dress me and my sister up in similar outfits when we were kids,” Sebastian said as he was tying up his laces.

“Sometimes, Henry and me wear the same things,” Jack replied, double knotting his shoes up. A wise move.

“Who’s Henry?”

“My friend, his Mommy works with Daddy.”

“Ah, gotcha.”

The drive over had a much more confident sing-a-long. Sebastian played the same CD (but just the songs that Jack liked) and Jack was starting to pick up on some of the lyrics. Or at least what they sounded like. He was currently favouring that of Sara Bareilles. So much so that, after they circled the car park of the zoo and found a space, they finished the song before turning the engine off

As they were lining up to buy the tickets, Sebastian bent over and whispered to Jack, “I know you’d much rather have your dad here instead of me.”

“I don’t mind you,” was the reply, and a shrug to boot.

“I don’t mind you either, kid.”

And the second they entered the park, map in hand, Jack was grabbing at Sebastian, pulling him along, “Come on, I wanna see the elephants!”

The pair did pause to glance in the direction of the other animals, give them their moment of glory. But their focus and their hearts were set on finding the biggest land mammal, past the bug house and the birds, along to where the wider paddocks were situated.

Across a wooden bridge, they finally landed at the edge of a wooden barrier, about five feet from a ha-ha wall that wrapped around the elephants’ land. Jack stood on his tiptoes, his chin on the wooden slat.

Already knowing the answer to his questions, Sebastian said, “Can you see alright? Or do you wanna go on my shoulders?”

Jack fidgeted, scuffing his shoes on the dirt path, “Yes please.”

And he raised his arms over his head. Sebastian ducked down and lifted Jack over his head with some difficulty. He didn’t tell Jack that though.

“Now, don’t go farting on me, young man,” He patted Jack’s leg.

“Thank you, Seb.”

From his elevated position, Jack cheered up. He made sure not to hit Sebastian when his legs stretched out in excitement at the baby elephant trotting about the enclosure. He waved to the baby elephant who waved their trunk clumsily back at the crowds, eliciting a series of “awws”.

“Baby elephants stay with their mothers for their whole life,” Sebastian read off the plaque, “And these ones are from India. That’s where my mum’s from!”

“Is that why you sound like that?”

“Like what?”

“All funny,” and Jack flapped his hand about.

“Nah, that’s my dad’s fault. From the exotic land of Bolton.”

“Is there any animals from there here?”

“Probably not, bud.”

“That one’s the Mommy,” Jack pointed out the elephant the wee baby was now showing off to. He laughed loudly when another baby elephant submerged its whole head into the artificial watering hole for a drink, “It’s still learning!”

A gentle meander took them all the way back to the café, once again ignoring the other animals. They were thinking with their stomach.

Upon arriving at their destination, Jack went for the classic fish, chips, and peas. Sebastian had made a New Year’s resolution to not order something just to get the chips on the side, so he went for the lasagne and broccoli.

“I used to call them ‘baby trees’, made me feel like a giant.”

“What about peas?” Jack scooped several of the vegetable up onto his fork.

“They’re boulders, the kind that roll all the way down mashed potato mountains.”

“I don’t have any mashed potatoes though.”

“Maybe next time. Eat your boulders.”

Third time lucky, the other animals were given Jack’s attention. His second favourite after the elephants? The meerkats. There was a bubble at the centre with a tunnel underneath the desert-like paddock that he could go into and poke his head up. He waved and shouted (albeit muffled by the thick glass) at Sebastian, who waved back and took some photos. Back around by Sebastian’s side of the wall, Jack would hold the meerkats’ attention with a clementine segment pinched in his finger and lure them around the wall’s edge. Then he would eat the fruit.

Sebastian preferred the otters, slipping and sliding down the stream. His laugh trilled with the kids that watched the otters cawing at each other. Chattering between their little whines, they wriggled around in the pool.

Just as Jack was adding to his birthday list every other item in the gift shop. Sebastian’s phone buzzed in his pocket.

About to fly back to Virginia, will be in around nine.

All good our end, hope it’s good with yours too

And Sebastian sent his reply with the photo of Jack hypnotising the meerkats with the promise of citrus fruit.

Jack was very clearly worn out from the day but still had enough energy to tap his toes along during the drive back. The news that Hotch would be home that evening was what got Jack through until dinner time. Sat on the countertop, he watched TV placidly, while Sebastian got on with the tuna pasta. He did get to pour the sweetcorn in, a proper little chef.

“Thoughts?” Sebastian asked when Jack chewed through half his plate, apparently without breathing.

“It’s nice,” Jack said, his mouth half full, “I like the chips.”

The crushed salted crisps sprinkled on top were just a bonus that Sebastian’s dad had introduced to the world. His best invention by far, besides his two kids of course. And Jack ate it all up with gusto.

As the dishwasher was being loaded, out of nowhere, the front door unlocked and not even halfway open before Jack was up on his feet and shouting, “Daddy!”

He sprinted full force and was caught in his father’s arms just as Hotch stepped into the flat. Hotch, despite seeming very worn out, cradled his son like he was a newborn.

“Hey buddy,” He whispered into Jack’s hair, “How have you been?”

Jack’s reply was muffled in his suit jacket, “Good!”

“How was your time with Sebastian?”

“We went to the zoo!”

Sebastian caught Hotch’s gaze over Jack’s shoulder, and immediately Sebastian busied himself with clearing the table, “Lucky you caught him on his way to bed.”

“Come on,” Hotch patted Jack’s back, “Let’s get you off to sleep.”

He carried Jack off to his bedroom, leaving his briefcase at the door. Sebastian watched them go with a half-smile. One that disappeared when it turned to the chores at hand.

First things first, he placed Hotch’s dinner onto a plate and placed it in the oven, still warm from the initial cooking. Of course, he didn’t put the salad in the oven. He wasn’t an idiot. Then it was putting the leftovers in the fridge, scrubbing at the dishes and cutlery, cleaning down the table, sweeping up the stuff. Somehow he was always more productive when the repercussions were next to instantaneous.

“Did Jack go down OK?” Sebastian asked once Hotch had returned to the kitchen.

“Yes, he’s quite worn out from your trip.”

“How was the case?”

The question was offered with a levity that Hotch understood as merely checking in, not an attempt to mine the grisly details from his mind. That much was clear when Hotch set his gun down on the table and Sebastian tensed before moving around and away from it. Hotch then picked it back up and deposited it in a drawer.

“It was fine, glad it was over quick. Is that my dinner?” Hotch opened the oven, standing clear of the hot air that escaped from it.

Nodding, Sebastian passed the dying up cloth between his two hands, “Yeah, plus salad, crisps – sorry, ‘chips’ - for the top.” He corrected himself only because Hotch’s eyebrows knitted at his choice of words.

“You put chips on top of your pasta?” He said slowly.

“Don’t knock it ‘til you try it.”

Looking unconvinced, Hotch closed the oven again, “How did you find your time with Jack?”

“He’s a good kid, we had fun today. Plus, he didn’t kick up a fuss eating his five-a-day which is a bonus,” Sebastian twisted the dish cloth around, “You’ve done a good job raising him.”

Hotch nodded with what Sebastian was saying, and while his face stayed neutral, his eyes held a glint.

“Then you wouldn’t have any objections to becoming his nanny full time, would you?”

Offer sank in and Sebastian’s face broke out into a toothy grin, “Yeah? Even with the crisp-chips?”

Hotch’s shoulders dropped about half an inch of tension, “Do you have your documents with you? We can get the paperwork done tonight.”

A little undainty on his feet, Sebastian went to his room and grabbed his folder of his important paperwork that was still in his unpacked suitcase. He tried to keep his clothes neat now that they were out on the carpet.

“Can I get you a drink?” Hotch asked, already pouring himself a scotch. He had served his dinner while Sebastian was out of the room. He’d even sprinkled a few chips on top like Sebastian had suggested.

“I’m good with water, thanks,” and Sebastian sat opposite Hotch’s place at the table.

“You don’t mind if I eat while we do this? I haven’t since lunch time.”

“Go ahead.”

Sebastian waited until he was a few forkfuls into his meal before speaking again, “Thoughts on the chips?”

He had to severely mute his reaction as he watched the corner of Hotch’s mouth quirk up and stay there, “Surprisingly good.”

With glee, Sebastian snapped his fingers, “Success!”

Once settled, Hotch and Sebastian discussed fees, records, emergency contacts. A copy of the background check Hotch had already completed sat atop the contract. Hotch let Sebastian read through to his leisure while he polished off his dinner. By the time his plate was cleared, Sebastian’s signature had been scribbled alongside Hotch’s on the few dotted lines that concluded the sheets of paper.

“You’re officially hired,” Hotch slid a pair of newly cut keys across the table. When Sebastian pocketed them, he held up his tumbler.

“To having a job,” Sebastian clinked his glass against Hotch’s and took a sip, “Thank you. Forgot to send you this yesterday by the way.”

And he sent the photos off to Hotch’s number. Not a moment later, Hotch’s phone beeped and he picked it up, his thumb swiping over the photos. To fill the quiet, Sebastian asked, “Do you have a preference on what I can send you and when while you’re away? I don’t wanna bother you too much while you’re working.” His rambling faded as he watched Hotch’s face soften.

“Send me photos whenever you can.” Hotch’s voice had melted too, warming Sebastian’s already soporific heart.

Sebastian stifled a yawn before swallowing, “And I think that’s the end of my day approaching. Goodnight, Aaron.”

“One more thing,” Hotch slipped his phone into his breast pocket, “Why did you move over here, Sebastian?”

“I had a pen pal over here, we met on holiday when we were kids, and I wanted to move away from home. So I got a Visa and moved in with her.”

“Just like that?”

“Just like that.”

Satisfied, Hotch began to clear up his plate, “Goodnight, Sebastian.”

Sebastian went to say goodnight but, remembering he’d already said that, he just left for his bedroom.

[wheresfury]

I Knew You Were Trouble

~Pairings: Fuckboi!Brie Larson/fem!reader

~Warnings: Daddy Kink, dirty talk, degradation, masturbation, semi!public sex, car sex, grinding, face-slapping, finger sucking, tacos, unrequited feelings, I think that’s it.

~Word count: 3,024

~Summary: Brie calls you up to accompany her to the gym-- also she has a new car that she’s dying to show you.

