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ajgrey9647 · 3 months

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"Can I fall asleep on your shoulder?" + World of the Coinless; Sentry Adam~

Connecting Touches

In some ways, Adam was glad his family wasn’t here to see how gray and solemn this world had become. More importantly, they weren’t exposed to the life he’d been forced into, a life of cruelty and violence, one without mercy or compassion or even the vestiges of happiness.

Only one person’s joy mattered in this new reality and you’d be wise to keep that forefront in your mind.

Skull often commented about how even nature itself seemed to change suit with the ascension of its new ruler. The more experienced Sentry was a firm believer that Lord Drakkon’s reign altered something that was fundamental and normally fixed in the universe.

“You ever notice how all the color seems to have fled from the world, rookie?” Eugene had asked the newcomer once when the pair were weapons training.

Pausing in their mock combat, the dark-haired man pointed up at the sky, a dark ominous color and covered with thick, heavy clouds. The wind carried the scent of rain and a rumble of thunder growled somewhere off over the horizon.

Adam had frowned, forehead wrinkled.

No, he hadn’t paid much mind to anything else beyond keeping his head down and following orders.

“Huh…” he responded, also gazing into the approaching storm.

From he’d gathered about the Red Sentry, the younger man was sure he had ideas as to why this was so.

“Yeah,” Eugene continued. “I know its not the most important thing in our lives, it shouldn’t matter. But I feel like we are foolish not to be concerned.”

He chuckled.

“Though, honestly, I’m not sure there’s fuck-all we could do about it anyway.”

Nestling his weapon back in the rack, Skull favored Adam with a thoughtful look.

“Tell me I’m not the only one who’s noticed this? Everyone else thinks I’m crazy.”

The Black Sentry also relinquished his training staff as he considered the observation. Now that he actually thought about it, Adam realized that most of the vegetation, at least around the palace, were an odd growing shade of brown, though the farmers were still able to raise crops and livestock. Besides the bright reds and yellows of two Sentry regiments, it had been a long time since he’d seen any bright, cheerful colors.

“You’re not crazy,” the Black Sentry murmured. “They either don’t notice or don’t care. Maybe both.”

Skull shook his head, a mirthful grin curling his lips.

“I didn’t think so.”

Walking from the training grounds situated on the far side of the courtyard, the pair could feel the static in the air, a building electrical current of threatened lightning.

“I miss how things used to be,” Adam commented. “I remember rainy days, before…all ‘this’… when I’d curl up with a good book and a mug of tea, thinking how nice it was to be inside where it was warm and cozy. Now, we’re back to candlelight, wood burning cooking appliances, and looms.”

Skull stopped, placing a hand on the younger man’s shoulder.

“That’s another thing, rook. How long ago would you say all that was? What year do you think we’re in now? ‘Cause for a while even I thought I was nuts.”

He looked around for any eavesdroppers. If you dared to question things, it was best not to be too loud about it.

“This whole… world… or whatever the hell you want to call it, feels ‘off’. Like sometimes I’d swear I had seen or done something just yesterday, or maybe even a long time ago, and I’m off base. At first, I chalked it up to no real markers of time, calendars and all that shit. But man, the seasons are messed up too. I’m pretty sure of it.”

This was another thing that Adam had not been cognizant of. How long had it been since he’d seen his parents, his teachers, his friends? What about his wife and child? Why do those two distinct time periods seem ‘mis-mashed’, like a knotted ball of yarn?

“What do you think it all means, Skull? You’ve clearly given this some thought.”

Again, the Red Sentry gave a quick scan of the area.

“My love, Billy, was a genius. Literally. Super smart could invent the coolest gadgets and fix basically everything. He’d have this all figured out like that,” he sighed, snapping his fingers, voice tinged with grief.

“He…died. A long time ago now. I’m no where near that intelligent so I’m not sure what he saw in me. But from everything I’ve observed over that last twenty so-called ‘years’ is that our world, our reality, our time is jacked the fuck up and it has something to do with ol’ Fuck Face and his nutty powers,” Skull continued.

“I mean besides what I’ve already pointed out, our lifestyle and ways of getting on in the world went ass-fucking-backward like it’s the early 1800’s or some shit. But then peppered in the mix like ground glass, we’ve got spaceships, teleporters, energy blasters… well, that fucking dick does. We’ve practically got covered wagons and horse drawn plows. And NO ONE bats a goddamn eye!”

Eugene was starting to get worked up, outraged that everyone had decided to be complacent and ‘forget’ how their world used to be. He struggled to lower his tone, lest his voice carry and Drakkon find out his observations.

Adam stared silently into the swollen, angry clouds. Nature, the planet, time… all were displeased. Or sick. Or as cuckoo as Lord Drakkon.

What could possibly go wrong with that?

“I think its partly from the Grid’s influence, not just poor Mother Earth losing her marbles,” Skull admitted.

He’d NEVER told another soul about the Grid besides Bulk. Definitely not anyone in this backstabbing clusterfuck of a hellhole. But he sensed he could trust this soft spoken, gentle looking man. Seeing Adam’s confusion, Skull delved into what he recalled the Blue Ranger telling him of this mysterious ‘Grid’ where the Rangers drew their powers, the colors and their possibly associated attributes, and the various creatures that attached themselves with each.

“I may not have the smarts that Billy did, but I don’t think it’s a stretch to believe that a demonically evil Green Dragon mashed up with the light of goodness White Tiger is the most stable thing to ever exist. And they’re probably both pretty pissed about pressed up against each other. Perhaps they’re rebelling?”

The Red Sentry shrugged.

“That’s my two cents for what it’s worth.”

Adam sighed and his shoulders slumped.

“Sounds like it doesn’t bode well for any of us, Skull. Not that I believe in happy endings anymore.”

They walked on quietly for a moment, headed towards the shelter of the barracks. A scattering of icy raindrops sprinkled upon their bare heads, winding a chilly path to their scalps before gliding down the backs of their necks.

The sky growled again with thunderous warning, a blinding arc of lightning crackling through the clouds.

“We’d better get a move on, newbie, or we’re going to be a couple drowned rats before we even reach the door,” Eugene called over a sudden gust of wind.

Skull’s words echoed in Adam’s mind, about nature and time and a primal clash within a ‘Grid’…

The weather right now seemed like an accurate barometer of what must be going on under the surface of things. It made him shiver more so than the chilly rain, an unseen, unpredictable, unstable presence…

Just as they reached the threshold of the Red Sentry’s dwelling, the clouds verily split and a torrent of water gushed from the sky. Adam was reminded of hysterical tears and open, bleeding wounds as he stared out the window while Skull nimbly flitted through his cupboards, pulling together a small meal of soup and crusty bread.

He whistled while he cooked, lifting an amused brow in self-deprecating humor.

“Not exactly like a five-star restaurant or the meal of champions, but we won’t have empty bellies to keep us up. At least we can mark that off the list of sleep-killers. I’ve got enough on mine already and I’m sure you’ve got your own.”

Skull noticed the tense set of the Black Sentry’s back as he continued to gaze out at the powerful deluge, the wind picking up dramatically, and accompanied by a clap of thunder so deep it rattled the delicate pane of glass.

“I don’t think I’ve managed a full night’s sleep since my wife and child…” he stopped his quiet confession, always unable to say aloud the words that hung suspended from the tip of his tongue.

“When I close my eyes, no matter how exhausted I am, I still see their faces, their terrified tears…hear their begging, my begging and crying that I’ll do whatever he says as long as…”

Skull paused in settling the chipped bowls on the makeshift table, his thoughts turning to Billy’s face just before he’d made the ultimate sacrifice to save Trini. While he’d understood the Blue Ranger’s actions and been proud of his bravery, in his heart he felt the raw anguish of loss. The time they’d had together, while beautiful and special, just wasn’t enough and it certainly was NOT FAIR!

“There’s no winning with that motherfucker,” he responded, his voice rough and throat burning painfully with holding back his own grief. “I can’t believe that no one and nothing has ever gotten one over on that smug, arrogant sack of elephant shit! I don’t see how it’s even a possibility!”

He walked to where his companion stood and stared out into the pouring rain. It was coming down so hard that even if it were earlier in the day, they would have been unable to see anything with clarity.

“I want to believe,” Adam whispered brokenly, “that one day that will change and he’ll get knocked on his pompous ass, be made to feel the terror, grief, and pain that we all feel, to lose EVERYTHING he…”

The Black Sentry laughed.

“I was going to say ‘everything he loves’, but he only loves himself…”

Skull remembered the power coins and how Billy had explained their abilities in tapping into the Grid and what they meant to the Ranger who possessed them, not just in terms of power, weapons, or any of that stuff… But what the coins meant to their heart…

“There’s something else he loves, I’m pretty certain. His coins. They are what give him his power, which he enjoys as well. Without those coins, Drakkon is nothing but a mortal man. A batshit crazy, psychopathic homicidal asshat… but you can kill those. And he knows that.”

Adam growled, a usual noise coming from such a meek, reserved, mild mannered individual.

“No powers mean he’s nothing special and I think that’s something else he’s aware of. He would just be a garden variety asshole and those are a dime a dozen in a world overrun with people who aspire to his fuckery. What a lovely punishment that would be! One of many of course.”

“Preach,” Skull muttered, his hand going back to the Sentry’s shoulder. “But considering we have a snowball’s chance in hell of ever getting close to those fucking coins, I say we get some food in us and get a little rest while we can. You never know what’s shits going to get unleashed and when around here.”

The muscles under his grip softened and Adam allowed Eugene to guide him to the table where their food waited. The broth was on the watery side, but it did contain a rather generous helping of vegetable scraps along with a smattering of shredded chicken.

“Don’t worry… I’ve got connections. That chicken’s fresh from this morning when they were prepping the dinner ingredients. My man on the inside passed this off to me while the others were finishing drills.”

Adam wasn’t sure he’d care if it wasn’t fresh. What’s the worst that could happen? Food poisoning?

Ehhh… if it killed him, it killed him. He’d be reunited with his beloved family and be free from this wretched urine-soaked hellhole. He had never been able to bring himself to take the actions needed to end his life, but the Black Sentry wasn’t cautious, becoming at times reckless, which ran contrary to his normal temperament. His fellow comrades in the regiment couldn’t claim to understand it, but Adam’s business was Adam’s business.

And around here, you were wise to mind your own…

As they ate, the rest of the light faded into oblivion, prompting Skull to light some lanterns, the rain pummeling the roof in concert with the cavernous thunder and streaks of lightning.

Consuming such a filling meal compared to what he usually ate at any given time, Adam felt the weight of his eyelids grow exponentially. He was bone tired, physically and mentally, though he was hesitant to close his eyes, knowing what he’d see on the other side. His head dipped slightly to his chest, first in fits and starts, then progressing down… down…

“Hey,” Skull’s voice murmured near his ear. “You’re about to take a header into my fine china.”

He pointed at the threadbare mattress on a rickety wooden frame and draped with a faded orange and blue checked blanket. It was one of his most cherished possessions.

“I don’t think this is letting up any time soon so why don’t you catch some winks while you wait. Not much else to do around here. No cards or books or games, board or console, to amuse us. My buddy and I used to be quite skilled at figuring out the newest video games without even knowing the instructions. And Billy…”

He smiled sadly.

“Billy would read to me from a book while I laid with my head in his lap,” he breathed. “I didn’t care what type of book it was. It might be a textbook, an autobiography, a novel, a comic… Just cuddling up against him, listening to his voice and feeling the warmth of his body.”

He gathered the dirty bowls as Adam pushed back from the table, grateful to have someone who was willing to share their own tale of sorry. Most around here would clam up tighter than a sausage casing and deny or deflect or repel with heated anger.

“I used to lay in bed with him and the feel of his skin against mine, his chest rising and falling… I always felt safe and loved. Like we were the only two people in the whole wide world…. Like we never had to get up and face the day. We didn’t get as much time together as I hoped we would, but we always made sure to live in the moment and make the days count,” he whispered, staring absently into the empty, mismatched vessels.

“I’m so glad we did.”

Working his boots off without bothering to undo the laces, the Black Sentry settled into Eugene’s offered bed. He pulled the soft material around himself to his chin.

“Billy sounds like was a great guy,” he sighed. “I appreciate you trusting me enough to tell me about him. I’ve heard the others guessing about each other’s private lives, but no one seems to know anything when it comes to you.”

Skull chuckled.

“Billy was an AMAZING guy. You don’t know the half of it. That’s a big part of why I don’t bring him up. And it’s a piece of my life that I’ll always treasure so I don’t want to share him with most of these hateful creatures. They wouldn’t get it. They’re too much like Dictator Dickhead.”

Adam yawned, his eyes struggling to remain open, still fearful about the terrors and memories that awaited.

A visceral need came to him, one that he felt embarrassed to verbalize aloud. Yet, Skull had never once passed judgement. In point of fact, he’d taken the newest recruit under his wing where the others had been nothing but vile assholes, some attempting to ‘haze’ the rookie and some seeking ‘favors’ for their time and attention.

Not Eugene.

“This might sound silly. Or gross. But I don’t mean this like another Sentry might…” he started.

Skull waited patiently, already knowing this man was nothing like his regiment.

“Can I fall asleep on your shoulder?”

He twisted the hem of the blanket in anxious fingers, his cheeks flushing hotly, and he felt every inch a child terrified of storms.

“I mean… I miss feeling…”

“I get it,” Eugene whispered, already walking toward where Adam huddled shamefully. “You miss the feeling of falling asleep laying next to someone, that physical touch we are all starved for here. Most of us anyways.”

After kicking off his own footwear, the Red Sentry clambered onto the bed and situated himself under his beloved quilt. Reclining back, he grinned and patted his shoulder.

“Bring it on in here.”

The weight of Adam’s head as it slowly and carefully (and awkwardly) nestled into position unexpectedly wrought a contented sigh from Skull’s lips. He’d missed this too. The soft black hair brushed his cheek and jaw and the feel of another living breathing body curled alongside his body brought a soothing calmness he’d not felt in decades.

It was a basic, essential need, this craving for human contact, body to body in the vulnerability of sleep. It didn’t always link arm in arm with the desire for sex, though it often did at times. That was simply biology and hormones.

Having Adam in his bed, flush against him, was definitely not of that variety. He could see why the younger man would be concerned that he might think that though. The Sentry barracks were at one time rife with ‘grab ass’ games, favors for favors, blackmail and extortion, ass kissing… That didn’t include the destructive things they got up to outside the palace walls.

Essentially, they were like a roving band of yowling tomcats and the tyrant had grown extremely annoyed with their antics. There were enough rug rats running about underfoot as it was, and he was not risking anyone ‘catching feelings’ and wanting to create a family in his palace. Babies and children made one vulnerable as he’d obviously taken advantage of that fact.

Hell no he wasn’t about to be bothered with the incessant whining and wailing of snot nosed brats. He himself had taken care of his own procreation ability long ago and he wasn’t shy about sharing. His abusive old man had given him one piece of advice when he was but a surly teen.

Despite his assertion that ‘Tommy’ was a fairy princess beneath his denials and protestations, Mr. Oliver warned his adopted son about ‘semen demons’, shrewd harpies out to snare a man with the promise of soft, cuddly, powder scented brats… or as a means to use the courts to take the cash they were truly after.

“Those bitches will poke holes in condoms, Thomas,” he’d drunkenly slurred, feeling as if he were imparting the wisdom of the ages. “They’ll dig them out of the trash when you aren’t looking even! ‘Forget’ their pills. Get you baked or drunk and rub one out when you don’t know what way is up! Don’t trust none of ‘em! Look at what I got to deal with!”