~Authors note: Because @fun-sized-widow-bites told me there wasn't enough fuck boi Brie --- who am I to deny this? Sorry it took so long I’ve been... distracted 👀 Any who this probably wont be the only part, I want to try and make this a series of one-shots. I’m nervous to say this also took a while because I personally don’t think this is very good but let me know what y'all think. Hopefully I captured the essence of a fuck boi. I hope y'all enjoy!

~Other works are on my Masterlist

———-<3———-

You flip through Netflix trying to decide what to watch when your phone starts to ring. You pick it up with a sigh when you see it’s Brie calling you. You debate on whether you should answer or not. You know why she’s calling and it pains you to admit you want it too. Your heart decides for you and you slide your finger on your phone to answer.

“Hello?”

“I’m outside your house, baby girl. Let’s go!” 

“What? Go where? Also, what if I’m not home?” She laughs sarcastically.

“Baby girl, you ask too many questions and you never leave your house. You have no life.”

“Wow, Brie. Thanks but I'm busy.” 

“No! I didn’t mean that come on, baby girl!” You sigh as you bring your fingers up to your forehead rubbing away a possible headache.

“I don’t know, Brie. I really don’t want to do much today.” You hear her whine into the phone and you smile at her reaction.

“But I got a new car! One that I cannot wait to fuck you in, come on, Y/N. You know you want to.” You can practically hear her eyebrows moving up in down in her cocky way. You huff and get up out of bed to put on some clothes.

“How many girls have you said that to today, Brie?” She pauses before answering.

“Two.”

“Let me guess I’m the only one available right now?”

“Yup. Now hurry the fuck up.” You sigh.

“Fine, Brie, you win. I’ll be out in ten.” You hear her yippee and you roll your eyes.

“Should I come in and help you? It might be faster.” 

“What? It would not be, you couldn’t keep your hands off me besides I’m not wearing clothes so it shouldn’t take long at all.” She groans at the tidbit of information making you smirk in response.

“Fine, you tease.” You giggle as you hang up walking over to your closet. You start to pick out an outfit when reality hits you. Two others? You’re not sure how much longer you can take this fuck buddies only relationship. You’ve been sleeping with her for almost a year and it hurts when she mentions other girls. You know you’re only kidding yourself when you think she may only be seeing you. You decide on a short skirt and band T-shirt with matching red lace undergarments. You figured it’d be easier, after all she only wants to fuck you. Yeah and you want it too. You bite your lip and finish putting on your shoes. You grab your purse and lock up seeing her parked out front. You admire her car for a minute, a beautiful black Tesla Model X. She would go for the biggest one. You walk up to the passenger side, knowing she wouldn’t get out, and slide in. You look over and see a shit eating grin on her face.

“What?” She wiggles her eyebrows and looks you up and down.

“You are just asking for it, baby girl. Coming in here with that short ass skirt, begging to be fucked. I bet you’re matching underneath too.” You roll your eyes at her as you cross your legs to ease the ache she easily creates.

“Just drive, Brie.” She smirks at you and starts the drive to wherever it is she’s going. The drive was short and you looked at her confused as she pulled into a gym.

“Why the gym?” She parks her car and turns it off.

“I have a training session today. After I train I’m always horny as fuck so that’s where you come in, baby girl.” She winks at you as you blush. She gets out of the car and you finally notice what she’s wearing. Your mouth drops open as your eyes widen. Holy shit. She was wearing tight light blue workout pants with strings up at the top and a crop top that looked fucking divine and of course, a snap back. Your eyes are glued to her abs when she taps her hand on the hood of her car. You snap your eyes up at her to see her smirking at you.

“Enjoying the view?” You turn red as you struggle to get out of the car. You walk up to her and look down at her bulgeless crotch.

“No strap today?” She laughs.

“I don’t pack when I have to train, baby girl. Don’t worry I’ve got something else you can ride.” She winks and lifts up her crop top some more to show you her delicious abs. You blush profusely as you lick your lips and she shakes her head in amusement and makes her way inside. Your breath hitches as you watch her walk away. It’s official you’re a fool for her. She trains for about two hours and by the end of it your thighs are clenching, definitely sticky and you have to bite your lip to keep from moaning. She brought you to absolutely torture you. Her abs practically on full display as you watch her climb a rock wall. Her ass looked amazing doing that as well. By the time she walks over to you, you are a complete horny mess. You’re seated on one of the many benches they have when she stops in front of you.

“So?” You look at her confused and absolutely drenched with need.

“So what?” 

“How was I? Any better than last time?” You roll your eyes at her.

“Really, Brie? You didn’t bring me here to critique you.” She huffs.

“Well yeah, dude. You’re the best at being honest so I thought why not pick you up a little early.” You bring your hands up to rub at your temples. 

“The only difference I could tell was that your ass was fuller and good job on the abs, they’re coming in great!” You wince at your lack luster review plagued by your inability to control your hormones. She smirks completely satisfied with your answer.

“Why thank you, Y/N. I knew I kept you around for something.” You mumble as you follow her out the door to her car. You get in as she starts the car. 

“You keep me around for sex and that’s it.” She looks over at you in slight surprise.

“What that’s not it, you’re great company too. I can never hang around other women as long as I can with you. You’re fun, most of the time, when you’re not a brat and spout your feelings and shit.” You roll your eyes at her again.

“Did you notice anything odd about my review?” She scrunches her eyebrows together as she starts to drive.

“No, not really?” You struggle not to strangle her with your stare. You give up on her finding out on her own and grab one of her hands from the wheel. She starts to protest and immediately stops when you place her hand on your soaked panties.

“Fuck, baby girl, watching me workout got you this worked up? What a desperate slut you are.” You release a moan as she rubs your pussy over your underwear. Once you start to hump her hand she pulls away causing you to whine. She reaches up and slaps you across the face.

“Whine one more time, baby girl and I’m taking you home.” You quickly shut your mouth as she veers off the road into an abandoned car garage. She parks her car and looks at you with what can only be described as pure lust. Fuck. She unbuckles her seat and crawls into the back seat. You look at her with wide eyes as she situated herself comfortably. She looks at you with her eyebrows raised.

“What are you waiting for, slut. Get back here and straddle my abs.” You unbuckle and move to join her when she stops you.

“Clothes off.” You look out of the window sheepishly as your insecurities start to flow through your mind.

“Strip, slut. There’s no one here but I know you would fucking love someone to be. Hm? To watch you strip down naked and get absolutely fucked.” You moan loudly at Brie. She was right just the mere thought of someone watching made your juices seep through your underwear and down your thighs. You quickly strip down till you were completely bare. You make you way into the back seat and straddle her stomach, Brie lifts up her cropped shirt over her bra before grabbing your hips and helping you settle down on her abdomen. You both moan as your wetness comes into contact with her abs.

“M’fuck. So fucking wet for me.” You shakily release a breath as her hands dig deeper into your hips. You stay still knowing she doesn’t want you to move just yet. Brie hums as her eyes take in your wetness that was already spilling down her sides. 

“You wanna hump my abs, baby girl?” You bite your lip as she stares explicitly at your sex. You nod your head before realizing she’s really not paying attention to you.

“Yes Daddy, I want to cum all over your abs.” She hums and licks her lips as you slightly move causing your pussy lips to spread further open, your clit peeking out.

“Good girl. If you want to cum, that’s how you’re going to do it. Now hurry up, I’m hungry.” Her hands leave your hips as she leans back and rests against the door, hands behind her head. You whimper as you start to slide back and forth over her abs. Your clit hits one of the defined muscles and you visibly shake at the pleasurable feeling. You start to pant as you hasten your movement, chasing that beautiful precipice of pleasure. Your hands fall to Brie’s upper abdomen for some kind of stability. Brie groans as you block her view. 

“Baby girl, hold on to the seats. I want to see that pretty pussy.” Your moans increase as you move your hands to the headrest on the front and back seats. Brie brings her hands to your aching breasts and cups them in her warm hands. You groans as she pinches at the stiff buds before twisting the peaks roughly. You nearly scream at the added sensation. Your hips falter in their movements as she pulls her hands away and slaps both of your breasts twice.

“Such a pretty little thing you are, baby girl. You’re absolutely making a mess of yourself all over Daddy. I can see you’re close, baby girl. You want to cum for me?” You nod your head as your hands clench down on the headrests. Brie shakes her head at your lack of words.

“No that simply won’t do, baby girl. Use your words or you won’t be cumming today.” Your legs shake as your orgasm rapidly approaches.

“Yes, Daddy. Please let me cum for you. Let me cum all over your delicious abs. Daddy, please!” Brie hums in satisfaction and leans back again.

“Cum for me, pretty girl.” Your eyes widen as your thighs quiver. You hump her abs once more before your orgasm hits you like a freight train. You moan like a whore as you drench her abs in your essence. Sweat glistening down your body as you slow down before settling on her lower abdomen. She licks her lips as she watches you come down from your high.

“Such a good girl for me,” You smile at the praise as your breathing slows down “now clean up your mess, baby girl.” You hum as you get down onto the floorboard of the back seat. You lean forward and start to clean the mess you made all over Brie’s abs. You moan as you taste your slick. You slurp and suck all over her stomach trying to clean it off as best as you could. Whenever your tongue hit a sensitive spot Brie would clench her abs making you whimper. Brie pushes your head away once she’s satisfied with your work. You sit back on your legs as you pout.

“Why are you pouting, baby girl. Did I not just give you an orgasm?” You bite your lip as Brie brings one of her hands down to her pants. You whimper as she slides her hand under the waistband and groans as she runs her fingers through her wet folds. You whine at the fact you can’t actually see underneath her pants, you would kill to have the ability to. 

“I’m sorry, Daddy. I wasn’t done cleaning you just yet.” She hums as her fingers circle her puffy clit.

“You were done, baby girl, you’re just a greedy little slut is all.” You whimper as her hand visibly speeds up from underneath her clothes. Brie’s other hand comes up to wrap itself in your hair, she pulls your head to face her. Your eyes meet hers as she releases a groan. You lick your lips as she continues to stare at you.

“Are you close, Daddy?” She releases a moan as she rubbed her clit faster. You hum as her hand tightens in your hair. 

“Does seeing me like this turn you on, Daddy? Your little baby girl on my knees for you? Hm? I bet it does, you love seeing me on my knees. I’m such a slut for you and you love that, don’t you, Daddy?” She pulls your hair roughly as she releases a load moan, her back arching beautifully. You kiss her arm as she comes down from her orgasm. She releases your hair and pulls her hand out of her pants. You groan at her long, wet fingers. She hums and offers them to you. You take her long fingers into your mouth, moaning at her delectable taste.

“Such a good girl for me. You deserve a little treat for being my good girl.” You hum around her two digits, your tongue tasting every inch that is offered. She pulls her fingers out of your mouth and wipes them down your neck. She sits up and adjust her legs so you’re now in between them. She brings her hands to your face and pulls you into a sloppy, wet kiss. You moan as her tongue explores your mouth. She pulls away with a pat to your cheek and gets out of the car. She gets back into the driver's seat and throws you your clothes. You get dressed before making your way back to the front. Brie looks over at you as she starts the car.

“Now I’m ready for some tacos, you down?” You look at her in shock.

“Like a date?” Brie laughs, she fucking laughs at you. She wipes the tears from her eyes from laughing so hard and looks at you.

“You’re too funny, baby girl.” 

“It’s not funny, Brie, I’m serious.” She stops her laughter to look at you.

“Y/N, you know that’s not me. I don’t do dates or anything like that. You agreed with me on that when we started this.” You huff in annoyance.

“Yeah well I didn’t think I’d fall in love with you then.” She looks at you dumbfounded. She clears her throat and starts the car.

“That’s cool. Tacos?” You sigh at her lack of empathy.

“Yeah, whatever.” The car ride to the restaurant was awkward and filled with unbridled tension. You kept thinking how you most likely fucked up this thing you two had going. As much as you crave a real relationship you realize what you really craved was Brie, all the time. You didn’t mean to catch feelings knowing how she felt about such a trivial thing. You’re chewing on your lip when she parks in front of the taco place. You feel Brie poke your cheek after she turns off the car.

“Come on, baby girl. Chewing your lip makes me want to fuck you again but I’m hungry so let’s go.” You sigh as you get out of the car, slamming the door in annoyance. Brie gives you a glare at the abuse of her new car. She decides to leave it alone knowing you’re in some sort of mood. The tension was thick as you both ate your tacos in silence. As you finish your meal you sigh and look at Brie, who is clearly trying to avoid your eyes.

“Brie, can we please just forget about what happened?” She finally looks at you as she contemplated her answer.

“Uh, yeah, totally. I mean it’s not a surprise.” You look at her weirdly.

“What do you mean, not a surprise?” She brings her signature smirk back out as she eyes you.

“Come on, I’m irresistible, baby girl,” You roll your eyes at her arrogance “just never mention it and we’ll be ace.” You nod your head solemnly, it’s better than nothing. You’re just exactly where you already were in a state of longing for someone who is unattainable apart from sex. Things could be worse, you guessed, she could’ve ended this. Thankfully she didn’t because as much as you wanted her for real, this was better than nothing at all. 

“Don’t worry, Brie, my lips are sealed.” You make a locking motion over your lips and throw away the imaginary key as she releases a laugh. You smile at her as she looks at you. Her smirk returns as she looks you up and down before getting up from her seat.

“Speaking of not speaking, let’s go back to yours so I can gag you.” You choke on air at her words. You blush profusely as you stand up as well. She drops enough cash to cover the bill as she makes her way to the car. You watch her walk away before slowly following her with a sigh. You should have listened to your friends when they told you to never get involved with a fuck boi. Now you’re fucked both literally and figuratively. You see Brie turn around and look at you oddly. You shake you head and quickly run to the car. You knew she was trouble but you didn’t mind.

———-<3———-

Brie Tag list: @fun-sized-widow-bites

Forever Tag list: @cheethos, @domromanoff, @stuckys-whore, @marilynroselleprentiss, @captainwonderwidow, @kello-unknown, @lildoughnut0, @wndamaximov, @kdragonwrestling

[misfitsluug]

just listen to my voice | kritz

uhh this story is kinda old, so im sorry if it sucks; also kritz (kryoz nd fitz) is an underrated ship change my mind. i wanna upload more but im very slow with writing so im gonna upload an old story i wrote a while back lmao,,

anyways, hopefully it’s good! jus a reminder there’s some heavy subjects like, right off the bat so if your uncomfortable, then don’t read it! thank you, and have fun reading :•)

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/ o n e. /

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cam.

The best way to start off the first night of summer vacation is when your Dad decides to kick you out of the house, again. "Fuck you, too," I muttered angrily to myself, kicking a rock that rolled onto the road beside me.

Usually, I don't come till he calls me, telling me about how pissed he is at me for staying out too late. I find it unfair, but I don't say much about it.

Anyway, I head down my favorite diner, my music blasting through my ears and my backpack slung around my left shoulder.

The night breeze hitting my face, the sky sprinkled with tiny stars while the lights from cars and stores passed by.

Once I finally approached the diner, I opened the door with a swing as the bell rang above me. I sat down at a booth next to the window, taking a peek through the menu in front of me.

"Hey, welcome to Nancy's finest wines and dines," The boy in front of me said, I took out one of my earbuds and smiled up at him.

He had blonde bleached hair with brown strips here and there with different moles scattered on his pale face; I took a glance at his name tag.

"Dahlia?" I asked, he chuckled awkwardly. "My name isn't actually Dahlia if your wondering, just covering a shift for a buddy. You can call me John," He replied, pausing as he looked down at the table. "Oh, uhm- you're looking through a kid's menu."

"Huh?" I looked down as well before realizing he was right. "Well, it's pretty late. Can't blame myself I guess."

"Alright, well, lemme fetch you a different menu. Unless you prefer your little kids' menu with crayons?"

"I'll keep the crayons," I grabbed the crayons and managed to make John laugh again. "Okay, I'll be right back."

I watched John walk behind the counter, reaching underneath to pull out a bigger menu and walking back to me. "Do you actually want something to eat?"

"Nah, in all honesty, I just wanted to order a coffee."

"Couldn't you have said that before?"

"Yeah but I'm an asshole like that," I stated, he rolled his eyes and smiled, leaving without a word. I had to admit though, he was pretty cute.

After a couple of minutes, he came back with a mug of coffee and a small bowl of coffee creamers. "Here ya go, uhm.."

"Cameron, Cam for short if you want."

"Here ya go, Cam," He restated, placing everything down before sitting down. "Since your my only customer tonight, tell me more about youself. I'm curious."

"So am I," I retorted, pouring creamer into the coffee.

"Ooh, very mysterious," He said intrigued.

"Maybe," I winked at him.

"Maybe?" He giggled, only making me laugh a bit too.

"You are beautiful," I muttered, slightly blown away at how this conversation is playing out.

"Really? I find that quite doubtful."

"Really? I find what you said quite doubtful," I repeated. "So, Dahlia-"

"It's John."

"What're you doing later?"

"Probably goin’ home, why?"

"Just wondering, gonna head down the train tracks tonight. A little adventure mind you," I explained, a small grin plastered on my face.

"Adventure?" John inquired. "Shouldn't you be going home? It's pretty late."

"Huh, never took you for goody-two-shoes. My dad kicked me out again and I ain't going back yet so might as well entertain myself," I added, taking a sip of my coffee.

"Hm, I'm interested, but what if I don't have any fun on your adventure?"

"That solely depends on you, doesn't it? Plus, I'm pretty good at having fun, maybe more than you if you're so worried about me staying out too late."

"Sounds like a challenge."

"If that's what you want it to be," I dared with a grin.

"Well, my shift ends in a couple of minutes. Mind waiting for a little?"

"I've got all the time in the world, honey," I reassured, John opened his mouth to say something but the man inside the kitchen coughed loudly, catching his attention as he stood up awkwardly.

"As you can see, I should be on my way. Before I go, do you not want anything else?"

"Nah, go ahead and do your job, Dahlia," I joked, John shot a non-threatening look while walking away. I smiled again, the hot rush of the coffee racing down my throat.

I popped my earbud back into my ear, spacing out with my coffee in my hands. After maybe, 20 minutes, I silently glanced behind me a while later, a pair of red doors opened and John walked out without his uniform. He wore a yellow, red and blue hoodie with white ripped jeans. "Hey, you ready?"

"Yeah, let's go," I replied, standing up from the table, turning off my music and putting my phone away inside my backpack, leaving the diner behind.

-

Silence filled the night air; the sound of leaves, sticks, and dirt crunching underneath us while walking through the forest. "Have you been here before?"

"No, I heard about there being abandoned apartments down nearby the train tracks, thought that I might as well check it out tonight," I answered, John nodded. "What about your backpack?"

"Eh, just full of spray paint."

"You know you could be arrested for that?"

"As long as I don't get caught."

"Good point," John answered. We chatted a bit more until finding the train tracks. "Finally, Jesus Christ."

"We still gotta walk more, you do realize that?"

"Yeah well, at least we found your dumbass train tracks," John grumbled.

"You know, you never told me why your Dad kicked you out. You don't gotta tell me but I'm just curious."

"He does that often, it's honestly a habit. He's technically my foster Dad," I continued, I chose not to go into detail. "I dunno, I love him but he can kiss my ass."

"Oh, sorry about that," John mumbled.

"Appreciate it," I answered, it wasn't anything uncomfortable for me to talk about. At some point, a building peered over the trees and as soon as we got closer, we were already there.

"Wow, it looks kinda beautiful."

"Yeah, it does," I agreed, stepping closer to the the apartments, admiring the art scribbled upon the grey walls as I opened up my backpack and pulled out my light pink spray paint, writing my signature (just the word Cam).

"Woah, can I try?" John asked, I nodded and he scrambled through my backpack, after a while, he finally pulled out a blue spray can. "You can do it, Dahlia!"

"Shut the fuck up, Cam," He sneered but I laughed in response, watching him try to write on the wall. "Here, lemme help you," I offered, I put my hand on his as I assisted him with the can, letting him write in his signature. "There you go, told you I'm obviously better at having more fun."

"I gotta admit, that was pretty sick."

"You sure you're up for this?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Because you said 'that was pretty sick' but I don't want you to end up getting sick," I teased, John fake-laughed in response.

"Whatever, douche," John insulted, painting more weird scribbles and I joined him. Our laughter was the only thing heard beside the sound of wind and crickets chirping. We painted all over the wall, covering other people's drawings in the process too.

John painted an extremely detailed penis, making the both of us laugh until a snap was heard in the distance.