He snorted, a slimy booger bubbling from one nostril and contracting and expanding with his respirations.

Tommy had stared at it in disgust, an expression that his ‘pa’ took to mean he understood and was in agreement.

“You get any type of cash, power, fame, and those cunts will swarm you like ants in a sugar hill! A man can’t be too careful. But you want to make sure you can still have your fun when you want it then gallop off into the sunset when the rodeo is over.”

Though Lord Drakkon had taken measures with his ‘castration’ protocol, it only helped to stim pregnancies, but not all the wild, distracting debauchery, much to his dismay. Many men were still able to desire and participate in sexual activity, not all the guards but enough of them to make things dangerous for an innocent new recruit.

Skull listened to the tyrant recount his own sterilization with curiosity as the guards assembled those first few weeks once the weaklings had been eliminated. They knew they weren’t going to like what was about to go down, but it was that or a painful death…

Later on, he found it ironic that the asshole even bothered with his nuts. During his first few years working his way up the Sentry ladder, Eugene, like everyone else watched as Drakkon trotted his precious ‘pet’ about the palace, though at the time, it wore a knock-off Ranger helmet in addition to a form-fitting black silk uniform and golden collar.

And that muscular build and narrow hips clearly belonged to a male.

Rumors swirled about Red’s other job besides guarding Drakkon, the very stories that got many scathing punishments. But it was hard to believe otherwise when the asshole’s hands lingered about the pet’s hips, thighs, and ass, his fingertips gliding along defined curves in a way that was obviously full of possessive lust.

Why Drakkon gave a goddamn about anyone wondering about their relationship was unknown.

Skull’s reminiscing was interrupted by Adam’s soft voice. He was surprised as he’d thought the weary man had fallen asleep already.

“Tell me more about your Billy, Eugene. Just what you’re comfortable sharing,” he whispered.

“Well,” the other man chuckled sadly. “Where should I start?”

#boom! comics power rangers #power rangers #ao3 author #ao3 fanfic #lord drakkon #red sentry skull #world of the coinless eugene skullovitch #world of the coinless adam park #friendship #sharing tragedy #human connection #touch starved #fluff #writing prompt #prompt asks

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accursed-worm · 1 year

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THE. The way you write quackity’s pov in hundred red flags is SO GOOD. I’m absolutely in love with it. The complex guilt he feels towards Wilbur and Fundy’s reaction to that IS JUST SO. AGHHH i don’t even have words. GOD and Quackity only knowing Wilbur as this figure in his life and not as the person he is… and Quackity maybe WANTING to know who he is… Everything about quackity’s position is so awkward and near impossible to balance I’m so worried for when that ends up blowing up in his face even more. Also I gotta ask is next chapter also gonna be his POV ? I’m so excited to hear more of what he thinks and feels (and I want him and foolish to have a proper conversation they deserve it… and Tubbo too ☹️☹️)

Also thank you so much for sharing this passion project and finding the time to write and edit your guys’ work, it’s incredibly inspiring and the work really does payoff. This has to be one of the best fics I’ve probably ever had the pleasure of reading

PAM HELLO THANK YOU SO MUCH QUACKITY REALLY IS SUCH A GUY ISN'T HE. his perspective is SO fun to write, there are so many layers to the issues he has and one thing that's especially interesting is just how much they fly under the radar compared to wilbur's. for rather obvious reasons - wilbur's are a lot more obvious and a lot more immediate, so there's a LOT that's flying under the radar in favour of helping him - but the fact still remains. fundy is... yeah, we'll be seeing more from fundy and gaining more insight into his perspective in the coming chapter. and YES this idea of people not knowing who wilbur really is, the fact that WILBUR HAD THOSE SAME THOUGHTS ABOUT HOW PEOPLE SEE HIM!! i don't mean to ring my own bell so hard but man. these lil guys. grabbing them and squashing them like taffy. AND YES!! next chapter IS quackity pov, as are the following... three or four, depending on how we end up splitting them. we're actually gonna get a look at wilbur being conscious from a pov other than his own for the first time since... chapter 2 (or actually chapter 7, but i’m pretty sure wilbur didn’t even speak there, so), i'm pretty sure!! so there's that to look forward to. quackity pov beloved.

THANK YOU FOR READING THIS PASSION PROJECT!! rf essentially boils down to just venetapsi and i looking for an excuse to write a truly incomprehensible amount of words about these characters, we write with such a barebones idea of where the fic is going to go (and for the first 200-300k words, we wrote with ABSOLUTELY NO idea where the fic was going to go, so we've progressed since then) and it's so crazy to see just how many people are on board with our brainrot. i'm so glad you're liking it :]. and thank you so much for this ask, it was an absolute joy to receive!!

#I spent so long writing this response i’m gonna b late to work now 💀#a hundred red flags too late #ask #unbrandedpam

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thewritetofreespeech · 3 years

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I don't know if you've done this before :( but could you maybe write about the Obey me brothers after an argument with MC?? Like a fight make up kind of situation??

400 years later.....

Well, maybe not that long, but certainly long enough. I'm sorry >.<. Hope this doesn't put you off on sending other things because I did like doing this one!

Obey me Brothers + MC After a Fight

Lucifer

It was late into the evening when you heard the knock at your door. Before you could ask who it was, you heard the even timber of Lucifer’s voice behind the door. “[Y/N], it’s me. May I come in?” There was a long pause than usual between his introduction and question, seeming to debate asking, or your response, before he asked it.

To be honest, he had a right to be cautious because you weren’t sure what your answer would be before you opened your mouth. “Yes. Come in.”

The heavy door opened and Lucifer stepped in. Prim and as well stationed as ever, but the confidence normally in his face diminished just the slightest. “I…came to apologize.” The words seem to want to drag out of his throat. Like it’s the hardest thing he’s ever had to say. Not the best start for an apology.

“You didn’t have to treat me that way.” You tell him. Telling you like a child in front of everyone. Getting your hand smacked for something you didn’t even do. No coming to give some lack luster, dutiful apology he doesn’t mean. “And don’t say your sorry if you’re not.”

“I am sorry.” Lucifer insisted, before he took a deep breath and tried to relax. “You’re right. I shouldn’t have embarrassed you like that in front of everyone. I was upset, and took it out on you. Sometimes you’re an easy target because I know you’ll care for me no matter what I do. We always hurt most the ones we love.” Your cheeks tint at the comment. Damn him and his suave words.

The demon makes the effort to cross the threshold and take your hands. “Please know that I am truly sorry for my behavior. I will strive to never make you feel foolish, or less than, again. My mission in life now is to show you how much more than I find you over everyone else.”

You roll your eyes a little at the comment. “Let’s not get carried away. You’re starting to sound like Asmo.”

You giggle when Lucifer gave a forced, disgusted shutter. He then lifted your hands to his lips and gave them a kiss. “Am I forgiven?” He asked.

“I suppose.” Annoyingly, he was right. You would always care for, and love him, so it was hard to stay mad at him for long.

“Good,” he said, with his usual prideful smile, “I’m glad. I do plan to still make it up to you though. So make no plans for Saturday.”

“Will do.” You agreed. Giving him a tiny salute. He then left to let you finish getting ready for bed. Ideas of how he’d ‘make it up to you’ swirling in your head.

Mammon

There was a sharp rap at your door that rung out clear in your room over your headphones. You were curious who was here at this hour, but got up to go answer the door before the tried again.

You open the door and are immediately confronted with a bundle of flowers being shoved in your face. Almost to the point of the blooms bursting against your cheeks. You stagger, at the afront of color, and the bouquet is pulled back slightly to reveal Mammon behind them. “I…bought you these flowers. To say I’m sorry.” The more he talked the more his voice trailed off. His normally confidence draining like the color from his face.

“Isn’t it rather cliché to buy someone flowers to apologize?”

Mammon flinched at your criticism. “I didn’t know what else to do. If you don’t like them I’ll buy you something else. Anything you want! Just please…talk to me.” Please forgive me, was what he was really saying.

You look at the demon for a moment. His defeated stance not fitting into his character at all. Ironic, since the fight was about Mammon being too full of himself. Confidence was one thing, but ever now and then it was too much, and when you tried to talk to him about it he turned on you. He had immediately regretted it, but you refused to talk to him for several days after to cool off.

Apparently, that was the worse punishment he could think of.

“You don’t need to buy me anything Mammon. I’ve already forgiven you.”

“Really??” He asked. Seeming unsure of what he’d heard or that he could trust you.

“Really.” You repeat, and immediate find yourself in his arms. Your flowers falling to the floor as he hugged you.

“Thank you [Y/N]! I’ll never do anything stupid like that again! I promise!”

“Well now, let’s not make promises we can’t keep.” You tease. Patting his back. “We all make mistakes Mammon. I’ll be angry with you sometimes, but I generally forgive you. How can I stay mad at my ‘First Man’ for long?” His hold on you tightened a little. It lingered for a moment longer before he let you go.

“Yeah. Right. Don’t you forget it.”

Levi

You were getting ready to head downstairs when there was a knock at your door. It was a surprise, since you were going down to meet everyone. So who was up here now? You open the door and find everyone’s favorite otaku, out of his hole and in front of your door, staring at you.

“Y-Y-You…You weren’t answering my texts.” Levi finally got out.

“That should have been a hint.” You tell him. Perhaps a bit more curt than need be.

The bluenette straightened in alarm before his shoulder slumped again. “I know. I’m sorry! But I couldn’t stand the thought of you being mad at me! I know I can get a little…-“crazy?” You interjected –“excited about my games and stuff, but I really didn’t mean to snap at you!”

The two of you had been playing some new quest game that was all the rage apparently on the deep otaku net. Supposedly it was unbeatable. No one had actually ever seen the final boss ending yet. Which of course meant Levi was determined to be the first. Confident that his eons of experience wouldn’t lead him astray.

Sadly, the legends of the unbeatable game were true. And after hour after hour of crushing defeat Levi snapped and took it out on you. He’s locked himself in his room after. Ashamed, and upset that he hurt you; if his texts were anything to go off of.

“I threw the game away and I’ll never play it again. I promise! I’ll never go all rage beast mode on you again as long as I live! Just please forgive me and talk to me again!”

“Oh Levi, it’s not that serious.” You insist as you reach out your hand to his clasped ones in front of you. Reassuring him. “We all get a little crazy when things don’t go our way. I forgive you. In the future lets try to play games that are a little less….taxing on our relationship, if we can manage.”

“R-R-R! Relationship!” Levi stammered. Turning bright red in front of you, which made you giggle. You lean in to give him a kiss on the cheek. Really frying his circuits. Maybe it was a little bit out of you missing Levi when you were fighting. And maybe it was also his ‘punishment’ for the fight as well.

Satan

Tucking into your homework for the evening, you look up from your desk when there was a knock at the door. It was sharp, to the point. You immediately knew who it was, and debated not answering. However, that would be rude and a level of pettiness not even you could manage.

“Hello Satan,” you greet when you open the door. Correct in guessing who was there. “How can I help you?”

The blonde seemed wounded by your formality, usually such a champion of manners. But he was a clever man and knew you were doing it to put some distance between you. “I came to apologize.”

“As you should.” Ok. Maybe you were a little pettier than you like to admit.

“You’re right, and I should have been here sooner. I was just….embarrassed.” Satan ran his fingers through his hair. “He just makes me so angry sometimes! Being so high and mighty. Bossing us around. I try to keep it under control but….I can’t.” Given he is the Avatar of Wrath, it’s a wonder he made any effort to keep his rage in check. Everyone says he was getting better though. Even his relationship with Lucifer was getting better; even with this spat. “It pains me more than I can tell you to know that I upset you in the process. Turning on you like that like an idiot when you were only trying to help. It was so stupid.”

“It wasn’t very like you.” You admit, and Satan gave a single, bitter scoff.

“Maybe not now. Maybe with you.” Cautiously he reached out his hand to take yours in a gentle hold. “But I am sorry. Please know that I’ll strive to not let my anger get the better of me again.”

“I’m sure you will.” You said. Squeezing his hand back. “And, I forgive you. I should know by now not to get involved with any of your fights. But I care about you all so much.”

“But you care about me most, yes?” He asked with a soft smile. To which you giggle and kiss his cheek.

“Yes. I care for you most.”

Asmo

It was late afternoon when you heard the knock at your door. Typically, everyone was off doing their own activities at this hour, so it was a surprise to have someone looking for you. You open the door cheerfully at first, but then frowned. “Oh. Hello Asmo.”

“Hello [Y/N]-kun.” Asmo greeted brightly, but you could tell it was forced. “I…wanted to come see you. To apologize. For acting so ugly earlier.”

It’s not often that Asmo lost his temper. He usually left that to his silly, older brothers. Rising above in dignified beauty, as he liked to put it. But every now and then it got the best of him, and his tongue was sharper than any knife in the draw when he got that way.

“What you said really hurt Asmo.”

“I know,” he admitted frowning. “I haven’t been able to sleep all night thinking about it. Look at these bags!” You frown as he pointed to his under eyes, and he realized he was being selfish again. “I’m sorry I said such awful things the other day. I don’t have an excuse or fix for it. Except to say that I’m sorry, and I hope you forgive me.”

You let out a soft sigh at his words. He did seem sincere. It was a little odd to see Asmo so down. “Alright, I forgive you.” The demon immediately perked up with his usual smile and took your hands in his.

“Thank you [Y/N]! Let me take you out shopping, as a further apology. I’ll buy you anything you like!”

“So we’ve resorted to bribery now?” Asmo giggled at your joke and you nod. “I’ll right. I guess it wouldn’t hurt to get out. Anything I want?” Asmo nodded and made some suggestions on what you could spend his money on as you walked. Inevitably ending up on lingerie, which earned him a smack.

Beel

You had just gotten back from class when you heard the knock at the door. It startled you. You had only just gotten back a moment ago, so what remarkably good timing.

You finish taking off your uniform jacket before you open the door. Startled, yet again, to find Beel behind it. “Beel?”

“Hi [Y/N].”

An awkward silence filled the space, one that hadn’t been there since you first arrived in the Devildom, before you spoke. “I uh…was going to change. I just got back from class.”

“I know. I waited for you to come back.” The red head confessed. Nervously scratching the back of his head. “I wanted…to talk. I wanted to apologize.”

“You don’t have anything to apologize for.” You reply. Now nervously scratching the back of your head as well. “If anything I should apologize.”

Beel was so sweet and kind. But sometimes, his ‘space cadet ways’ over anything that didn’t involve food or fitness was very hard to deal with. He’d forgotten you were supposed to meet, yet again, so when he showed up an hour late for your date yesterday you had given him an ear full. He’d been hurt, but took it. Now you just felt bad, like you had kicked a puppy, with it over.

“But I should have remembered. It’s not fair that I forgot when we were supposed to meet. Again.” He looked upset with himself and fidgeted with his hands. “I really am sorry I forgot. I don’t want you to think you’re not important or anything. I’m just dumb.”

“You’re not dumb!” You scold Beel. Not accepting him putting himself down like that. “Can’t we just agree that we’re both at fault. You should have remembered, but I shouldn’t have yelled at you either. Can’t we just….make up? I hate fighting with you.”

Beel smiled softly and leaned forward to give you a hug. “I hate fighting too. I think I’ll be ok if we both take blame. That seems fair.” He let you go and stepped back. Seeming back to his usual, easy going self already. “Do you want to do a make up date? If you’re free. I can take you to Madam Scream’s or we can go get Fire Iceies.”

You giggle and nod. “Sure. That would be wonderful.”