"Cam?" John inquired, I was still laughing a bit before responding.

"Yeah? What's up?"

"Did you hear that?"

"Uhh, no. Why, what'd you hear?" I asked again, then a much harsher voice shouted.

"WHO'S THERE?!" It shouted, I knew that tone anywhere as I immediately grabbed John by his hand and my backpack, scurrying out as the policeman shouted at us.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck-" John repeated, his words laced with anxiety.

"We'll be fine, calm down," I spoke, still running until we lost the man in the forest.

We both took deep breaths, leaning against a tree. "I'm-I'm never going another adventure with you again."

"Trust me, you are," I raised my brow with a grin, he huffed and cupped his face. "Jesus fuck, that was terrifyingly delightful."

"Exactly why your gonna wanna go on another adventure one day."

"Fuck off," He spat, I felt a buzz run through my backpack as I grabbed my phone. "Hey, Dad," I sighed, rubbing my head. "Yeah, I'll get home soon- I know. No, I'm not with anybody. Okay, bye.," I hung up.

"What was that about?" John requested.

"Ah, just Dad yelling at me that I gotta go home," I spoke, looking down at my phone again. "It's 12:05 am."

"Oh fuck," John murmured, looking back at me anxiously, I could tell just by glancing at him that he wanted to leave. "C'mon, let's go," I began to walk again, John silently followed me as we reached the town. Almost nobody was outside, therefore most of the stores were completely off and the sound of two cars is heard in the silence; it felt like a ghost town.

We walked without saying a word, only appreciating our company until I broke the silence. "You know, out of the couple times I've gone to Nancy's, I've never seen you. Did you just start working there?"

"Yeah, Mom wanted me to get a job and that's the only place where they'd actually accept me, I guess," John answered. "Or at least, that's the only job that I applied for."

I laughed a little, my cheeks hurting from smiling.

Then we were silent again once we reached the small complex of apartments along the street, I could tell he's never been here before; we stopped in front of the entrance where a tall fence stood.

"Will I see you again? Back at the diner, I mean."

"Depends on when you want me there, honey," I said, winking at him as he silently smiled but I noticed the small tint of blush on his cheeks, however, I didn't mention it.

"Here, I have an idea," I remarked, pulling out a napkin and crayon from the diner. "Does it involve you giving me your number?"

"Yes it does, what I charmer I am. Right?" I said jokingly, handing him the napkin. "Whenever you wanna see me, when your shift is over or whatever, call me. Not like I'm busy."

"Hey, when your Dad called, why'd you tell him that you were alone?"

"Eh, just a habit. He assumes whenever I'm out with somebody, I end up doing drugs but I don't."

"Oh, well. I'll chat with you soon, Cam. Thanks for the adventure," John said as he stepped back.

"Au revoir," I spoke in French while bowing down fancily, listening to Johns giggle as he walked away.

I forgot the code to get inside the complex so I just hopped over the fence, my mind still thinking about John.

I just wish I hadn't gotten attached so quickly.

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1908 WORDS.

[thewnchstrs]

Just a Number

*not my gif

Pairing: DeanXreader

Disclaimers: relationship age gap, mentions of smut

Word Count: 1,544

A/N: I switched up the request a little bit so instead of mistaking them for uncle and niece, they’re mistaken for father and daughter- hope that’s okay!

Masterlist

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“Oh, one last store, Dean. I promise this time!” Y/N begged, pulling on Dean’s sleeve as she tugged him toward the shoe store at the far end of the mall. Dean groaned, having already been here for nearly two and a half hours, he was more than over walking through the crowded stores.

“Y/N, you said that three stores ago, now c’mon, we need to hit the road.” Dean said, finally putting his foot down. He wasn’t sure how much of this he could take. 

Y/N looked up at him, her large Y/E/C eyes staring up at him, knowing it’d work. Just a few seconds of those doe eyes and he couldn’t say no. 

“Okay fine, but this is seriously the last one-”

“Yeah, yeah. Come on!” she laughed, pulling him into the store, the new shoe smell lingered in the air. Dean was pleasantly surprised at the lack of people there were in this one. He helped himself to a chair in the middle of the store, hoping Y/N wouldn’t take as long as she had before.

Y/N scanned the walls of shoes, in awe at all of the different shapes and sizes, colors and shoe styles they came in, however, a pair of short brown ankle boots called her name. She picked them up, examining them. 

“Those are amazing shoes- I have like four pairs of them,” a voice said from behind her. Y/N turned around to see another girl, around her age smiling brightly at the shoes she was holding. 

“Really?” Y/N smiled, “I really need something that’s going to hold up.”

“Oh, these are perfect. I bought my first pair nearly three years ago and they still look amazing!”

Instantly, Y/N and her new shoe buddy began intensely talking about the shoes. The style, the various colors they came in, and the best way to keep them from getting water stains. 

Dean couldn’t help but smile as he watched Y/N’s face light up with pure joy as she talked to the girl. He loved that smile- it was strange these days for her to show if very often, so when she did, he soaked in every minute of it. 

Dean had been so engrossed in Y/N that he hadn’t even noticed the man sit down in the chair next to him. “Daughters, am I right?”

Dean quickly turned to his right where a man around his age smiled as he watched Y/N and the other girl talk. Dean shook his head, confused. The man caught on, quickly clarifying. “That’s my daughter, over there talking to yours. Her name’s Anne- she just came back from school and I promised I’d take her shopping. Too much hype if you ask me.”

Dean’s heart sank at the words but he returned the man’s smile slightly. He thought Y/N was his daughter? He took another look at his girlfriend, comparing her to the girl who once seemed to be much younger than Y/N who, now that he really looked, could see how much in age they must have been.

“I’m getting these,” Y/N smiled as she snapped Dean out of his trance. He looked up at her, trying to put on his best smile. “Anne talked me into it.”

“Well, thanks for helping her make a decision,” Dean laughed as he stood to shake the man’s hand next to him, urging Y/N to quickly pay so they could get out of there as soon as possible.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

“I love them!” Y/N squealed as she laced up her new shoes, standing in front of Dean, showing them off by crossing her leg and pointing her toe in front of her. 

Dean examined them and nodded, “not bad.”

Y/N’s shoulders slumped, unsatisfied by his less than enthusiastic attempt at pretending to like them. However, she knew something was wrong with Dean. Ever sense he hurried her to the cashier at the store and then ushered her quickly out to the car, she knew something was out of place.

She sat next to him on the couch, crossing her legs. “okay, what’s up Winchester?”

“Psshh, nothing’s wrong.” he laughed nervously. 

Y/N watched him through squinted eyes. Silently checking off in her head the box that said, ‘nervous laughter’, one of Dean’s many tells which let her know when he was hiding something from her.

“Hmmhmm,” she hummed, not believing a single word of it. She sat forward against the couch, eyeing him from the corner of her eye, trying to spot his second tell which he began as soon as she turned away. His eyes moved across the TV like he were watching a tennis match, unable to keep them in one spot for more than ten seconds at a time.

Dean had no idea how much she paid attention to little things like this, all he could think about were the words that came from the man in the shoe store. He thought Y/N, his girlfriend, was his daughter.

He loved Y/N. He really did, and any time that feeling slipped away for even a fraction of a second, one look at her and he was slammed back into reality. He loved her, through and through, but there was one part of their relationship he’d always struggled with. It wasn’t that her and Sam had similar eating habits, it wasn’t that she was better than him at pretty much everything, and it wasn’t even the fact that she’d once turned down a slice of pie.

It was the fact that by the time he was legally able to drink she was probably just getting out of diapers. Technically, he was old enough to be her father if it really boiled down to it.

It was the 18 year age gap that bothered him most at this very minute.

The worst part was, this wasn’t the first time this had happened. It happened nearly every time they were out together. And, in some weird way, he felt bad about their relationship. He figured she’d be happier with someone younger, someone her age.

Y/N however, never seemed to mind.

She never seemed to take notice of the people who watched them with weary eyes as they walked hand in hand together down the street, or when they went out to bars she was still carded. She never expressed her doubts toward dating him. Verbally, anyway.

“Hello,” Y/N said, clicking her fingers in front of his face. “Earth to Dean.”

“Sorry,” he said quickly, shaking the fog that was clouding his head. “um, what did you say again?”

“Dean,” she said, getting his attention. His eyes trying desperately not to move from her face. “What’s wrong?”

Dean sighed again, hating that he felt this way. It felt selfish. Hell, it was selfish. “I just…half the time we’re out together, people seem to think I’m a creepy old guy.”

Y/N raised her eyebrows, “what?-”

Before she could ask any questions, Dean continued speaking, knowing how strange he sounded. “You’re so much younger than I am, Y/N. I mean, you’re beautiful, and youthful. And I’m, old…and graying.” Dean shuddered at his confession, absentmindedly running the pads of his fingertips over the short pieces of graying hair he’d noticed just the other day. “The guy at the shoe store thought you were my daughter.”

“Dean,” Y/N said, shaking her head in disbelief. As far as she was concerned, she never thought of Dean according to his age. “You can’t be serious…Dean, I love you. We love each other- why does it matter what those people think? And, yeah…you’re a little older than I am, so what? Age is just a number and I’m a consenting, 21 year old woman, and this is what I want. If we’re happy- none of that other stuff matters…right?”

Dean thought about it momentarily, knowing she was right. He nodded silently, feeling like a dick that he’d even brought it up. “Yeah, yeah you’re right.” he patted her thigh, looking over and smiling at her, wondering how he’d ever gotten so lucky. “What do you say we date night tonight? Dinner sound good?”

She smiled brightly, unable to hide her excitement at the idea of a night to just her and Dean, “really?”

“I’ll pick you up at your room at 8,” he smirked as she pulled him in for a deep kiss, her hands cupping his unshaven face. He pulled away, even though he so desperately wanted to keep gone. He ran a hand up each of her arms, “if you keep that up, we won’t make it to dessert.”

He winked, wiggling his eyebrows as she rolled her eyes, sliding off the couch toward her bedroom. She swayed her hips, sneaking a peek at Dean over her shoulder laughing at his jaw that had gone slack.

“You know, I’ve always preferred my dessert before my meal.” she whispered seductively, walking backwards now toward her bedroom, beginning to shed her t-shirt. 

Dean sat, frozen on the couch before his brain clicked into place, comprehending what she was saying. “Oh….Oh!”