Belphie

It was so late at night when you heard the knock at your door that, initially, you thought you dreamt it.

Hearing it again, you woke up and threw on your robe over your pjs to go answer the door. Groggy, and a little concerned as to who could be here at this hour. Something must be wrong.

“Belphie?” You question in a whisper. “What are you doing here?”

“I came to see you.” He said. Remarkably less groggy than you were for a change. “I had to see you.”

“In the middle of the night?” You question. Getting more alert and annoyed at being woken up by him.

“Yes. I couldn’t sleep. Imagine that.” His fingers twirl at his long bangs while he looked down at the floor. “I came to apologize.”

“Apologize?” You repeat. Shocked, more than anything, that he was here to apologize. Not that he did deserve an apology to you, you just didn’t think he’d do it.

“Yes. To apologize. Can we make up now?”

“That’s it??” You remark after his ‘apology’. “You say you’re sorry like that and I’m just supposed to forgive you?”

“Yes. That’s how apologies work.”

“No it isn’t!” You snap. Louder than you wanted to with the late hour. You set your teeth and wheeze through them. You don’t want to start another fight. “You apologize because you feel bad about something and want to make it up to the person. It has to be sincere.”

“I am being sincere.” Belphie insisted. “This is sincere as I get.”

“Well it certainly doesn’t feel like it.” You reply. Crossing your arms.

It was Belphie’s turn to sigh at you. “Look. I’m not like Asmo or the others who are great with words. I came to apologize, and that’s it. I was wrong and I wanted to say I’m sorry. That’s the best I can do.”

“Why do you even want to say your sorry? If you don’t sound like you mean it.”

“Because I hate you being angry with me.” You blink in surprise at Belphie’s confession, and he sighed again. “I hate it. I hate not talking to you. I don’t care what anyone else thinks of me, but if you hate me, I can’t stand it. So, I came to apologize. To do anything so you wouldn’t hate me anymore.”

You uncross your arms and scrunch your lips a little bit. “That’s a better apology.” He looked back up at you with a questioning look. Seeming surprised that he had ‘done good’. “And, I don’t hate you. Just because I’m angry with you, for good reason, doesn’t mean I hate you. I could never hate you.”

The demon smiled softly. His expression tired, but hopeful. “Thanks [Y/N].”

“Now, we need to get back to bed. It is the middle of the night after all. And we have school.”

“Ok.” Belphie agreed. Then stepped into your room and made way to your bed.

“In your own room mister!”

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frombeyondtheblackhole · 3 years

Text

Hermit DSMP Swap AU: Part 9

Foolish flinched. Qackity’s shouting stopped abruptly. It was warmer (Las Nevadas was surprisingly cold). Foolish slowly opened his eyes. An open grave stood at his feet. His heart jumped into his throat and he stumbled backwards, falling on his back. He stared dumbfounded as a bee flew out from the grave and landed on his knee for a moment before flying away. Quackity was nowhere to be seen.

His breathing slowed and he looked around. He was in a graveyard next to a church. Was he dead? Was this limbo? What had happened? He wasn’t supposed to die… but he had died before. But if he had died just now he still should have had his third life, he should have respawned… maybe he had. Maybe he was still alive… That made more sense. No, wait, he still had all of his stuff, if he had died his inventory should have been empty… Foolish held his head in his hands and stared at the ground.

“You ok there, friend?”

Foolish’s head snapped up. A man with neon green hair stood on the other side of the stone wall surrounding the graveyard. Foolish quickly picked himself up and brushed himself off. “Yeah, I’m fine, I’m fine… um- this may seem like an odd question, but, am I dead?”

The man laughed, “I don’t know, are you? I mean, I assume you're not dead, cause I’m not dead, unless you’re un-dead, if you know what I mean.”

Foolish let out a deep breath he didn’t know he had been holding. “Alright, I’m alive, i'm not dead,” He muttered, staring at the sky.

“You sure you’re fine?” The man asked again, putting air quotes around the ‘fine’. “Cause, you don’t seem fine…”

Foolish shook his head “No, really, don’t worry about me, I was just a bit disoriented, that’s all.”

The man pursed his lips and raised a brow “You asked me if you were dead… not if you had died. Which means you knew there was a chance you might get stuck in a respawn glitch. Have you been messing with server magic?”

“You make that sound like a bad thing.” Foolish scowled and crossed his arms looking down at the man. He wasn’t in his twenty-three foot form but even in this form he stood almost a foot taller than the other man.

The man shook his head “It’s not necessarily a bad thing, just dangerous. I mean, I would be a bit of a hypocrite if I condemned people for messing with server magic.”

Foolish didn’t look impressed. “It’s only dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing.”

“I mean, I guess.” The man said rubbing the back of his neck as he contemplated Foolish’s words “But no one is stupid enough to mess around long enough to get the practice...” He trailed off as he looked up to see Foolish looking at him with an incredulous look, “Oh.”

Foolish finally relented and his expression softened, “Maybe you're right, I mean, my name is Foolish after all,”

The man chuckled, “Maybe we're both a bit crazy. I’m Joe, Joe Hills. Nice to meet you,” He said, climbing over the low stone wall and reaching out his hand. Foolish smiled and shook it. Joe had a firm grip.

“So you said you have experience with server magic, what can you do?” Foolish asked as the two of them walked out of the graveyard and over to the church. This church was much nicer than church prime. As a builder Foolish could appreciate the detail put into the architecture.

Joe shrugged as he sat down on the steps and leaned back on his elbows looking up at the sky, “I can see better in the dark If I want to. Honestly, I don’t really mess with it much anymore.”

“Why not?” Foolish asked, leaning against the wall.

Joe shrugged but Foolish noticed his grip tighten into a ball. “It wasn’t worth it. A friend of mine got hurt and almost didn’t respawn. Actually, she should be around here somewhere, I wonder where she went?”

---

Cleo stood on a concrete road getting yelled at by an angry man with a scar through his left eye and a blue beanie.

“Who the fuck are you? What the fuck did you do to Foolish? Where is Foolish.”

“Aaa, Foolish is a Zombie!” another man wearing glasses and green suspenders yelled.

Cleo staggered backwards and summoned a sword from her inventory, “Who am I, what about who are you?”

“You better tell me, right fucking now, what the hell you did to Foolish or I’ll-”

“You’ll do what? Don’t try me, I’ll put this sword through your skull I will,” Cleo bluffed.

The man with the scar summoned an axe. “Charlie, go get Purpled, tell him we have an intruder in Las Nevadas.”

The man in green, presumably Charlie, looked at him perplexed “But, Quackity from Las Nevadas, why are we attacking Zombie Foolish?”

“Damn it Charlie, Just get Purpl-”

Cleo didn’t let him finish. A yell ripped from her lungs as she charged him, sword swinging. Quackity startled and blocked with the shaft of his axe. He shoved her off and she staggered back. Cleo dug her heels in swinging the sword like a club. There was a burst of pain, or more like cold (Pain felt different ever since the undeath) as his axe cut into her shoulder. But he was bleeding too. His axe returned to his inventory as he clutched his arm and staggered back. Cleo gripped her sword tighter, breathing hard, her eyes locked on him.

She felt the impact and another burst of cold as an arrow hit her in the chest. Her head snapped up, there was a kid in purple firing arrows from a crossbow as he ran towards them. He was wearing full netheriet.

Cleo turned and ran.

“Stop her, she fucking did something to Foolish!” Quackity shouted. She didn’t stop running as arrows landed about her feet. Down the road through a tunnel and past a stone fortress. Cleo scrambled off the road, over a hill. She could hear them still behind her. Dodging through the hills she was able to shake them by looping back around behind them as they continued on.

Once they were gone she slowed down. She touched a hand to her shoulder. It was throbbing with a dull ache and it felt cold, a deep cold like ice in her veins. She looked down. The arrow was still in her chest. She needed to do something about that.

She was back at the fortress. Cleo slid down the hill, climbing behind the wall and slumped against the stone. She gritted her teeth and pulled the arrow from her chest with a grunt, dropping it in the grass. A golden apple appeared in her hand and she took a bite, the juice tingling in her mouth as the regen and absorption began to take effect.

The throbbing eased a little and the wounds began to close. She looked up and froze. An enderman stared back at her with mismatched eyes. No wait, not an enderman, at least not quite. Half of his face was white.

“Hey Tubbo, I think I found out what Quackity was shouting about.” The half-enderman kid called over his shoulder.

Cleo staggered to her feet, her sword out. “I won't hesitate to-”

The half-enderman backed up and raised his empty hands “Oh no, we're not with Quackity,” He explained.

Cleo scowled but lowered her sword. “Well isn’t that lovely, someone who doesn’t want to stab me.”

He looked alarmed, “Oh, I wouldn’t do that- I mean, I definitely don’t want to do that.” Now that she got a better look at him he looked kind of young, he was tall but in the lanky teenager kind of way. He looked to be 18 or 19, maybe 17. His suit probably made him look older.

“Oh hey, so what was Big Q so mad about?” Another kid said as he came around the building. He stopped short when he saw Cleo. “Oh…” He was much shorter than the ender-kid. Two horns curled up out of his brown hair and almost every inch of exposed skin was covered in burn scars. Cleo let her sword return to her inventory.

“Big man, why is there a funny looking zombie in our base?” the goat kid said

Cleo bristled, “I’m still a person, thank you.”

The goat kid looked back at Cleo “Ooooh- oops.”

“Now look what you’ve done, you’ve gone and insulted her.”

“I didn’t meeean to, how was I supposed to know?” The goat kid wined.

The two bickered like a married couple. Cleo coughed “Um- would either of you two be able to explain what is going on,”

“Haven’t got a fucking clue,” The goat kid chirped, a little to cheerfully.

Cleo pursed her lips, “Well, could you at least tell me where I am?”

“Um… The road between Las Nevadas and Spawn. Or do you mean here-here. This is our cookie shop.” The ender-kid explained.

Cleo blinked.

“I think she means the server big man,” The goat kid said, “This is the Dream SMP.”

Cleo blinked again. So not Hermitcraft. Shit.

---

The goat kid introduced himself as Tubbo and the ender-kid as Ranboo. Cleo explained what had happened, which made Tubbo laugh. It turned out that the cookie outpost and Las Nevadas were in conflict and Tubbo liked the idea of doing something that would, in his words “Piss off Big Q.”

Cleo tried to return to Hermitcraft but was met with an error message. Tubbo and Ranboo offered to let her stay in Snowchester till she figured things out. They had no idea how she got there but they didn’t seem too concerned about it.

Snowchester was surprisingly far away from what the kids were calling a cookie shop. To Cleo it looked suspiciously like a military outpost but who was she to judge?

Snowchester was a quaint little walled in town, overlooked by a massive mansion worthy of any Hermitcraft base. There was a tower, docs, and a little wheat field mixed in with little log and stone houses. The air was crisp and cold, light snow fell around them landing on her hair and bare arms. Untouched snow coated the steps to most of the houses and closely shuttered windows looked back at her. The ocean lapped against the shore and the sound of a boat bumping against the pier carried up through the town. A single seagull landed on a stone wall. It looked at Cleo and cawed.

Ranboo and Tubbo lead Cleo around a strangely industrial building on a hill in the middle of the town with “Danger, keep out” signs on the doors.

“So what’s in there,” Cleo asked, nodding towards the industrial building.

Ranboo raised his brows and looked at Tubbo. Tubbo pursed his lips “Oh nothing much, that’s just where we do equipment testing. You’re not allowed in there,” he added. There was finality to his tone. Cleo wondered what he was hiding and if it was worth snooping around to find out, but there was a dark conviction in the way that the kid with too many scars said it. The way the ender-kid hovered at his side anxiously watching everything. Maybe she should be careful not to make more enemies.

They lead her to a little house behind the industrial building. “This used to be Foolish’s but he moved out so you can stay here for now,” Tubbo explained opening the door and letting them inside.

“Foolish… the guy who Quackity thinks I kidnaped? You’re giving me his house?” Cleo scoffed looking around. A square table and chairs stood off to one side, a counter with a furnace and cabinets lined the back wall and a cactus in a pot sat by the front door.

“Well, it’s not really his house anymore, he hasn’t lived here for months,” Tubbo shrugged.

Cleo sighed, “So long as he won’t mind. Goodness this whole situation is a mess.”

Ranboo gave her a sympathetic smile.

“Welp,” Tubbo clapped his hands. “We’ll let you get settled in. Just don’t go snooping around in people’s homes, we are pretty private people here.”

“Yeah, don’t worry about it,” Cleo said absently, still looking around the room.

Tubbo and Ranboo left, closing the door behind them.

There was a silence and then Cleo jumped at the sound of someone drinking milk. She spun around summoning her sword, freezing as the invisibility melted away to reveal Etho standing in the corner.

“Finally, I thought they were never going to leave,” Etho muttered.

“Etho! What are you doing here?” Cleo bristled.

Etho looked sheepishly off to the side as he rubbed the back of his head. “We’ll, I might have been following you. If you mean here on this server, we don’t really know. Oh yeah, TFC’s here too. We’ve been stuck on this server for about two weeks now. Least, I’ve been, TFC showed up about a week ago.”

“So wait, You're telling me you have been stuck on this server for two weeks?”

Etho nodded “Yup. Come on let's get out of here before they come back. We can talk at my secret base.”

Cleo pulled away “Wait, wait. Why? Why were you sneaking around? Why are we avoiding those kids? I would like a good reason before I turn down their hospitality.”

“This server isn’t what it seems to be. It’s seriously glitched out. Haven’t you noticed how many scars everyone has here, how many hybrids there are.”

Now that Cleo thought about it, even the ender-kid, Ranboo, had scars that looked like tears running down his face. Scars only happened when there was a glitch during respawn so they were pretty rare, the fact that three of the five people she had seen so far had obvious scars was concerning, especially with how bad the scars on that Tubbo kid were. On top of that, Quackity looked like he might be some kind of bird hybrid, with small golden wings, while Tubbo was a goat and Cleo had no idea what Ranboo really was. Hybrids were the result of pretty strong server glitches, and from what Etho was saying those guys weren’t the only ones.

“So the server is glitchy, that doesn't make them bad people,”

“There are places on this server that have been blown up all the way down to bedrock. Those kids who seemed so nice, they have nukes in that building right outside. There is a prison that everyone here is terrified of, seemingly for good reason. The Warden that guards it almost killed me while chasing me and TFC away, and said something about hunting us down and killing us till we were completely dead.”

Cleo blanched “Completely dead… like, they have a way of reliably preventing respawning here.” She remembered what it felt like being stuck in the void unable to respawn. For Joe it had only been a couple of minutes, for her it had felt like hours.

“I don’t know,” Etho shrugged. “I just think it would be best if we all kept a low profile till we can find a way out of here.”

“I… I trust you, Etho. But I don’t want to leave without letting those kids know that I won’t be staying here. They seem like nice kids, I’d rather not just disappear on them.”

Etho hesitated, then nodded “Alright, Just be careful, and take this,” He said handing her two invis pots. “You can find me in the sewers under their shopping district, there is a community center in the middle of a lake, the entrance to the tunnels is underneath it.”

Cleo took the potions and smiled reassuringly, “Don’t worry, I got this. I’ll be fiiine.”

“Ok,” Etho nodded and pulled his facemask down. He drank an invis potion before leaving the building.

Cleo sighed. Perma-death hum, would that even work on her? Seeing as she already kinda died before. She didn’t want to have to find out.