She smirked as he nearly flung himself off the couch, picking her up easily by her legs as he threw her over his shoulder. She squealed as he smiled widely, jogging to his bedroom, feeling younger than ever.

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Forever Tag List

@spnbaby-67 | @octo-cow52 | @luciferslucille | @winchesternco

[mldrgrl]

A Call to Santa

by: mldrgrl Rated: PG Summary: I can’t remember who asked me for some Christmas fluff, but here you go!  Christmas fluff...ish...sort of.  Set in the Little Will AU.

Mulder loves his son and loves being a dad, but there are moments, like this one, where the difficulty of being a parent makes him want to just walk away.  He’s in the middle of the mall, two days before Christmas, his six year old son screaming his head off because Mulder won’t buy him a particular toy.  And he can’t do a goddamn thing about it because he has to wait for Scully to finish shopping at Macy’s.

Everyone who walks by gives Mulder some form of look, mostly annoyance, some judgemental, a few knowing and sympathetic.  He feels all the eyes on him as he picks up his screaming, kicking son, and takes him to the nearest bench to wait.  He sits the boy on the bench and then kneels in front of him.  William’s sobs sound like a growl when he’s angry.

“Will,” Mulder hisses through gritted teeth.  “Calm down.”

“You promised!” William screams.  “You promised!  You promised!”

“I promised we would go to the pet store and the toy store while Mom shopped, I didn’t promise you a toy.”

“Liar!”  Will shouts in his father’s face and then pulls back and wipes his tear-stained eyes.  

“What in the world is going on?”

Mulder turns to look up at Scully, as relieved to see her standing behind him as he once was to find her after losing her running through a corn field chased by black helicopters.  Maybe even more so.

“Your son is throwing a temper tantrum over a toy,” Mulder says.

“William,” Scully says, her voice stern.  “I could hear you across the entire mall.”

William wails louder and Mulder cringes.  He stands and takes the shopping bag from Scully as she takes William’s hand.  She holds her head high as she marches the crying boy out of the mall, Mulder’s hand on her shoulder in solidarity, but they have to bypass the toy store on their way and Williams digs his feet in, pulling on Scully’s arm as he tries to break free and run inside.

“Let me go!” Will screams, his arms outstretched towards the display of toys in the window as Mulder picks him up, exchanging the shopping bag with her as she lets go of the boy.

Mulder has chased down suspects wielding guns, he’s crawled through an escalator shaft after a liver-eating mutant, he’s dived into a sewer to pursue a human/flukeworm hybrid, but hefting a wiggling, whining, and wailing six year old is in the top ten list of scariest things he’s ever done.  He’s seriously afraid he might end up with an elbow in the eye or a swift kick in the crotch.

By the time they reach the car, Will has stopped struggling and his crying is more subdued.  Scully buckles him in to his booster seat and gives Mulder a weary look after she shuts the door.  They can hear their son crying from outside the car.

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Mulder asks.

“Home as soon as possible, hot bath and a cold compress?”

“I was thinking we ditch the kid and start new lives under assumed identities where he’ll never find us.”

Scully gives Mulder another weary look and he hooks his arm around her shoulders, drawing her in against his chest in a tight hug.  She presses her hands against his sides under his coat for a few moments and then pulls away.

Traffic is a nightmare.  Just getting out of the mall parking lot takes twenty minutes.  Combined with Will’s crying, Mulder finds himself gripping the steering wheel so hard his hands start to cramp.  Halfway home, not only does a light rain begin to fall, Will starts angrily kicking the back of Mulder’s seat now that he’s stopped crying.

“Knock it off, Will,” Mulder says.

Scully reaches back and puts a hand on her son’s ankle to stop him.  As soon as she turns around, Will starts kicking again.

“William,” Mulder warns.

“You’re mean!” William yells, kicking the seat as hard as he can.

Mulder pulls the car over and jerks to a stop.  He shifts into park and then unbuckles his seatbelt and opens the door.

“Mulder?” Scully asks.

“I need a minute,” he answers, and then he steps out into the drizzle and walks away from the car.  He moves far enough that he’s not illuminated from the red taillights and he hunches over with his hands on his knees.  He takes deep breaths, in and out, in and out.

When he feels calmer, Mulder walks back to the car and raps twice on the passenger window.  Scully rolls the window down, her brows pulled together with concern.

“Would you drive, please?” Mulder asks.

“Sure.”  Scully nods and rolls up the window before opening the door.  Mulder steps back to let her out and she puts her hand on his cheek for a moment.

Both of their seats need adjustment when they get in the car.  Scully has to move hers forward and Mulder has to move his back.  He leans back and pinches the bridge of his nose with his thumb and index finger.  Before she puts the car in gear, Scully takes Mulder’s other hand, the one that’s fisted on his thigh, and laces their fingers together.  She gives his hand a squeeze and a shake and he squeezes back.

William is quieter for the rest of the drive home, but he strains against his seatbelt in frustration.  The driver’s seat is too far forward now for him to reach when he kicks his feet and his legs swing at empty air.  He wears himself out by the time Scully pulls the car into the garage and doesn’t protest when Mulder unhooks his belt and lifts him out of the booster seat.

The door in the garage leads to the laundry room where they all take off their shoes and jackets as is the custom.  Williams tries to run off as soon as he’s done, but Mulder catches him by the arm and holds him in place.

“Uh uh,” Mulder says.  “Kitchen.  Now.”

There are four barstools along the back of the kitchen island.  Since he’s been big enough, it’s where Will usually has breakfast.  He takes his seat, second stool from the left, and glares unhappily at his father.  Scully sits down next to William, turned towards him, and leans on her elbow on the counter.  Mulder stands on the other side, clenching his jaw.

“I’m not putting you in a timeout,” Mulder says.  “I’m not sending you to your room.  I’m not even going to take away X-Box.”

“Really?” William answers.  He lifts his head a little, his face brightening just a little, but then the Scully look of skepticism comes over him and he pulls his brows together.

“Nope.”  Mulder shakes his head.  He can see Scully looking at him with concern and surprise, can practically feel her protesting that of course Will needs to be punished for his behavior, but they have a pact of solidarity when it comes to discipline and she keeps her mouth shut.

“What’s the catch?” Will asks.

If Mulder weren’t so angry, he’d laugh.  Will can be the spitting image of his mother sometimes, especially when he lifts his eyebrow just so and looks at him with distrust.

“Well, I didn’t want to have to tell you this,” Mulder says.  “In fact, I shouldn’t tell you this, because it’s probably the biggest secret out there.  Quite honestly, I could get into a lot of trouble for telling you what I’m about to tell you.”

William shifts his eyes over to his mother, who’s looking at Mulder with the same confusion Will has.  Mulder pulls his phone out of his back pocket and puts it down on the counter in front of Will, and then he leans down and rests his weight on his forearms.

“If I thought that something was wrong and you weren’t okay and you were trying to tell us something by acting out, I wouldn’t tell you this,” Mulder says gently, taking a tone he used to reserve for getting traumatized kids to open up when he was out in the field.  “But, you know, we’ve asked you what’s wrong and you said nothing.  So, I’ll ask you one more time, is there something we should know that you’re not telling us?”

“No,” Will says.

“Are you sure?  Are you really, really sure?”

“I’m sure.”

“I thought so.”  Mulder stands back up and crosses his arms across his chest.  “The only thing I can do now, is call Santa and tell him to put you on the naughty list.”

William actually rolls his eyes.  Scully also gives Mulder a look like he’s lost his mind.

“It’s true,” Mulder says.  “What you don’t know, Will, is that all parents have Santa’s number and we can call him at any time and tell him what you’ve done and just like that, no Christmas.”  Mulder snaps his fingers for emphasis.

“Gimme a break,” Will says.  

“You don’t believe me?”

“No.”

“Okay, then.”  Mulder unlocks his phone and opens the contacts.  He scrolls down until he finds Santa, showing it to William before he sends the call and then he puts it on speaker phone.

“North Pole!”

*****

48 hours earlier:

In Mulder’s wildest dreams, he never would’ve imagined hanging out at a bar with Walter Skinner.  As his boss, Skinner took a lot of shit from Mulder and a lot of heat for him too.  At the time, Mulder didn’t necessarily appreciate it as much as he should have.  After Will was born, and after Mulder left the FBI, he was able to reflect on his former boss with gratitude.  Eventually, a friendship developed between them.  They didn’t see each other all that much, and they didn’t hang out like buddies, but occasionally they got together to catch up.

After the day Mulder had, he just wanted to decompress and get out of the house, so he called Skinner.  They met up at a pub in DC, drank a few beers, and played two rounds of pool before sitting down in a booth to order dinner.

“What’s on your mind, Mulder?” Skinner asked, as soon as the waitress left their table.

“Why do you think something’s on my mind?”

Skinner took a pull from his newest beer bottle and shrugged.  “Seems a little out of the blue.  And you kind of sound like you did back in the day when a case wasn’t going your way.”

Mulder scratched at the label of his Shiner Bock and snorted slightly.  “Need to get out of the house for a bit,” he said.

“How’s Scully?”

“She’s good.”

“How’s William?”

Mulder hesitated.  “Scully says it’s a phase,” he finally answered.  “That he’s testing boundaries and we just need to hold our ground.”

Skinner chuckled and took another swig of beer.  He looked at Mulder with amusement, but turned stoic when he could see the anguish in Mulder’s eyes.

“When I talked back to my parents,” Mulder said.  “My father beat the shit out of me.  If I had ever yelled at them that I hated them if they took a video game away, he probably would’ve killed me.”

“I went through much of the same.  Different times.”

“I know.  It’s why Scully and I are uncomfortable with spanking as a form of punishment.  I’m just...sometimes I’m afraid he’s going to push me to snap.  And I won’t be able to forgive myself if that happens.”

“And so here we are?”

“Essentially.”

“Well, you can call me any time.”

“I appreciate that, Sir.”

Skinner grimaced.  “Stop calling me ‘Sir’ it makes me feel like your boss.”

“Sorry.”

“Hey, and just so you know, if I could refrain from taking you over my knee for eight years, you can do it too.”

Mulder laughed.  “Touché,” he said.  After taking a drink of his beer he sobered again.  “Scully also thinks part of the problem is that he’s too bored in school.  She wants to have him tested to see if he should skip a grade.  Doesn’t think his brain is being stimulated or challenged enough during the day.”

“What do you think?”

“I think he’s a smart kid, but I’d rather keep him with kids his own age.  Scully always reminds me that she skipped a grade and she turned out just fine.”

“She’s got you there.”

“Yeah.  We’ve gone to the school though, had a conference with his teacher, talked to the guidance counselor, and they all say Will is sweet as pie.  They don’t see any issues.”

“You think it could be something else?”

“I thought maybe, at first, maybe there was a bully at school or something he just didn’t want to talk about, but I think in this case, like most, the simplest explanation is always the answer.”

“Which is what?”

“He’s just a fucking brat.”

Skinner laughed.  “Christmas is only a few days away.  You could pull out the oldest trick in the book and nip this in the bud right now.”

“I thought of that, but he is half Scully after all.  If I tell him Santa won’t bring him any toys, he’s going to demand proof.”

“So prove it to him.”

*****

The phone rings only twice before it’s answered.  “North Pole!”

“Could I please speak with Santa,” Mulder says.

“May I ask who’s calling?”

“Fox Mulder.”

“Fox Mulder...we only have one Fox Mulder in our system, so you must be in Virginia.  Do you have one son named William?  Six years old?”

“Yep, that’s me.”  Mulder takes a glance at Will, whose face is a mixture of disbelief and suspicion.

“Are you submitting an address change sir?”

“No, we’re still in Virginia.  I just need to speak with Santa.”

“I understand.  Would you be filing a nice report or a naughty report?”

“I’m not quite sure.  I actually need to ask Santa a policy question.”

“I’ll let him know, please hold.”

A click is heard and then a muzak version of Santa Claus is Coming to Town starts to play.  A few moments later, there’s another click.

“Santa speaking.”

Will’s eyes grow wide as saucers as he stares at the phone.

“Hi, Santa, this is Fox Mulder.”

“Good to hear from you, Fox.  My elves tell me you have a policy question.”

“I do.  Look, Santa, I know you’re very busy so I won’t take up too much of your time, let me just ask you, if a boy or girl ends up on your naughty list, do they get all their presents taken away?”

“No one on the naughty list gets any toys from Santa.  I will drop off a scoop of coal in their stocking, though.”

“That’s what I thought.  But, Santa, what if a boy was pretty nice for eleven out of twelve months and then for a few weeks he’s been sassy to his parents and throws tantrums when he doesn’t get his way?  What would happen?”

“Let me pull out my calculator here...that’s about 92% nice and 8% naughty.  Anything over 5% qualifies for the naughty list.”

“Hm.”  Mulder nods thoughtfully and strokes his chin.  

“Do I need to add William to the naughty list?”

William gives his father a nervous look and Mulder stares him down, taking his time to look like he’s giving it a lot of thought.

“No,” Mulder says, slowly.  “No, I don’t think we need to do that.”

Will exhales audibly, his shoulders loosening in relief.

“However,” Mulder continues, his heart breaking just a little bit even as he steels himself for what he’s about to do.  “Santa, Will’s Mom and I have been having quite a few conversations with him lately about inappropriate behavior and I’m just not sure it’s really sinking in, no matter how hard we try.  And I know that the LEGO Millennium Falcon was at the top of his Christmas list.”

“Indeed, one LEGO Millennium Falcon wrapped and ready.”

“Unfortunately, Santa, I think we need to wait on that gift.  I think we should work on that 8% and bring it up to the threshold.  Maybe that set should go to another boy or girl who was good all year.”

“Well, if that’s what you think is best, Fox, I’ll just have the elves take that out of my bag.”

William gasps and his eyes brim with tears.  Mulder feels like crying a little himself.  He moves his eyes from his son to Scully, who gives him a slight, albeit sad smile, with a nod of agreement.

“Yes, Santa,” Scully says, speaking up to support Mulder.  “I think we think it’s best for this year.”

“Dana, is that you?”

“Hello, Santa.”

Mulder looks at his son, whose on the verge of another meltdown, and he picks up the phone.  “Santa, we’re going to have to go now.”

“Be sure to tell Dana to stop by the North Pole soon, we mi-”

“Okay,” Mulder interrupts.  “Merry Christmas to you too, Santa, bye bye.”  He disconnects the call.

William sniffs hard and wipes his eyes with the back of his hand.  “I’m sorry!” he cries.  “Don’t let Santa put me on the naughty list, Daddy please!”

Scully reaches over and rubs Will’s back lightly.  She looks at Mulder, her eyes telling him to stay strong.  Mulder has to blink back his own tears and he bites the inside of his cheek for a few moments.

“That’s gonna be up to you, buddy,” Mulder says.  “You need to cut out the tantrums, stop the backtalk, do your chores without complaining, keep your room clean, and...and Scully do you have anything to add?”

“No, I think that covers it.”

“Can you do that, Will?”

William nods while wiping his eyes again.

“Go give Daddy a hug,” Scully says, patting Will on the back.  “Then, I think it’s time for you to brush your teeth and get your pajamas on.”

William slips off the barstool and trudges over to Mulder.  He butts his head into Mulder’s stomach, but his arms stay limp at his side.  Mulder leans over to hug his son tightly.

“I love you, buddy,” Mulder says.

William sniffs and then turns around and runs upstairs.  Mulder clutches the edge of the countertop and leans over, blowing out a harsh breath.

“Mulder?”

“I need to take a walk.”  He stands and walks away, wiping his eyes with the heels of his hands.

****

36 hours earlier:

Mulder hadn’t seen the gunmen in ages, but they spoke often enough on the phone.  While Will was watching cartoons, he locked himself in his office and called their offices.

“Lone Gunmen,” Langly answered.

“Turn off the tape,” Mulder said.

“It’s off.”

“Great, now really turn it off.”

“You’re not even a g-man anymore, Mulder, what does it matter?”

“Because it matters.  You guys busy?”

“We just cracked the security clearance for th-”

“It was rhetorical, Langly.  I need a favor.”

“Let me put you on speaker.”

“Hey, Mulder!” Byers voice called out.

“Where’s the delectable ex-agent Scully?” Frohike asked.

“Simmer down, Melvin.  Look, here’s the thing…”  He told them much of what he told Skinner and what Skinner suggested.  If anyone could help him make Will believe in the power of Santa, it would be the gunmen.

They agreed to help if it was necessary, only Mulder hoped to god it wasn’t necessary.  He didn’t want to resort to tricking their son.  Actually, he wanted his son to miraculously start behaving himself, but it didn’t seem likely.  He told himself he’d only use the number Langly gave him if it was absolutely, without a doubt, 100% necessary.  

*****

After his walk around the block, Mulder is still feeling like shit.  The house is quiet.  He assumes Will has been put to bed and Scully is taking her bath.  He flops down face first onto the bed, completely depressed.  He hears the shuffle of feet on the carpet and then Scully crawls up and over him, laying on his back with her head resting on his shoulder.

“Hey,” Scully murmurs.

Mulder grunts in response.

“Will’s asleep.”

Mulder sighs.  “Did I do the right thing?”

“Mulder,” she whispers.  “For what it’s worth, I’m proud of you.”

“For making our son cry?  I made our son cry, Scully.”

“I know.”  She kisses his cheek and runs her hands up and down his sides.  “But, you’re a good father.  You did what had to be done, even if it hurt.”

Mulder blinks.  “It did hurt.”

“And I know you were really looking forward to building that Millennium Eagle with Will.”

“Falcon.”

“Whatever.  Are you going to take it back.”

“No.  Maybe we can give it to him for his birthday.”

“Maybe.  By the way, don’t think I didn’t notice that Sant sounded an awful lot like Melvin Frohike.”  

Mulder chuckles a little.  Scully folds her arms across his shoulders and rests her chin on them.  He shifts his eyes to the side and then strains his head a little to see her.  She touches his nose with one finger and smiles.

“Have you been naked this whole time?” Mulder asks.

“I was wondering when you’d notice.”

“Forgive me, I was a little preoccupied.”

“I know.”

“And you haven’t taken a bath yet.”

“How do you know?”

“Because your skin would be pinker and warmer and you’d smell like peach oil.”

“I thought you might want to join me.”

“I don’t think I could refuse an invitation such as that.”

Scully drags herself backwards off of Mulder and he turns to sit up and admire the view as she walks away into the master bathroom.  He appreciates the distraction, but it isn’t quite enough at the moment.

“I’ll be right in,” he calls to her, slipping out of the room.

The half-moon nightlight in Will’s room glows blue against the wall.  Even in the dim light, Mulder can tell that his son’s face is still splotchy with tears.  He crouches down next to the boy’s bed and cups Will’s cheek.  Will breathes deeply in his sleep and sighs.

“I love you more than anything,” Mulder whispers.  “I hope you know that.”

Before leaving, Mulder rearranges the top blanket over Will and kisses his forehead.  He pulls his sweater off in the hall and then locks the bedroom door behind him.  He wonders if maybe he should ask Scully if they can call Santa back and change their mind.  He’s certainly been more than 8% naughty for years and look what it got him.  If he was nice enough to convince Scully to fall for him, Will deserves a Millennium Falcon.

The End

[the-dreamer-traveller]

The Mega-Revolution

There are two separate parts of this dream: Legosi Sequence and Defiance Sequence.

Legosi Sequence:

The dream part begins sometime after the canon timelines. After he has been branded as an outcast due to a leg eating incident with Louis, he had been shunned from the general public and is recorded in a crime very similar to that of a sex offender. However, this is portrayed as even worse. This time around, Legosi is moved away from his own home, school and life, left to wander alone within an unknown city that is decaying and rotting, leaving Haru and Louis and the people he loves behind.

Lost and lonely, Legosi walks into the rooftops of several tall buildings, with nothing but the same clothes that he wore in school. The buildings around him are modern, but the paint is slowly chipping off and there are some unfinished foundations and pillars left in the roofs of a few buildings. The slowly approaching dawn creates little comfort in the atmosphere and the near non-existent use of vehicles creates an air breathing and choking experience. Legosi surveys in his surroundings to see if there is something for him to sleep and eat, and found what appears to be a small camp by the distance, with a tent made of blue and orange tarpaulin to shape in a triangular way that its stereotypically created in media. A smoke trail, coming from a still burning barrel, is present and placed at the front of the tent. There are a few people in the tent, which would be a preferable company for lonely Legosi.