#hermitcraft dsmp swap au #dsmp #dream smp #hermitcraft #dsmp au #dream smp au #hermitcraft au #hc x dsmp au #foolish gamers #joe hills #zombie cleo #quackity #tubbo #ranboo #charlie slimecicle #purpled #etho #tfc #warden sam

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not-me-simping-for-blasty · 3 years

Text

Wrong Number, Asshole - A Bakugou Katsuki Soulmate AU

All Parts

Part 24:

You groaned, rolling over to grab your dinging phone off the nightstand.

Rubbing at your eyes, you sat up against your headboard, breathing deeply. As it turns out, a highly emotional day like the one you had yesterday could really tire a person out. It was so tiring in fact that you had collapsed almost the second you fell into bed last night. You had been pretty much dead to the world since.

Opening your phone, you nearly rolled your eyes at the text waiting for you.

You scoffed. He sure was petulant today, wasn’t he?

He began typing again, but deleted his words.

Now, you were a little nervous. You weren’t being clingy- right? Sure, you really wanted nothing more than to see him again, and sort of felt that maybe you were entitled to that considering he was your soulmate, but maybe the feeling wasn’t mutual?

Who were you kidding, he might have texted you but that didn’t mean he liked you as much as you liked him. This was Bakugou after all, and even if he somehow did, he’d rather chew his own leg off than admit it.

You read through the texts again, hoping and praying that you didn’t sound too desperate. It was another few minutes before he responded again. With an answer that really did absolutely nothing to quell your fears.

You blinked owlishly at his reply, before sending him a quick “okay”.

Bakugou always seemed to know when you were overthinking things- and, on one hand, it was annoying because he never understood that him and his dismissive words were the cause, but, on the other hand, it was nice. To finally feel understood for once. And to finally talk to someone who’s responses, when he tried, were intentionally made so blunt that you couldn’t possibly misunderstand them.

Sighing, you pulled your tired body out of bed and headed for the shower. Apparently your plans, which had originally consisted of being lazy the entire afternoon, were suddenly changing. Not that you were complaining though.

--/--

Stepping out of the cab, you noticed the crowd once again swarming the front of the hospital. The horde of people almost seemed to be moving as one mass, pushing and pulsing against the security guards standing at the entrance. There were a lot of people covered in Dynamite merch and face paint, even little kids dressed up like Bakugou and feigning explosions as they played.

It seemed that Bakugou’s heroic deed had put him back in the public’s favor and now they all had gathered in a show of support- and while you could appreciate that as a symbol of community, you selfishly sort of wished they’d leave so visiting him would be less of a spectacle.

You realized suddenly that more of this was definitely going to be in your future; the crowds of screaming people and adoring, over-excited fans. Your soulmate was a pro-hero after all, and quite possibly the loudest man you’d ever met- you should’ve known a quiet life wasn’t going to be an option.

As it stood now, you had almost no idea how you were going to make it through the massive throng of bodies- and, even if you did somehow push to the front, how you were going to convince the guards to let you through at that point.

“Excuse me!” A young girl suddenly grabbed your arm, tiny fingers clasping around your wrist. “Do you know how to get in! I need to get in!”

You were blindsided, stopped in your tracks and held down by the girl. She was young, but not much younger than you- if you had to guess, she was 17 or 18, with bright eyes and a strong grip that surprised you. This, her, was certainly not what you expected out of today.

“I- why do you need to get in so badly?”

“Bakugou!” She exclaims, eyes glazed over starry and adoring. She thrusts out her other wrist, presenting you with a poorly drawn tattoo. “See? I’m his soulmate!”

Your stomach drops, and for a second you nearly believe it- but then you snap out of it, and all you can think about is how strange the situation is. She was young, so obviously young, and so clearly charmed by your soulmate’s hero persona. You thought it was a little funny- if she knew Bakugou like you did, you were almost sure she wouldn’t be as delighted with him.

You weren’t sure how to respond. The immature, prideful part of you wanted to scoff and shake her hands off of you- to tell her just how foolish she looked talking to his actual soulmate. But, then again, you weren’t sure you could say anything about that at all. In all the research you’d done on him, you hadn’t seen a single mention of a soulmate- he never talked about it, never let anyone see even a hint of your name tattooed on him. Maybe he wanted to hide it for the sake of his career? Or, worse, was embarrassed of it?

“H-his soulmate, huh?” You stutter out, unsurely.

“Yep! So that’s why I need to get in there so bad! To make sure he’s okay!” She rambles. “So, will you help me get in?”

“Y/n! Y/n L/n!” You hear a familiar voice yell, and when you look towards the sound, all you see is a flash of red hair and hands waving emphatically.

Kirishima. Thank god.

“I’ve gotta go.” You shake the girl’s hand off, slightly jostling her with the force. “I’m so sorry!”

You hardly recognize the disappointed look in her eyes before your arm is grabbed once again- but this time by a security guard as he leads you to the front. The guard deposits you at the entrance, just a few feet from where Kirishima is waiting for you.

“Sorry about that.” The red-head chuckles nervously, opening the door up for you. “I uh- I woulda said something earlier, but I couldn’t see you to point out for a guard. It’s totally my bad!”

“No, it’s good, you’re good.” You reassure him, following him as he leads you to the stairwell from yesterday. “Thanks for saving me. I was pretty overwhelmed.”

“Yeah. It can get pretty crazy out there- not as crazy as Bakugou, though! You shoulda totally seen him screamin’ and yelling at the window when you walked up. He was super pissed.”

“Sounds like him.” You can’t help but smile. “Doesn’t surprise me at all.”

“Yeah.” Kirishima nods. “Who was that girl- you know her?”

Your silence and the uneasy expression that rolls across your face must give it away- he almost immediately pales.

“Oh! Yeah- sorry, none of my business, right?” Kirishima turns to face you, stopping at the step above you for a moment and throwing out placating hands. “It’s totally cool, don’t feel obligated or anything, I was just curious! Sorry for prying though, that wasn’t manly of me at all.”

You almost couldn’t believe Kirishima was such close friends with Bakugou- he seemed like the total opposite of your soulmate.

“No! It’s fine- I wasn’t offended or anything. Just,” You paused, looking at you feet as they climbed higher. “She wanted me to help her get in. To Bakugou. Said she was his soulmate.”

Kirishima turns around again, his feet nearly catching on the step as his mouth drops open. “She said that? To you! That’s insane!”

“Yep.” You nod, slightly breathless and you finally reached the fourth floor. You let out a small chuckle as you continued down the hallway. “She was young though- definitely a fan, so I didn’t say anything. I didn’t really want to crush her dreams in front of all of those people.”

“Man, that’s good. She’d probably be super upset, right? Good job!” He throws you an enthusiastic thumbs up, all shark teeth and bright eyes. “Still though- I shoulda guessed it was somethin’ crazy like that. You looked totally freaked out back there!”

“Did I really?”

“Mhm,” He nods, finally stopping in front of Bakugou’s door. “I- uh, I better stay out here. He’ll be real mad if I let anyone else through. Especially if you’re in there.”

“Oh. Yeah. Okay.” You push the handle open, turning back for just a moment. “Nice to see you, though. Thanks again for the save, Kirishima!”

When you enter the room, you’re surprised to find Bakugou, grumpy and sitting in a chair next to the window. And not in his hospital bed resting- where you’re almost 100% sure he should be. He’s clad in a weird combination of hospital pants and his own sweatshirt- it only serves to make him look even more petulant as he sits with his pinched expression.

“You seemed real buddy-buddy with Shitty Hair.” He grumbles, but there’s a smile beginning to tug at his lips as you near. “You think he’s better than me or some shit?”

“Oh- yeah. Loads. Loads better actually.” You joke, taking the vacant seat next to him. When you turn to look at him, he’s already glaring at you. “Oh calm down, grumpy, I was joking. Box dye and bandanas aren’t really my thing.”

Bakugou laughs. “He’s been pullin’ that shit since high school. Kinda losin’ all hope he’ll ever be cool.”

“Hey- don’t be mean! Maybe he’s just an extra-late bloomer, you never know.” You sigh, fixing him with a serious stare. “Now, though, we should really move onto more pressing matters.”

“Which are?”

“You in one of these chairs, and not in a hospital bed!” You near shrieked. “Which- by the way, I looked it up- four stories is 40 feet! You fell 40 fuckin’ feet and you’re not in a hospital bed, right now!”

Bakugou just rolls his eyes, fixing his gaze on the window once more. “Stop your freakin’ out already, woman, I’ll be fine. I’m already healed from all the big injuries anyway- so just shut the fuck up about it already.”

“The big injuries- what about the small ones? Bakugou! 40 feet! Do you know how much that is! I feel like you’re not taking this seriously enough!”

“Who cares.” He shrugs, settling into his seat with a slight wince. “Didn’t fuckin’ kill me, so who cares.”

“Me! You idiot! How many times do have to make this clear to you!”

Bakugou just looks at you, eyes widening as he breath catches. He looks genuinely and plainly shocked- easily the most expressive you’d seen him be aside from rolling in pure anger.

“I already told you, you fuckin’ asshole, that I like you and care about you! So of course I’m happy that you’re not dead, but that doesn’t mean I don’t care about the small stuff!” You emphasized, sighing as you run an errant hand through your hair. “And I can see you’re still fucking hurt, so of course I’m going to freak out when you’re not in a hospital bed- like you should be, and you’re not sitting there resting- like you should be! Who the hell even helped you up? Why the fuck would they ev-”

“Shut up already. I get it.” He mumbles, and when you look at him his cheeks are bright red and he’s biting his knuckle. His eyes are alive though- bright and simmering and so very, very red. “I got up myself. Don’t go blamin’ anyone else for it.”

“God. Of fucking course you did! You know- you make yourself really hard to care for, right?”

“I know.”

“And it’s just like- I do it anyway, you know! And get shit-all nothing but anxiety and still choose to do it anyway! You’re so fucking frustrating!”

“I know.”

You turn to look at him, but he’s already looking at you, something soft and pleased growing at the edge of his lips.

“No! Don’t just sit there and start smiling.” You huff, pointing an emphatic finger at his stupid smiling face. “I’m mad at you and you need to go back to bed so don’t just fuckin’ smile at me!”

“I get it.”

“No, obviously, you dont! Because you’re not getting up! So, c’mon,” You stand from your chair, offering a hand. “Let me help you.”

Bakugou just looks at your hand, glares at it, and stands by himself. You can see the strain plainly on his face- how the action winds him and how it sends pain shooting through his battered body. When you look at his eyes though, all you can see is resolute stubbornness. With great effort, and even greater determination, Bakugou manages to hobble over to the wall, dropping against it. His shoulders hit first, and then he’s rolling all of his weight back onto them.

You were stunned- not that he chose to do it, because of course he chose to, but mostly that he’d succeeded. You’d seen a clip of his fall, it was playing on the news before you’d left your house, and it looked nasty. When he hit the ground, all of his limbs were so mangled and impact alone knocked him out clean. The injuries he still had, broken bones and cracked ribs, at the very least, must’ve still been causing him great pain- and yet he surpassed those with sheer force of will alone. It would’ve impressed you; if seeing him in so much pain didn’t make you so sad.

“That didn’t look comfortable. I really think you need crutches, angry man.” You point to the bed. “Or you could just go lay back down, like you’re supposed to, and we could forget this whole argument.”

“No thanks. Done bein’ fucking fussed over. The only reason I haven’t left yet is because there’s people everywhere.”

“And because you’re not supposed to, remember?”

“No. It’s good now. Nurse said I could.” He says, groaning when you stare back at him entirely unimpressed. He points to a bundle of papers and medication on the bed. “Look, gave me all the discharge instructions and everything. I’m not fucking lying.”

You walk over, flipping quickly through the packet of instructions. Bakugou wasn’t lying- he really was approved for discharge apparently, albeit under very specific instructions for not over-exerting himself. Which he was obviously doing so great at so far.

Sighing, you folded the papers and placed them in the bag with all of his medicine. Regardless of what he wanted, you were going to make sure he took care of himself. And that included, taking all of the medication and performing the physical therapy outlined on the papers.

“Alright, then. Guess we’re going, after all.” You clap your hands together in finality, before grabbing the bag of medication. “I still think you need crutches though.”

You look him up and down, eyes zeroing in on the way he was huddled against the wall. All his weight was in his shoulders, and in any other situation, you might’ve thought it was an effortlessly cool pose- but not here. Not in this hospital room with him dressed in weird clinical sweats and a childish expression.

“I’m not getting crutches. Lame as shit.”

“Are you kidding me? Your body is literally beat to hell- who cares about how cool you look right now?”

Bakugou just nods toward the window, and you peer down to see the crowd from earlier still gathered below. It seemed like cameras and reporters had also joined, and they were making a worrying amount of headway to the door, pushing against security impatiently. It looked entirely overwhelming, if you were honest.

“If I leave with crutches,” He starts. “Then I gotta hear about that shit for fuckin’ weeks.”

“Are you serious?” You ask appalled. “You’re obviously injured! What the hell are they even gonna s-“

Bakugou just hits you with a pointed stare, and it stops you in your tracks.

He’s right. Any weakness- even crutches when injured- would read bad for his career. It would shatter the illusion people had of him. Of his infallibility and limitless strength.

“It’ll draw too much fuckin’ attention,” He elaborates, pulling the hood over his head. “No shitty sweatshirt could help me then.”

“Wait, that’s your disguise for sneaking out? A sweatshirt?”

Bakugou just nods, suddenly pulling the hood up and over his head. It flattens his wild hair against his forehead, and you nearly squeal. He looks adorable- although still very much like himself. You weren’t so sure this disguise would cut it, but you were pretty much out of other options. It would have to make do.

“Yeah. Okay. I get it, put the hood back down.” You pause, trying your hardest to think of another solution. “How about a wheelchair?”

Bakugou just looks even more offended- like your last request was a front to his very dignity. Hell, knowing him as you did, you figured it probably was.

“Yeah, fine, I get it, angry man- no wheelchair.” You sigh. “At least let me help you then? I mean, it looks like you need something at least.”

“No. I fuckin’ don’t.” He refuses hotly, shifting his weight agitatedly against the wall. “I’m fine.”

You roll your eyes, you should’ve expected him to be difficult about this. It seemed that appearing weak was his greatest fear; you thought that was a little ironic- that his biggest weakness was weakness itself.

“Seriously- please. You look like you’re about to keel over where you stand, Bakugou!”

“I told you not to fuckin’ call me that, anymore.” He retorts angrily, but you watch him wince when he moves too much. “And I told you, I’m fine. So just shut the hell up about it already.”

You watch him for another moment, taking careful stock of the way he leans back on his shoulders and curls his arms around his sides. You didn’t ask him specifically- but you’re sure now, Bakugou’s at least got broken ribs- among many other broken and sprained things probably.

Fine, if he won’t readily accept your help, than you’ll just have to goad him into admitting his own failure.

“Hmm, sure, then step away from the wall then, hot shot.”

He’s quiet, but you watch as his eyebrows pinch and his cheeks redden.

“Why? Stop bein’ fuckin’ weird! I’m just standing for a second, leave me the hell alone, shitty woman.”

You just shake your head. It almost disgusts you how much rolling fondness smothers what should’ve definitely been annoyance.

“So, you’re telling me,” You start, walking a little closer to him. “That if you stepped away from this wall right now- that you wouldn’t immediately fold in half like a lawn chair?”

“No!”

“Okay. So do it then, pop rocks. C’mon. Let’s see.”

“I’m- I’m not just gonna fuckin’ do something just because you goddamn told me too!”