Taking his guts to follow through, he nervously approaches to the group. It is a small group of outcasts and they allow him to join. Legosi notices that there are only three people in the camp and they have peculiar appearances. One of them is a female sheep, in her school uniform and possibly from another school, who was involved with a scandal involving something about eating a predator, which gets her the same treatment with Legosi. Another associate outcast seems to be a bird, possibly a hawk, where he tries to eat a small mouse and is treated the same thing, but only in a minor degree as he tries only a “small part of the body”. The most horrifying one is a brown mink guy, with distinguishing features such as teeth laced with metallic braces that are exposed by his healed torn-out lips that forms a grimacing-looking fake smile and a missing left eye, which is covered by a black eye patch. He could barely speak, is constantly salivating to keep his teeth and tongue moist and is the quietest of the group.

“He’s dangerously untouchable.” The sheep girl said, nudging at Legosi. “Don’t know what happened, but they say he gone berserk in a fight that leaves his mouth like that. Best thing is to do is to keep watching on him.”

Though he may really look at the part, given his glaring eye and watery mouth like a rabid dog, he’s surprisingly calm, only sitting in a chair next to the flaming barrel. He did try to speak to Legosi, but he stops his attempt in doing so and just continues with feeling the warmth of the flames, since barely any words came from his mouth and what sound is emitted would be gibberish or barely audible to anyone else.

While he takes a chair and sits by the view of the city, Legosi’s train of thoughts suddenly pass through. He begins to reminiscence of his good days, back before the disaster with eating Louis’ leg happens. He sighs sadly and stares at the tall buildings by the distance of where he is, while watching as the sun slowly dips to the horizon and night would soon come. Although his future may be destroyed by the act, he is dreaming of things to come and that one day would change the way society works, as well as getting the help he needs before he sets foot back to his hometown.

“Lehgoshi…?” The mink guy said, approaching him and tilting his head, curious of Legosi’s ideas. The wolf notices the mink’s approach and quietly continues looking by the distance. It feels weird to hear him speak, as his missing lips makes certain letters and vowels hard to pronounce.

Legosi only gave a short nod before he is thinking of revealing his thoughts to the group. Perhaps, now is not the time and would probably not the appropriate one for the date.

The Post-Legosi Sequence:

“Come on, Louis!” A female wolf, grabbing the hand of a deer’s, quickly said as they ascend in a set of black metallic stairs. Louis’ feet could barely keep up with the pace, as Juno is far faster and in a better shape that he is. “You’ll see it! You’ll see it!”

Oh, it may be great to be in a relationship with her but damn, was she a fit.

The city is dark while bright green lights shine by the distance. The city is advanced beyond their comprehension, featuring dark metallic buildings durable enough to stand against the rain and rust, bright futuristic lights and a mix and match of old buildings styles and new, creating an environment best suited and described as a cyberpunk mega-city. It would be a few more steps and Louis can finally rest while he could see what Juno wants him to see.

Eventually, both of them arrive at the rooftop, where they begin to see the whole cityscape. Louis’ breath is taken away, as he sees the sights. Around them are the same mixed old and new buildings, but they also contain bright lights. The light pollution in the city is so bright, it would be near impossible to sleep outside and the streets would still be visible. What is most impressive for Louis is that in the middle of the sprawling metropolis is a group of futuristic tall buildings, shining very bright light a gem in a great display. The skyscrapers are mainly light blue and there are various futuristic installments in it such as long curved paths wrapping around various parts of the buildings. It is so bright, that it looks like those areas would be the de facto capital of the whole metropolis.

The view is so beautiful, Juno and Louis are left standing speechless in its beauty.

“Did you know that Legosi did all of this?” Juno said, looking at Louis. “He sure did change the world when he becomes a politician. I wonder how he could do all of those things and what kind of people he is involved with.”

Louis silently nods and agrees.

That damn wolf.

Defiance Sequence:

(Alternating between 3rd POV and someone else’s POV):

In the rooftop of a large building complex in the dark city of Midgar, a lone figure patrols in the area, carrying his long-range rifle. Silently miserable of his position but remains vigilante to his duties, the Shinra guard walks in these roof tops, looking at the left and right to subdue intruders that appear in the way. While he is tired of the business and the toxic work environment, he’s his best to try earning his family the good name up until the end of his service.

Until he sees me tapping by a button in a small console at the top of a platform elevator and slowly begin going down. In quick response, he quickly pushes another button in a console next to him, which causes the platform of where I am standing to rise up, denying me to go down.

Shocked and surprised to see that I cannot go further, I turn to my left and saw the Shinra soldier standing far from me, his hand in the console. Angry and pouting, I quickly walk up towards him, with my shoes stomping on the metallic floor, while he slightly backs a bit, surprised to see the ‘intruder’ coming towards him demandingly like an angry Karen for a manager.

“Hey, dude. What was that for?” I called out, angrily while I pull out my accusing finger several times at him, with each step causing him to take another step backwards. “Can’t you see I’m trying to explore in this place?”

“Explore?” The Shinra Guard parroted a word from my mouth. “Look, kid. You shouldn’t be in these areas. You could get hurt!”

“Well, I know how to do so… so don’t try to bug me!” I replied, annoyed.

Frustrated, the Shinra guard quickly went to me and forcefully grabs my right arm, annoyed of my stuck-up attitude. “Listen, kid. I don’t like that attitude you put up in here. You’ll either respect with the authority or I will force you to go home by myself.”

I puff out in protest and quickly let him go my arm. “We’ll see about that, buddy!”

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We sat by a ledge of the roof top, just next to the elevator.

We have learned many things from each other’s conversation. Although I am hesitated to reveal him of where I came from or my other sensitive and private life facts, I did open up on somethings for myself, such as my adventures and travels (not my other, more dangerous and wild ones, though) and a few of my favorites and preferences. The Shinra Guard, once a bit aloof, cold and distant, slowly exposes more of his conflicted and calm side, telling me of his struggles in his job, the toxicity of working with Shinra, his family (adopted son to a Chinese-like family and having a brother name Sam Chu who also works for Shinra), his morality and his name (Harrisson).

“Come to think of it, I was thinking of wanting to retire somewhere safe and warm for my family.” Harrisson told me, slightly frowning behind his helmet. “I know that it is crap, but it is the least I could do for them.”

“I see.” I said, thoughtful. “I never thought that life in Shinra would be hard, especially if you are a regular soldier and not like those SOLDIERs.”

“I know, right.” He said. “But still, I am getting more conscious on my involvement with them, and I was thinking of running away.”

“Since when do you think of deserting Shinra?”

“Months? Years? I dunno. Just came into my mind.”

We became a bit silent after that, for only a few seconds. For me, I became conscious too as well, since I have run into some of the Shinra grunts in some point before. It made me wonder if those that I struck with lightning are only working for their families and friends, when I pierce one with a sharp icicle only to give a proposal or gift towards the people they love after hours or when I burnt couple of soldiers to crisps with them working for their kids and their future. My stomach tightens as I remember on my human and other sentient being kills, thinking of what would happen to the people in their life. The burden is heavy enough that, even if hesitating would result to myself or my allies greater harm, it wouldn’t help me getting my consciousness to kick in.

Trying to shake it off, I quickly stood up, which catches Harrisson by surprise and looks at me. “Hey. Do you want to come with me?” I asked at him, looking at his partially obscured face.

Harrisson is thoughtful and pauses for a second before he replies. “Where would you take me?”

“Somewhere safe for us.” I replied, extending my hand to him. “I was thinking if one day, you could follow me back to where I came from.”

“You sure about that, Ira?”

I nod. “We will take care of you and your family, we promise.”

Harrisson gives a soft laugh before his right leather gloved hand comes in contact with mine, holding a grip with a slight shake. “You’re a smart kid.” He complimented and I smiled back, helping to stand back to his feet. If not with his own help, his built and muscular body would make it difficult for me to help him stand up. I gave him a pat in his back while we walk into a different direction, as there is going to be a mission where both of us (I am in a different faction at the time) would meet and would cover our own backs.

Such as nice guy. Wished he had better friends.

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While Ira quietly follows Harrisson, a menu screen is open for the 3rd POV’s view, which features a digital and futuristic-like screen. It shows two tabs for the two respective characters, Ira and Harrisson. You move your mouse into Harrisson’s tab to check his details. Being a long-range user but also uses a nightstick for melee combat, you begin to think of him as an ideal character for multi-dynamic battle. He is also one of the characters that can change his outfit, from his standard Shinra soldier uniform to a custom-made black, silver, white and dark burgundy jacket, pants and boots, while keeping his Shinra helmet. A character with changeable outfits is a sure sign that they are a permanent character.

This is making things exciting for you to continue forward, as it would mean that he is for you to keep.

However, you settled him to keep his Shinra uniform instead.

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With my team, we all landed in a middle of a warzone. Setting place within a town full of dark brown buildings, beautiful market stalls and Mediterranean-style plazas and houses, it has been converted into a battlefield because of the presence of powerful monsters and beasts that invade the town, slowly destroying it of its beauty. My team, “Las Mágicas”, is deployed here along with Shinra Public Security Division to assist them in dealing with the battle against the monsters, which are numerous and powerful. Unlike the previous times when they appear as allies, the SPSD are very competent in here, even when several of the monsters are powerful magic using foes.

We are put somewhere in the back alley of the city, where a small battalion of the Las Mágicas units are dropped in. With Frost, an ice nymph from a frosty and unknown land, we land at the top of some stalls, overlooking at a ruined series of market stalls.

“So, I heard that you made a friend with someone from Shinra. Isn’t it, Ira?” Frost asked, looking at me with her piercing blue eyes.

I nod in response before I speak. “Certainly. He’s also a good man… and a nice body.” I said the last words dreamily, as if I am thinking of the other things.

Frost scuffs in annoyance. “Damn, always trying to look for someone to eat the candy, isn’t it?” She looked at me, annoyed, before she continues on. “So, when is this Harrisson guy coming to meet us?”

“He should be here in a moment–“

The sound of gunshots stops our conversation, and made us quickly stand in our defensive positions. Peering back at Frost and with a quick nod, we jump out of the stalls and quickly ran into a busted corner of the city street, where we saw a Shinra grunt leaning at the wall while he is surrounded by several Bomb-like geometric-shaped creatures, ready to attack him. I am shocked that I quickly ran into him.