“Not even if it’s a challenge?” You tease, nearing him even more. You’re just a few measly feet away now, staring defiantly up at petulant red eyes. “Because it is- a challenge. I bet you that you can’t do it.”

“Fuck you.” He grits out, but then he’s pushing off his shoulders and standing straight. “See? That’ll teach ya to run your stupid mouth about shit you don’t know dick about.”

“Hmm, good words, Katsuki- expressive, even. We’ll see how long you last.”

He doesn’t say anything, but you can see his jaw clenched down; his shoulder’s strung tightly, the slight twitch in his calves. Katsuki isn’t going to stay upright for much longer.

You move before you even recognize it, sidling up to him and ducking under his arm.

“What are you- Stop! Get the hell away!” He barks harshly, but stands in place, not really doing much other than flushing violently. “It’s- I don’t need your fuckin’ help!”

“No, Katsuki, chill out- stop,” You laugh, rearranging his heavy arm over your shoulder. “If we’re doing this then I’m going to help you!”

“Lemme go! I’ll fuckin’ crush you, I don’t need your help!”

“Okay, yes, fine, maybe you don’t need it, but it would make me feel a whole lot better if you accepted it,” You huff, your hand wrapped tight around his wrist. “And you won’t crush me- I’m a big girl, I promise I’ll be fine. So just stop being stubborn- for me? Please?”

He growls, rolling his eyes to the ceiling- but then he’s shuffling closer to you and shaking his head. If you thought his arm was heavy before, you were sorely mistaken- when Katsuki finally surrenders, the solid weight of all his muscles nearly takes you out. You stumble for a moment before regaining your balance.

“Idiot. Thought you said you could handle it?” Katsuki looks down at you, smirking slightly before once again rolling his eyes. “Now, c’mon, fuckin’ get on with it, sunshine.”

You resist the sudden slight urge to nudge his ribs, or let him collapse to the ground- this was your idea, and you wouldn’t let your child of a soulmate talk you out of helping him.

“So, I was thinking-“ You begin to shuffle with him, slightly breathless. “We sneak out the back. Or something. There’s a crowd outside.”

“Already established that, several times, fuckin’ ages ago, dipshit- and of fuckin’ course there is. It’s me.”

“Oh my god, this is not the time for your ego!” You groan, but still keep a steady pace as you begin, towards the door. “Speaking of, though, one of your fangirls told me somethin’ real interesting on the way in, though.”

“Christ. What?”

“Apparently, she’s your soul mate.” You laugh, shallowly, trying to project a confidence you couldn’t feel. “C’mon, Katsuki, you should’ve told me! Total dick move that I had to find out from her!”

He scoffs, patting your shoulder with the hand strung across it. “You fuckin’ tell her off or somethin’?”

“Nope. I told her that I think you guys would make a really cute couple!”

“Are you fuckin’ serious?”

“No- of course not.” You say stopping in front of the door for a quick break. You suddenly weren’t sure whether you could really do this or not. “I didn’t say much of anything, really, didn’t know if I could.”

“Hah?” He looks down at you funny, red eyes squinting. “Fuck’s that mean?”

“You know, your career? Didn’t wanna say anything just in case.”

“Incase’a what?”

“I- I don’t know,” You stutter, suddenly feeling insecure. You focus your eyes on the tiles beneath your feet so you don’t have to look at his eyes. Eyes that you can feel boring into the side of your head. “Just in case, you know?”

“No. I fuckin’ don’t.” He says, mild irritation coloring his voice from above you. “Stop thinking so goddamn much, I can’t fuckin’ keep up- just tell me what you’re all worked up over.”

“It’s-“ You sigh, ringing your hands together anxiously. “You’re- you’re not embarrassed, right? Because, I know I shouldn’t have done this but I was looking you up again, and I just- I didn’t see anything about you having a soulmate? Anywhere? Ever? Do you just not want people to know or- because that’s totally fine, you know, like I get it, you’ve got this super big career outside of me and I’m totally fine if you just wanna like not say anything to anyone or lik-“

“Idiot. Stop thinking so much.” Bakugou tilts his head towards the ceiling. “I’m not fuckin’ embarrassed of you.”

“T-then why?” You ask hesitantly, while staring at your feet. You’re not sure if it’s the jarring movement as he rearranges his weight or your racing heart, but either way you’re feeling sick. “Actually- you know what, it’s fine, forget I even said anything. It’s fine. I’m fine.”

Bakugou doesn’t say anything, just nods and stays silent. Then he looks down at you, at the way you won’t meet his eyes, and he groans.

“Fuckin- fine. God, you always make me say the most embarrassing shit.” He gripes, flushing slightly as you finally look up at him. “It’s not because of any of that stupid shit. It’s- I fuckin’, ugh, I didn’t want somebody else findin’ you or whatever before I did.”

“What? Find me? Who?”

“God, you’re fuckin’ dense.” He scoffs, but when you look up he’s still smiling lazily down at you. “People. Media. Fuckin’ villians probably too.”

“Holy shit.”

“Chill out. I kept fuckin’ quiet so you don’t gotta worry about that now. Besides-“ He turns his head away, cheeks flushing slightly. “I’d blast all those fuckin’ weaklings to hell if they tried anything now. So don’t get all anxious about it or whatever.”

You just look down at your feet, smiling at his words but still feeling unsure nonetheless. You understood- for sure, but that didn’t mean the weight of all these consequences was easy to bear.

“Now can we go? Are we done worryin’ about stupid shit?” He asks lightly, jostling you slightly. “Got more important things to do.”

You nod, opening the door just to watch Kirishima stumble backwards.

“Oi- shitty hair! What’re you leanin’ against my door like that for?”

“Oh! Hey guys!” He greets cheerfully, before taking stock of the situation. He tilts his head. “You guys leaving?”

“Obviously.” Bakugou scoffs, but then he’s leaning in toward his friend, dropping his other hand heavy on the red-head’s shoulder. “Need ya to distract anyone who walks up here though. Gonna leave the other way and go out the fuckin’ back.”

“Oh- yeah, okay! Got it, man! You sure you should be leaving though?”

“That’s what I said.” You interrupt, glaring Bakugou into silence as he tries to speak. “But he insisted- and I’ve got all his meds and instructions so I think we’ll be alright. Maybe. If we’re lucky.”

“Don’t just fuckin’ talk about me like I’m not standin’ right here, shitty woman!”

“I wouldn’t have to if you weren’t so difficult all the time!” You retorted. “Now, you can handle it from here, right Kirishima? We really could use your help.”

“Yep! Totally got this! You guys go on ahead, I’ll stand guard right here!” He flashes a bright smile at you, before pointing down the hall. “There’s a staff elevator just down there. You should use that- it’ll probably be way faster. Good luck!”

You just nod, smiling brightly at him as you pull Bakugou in that direction.

“Oi- not so fuckin’ fast!” He shouts, stumbling slightly.

“Keep your voice down, angry man! Everyone’s gonna know it’s you!”

“How the fuck is my voice gonna give it away?” He says, while simultaneously screaming like a banshee in the middle of an otherwise quiet hallway.

“Like that! So keep it down, good fucking lord.” You grumble, a breath of relief leaving your mouth as you finally near the elevator. You push the button, sighing as the doors open.

Bakugou shuffles away from you, leaning against the back wall and staring moodily at you as you press the button. The elevator surges downward, and after a minute or so the doors began to open again. You shouldered his arm once more looking up to see him pulling the hood of the sweatshirt farther down his face. He looked adorable and you couldn’t keep yourself from staring.

“Oi- fuck you lookin’ at, woman?”

“Nothing.” You laughed. “Now, c’mon, we’ve still got a ways to go.”

Sneaking Bakugou out was no easy affair to begin with, and he certainly didn’t help whatsoever. His frame was just too large and too heavy, and there was no possible way he could be quiet, especially considering his thundering steps, even when he wasn’t screaming. He seemed to attract attention no matter where he was or what he was doing. People were starting to stare as you booked it towards the back exit- you needed to move. And quick.

“Jesus christ,” You huffed, breathless and slightly irritated. You point at his stomach as you pull him along. “I know you’re hurt, but could you at least try and engage those core muscles you so obviously have?”

“You said you’d be fuckin’ fine, sunshine.”

“God, you’re difficult.” You shook your head, rolling your eyes at the sight of his amused little half-smile. “You think this is funny don’t you?”

Bakugou doesn’t say anything, but when you look up at him, there’s still that small smile edging at his lips. He seems to hold it, even through his grunts of obvious pain.

“Wow, of course you do. Immature, angry, loud man.”

“Who says I’m fuckin’ loud?” He asks hotly, pulling his shoulders in as you both shimmy through the, admittedly, small back door. “I’m not fucking loud!”

“God, you’re screaming right now! Do you even hear yourself?” You wince, but feel relieved as you help him hobble to the curb. “How’s a taxi sound, pop rocks?”

“Don’t fuckin’ call me that. I hate it. Don’t do it again.” He grumbles. “But it’s fine- whatever, I don’t care.”

“Great.”

You raise your hand up, nearly crying in relief when a taxi rolls up to the curb. When you help Bakugou in, and slide in the seat next to him, you’re almost overcome with satisfaction. Sneaking him out was one of the most difficult tasks you thought you’d ever taken on- both physically and mentally, and god, were you glad it was over.

--/--

As it turns out, explosive personalities don’t always lend themselves to explosive environments.

Bakugou’s apartment was clean, tidy, nearly spotless when you helped him walk in. It surprised you, truly, but he didn’t let you sit on that thought for long. He brushed you off, hobbling slowly down a long hallway without a word. It takes a few minutes, but Bakugou enters the room at the end and slams the door shut behind him.

Oh- What exactly were you supposed to do now?

In reality your fingers were itching to open drawers and rifle through cabinets, and just generally snoop but you, of course, knew better. So you instead chose to read through the instruction papers and medications once more- just to busy yourself and maybe see if there was anyway you could help him. Since, apparently, Bakugou was not keen on asking you for assistance himself.

You hear the door open again, and Bakugou comes unsteadily down the hallway, nearly collapsing when he reaches his couch. He’s dressed in new sweats, and he turns to look at you.

“Fuck you doin’ over there?”

“Meds, angry man.” You say, doling out the few necessary pills from a bottle. “Where’s your glasses?”

“You don’t have to fuckin’ do that.”

“What- you’re gonna force yourself to get up again?” You ask him, unimpressed. “You’re hurt, so just please let me help you. At least with this.”

He nods tightly, mouth pressed into a thin line. “Glasses are in the cabinet behind ya.”

You nod, filling a glass of water for him and walking the medication over. Watching as he took it, you weren’t exactly sure what to do now. So you just sort of hovered next to the couch, arms around your stomach anxiously.

“What’re you doing- sit the fuck down already, idiot.” He pats the seat next to him. “Stop being weird. Freaks me the hell out.”

“Yeah. Sorry.” You laughed. “Just didn’t wanna assume- in case you wanted me to leave or something.”

“Wouldn’t have let you in if I wanted you to leave. Dumbass.” He reaches over, flicking your forehead lightly. “Your stupid thoughts are clogging up the air. Stop it.”

“Hey!” You whine, rubbing at your forehead. “Not nice, angry man! I’ll let it go this time, but try it again and I promise you’ll really be hurting.”

“Mhm. I’m sure.”

He settles further into the couch, throwing his head back and closing his eyes. The mid-day sun floods through the window, hitting the column of his throat, and casting him in gold. You think he’s beautiful then. Far more beautiful than anyone else you’d ever known.

“Yeah, sorry.” You breathe out, suddenly a little nervous by your close proximity to him. “Think those’ll probably make you a little sleepy.”

“Fuckin’ stellar.”

“Don’t sound so grumpy- it’s just a nap. And besides, you should probably be taking one anyway.”

“It’s not that.” He peeks an eye open, lazily rolling his head to catch your gaze. “You hungry?”

“No- I’m good. Are you?” You ask suddenly. “I can totally get you something? Or make you something? What do you have here? What do you want?”

“Jesus, sunshine. Slow the fuck down.” He breathes, turning his head back to the ceiling with a small, fond, smile. He sighs sleepily. “I’m good. Just wanted to ask ya.”

“Yeah. Okay.”

He mumbles something, but you don’t quite catch onto it. It’s quiet for a few moments, before his breathing is starting to slow. Your surprised at just how tired he seems to be, but then again, he was taking some pretty strong pain meds. As it stands now, he seemed minutes from falling asleep, and you were worried about the strain he was putting on his neck.

“Hey- you shouldn’t fall asleep like that.” You touch his shoulder lightly, fingers just barely brushing the fabric of his shirt. “Lay down, I’ll get up.”

Bakugou just opens his eyes, only glancing at you for a moment before he closes them again. Then he’s tipping over, a flurry of heavy limbs and awkward weight hitting your lap. When you look down at him, his eyes are squeezed tightly closed and he’s blushing wildly. He kicks his feet up off the floor, and settles in, quickly becoming deadweight across your thighs.

“O-oh.” You say, breathless. “Yeah. Okay.”

“Mhm. Now shut the fuck up, I’m tryin’ to sleep.”

“Yeah.”

You’re winded, short of breath and flushing bright red from his actions; but still, you find you absolutely can’t help yourself. So, with shaking breaths, you’re carding fingers through his hair before you can think better of it.

When you look down at him, Bakugou’s only gone brighter red, but he’s smiling too. He stills, before suddenly peaking one eye open.

“Wake me up for dinner, alright, idiot?”

You nod and then he’s closing his eyes again, chest rising and falling slowly. He’s asleep and dead to the world in just a few minutes, but you can’t stop staring.

You knew you liked him- liked him a lot, as a person, not just a soulmate. You liked his weird brand of humor and his insults and death threats. You liked his masked concern and blunt words, you were even strangely fond of his yelling- but you weren’t prepared for just how much those feelings would amplify when he was so close. He was close, and warm, and breathing under your fingertips and you liked him so much. More than you’d ever liked anything or anyone else in your entire life.

You were stricken, absolutely smitten, and there was nothing you could do about it. Or even wanted to really. So you just stared, eyes tracking his calm features as you worked careful fingers through his soft hair.

You understood now- why so many of your peers had told you they were jealous. Why they had all sighed dreamily when you told them, before immediately wishing to be you. Having a soulmate was inexplicable completeness and undeniable purpose- it was finality and new beginnings all in one.

You understood now, and you wouldn’t trade it for anything.

//-//

ee soz this took so long!! no excuses lmao i just stupidly started playin genshin and holy shIT was that bad for my productivity ahahaha

hope u enjoy my lovelies!!!!

#bnha bakugou #mha bakugou #bakugou katsuki #katsuki bakugou #katsuki bakugo fluff #bakugou soulmate textfic #bakugou soulmate au #mha fic #bnha fic #bakugou imagine #bakugou series

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heyheydidjaknow · 3 years

Text

So you know when you write about the same character that isn't even yours for almost half a year and you think, “Hey, why not expand a little bit and try writing for a different fandom?” and you end up writing for someone you know very little about because you were too impatient to play through all of the source material and you have to pray that it isn’t a blatant bastardization? Yeah, me too. Anyways, here’s this.

‘They’re going to die someday.’

You are next to him, your legs crossed, sat on the ground as you continue a story that now went in one ear and out the other— something about someone causing some trouble for a personal friend of yours. You were grinning from ear to ear as you orate to an invisible audience in front of the two of you, and as you took a sip from your apple cider, the thought struck him with such an unprecedented, dizzying force that, had he not been seated, he would have stumbled from the sheer magnitude of it.

He had, of course, been aware of your mortality. It was impossible not to be aware of it, given the type of person you were; you spoke often of your own death, laughing about it more often than prematurely grieving, but more noticeably planning for when you would have to die, hopefully, according to you, either by some dramatic and romantic disease— Phthisis— or in your sleep. The god would have been foolish to believe that you would— or, indeed, could— live as long as he would, but as was with the other citizens of his kingdom, he had simply decided to not think of it, to cross that bridge when you got to it.

But at that moment, as you sat there, simply wiping off the blood from sitting on a particularly sharp rock, hardly caring about such a blatant reminder of your mortality, he can not help but be reminded by just how fragile you are.

“Hey, Y/N?”

You glanced over at him. “Yeah?”

“Who do you think will take care of the funeral arrangements?” He fiddled with the buttons on his sleeves, not quite meeting your gaze. “When you die, I mean.”

You thought for a moment, shrugged. “I guess my family. What about you?”

He rested his head on his knees. “If I had to ask someone to perform the arrangement,” he admitted, “I’d probably ask you.”

“Yeah?” You grinned. “I don’t know you held me in such high esteem, Venti.”

“Yeah, well,” he smiled weakly, “it’s not like I have anyone else to ask.”

You pushed him playfully. “Rude.” He heard you rest your head on one of the rocks.”If I die before you, I’ll send you an invite to my funeral.”

“Promise?”

You hummed in confirmation.

The silence that fell between you two was unusually heavy.

“Why do you ask?”

He leaned back, joining you at your side. “I don’t know,” he sighed. “Just been thinking about it more recently.” A rueful chuckle bubbled up his throat. “I’ve probably spent too much time around you.”

“Probably,” you agree, crossing your legs as you stare up at the stars. “But, hey? It gives you things to write about.”

He smiled at that. You are not wrong, he supposed, but a bit out of the know. He was not a stranger to writing songs about grief. It had just been a while since the sting of it was as fresh as it was now, and like a picked scab, he struggled to keep his quiet dread from spilling over. “I guess so.”

“But you know “ you shuffle closer to him, “if you’re finally going to join the Painfully-Aware-Of-Your-Own-Mortality club, you can’t let it get you too down. You’ll drive yourself crazy if you do.”

“Wisdom coming from you?” He reached down, taking your hand gently in his, thumb on your pulse.

“I know,” you grinned, “terrifying.” The stars swam in your eyes, and you shivered in the cold night air. “Almost as bad an omen as you getting introspective all of a sudden.”

“Is it?”

You closed your eyes. “Yeah,” you yawned. “It’s creepy. Like how right before the inciting incident of a book, the characters talk about death and then one of them dies.”

“Or when right before the climax,” he offered, “right before the battle’s won, one of them dies?”

“There you go.” A smile graced your lips, features highlighted by the moonlight. “You get it.”

His fingers squeezed your hand a second. “It’s lucky we aren’t in a book, then.”

“You don’t know.” Your eyes drifted open a second, closed again. “I heard that some people think that—“ you yawned again— “that we’re all living for someone else’s amusement. It’s a whole thing.”

“Do they?” He rolled over on top of you, resting his head on your chest with his ear pressed against your heart. It thumped so assuredly, unflinchingly, and the impossibility of it stopping made his chest feel hollow.

You nodded. “And they say that, if that’s true,” your other arm wrapped around them, “then it’s a whole deterministic thing, right? Because writers care about how they write stories, so everything’s set up, if you believe in that sort of thing.”

He closed his eyes softly. “I’m not sure how I feel about that. Someone controlling all my actions, I mean.”

“Well,” you sighed, body relaxing against the earth, “you don’t have to believe in it. Isn’t that your whole shtick, not having to do things?”

“It is, but that doesn’t mean I have control over that.”

Your fingers gently played with his hair. “Venti,” you declare, “we don’t have any control over anything ever. We fight an endless stream of uphill battles based on a hollow belief that the grass will be greener on the other side, and when it turns out that it always is, we feel bad about it.” You squeeze his hand back. “We struggle against our bodies to live long enough to do even the most basic of tasks. It’s all we can do not to keel over.”

He laughed dryly and your boisterous delivery. “You are very optimistic.”

“But,” you continue, ignoring his comment, “that’s what makes life so valuable; it’s so hard to live at all that even being able to talk to you is worth more than almost any gem or vision or whatever thing you want to compare it to.”

“Almost?”

“I will kill a man for good hash browns.” Your chest shook with quiet laughter. “But you get what I’m saying.”

He thought for a moment, nodded. “I think so.” He smiled again, more comfortable now. “You are acting very wise tonight, Y/N.”

“Hey,” you protested, “I’m totally wise! Just not most of the time.”

“A broken clock is right twice a day.”

“Don’t push me, little man.” You looked down at him, pressing your hand against his face. “I can and will push you off.”

He wrapped his arms around your waist tightly. “I’m stronger than I look.”

The rest of the night was a pleasant one. There was a lot of quiet laughter about this and that, huddling in each other's warmth. You had to leave him after a while. You offered to walk him home, but he had insisted on staying out a bit longer. “Go on,” he waved you off, smiling after you. “I’ll be there before morning, I promise.” He would be.

His hand stretched out towards the stars, fingers flexing every once and a while as he examined it for the umpteenth time. It was not a foreign object anymore; when he was younger, he had taken a while to get used to the idea that he was attached to it, for his head to wrap around the fact that it was not his. It had taken him a while to get used to that idea, too, that he was gone forever. As an immortal being, that part of humanity was always hard to accept. There were ways, he supposed, that he could keep you from dying. If other beings like himself had become gods, it was certainly possible for you to join him.

But he could not honestly say that he wanted that for you. Immortality was undeniably terrible. It was a long, unending sludge of an existence, being unable to relate to the bare minimum in regards to humanity. He could write thousands of songs, sing a thousand more, but he would never quite understand those he cared about. It was unfair to even consider it. Still… the idea of seeing you, skin pale, cool, eyes wide and glassy and blood dripping—

He shut his eyes, screwed them shut. Even if you had to die, you would not do it like that. You would die quietly, he knew, in bed. There was no reason you would have gotten involved in anything that gruesome.

It was like you had said. He just needed to hold onto you as long as you would allow. Before you slipped through his fingers, he needed to appreciate you as you were

Venti could only hope that you had enough time for him to remember you by.

List of Works

#genshin venti #genshin impact venti #venti x reader #venti the bard #venti x you #I understand that I am not at all qualified to write this #but he is very pretty #and i do not care #possible ooc #fanfic #oneshots #because I clearly understand my audience #x reader #y/n #who’s going to stop me?#who wants to live forever?#certainly not him #immortality #angst?

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psychdelia · 3 years

Text

max showed up on his doorstep with blotchy red cheeks and puffy wet eyes, board discarded on his lawn as she pounded on the door with her free hand, holding a shoebox in the other.

“okay, okay!” steve called out as he rushed downstairs. “i’m coming! jeez.” he huffed as he opened the door, ready to bark out a what, shithead? because who else would show up to his place and pound on his door for a minute straight?

except his mouth snaps shut when he sees her shivering in the winter cold and cheeks still damp. it’s been about 4 months since billy died and he hadn’t seen max in this state for a couple months now. he thought things were getting better.

maybe not.

“max.” he frowned. “what’s wrong? what happened? are you okay? are you hurt?” he asked, the panic in his tone increasing with each question.

she just shoved the box into his hands, giving him a determined look. so similar to billy’s. too similar.

“i found this in his room.” he can hear the suppressed tremble in her voice as she fights the urge to cry again. “i never gave it you because i thought maybe,” she frowns, looking down. “maybe he-“ she lets out a shaky breath. “but he never came back so it’s yours now.”

then a switch is flipped and she’s suddenly glaring up at him, yet another expression too similar to billy’s.

“you can’t tell anyone.” she clenches her shaking fists. “if you tell anyone what you find in there i swear to god steve i’ll hurt you.” her upper lip is twitching into a snarl and steve is genuinely scared of this little fiery teenager.

“jesus, max,” he sighs. “first of all, you two are way too goddamn similar for not being blood related.” he ruffles her hair with a free hand. “second of all, you can’t just tell me what’s in here?”

“no.” she shakes her head as she bats his hand away. “just,” she plays with the hem of her jacket nervously. “just keep an open mind.” she frowns. “we’re not from here. things are... different back home.” her shoulders sag a little and he can tell she misses home. misses life before hawkins. “promise you won’t tell anyone?” she looks back up at him.

he frowns as he stares at the box in his hand before nodding. “promise.”

“good.” she nods. she rubs harshly at her face with her sleeve before turning away to walk to the lawn.

“you need a ride?” he calls as she grabs her board. chuckles when she rolls her eyes, tosses back an i can get myself around, steve. then a quick thanks, though. see you around. then she’s taking off.

steve practically sprints up to his room after that. sets this mystery converse box down in front of him on the bed as he sits, unsure of what to expect. maybe porn mags? weed stash? who knows.

so, naturally, he dumps it all out on the bed. stares at the pile of magazines, books, seashells, pictures, papers. the first thing he grabs are the magazines, expecting to see a half naked chick on the cover. he freezes when he finds a half naked man instead, clad in leather.

drummer. drummer. drummer. all of these are the same magazines, different issues with different men. he wonders if they’re targeted towards women, but then he’s opening them up and finding men... with other men. figures maybe hargrove had been holding onto them for someone else because there’s no way in hell these are his. no, no, no. that boy was straight as hell. loved to show off a different girl hanging off his arm every week, made shows of flirting with both girls and women.

but then he’s grabbing a polaroid dated 1983 and it’s billy with shorter hair and fuller cheeks kissing another boy with a big smile and lovesick dopey look on his face.

holy shit. this can’t be real. billy hargrove wasn’t gay. he couldn’t be. he was the womanizer, ladykiller, heartbreaker of hawkins. he loved women and they loved him 10 times more. none of this makes sense.

he grabs the journal next, the leather on the cover worn and threadbare. the first entry is dated from 1983 and the last just a couple weeks before starcourt. right before he got possessed.

steve sets the journal aside, opts to look at the other pictures and items billy had stashed away before he reads about the last three years of the guy’s life. there are a couple pictures of a blonde woman with striking resemblance to billy, the same saint christopher pendant and thick silver ring billy wore present around her neck and finger. some of them feature billy when he was a baby, toddler, kid. he finds jewelry that seems feminine, womanly. figures they must’ve been his mom’s.

there are also some california souvenirs. he finds seashells and movie, concert tickets that read “san diego” on the top. there are also some books steve remembers he was supposed to have read or heard about in school, but also some more he never heard of.

at the very bottom of the box he finds expired makeup and empty hair product. there’s black and dark blue eyeliner and mascara, baby pink lip gloss. nail polish in black, dark red and a deep purple. in some polaroids, the slight sheen of the gloss and his dark, thick lashes are barely visible, but he still catches it.

steve can’t help but chuckle when he finds some candy wrappers and leftover weed grinds at the bottom of the box alongside the butts of joints and empty cigarette packs. marlboro reds. there’s scrunchies, too. shimmery and purple, probably stolen from max.

once’s he’s finished digging through hargrove’s secret belongings, he leans back and sticks his nose in the journal. it takes him the rest of the day and all night to read it from cover to cover.

the beginning is mostly about missing his mom and hating his father, documenting his abuse. there are a few pages about his crushes and boyfriends, allowing him to figure out that the boy he was kissing in the polaroid is named santiago, but billy calls him santi. once he reaches the end of san diego and beginning of hawkins, billy’s tone and messy scrawl is full of hurt, anger, and melancholy.

and then steve’s name pops up. KING STEVE in all caps, taking up nearly half the page. there are hearts around his name, alongside a big drawing of a dick. below, billy writes about feeling like a foolish schoolboy with some stupid crush on some guy with a huge dick he saw in the showers. steve’s already blushing and it only deepens when he gets to the part about billy wanting to feel said dick in his hand, his mouth, inside of him.

he has to take a break after that. doesn’t realize things only get spicier until he gets back to reading and finds out billy’s jerked off and fingered himself open to the thought of none other than king steve. his eyes immediately flick to the half empty jar of vaseline, finger-shaped holes indenting the jelly.

he spends the rest of the night reading about billy’s remorse and guilt towards him and lucas after that night, how billy still wants to hop on his dick and kiss him stupid, his and max’s relationship and how it’s gotten better even though they still blame each other for the move.

it’s both of their faults, steve realizes. billy missed his curfew for a boy and max had no choice but to lead neil to him.

along the way to the end, a couple pictures of steve fall out of the journal. pictures that steve has no idea how billy acquired. some are from school yearbooks, others just random polaroids that might’ve been taken by tommy or carol or jonathan. when he finally reaches the end, he reads about billy’s pool job and plans fo move back to california for college as soon as he graduates.

i know it’s stupid but i’m gonna miss him. his stupid hair and big brown eyes and pretty face and pink lips. i didn’t know anything about the guy but i wish i could drag him out of this shithole and take him home with me. i still haven’t apologized to him. maybe kidnapping him and showing him the ocean would count. but i can’t fall for a straight boy, no matter how big his cock is. i don’t get to fall for someone i hurt. it’s not fair. none of this is fair.

that’s the very last entry. it’s 1am and steve is wide awake. too awake. before he thinks too hard about what he’s doing, he’s shoving everything back into the box and flooring it to robin’s house. he knocks on her window incessantly until she opens it with a glare and he’s pushing his way inside before she can greet him with a snarl.

“billy hargrove was gay and in love with me and-and and jerked off to me and,,, pretended his fingers were mine and his dad was hurting him and his mom left and he was alone, robin.” he’s rambling, eyes wide as he paces the room with the box in his hands.

“he was s-so hurt and alone and no one paid any attention and now he’s dead because of a monster in some town he got dragged to as punishment for being gay and,” his voice cracks. “he’s gone.” he whispers brokenly as he shoves the box into her hands.

robin is very confused and surprised but all she knows is that her best friend is in distress, so she sets the box down and grabs his hands.

“steve. look at me.” she only continues when he does. “sit down and talk to me. let’s go through everything together, okay? just calm down and breathe.”

by 3am robin’s looked through the box and the majority of the journal - steve dog-eared the important pages and she’s a fast reader - and she’s just as shocked as steve, apparently, if her bewildered expression and silence is anything to go by.

“robin? rob, say something.” he urges. “please. i need you to talk to me.”

“holy shit.” she finally raps. “steve, i’m gonna ask you a question and i don’t want you to freak out, okay?”

he nods.

“do you think you could’ve... reciprocated billy’s feelings?”

he opens his mouth to answer but halts, eyes wide and crazy as he stares at her.

“i-“ he gulps. “maybe?” he croaks out. “i-i think so? maybe yeah. yeah.” he nods.

“so you’re bisexual.”

and that’s throwing him on a whole other whirlwind. steve’s had too much thrown at him for the night and he doesn’t have it in him to deal with a sexuality crisis on top of everything.

but billy’s pretty. so fucking beautiful and steve can’t admit it just yet but he wishes he were still here. he wishes he could travel back in time and reach out to billy and save him from the horrors of hawkins but also kiss and fuck and love him properly but now it’s too late and steve and billy have one thing in common.

they’re both alone. lonely. so much love to give but no one to receive or give back.

“bisexual?” he chokes out.

“you like both. boys and girls. like david bowie. and david bowie’s awesome. you’re kinda awesome too, i guess. for a dingus.” she playfully punches his arm and it makes him feel better for all of 2 seconds until it’s hitting him again that the person who wanted to love him is dead. died right in front of him.