“Harrisson!” I cried out, reaching out to him and held him in place before he falls into the ground from exhaustion due to his injuries. I catch his body, and damn was it heavy due to my small stature. Frost quickly came to my help and assists in taking out the rest of the Bomb-like creatures with her fast movements and flinging sharp ice magic projectiles to the enemies.

As the Bombs are distracted to slowly being killed off, I carefully set Harrisson’s unconscious body to the ground. Injured but still alive, I quickly notice that his breathing is shaky yet stable. I quickly work with my healing magic spells to heal him. Manipulating white magical aura into thin magical threads by the fingers, I motion my hands around to conjure a healing spell that can speed up the natural healing rate of mortals, and I unleash it towards Harrisson, resorting his vitality. By the time that it is done, the Bomb-like creatures are already dead, and Frost is tired from her gymnastic moves and dodges.

“Took you a while.” I told him, sigh in relief.

Harrisson breaths rapidly as he regains his consciousness. He realizes that he is lying in the background and quickly stands up, with my help once again by taking his hand and helping him getting back to his feet. “Thanks again.” He said, slightly smiling in relief. “Can’t think if I could make it back there.”

“Don’t exert too much, Harrisson. You got me worried.” I express it to him, almost as if giving him a huge before I mentally restrain myself to do so. It feels so awkward to huge someone that I just meet in only a few hours, but him nearly dying causes me to get worried over him.

Frost moves in forward, noticing on the interesting conversation. “So, this is the guy you are talking about, right Ira?” She asked, putting her left hand on her hip.

“Yes. This is Frost, by the way, Harrisson.” I presented her to the Shinra Grunt, who takes a short bow. Frost gives a quick smile before she looks at me. “So, where should we head for the moment, as the monsters are still around the town.”

“Well, we should try go to what used to be a park then. Heard there is a large swarm of these things back there and that would probably be the last of them.” Frost suggested and quickly motion us to move forward, as time is running faster. Harrisson quickly follows by with running on his feet while I prefer flying as a much faster means of locomotion but also slowing it down to catch up with the group.

“You mean that the invasion is almost about to be repelled?” I ponder loudly for them to hear, moving away from a tall house to the side.

“Most likely.” Harrisson said as he jumps over a turnover barrel to catch us forward. “Once the whole operation is done, we are supposed to be meeting with our whole unit by an open field in the town, near to a hospital.”

We manage to reach with the park, again also destroyed by the monsters and transformed into a battlefield. There are only a few round bouncing monsters that cast fire, so it wouldn’t be much hard and of a challenge. Especially if not for an ice nymph with her powerful icicles, an otherworldly magician and a surprisingly competent Shinra soldier whose use of his gun is remarkable and his use of his nightstick for battle with finesse.

The creatures, the Hedgepies, begin to attack. Though that they are aggressive, they are dumb and we are able to hold off on our own. Harrisson kicks on it the face and fires a spreading shot into the face, throwing a chunk off from it, and slams another of the Hedgepies into the face with his nightstick. Frost floats away from the main attacks and flings sharp icicles into their foes. I enjoy toying with my foes, using my spells to disorient them before I finish them off with a fire spell or an ice spell.

In the end, we managed to destroy the rest of the Hedgepies and the invasion has ended.

However, Harrisson is injured again, this time he fell into one knee. Frost notice this and quickly ran to his side. “Hey, Ira. Can you go check at the main point to see if they are already there?”

“Huh, why would I do that? Don’t you want to come with me together up to the extraction point?” I asked, worried.

“Trust me, I’ll follow by.” Harrisson said, trying to find a potion to heal himself back to normal. Seeing that there may be no choice but to check at the extraction point of the SPSD, I quickly went up to my feet and fly away.

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I have managed to arrive at the extraction point of the Shinra Public Security Division, which is located at a park near to a hospital.

Boy, am I going to be underestimated if this is where all of the Shinra soldiers would gather after the mission.

The whole place is packed with soldiers, in rows and platoons. Some of the civilians are seen walking by the sidewalks, being relieved that the battle had ended. The gate is currently being managed by two Shinra soldiers, who are wearing red and appear to be one of the elite troopers. Being nervous to go near to them, especially since I may look like a civilian and not one of the Las Mágicas, I choose not to go near to the soldiers and opt for eavesdropping instead.

“Hey, ever wonder where is Harrisson Chu?” One of the gate Shinra troops said to his fellow trooper, curious of the man. I would guess that he must be a famous individual amongst the SPDS.

“Shouldn’t he be like showing up even earlier?” The other gate Shinra troop also said, pondering.

I quietly hum to myself. I’m surprised that Harrisson had manage to earn a sizable reputation in the SPDS, possibly due to his skill and/or personality or family background. It made me wonder what would the Chu family will be all about but it wouldn’t get me even more worried when the head commander of the sent forces begin his announcement.

“Attention, soldiers. Where is Harrisson Chu?” The head commander announced, wondering where the soldier is. “I repeat, where is Harrisson Chu?”

“If he doesn’t return here within fifty minutes, he is officially classified as deserted and you are free to execute him for deserting the army.”

My blood quickly went pale as I hear the words.

I never meant for this to happen.

But Harrisson is delayed and he didn’t arrive here in time.

He promised that he is going to follow me.

…

…What if my idea of running away from Shinra is really put in his heart and use this as a chance to run away?

… I fucked up big time.

I don’t want him to suffer and must run back to him. I don’t want him to get in serious trouble, now that he has a time limit of fifty minutes before he is classified as a deserter and a killable target.

I’m so sorry, Harrisson.

I fuck things up.

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Damn, he’s not in the park.

I had no idea what happened with Frost, but probably she left and went back to the Las Mágicas, seeing that things are already done in here.

But Harrisson is nowhere to be found.

With each step that I take, my tears slowly started to swell up. It’s all my fault that I am potentially putting him in a tight situation, to follow his authorities or rebel and possibly getting killed in the process. I find it that it’s my fault to present that idea and toy with his insecure mental state.

I try my best to hold back my tears. I have no idea how long time had been passed on, but probably only minutes. From running to walking, I walk around and around, hoping to find something for my peace of mind. I reach to a small residential area, which is covered with trees and only having a few trees. There are some 2-story houses with a small pavilion somewhere in the street, offering a good and quiet view and resting spot.

While I mindlessly walk in the pavement, I turn to look at one of the houses and my breath quickly left as I am shocked to see what it is.

There are two figures sitting at a metallic bench. One of them, to my surprise and relief, is Harrisson. The other is a Shinra soldier as well but wearing a military uniform more in real-life and he keeps his SPSD helmet. He’s also bandaged, with his right arm tied and hang by the bandages, as if he is trying to heel a fractured or damaged arm. This soldier is also sounding angry in their conversation.

“Brother, what the fuck are you doing?” He said angrily, looking at Harrisson.

Oh, I think this is his brother Sam Chu, the hot-blooded brother that Harrisson describes in the past.

Sam’s dialogues are peppered with some Chinese-sounding words along with some English-words, and they all tell him about the risky behavior that Harrisson is trying to do, running away from Shinra and, indirectly, their family. Harrisson doesn’t seem to mind about it and seems to be ignoring Sam’s angry and concerned ranting. Harrisson stood up first and walk away, which pisses Sam off and made him follow his adopted brother next.

“What do you think will our family feel, huh?” Sam said, angrily. “What do you think will mother will feel about you deserting the army?”

While both of them continue walking on, I slowly approach Harrisson, with slow steps due to how nervous I am as well as fear of his reaction due to Sam trying to get in his ears. Both of them stop in their tracks and look at me, with Sam seemingly surprised.

“Chu, who is this person?” Sam asked to his brother, curious. Harrisson couldn’t answer as we continue to stare at each other.

I broke down crying.

I quickly ran into Harrisson and hug him. I cry warm tears of guilt and sorrow as I bury my face in his chest. This is all my fault, trying to secretly pursue him to ran away without thinking of the long-term consequences. Sam is speechless, possibly not to ruin the moment. Harrisson frowns and put his hand on my head.

“Hey, it’s alright.” Harrisson reassured calmly. “It’s my fault that I did this, I shouldn’t be dragging you into this.”

I wish I could speak to him properly, but all the sounds from my mouth are wordless babbling, as I am still crying. Harrisson gave a soft smile before he continues to speak.

“Look, something dropped by the park. Mind if you could go and get it?”

I soon stop my tears and rub them away. My face is still red from crying, but I am trying to calm down and gave a short nod. I tried to make a smile, but couldn’t as I am still remorseful and tearful, while he gave a short pat in my shoulder. I understood on the task and gave him a short wave before I run back to the park, while Sam and Harrisson went back to the extraction point.

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As Ira runs off, you open the menu again.

Both Ira and Harrisson are still present but are not visible. However, you also noticed that you gain two more party members; Harrisson’s brother Sam Chu and another Shinra Grunt.

You look into Sam Chu’s stats and equipment. He’s a bo staff user, an unusual class and weapon when their division uses only guns and nightsticks. Similar with Harrisson, he’s also a customizable unit, making him a permanent party member, but his default involves him with no helmet, revealing his dark brown sharp hair and sharp brown eyes. Armed with a mischievous grin and his standard Shinra gear without the helmet, which is that of the elite Shinra soldier gear, he is not different from his own adopted brother as he also wanted to express his own freedom on how he dresses and what weapon he wants to keep. This might be a foreshadowing that Sam might too be secretly rebelling with Shinra but has strong loyalty with the Chu family, not wanting to dishonor them.

You try to look at the other party member, another Shinra soldier. However, the scene ends before you could see anything about him.

But you know that he is a team medic, and far more mysterious.

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In the streets of a downtown, it is bustling with market stalls selling smoking food products and stuff. The air is thick with smoke coming from the stalls, while streetlights hang from above. Civilians walk around here, to buy stuff from the stalls or to hang around and eat and be merry. Two figures, instead, are walking here and moved to a partially obscure wall of a building that is someone else’s apartment.

Harrisson leans in the wall, crossing his arms. Instead of wearing his Shinra uniform, he wears the same jacket design that he had in the menu that you see. Still keeping with his helmet, he looks down and not with the street level, as if patiently waiting for someone to come. Later, the other figure, Sam, went to him, wearing the same outfit that he had in the previous scene, but also keeping his Shinra helmet.

Sam, with a mischievous smile, gave a signal nod to his brother. Harrisson took a short breath before he stood up and both brothers continue walking down the market.