“do you have hot chocolate?” she nods. “with marshmallows?” she nods again. “can i have some?”

he feels like he’s about to faint. completely black out. wonders if he looks pale to robin. he needs something warm and comforting and hot coco will do the trick.

———————————

billy comes back in february. hopper and joyce gathered everyone up in joyce’s living room early february. sat everyone down to announce that hop had gotten... a call. a call from some doctor named owens who hop has a history with, the same doctor who helped will.

owens was nursing billy back to health in some secret lab in indianapolis, hence the funeral with no body. apparently billy was in comatose, then a medically induced coma when his brain woke up but he wasn’t strong enough to just yet. then, when he did wake up, he had to relearn how to eat, write, walk in physical therapy, alongside the heavy emotional therapy.

owens hid billy from the world until he was ready to be exposed to it again. then he called hopper one afternoon and told him to come pick the boy up.

max was angry. screamed and yelled until she was reduced to tears in joyce’s arms. the other kids were shocked and confused. didn’t know if they should be happy or scared. will and el were the only positive ones. nancy and jonathan were mostly shocked and indifferent, numb to these crazy surprises the shithole town throws at them. steve and robin just stared at each other knowingly, a million thoughts racing their minds.

a week later they were all in joyce’s living room again, nervously anticipating hopper and billy’s arrival. everyone looked up when the doorknob began to jerk and the lock turned, their eyes trained on the door as it opened to reveal hopper standing beside billy.

billy. clad in a big hoodie, gray sweats and converse. the same ones that were once in the box steve has hidden under his bed. his hair is long now, flowing freely and curling wildly at the ends, looking so soft with the lack of product. he looked tired, fading blue bags under his eyes. he hadn’t lost his tan, steve noted, and looked a little softer around the stomach and legs. for someone who went through all the shit he did, billy looked good. healthy.

max got to him the second he stepped inside, throwing her arms around his neck and pulling him close. he immediately clung to max, holding her tight and whispering a shaky, wet hey, shitbird, only audible to her, resulting in her wet laugh. the siblings stayed like that for a few moments before pulling away to let billy see and greet everyone.

joyce had demanded they all not coddle billy because it would be suffocating and he probably couldn’t deal with that. except now she was serving and feeding him a million things, coddling him just like any other mother would. billy was hesitant and tense at first, but slowly relaxed, especially when he was given cookies.

sweet tooth, steve distantly remembered. billy has a sweet tooth, if the candy wrappers and lollipop sticks in the box were anything to go by.

everyone takes turns greeting and talking to billy. steve’s last in line to have his quick one-on-one with the guy and by the time they’re face to face, everyone’s sitting together, talking and laughing and eating.

“hey,” steve greets with a small smile. he can feel robin’s eyes on him and not-so-slyly flips her the bird, his eyes trained on billy and only billy. “it’s good to have you back.”

“you know you don’t have to say that, harrington, especially if you don’t mean it.” billy tries to joke but his eyes and smile are sad. “i only died for, like, two minutes. not a big deal.”

“shut up, man.” steve rolls his eyes and chuckles. “i do mean it.” he chews on his bottom lip nervously, doing a quick scan of the room to make sure there are no eyes on them before he looks back to billy.

then he’s reaching out and grabbing billy’s hand. running his thumbs over the scars along his palm and knuckles. he looks up to find billy confused and blushing. he smiles before pulling billy into a tight hug.

“you look good. so good.” steve whispers in his ear, getting a whiff of generic coconut shampoo. he has one arm wrapped tight around billy’s waist, holding him close with their bodies flush. he slides his free hand down and rests it on billy’s ass, barely squeezing. he chuckles when billy jumps a little.

“harrington.” billy chokes out, voice wrecked. “what’s your hand doing on my ass?” steve can feel billy’s lips moving on his neck and it makes him shudder.

“just doing what i should’ve done a while ago.” he sighs, content, just holding billy’s warm, very much alive body close to his.

“if you wanted to get in my pants, pretty boy, all you had to do was ask.” billy flirts with a smirk steve can feel on his neck. then he pauses. “you’re not fucking with me?” he asks, tone serious.

“nuh uh.” steve shakes his head. “actually, uh,” he pulls away just enough to meet billy’s eyes. “max gave me your shoebox.” he watches as billy’s eyes widen and go fiery. “hey, no, don’t get mad at her. it’s not her fault. she didn’t know you were comms back.” steve reasons. “plus, now i know big bad heartbreaker billy hargrove has a crush on little ole me.”

“who says i still do?” billy raises his eyebrows, as if his hands aren’t tightly holding onto steve’s shoulders and he’s not blushing and making heart eyes at the guy.

steve’s not too bright, but he knows when people have a crush on him. he’s always been bright in the language of love. and sex, for that matter, as billy will eventually find out when he inevitably get lovingly and romantically railed and fucked into steve’s mattress later that week.

“just have a feeling.” he shrugs, giving billy’s ass one last squeeze before he rests his hands on his hips with a grin.

#harringrove #billy hargrove #steve harrington #my writing

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desertno3 · 3 years

Text

Violet – Chapter Four (5/7)

When Sean finally meets his daughter, you wonder why you ever left him in the first place.

Sean Wallace x fem!reader Chapter Four: 1991 words

Prologue // Chapter One // Chapter Two // Chapter Three

A/N: Hi! This chapter became longer than I ever planned it to be lol and as a result this series is now going to be seven parts instead of six! Low-key excited about what’s coming up but for now, I hope you enjoy this chapter! 🧡🧡

Taglist: @ysmmsy @prettyinpayne @the-a-word-2214 @peakywitch @danceyreagan @ella1grace03 @whenthe-smokeisinyoureyes

Let me know if you want to be added to the taglist for this series!

You wipe your hands on a tea towel when you hear the front door open, signalling Violet and Sean’s return. You then hear Violet’s footsteps pitter-patter down the hallway, immediately followed by Sean telling her to come back and take her shoes off first. Smiling to yourself, you leave the kitchen and head over to greet them, finding Sean knelt down and helping your daughter out of the aforementioned shoes.

“We’re back mum!” Violet says happily when she sees you.

“Yes, I can see that, love,” You smile before giving her a look. “Vi, you know how to take off your own shoes.”

“It’s fine,” Sean assures you, leaning over to place them neatly off to the side.

He had been visiting frequently ever since you and Vi moved into your new place - an arrangement you both had agreed on not long after everything had been dealt with. He wanted to be an active part of Violet’s life and you were more than willing to let that happen, knowing how much it would mean not only to him but to Violet, too. She still didn’t know the truth about Sean but it was clear she’d grown attached nonetheless, her eyes never failing to light up every time you told her Sean was coming over. Today, she had been particularly excited because he promised he would take her to a park.

“There was a pond at the park, mum!” Violet exclaims excitedly, practically bouncing where she stood. “And we saw so many ducks! And swans. And gooses! One got angry at Sean.”

She’s giggling as she tells you the latter and you look at Sean with an amused expression on your face. Still crouched before your daughter, he glances up to give you a deadpan look as if to say don’t even ask, which makes you snort.

You both miss the way Violet’s gaze flits between the both of you curiously, a happy smile forming on her face. She then throws her arms around Sean, hugging him farewell.

“Bye Sean.”

He sways a little at the force with which she throws herself at him but manages to steady himself, chuckling as he hugs her back.

“So eager to be rid of me, hm?”

Violet pulls away with a sheepish look on her face, “I’m going to watch TV now.”

“Go on then,” He taps her nose. “I’ll see you later.”

She grins at him and then she’s gone, energetically sprinting past you and down the hallway, making a quick beeline for the living room.

“You don’t need to run!” You call out to her but it’s futile, she’d already disappeared into the other room. Behind you, you hear Sean chuckle.

“You’re such a mum,” He teases, getting up onto his feet.

You let out an amused scoff in response, folding your arms across your chest. “Don’t even start, she'll be a little terror if I don’t give her some rules to adhere to.”

Sean smiles fondly, thinking about his little terror of a daughter. While you were mostly joking, Sean knew there was a bit of truth to your statement. It was a task and a half to wrangle Violet sometimes, the headstrong little thing that she was. Unsurprising, Sean thinks amusedly, considering who her parents were.

But as difficult as she could be sometimes, Sean had seen first-hand all the good values you’d managed to instill in her. You’d definitely raised a sweet kid, one who was wonderfully earnest and full of kindness, and he tells you just as much, with a genuine sincerity in his tone that catches you off guard.

“You’ve raised her well, y/n,” He says sincerely, leaving you speechless for a moment. You didn’t expect to hear that from him at all.

“Thanks, Sean. I feel like I’m a terrible mum sometimes,” You confess quietly. “So that’s… that means a lot.”

He smiles and you’re sure your heart skips a beat.

You didn’t want to admit it but you enjoyed Sean's visits just as much as Violet did. The more time you spent around him, the more you found yourself falling for him all over again. You’d forgotten how well the two of you could get along and on top of that, watching him and Violet spend time together made you melt. You had no real inkling as to how he felt about you but moments like these definitely didn’t help your growing feelings.

“Do you want to stay for dinner?”

It comes out of your mouth before you could even think to stop yourself and when you see the surprise and hesitation on his face, you immediately regret asking.

“You don’t have to, obviously,” You assure him, trying to backtrack. “You probably have things to do.”

He winces apologetically, “Yeah, I’m sorry. I’ve got to go back to the office tonight, unfortunately. Take care of some things.”

“That’s fine!” You reply almost too quickly, embarrassed at the fact that you might’ve been too forward by asking him in the first place. “No worries.”

There’s an awkward pause where neither you nor Sean know what to say next and you sigh, feeling like you’d just ruined a perfectly good moment between you two.

“Well I won’t keep you then,” You continue as nonchalantly as you could, hoping he didn’t notice how mortified you were. “I hope you have a good night.”

“Yeah, you too.”

He gives you one last parting smile and you watch as he heads out the door, hating how disappointed and embarrassed you feel after it clicks shut behind him.

You stand there for a moment before letting out an agonised groan and heading back to the kitchen, trying to forget that conversation ever happened.

The rest of your night is filled with your usual routine - dinner, dishes and then giving Violet a bath before bed - but no matter how hard you try, you can't help but keep dwelling on the exchange, ruminating on what it might have meant.

You were starting to feel foolish for thinking that maybe things were changing between you and Sean. That’s what led you to ask him to stay for dinner to begin with, thinking you were both at a place where that could happen without any tension or awkwardness. Maybe you were wrong. Maybe he wouldn’t have stayed even if he didn’t have business to attend to.

You shake your head, trying to stop yourself from going further down that rabbit hole. You were going to drive yourself crazy if you kept thinking about it. The fact of the matter was that you had no idea how Sean felt about you but he was here nonetheless because he cared about Violet. You just had to live with that and forget your feelings.

Easier said than done, you think sourly. When the mere sight of him makes my goddamn heart race.

"Mummy?" Violet asks while you shampoo her hair, bringing you out of your spiral of thoughts.

"Hm?"

"You and Sean should get married."

You nearly choke on the air you breathe. Pausing your actions, you look at her in bewilderment but her eyes are on her hands as she glides them through the soapy water.

“Why do you say that, Vi?” You pry gently.

You wonder if you’d been that obvious with your feelings or if maybe Sean had said something, but she just shrugs like it was simply a passing thought she decided to say out loud.

“Sean and I are friends, darling,” You say to her, though you were starting to wonder if maybe that label was a stretch. “Usually people who get married are dating each other."

Violet makes a contemplative face, “Will you and Sean do that?”

“What, date?”

She nods, leaving you more confused than ever.

“I doubt it, Vi,” You sigh.

I burned that bridge a long time ago.

You massage her scalp gently, lathering up the shampoo as you watch her continue to play with the water, your own mind racing.

“Did you want us to date?” You ask her, still trying to figure out where this was coming from.

She nods again.

“Why?”

Violet looks sheepish now, patting away at the bubbles that surrounded her, and she says shyly, “So then I can have a dad.”

You sit against your headboard with your head in your hands, thinking about everything that had transpired since the late afternoon. Not only were you dealing with your reemerging feelings for Sean - who most likely did not reciprocate them - you were also dealing with a daughter who suggested you marry the man because that was the only way she thought she could get a dad.

Letting out a frustrated groan, you press your head against your forearms. You were acutely aware that you would not be dealing with any of this if you’d never left Sean in the first place. You sit there despairingly for a long while before a persistent buzz from your phone starts to fill the air. Lifting your head, you blink in surprise at the caller ID before answering it.

“Sean?”

“Hi,” His voice comes through the speaker, making your heart involuntarily skip a beat. “Sorry, I know it’s late.”

“It’s fine,” You assure him, shifting the phone to a more comfortable position. “Is everything okay?”

“Everything’s fine, I just… I wanted to apologise again for not being able to stay for dinner. I should have taken you up on it, the meeting I went to instead was the dullest shit imaginable.”

You can’t help the small laugh that bubbles out of your throat at the grouchy tone his voice takes on as he tells you about how dull it was, “Sorry to hear that.”

He hums in response and you could just imagine the amused smirk on his face. “You don’t sound very sorry.”

“Well, I don’t know,” You reply. “Violet spent all of dinner telling me about every animal you saw at the pond today. Not sure if you would prefer a play-by-play of your own day over the meeting.”

“You underestimate how boring the meeting was.”

“No,” You laugh. “I’ll take your word for it.”

There’s a natural lull in the conversation and you know you have to take the opportunity to clear the air, for the sake of your own sanity.

“Sean,” You start, steeling yourself with an inhale. “I hope I didn’t overstep earlier, asking you to stay for dinner.”

“Overstep?”

“I… I worried you might’ve thought it was a bit much. The three of us have never properly spent time all together so I realise that it might have been a big ask and-”

“It was fine, y/n,” He says softly, quelling your worries. “I was surprised you asked but it wasn’t a problem. I would’ve liked it, the three of us together.”

After all that time you’d spent ruminating earlier, the statement is more than you ever expected from him. So much so that you’re rendered speechless, your heart in your throat.

“That’s why I called, actually,” He continues. “I wanted to ask if you and Vi wanted to come over for dinner next weekend. To make up for the fact that I couldn’t tonight.”

You don’t even have to think twice about your answer.

“Yes, of course. We’d love to.”

“Great,” He says and you can hear the smile in his voice. “I’ll see you both then.”

You can’t help but smile in return, “Looking forward to it.”

“Me too. Goodnight y/n.”

“Night, Sean.”

You’re giddy as you place your phone on your bedside table and settle into bed for the night, Sean’s call single-handedly flipping your entire mood. Maybe it was silly to feel that way after just one phone call but you couldn’t help it, not when it came to Sean. Against all your better judgement, you feel a little spark of hope in your chest as you drift off to sleep.

Maybe there was something there after all.

#sean wallace #sean wallace x reader #gangs of london fanfiction #violet series #*writing #gangs of london imagines #sean wallace imagine #sean wallace fanfic

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adamsvanrhijn · 3 years

Note

Thomas’ bad gaydar receipts

-thought Turk guy was gay

-thought jimmy was gay

-didn’t know Richard was gay

Which is (maybe?) weird because ain’t thomas supposed to be good at reading ppl and all that? Idk, it might be the same kind of character inconsistency like where he’s apparently ‘been around’ and is well versed in the kind of seedy bar where he tricks denker but was apparently simultaneously completely unaware of the very existence of gay bars and (possibly?) the gay community itself. Thomas is simultaneously Very Smart and Very Dumb and while I don’t think it’s impossible or unlikely for him to be both(since people in general can be smart in some aspects while being dumb in others, or be smarter on some occasions while more foolish on others), I’m just not entirely sure it always makes logical sense.

Thomas was flirting with Pamuk to find out if he was gay and Pamuk intentionally lead him on with the intent of using him to get access to Mary, i.e. not only was he manipulated into thinking that Pamuk was gay, he was manipulated by Pamuk himself, which IDK about you but I certainly would fall for that.

The entire point of the Jimmy plotline is that he was being manipulated over a period of months to think that Jimmy was both gay and interested in him, and again, he was trying to figure it out on his own!

Neither of the above are bad gaydar anyway because gaydar is about recognizing if a person is gay, not if they're straight, but I do not like the idea that falling for manipulative tactics means he has bad gaydar, like ~any reasonable person in that situation would know better~ like, IDK about you but I think that's just some "If I Were Being Gaslit I Simply Would Not Be" stuff on behalf of the fans saying it

Why should Thomas Know that Richard is gay? Thomas spent a week flirting with Richard and clearly hoped/thought he was on a date with him, what more do people need? It is 1927 and Richard is a diplomatic, charismatic guy in an extremely important high-ranking job who is at Downton for 4.5 days on a business trip. The consequences of making assumptions off of easy conversation and some smiles would be catastrophic. Thomas was pretty clearly hoping he would be gay and getting some vibes that made him think this was worth pursuing, even if he intended to be cautious about it! If anything Richard is an example of him having GOOD gaydar! "But he's so surprised when–" When Richard is like completely chill about smoothtalking Thomas out of literal jail at extensive risk to himself, after Thomas had like, ditched the date-that-seems-to-have-been-a-date and gone off with another man, and now is basically Flirting In Public despite all the reasons he has to want nothing to do with him? Yeah that would shock me too even if I hadn't just had a rollercoaster of a night! If nothing else because of how incredible that is!

Knowing about straight bars doesn't mean you know about gay bars.

We don't even know that he doesn't know about gay bars. The kind of gay bar portrayed in the film did not exist as-is in real life so I don't think we can blame him for not knowing about it, especially when it is Word-of-God established that in-universe it's a pop up thing anyway?

I don't think there is a reason to think he doesn't know about the gay community at all, either? The Chris situation makes it fairly clear he knows about like, cruising and ~Secondary Locations~. He has service friends until S3. What opportunity is he supposed to have to get to know the gay community in S3-S6 when he is spiralling into depression and desperate to keep his job?? Also, he fucks in Manhattan!!

You have actually named my problem with this stuff, which is that there seems to be this whole idea among some fans that Thomas is socially ill-equipped and can't recognize himself in other people, can't respond to interest and engagement, and it diminishes these really complex plotlines down to "bad gaydar" and "oblivious to gay people" like, Thomas is serially abused and taken advantage of (in addition to inflicting harm on others) and dealing with isolation and exclusion and you cannot ignore that when looking at any of this.

And then the notion of everyone bringing up Pamuk, Jimmy and even Courtenay as "gaydar mistakes" and then going "AND he didn't know RICHARD was gay" when actually logically that would be... learning from previous problems and mistakes... and trying to get all the information and form his own opinion this time... which should be a good thing? Like, what do people want from him lol

This is 't @ you lol, it is about a lot of people and a lot of ideas that put a bad taste in my mouth. but thank you for giving me the chance to go crazy about this and Explain My Thoughts

#thomas barrow posting tag

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justimajin · 3 years

Text

The Spontaneous Adoption

Pairing: Seokjin x Reader

Genre: Fluff, Angst (just a little)

Words: 8.6k

Summary: It’s no secret that you’re not particularly fond of children, always maintaining a distance from the little ones and the title of a parent remaining quite non-existential on your checklist. But when a sudden last minute opportunity presents itself and you’re committed to helping out a dear friend, you can only hope that you and your boyfriend are up for the challenge.

Warnings: pg13 rating, stressful times - Y/N and Jin start to go crazy at one point (with some hints of angst)

The apartment is ornate and spacious, an old brown leather couch resting in the far corner and opposite to the newly installed television set. It’s cozy and private, not a speck of dust nor loose hair in sight. A small cup rests on the side of the kitchen counter, brimming with freshly brewed coffee.

The door comes slamming open.

You spin around, pupils dilating and hand protectively hovering over the cup. There’s a woman standing at the door frame, dressed in a white blouse and a pencil skirt, her hand tightly wound around a briefcase and a jacket hanging off of her left elbow. Dark circles outline the outskirts of her orbs, a deep crease settling in between her brows and a fatigued expression masking her delicate features.

Her tense body straightens up and she raises her hands.

“Y/N!”

She immediately lunges for you, briefcase falling to the ground and arms wrapping around your torso. You abandoned the cup of coffee you were anticipating to drink, reciprocating with furrowed brows.

“Yeong Hee?” You lean back, breaking away from the hug, “What are you doing here?”

“Oh, Y/N.” She exhales like she’s just returned after being centuries away. Her hands raise in defense and a look of guilt etches onto her, “I’m so sorry for suddenly barging in like that.”

You nod, waiting for her to continue, “I-I just really wanted to see you‒if you’re not too busy?”

A small knowing smile curls on your lips, “Sit down. I’ll grab you some coffee to drink.”

Yeong Hee eagerly complies, flopping quite ungraciously on your couch as you rummage through your cabinets for an extra cup. She leans her head against the white pillow you just leave there in case of much needed mid-day naps, letting out a relieved sigh that has the corner of your mouth lifting.

Splitting the coffee you made into two cups, you sit down next to her on the couch, slipping a cup in her direction.

“So what brings you here?”

“Oh you know, just wanted to stop by and see how you’ve been doing.” She takes the cup, averting her eyes.

“Huh.” You acknowledge, “I’ve been doing great these days actually, nothing to worry about.”

“Good, good.” She glances around, as if inspecting your place. You raise an eyebrow at that, closely following her line of sight with suspicion.

She immediately whirls around, “You only have one bedroom in here, right?”

“Yeah…?” You ponder, waiting for her to add more details in. She resumes back to quietly sipping down on her coffee, the effects on caffeine seeming to lift her spirits up.

“Yeong Hee?” You cautiously ask. She peers up with intrigued eyes.

“Yes?”

“Did you have a fight with Namjoon recently?”

You straight up just asked it. No beating against the bush, no endless pondering until she reveals it, simply observe and assess the situation, then take your best crack at what’s really going on.

Yeong Hee goes dead silent.

You wonder if you potentially struck a nerve you weren’t supposed to, if the candid question wasn’t what she wanted to hear at the moment. Leaning closer, you bring your cup to your lips, your gaze not flattering away from her.

She instantly beams, surprising you a bit, “No, no! Namjoon has been lovely, Y/N!” A laugh escapes her at the mere suggestion.

“A-As always..…” Her light chuckles die down, gaze falling down to her cup.

“Yeong Hee.” You persist. Although you don’t know all the variables to the equation, you have an inkling that her sudden appearance at your apartment with a disheveled appearance isn’t just a mere coincidence.

You narrow your eyes, blurting out the question without a second thought. “Is it the baby?”

Yeong Hee looks up at you in absolute terror.

That definitely struck a nerve.

Before you can say anything to soothe your previous statement, Yeong Hee bursts out into tears. Her reaction throws you off completely and soon you’re scrambling around, trying to locate a tissue box for her.

“Here.” You hand her a tissue she gratefully accepts, rubbing a hand against her back, “Let it all out, it’s okay.”

“God Y/N, it’s a nightmare!” She wails, “I just don’t know what to do anymore!”

“What happened, Yeong Hee?” You press, needing some clarification.

“The baby, Y/N!” Yeong Hee whimpers, “She just cries so much, and for hours, on end!” Her mind runs astray, countless recollections emerging, “I can’t even remember the last time I got a decent night of rest! On top of that Namjoon just starts researching all these remedies to help out because he’s worried and then I’m worried and then the whole house is worried so the baby cries even more!” Her vision begins to fog with tears, and she covers her face with her hands, “I just can’t take it, Y/N!”

You envelope her in your arms, “Just to let you know, Namjoon does have the tendency to overact.”

She halts her crying to stare at you with wide eyes, “Right?! I tell him to just relax, but he’ll go on about how he’s a bad father because he can't get the baby to sleep when I’m not around!”

“It’s okay, Yeong Hee.” You ease, “This is your first child and it’s never easy taking care of a baby.”

“I know Y/N, I really do.” She confesses, wiping away any excess of water from her flushed face, “But I’ve never felt more stressed out in my life. My job, and then Namjoon, and then the baby,” Shaking her head, you wonder if there was ever a time you’ve seen her look so exhausted, “It’s just too much.”

At the mention of her husband again, you tilt your head, “When’s the last time you and Namjoon went out?”

Yeong Hee glances up in her spot, lost in contemplation.

“Probably during my pregnancy?” She replies as if asking you, “We used to go on small walks together, so I could get more exercise, but since then we’ve just been going to our separate jobs…”

“I would barely consider that a date.” You debate, pressing a finger against your lips. “It doesn’t sound like you guys have been spending that much time with each other.”

“I think you’re right.” Her bottom lip trembles and your eyes widen, “I-I guess this means I’m a bad wife now, too!”

She breaks into sobs and you wince, too high in hopes that she was alright and ready to talk it out. Her sobs become intenser and harsher as seconds fly by and you begin to contemplate if there’s anything you can do other than being a listening ear for her pain.

“What if....” Yeong Hee gazes at you with defeated eyes and you blurt out the words without a second thought, “What if I took care of her for a while?”

She blinks, “What do you mean?”

You sigh internally, wondering how you could be foolish enough to offer up the idea. Shaking that thought away, it seems now you don’t have a choice but to own up to your words.

“What if I took care of her? So that you and Namjoon could get a break and spend some time together, maybe even go on a date?”

Yeong Hee stares at you like you’re an angel that’s been sent down to heaven just for her, “You would do that, Y/N?”

You want to desperately turn back, “O-Of course.”

“That’s….wow, that would mean so much to me Y/N.” Her eyes grow wide, “Do you think you’ll be okay? If it seems too much, you don’t have to.”

You see the immense amount of relief flooding through her features, your sole suggestion bringing an array of hope you think Yeong Hee has desperately needed.

“It’s okay.” You persuade, “I can look after her for a week. You and Namjoon just promise me you’ll go out and worry about yourselves instead of the baby for once.”

Tears begin to well up in Yeong Hee’s eyes, and she launches herself at you, embracing you into a huge hug right away.

“Thank you Y/N! Thank you so much!”

You softly smile, happy that you were able to alleviate her troubles somehow.

Yeong Hee soon leaves after asking if she could cook you dinner one time for your offer, but you refuse and say that you don't want anything in return for this. A handful of thank you’s and gracious hugs on her behalf later, you close the door behind her as she rushes back home.

You spin around, slapping a hand against your stressed temples as a deep groan leaves your lips ‒ because there’s one crucial fact you’ve conveniently decided to leave out from Yeong Hee’s knowledge.

You’ve accepted to take care of her baby for a week, even after being aware of how much you despise kids.

***

You open the door to your apartment.

There’s a dark-haired man leaning against your door frame, his bangs sweeping across his forehead and arms crossed against his broad torso. A small smirk rests on his lips, pouty lips pulled into a sneaky grin that already informs you of what kind of remark he’s aching to spew.

“Did someone order an extra handsome boyfriend to come to their rescue?” He bats the eyelashes of his innocent orbs, his level of confidence instantly spiking up.

“Really?” You ponder, mimicking his innocence. Taking a glance outside of the door and behind him, you turn to him in confusion, “Where is he then?”

A loud scoff leaves Seokjin’s lips and you playfully chuckle, widening the door for him. He follows after you after shutting the door, peering around the place.

“So what was this emergency situation you were telling me about?” He inquires, appearing confused from how normal things seemed to be.

“That is the emergency situation.”

You point to the little bundle resting on your couch, her orbs round and taking in her surroundings with great curiosity. At the mere mention of who exactly is the emergency, Seokjin immediately forgets everything and dashes straight to her.

“A baby?!” He immediately picks her up, cooing strange noises that you assume is normal. However the baby responds within an instant, glancing up at Seokjin with similar wide curious eyes.

A soft smile tugs on your lips, well aware that you called in the right person to assist you with the job.

“Whose is she?” Seokjin asks, spinning around with her in his arms.

“Yeong Hee’s.” You mention, “I’m supposed to take care of her for the week so that her and Namjoon have the chance to relax and spend time together.”

“Does she have a name?”

“Yeona.” You pronounce, the baby immediately fiddling her arms around as if she heard you. The small gesture earns a lop-sided smile from you, but Seokjin turns to you in confusion.

“Wait, you willingly wanted to take care of her baby?”

You sigh, “I know what it sounds like but Yeong Hee seemed so stressed. I don’t think I’ve seen her be completely calm since the wedding.”

Seokjin hums, “I’m completely clueless about babies though, which is why I called you over.”

“Well, there’s not much to them,” He explains, “They just have three basics ‒ eating, sleeping and cleaning.”

You nod, placing a hand underneath your chin. Even though you’ve just revealed to him that you’ll need to take care of her, Jin doesn’t seem stressed nor rattled with the news, which in turn grants you a sense of relief for the abrupt responsibility you’ve taken upon yourself.

“Have you ever done this before?” You wonder, noticing how carefully he holds Yeona.

“Take care of a baby?” You nod, “One time, my older brother actually had a hard time with his first born so I would just check in on his kids every now and then.”

“But that was more looking after them than being responsible for them.” Jin quickly points out from your relieved expression with a nervous smile, “So I’m still clueless on a couple of things.”

“That’s okay, it can be a learning experience.” You offer, heading into the direction of your room. “For now, just keep an eye on her while I go google what babies eat.”

Jin raises his eyebrows, “Yeong Hee didn’t tell you?”

“More like I didn’t ask.” You meekly confess, “I have some bottles of milk in the fridge from her, but she said that they’ve been trying to feed Yeona solid foods.”

He looks as surprised as you, “Babies can eat solid food…?”

You glance over your shoulder at him with a knowing smile, “Right?” Shaking your head at the thought, you start typing in multiple searches into your search bar. You’re instantly bombarded with different types of food and multiple articles referencing different age groups. Your eyes roam around the screen, alarmed with the volume of links.

Jin peers over your shoulder, his and Yeona’s wide eyes sweeping over the screen.

“People really like talking about their kids, don’t they?”

“Apparently because every single kid is different.” You let out a long regretful exhale, grabbing a piece of paper and a pen, “Looks like it’s time I actually do some of my own research.”

***

After spending loads of time trying to determine what is safe for Yeona to eat from the web, you and Jin ultimately decide that your bare fridge and devoid cabinets were probably not the best way to go about this.

Standing in an alley flooding with food, you glance around and spot Jin peering into one of the fridges with the trolley next to him. Yeona is in his arms, clearly distracted with her new surroundings as he gazes around.

Yeona for the most part, is an interesting child. She’s extremely calm and quiet aside from her natural curiosity, giving you hardcore suspicion as to if she was truly her mother’s child. She also clings to Jin non-stop, something you don’t really mind since it grants you some comfort that she’ll constantly be safe.

Walking up behind him, you steal a glance at the cool container, “Yogurt?”

Jin hums, “Didn’t you say she could eat small quantities of it?”

“Sort of.” You shrug, “Yeong Hee told me she’s roughly around nine months old now so maybe we should start off with the basics.” Scanning around the store, you attempt to locate the child friendly sections, “Like baby food and small snacks.”

“Not a bad idea.” He looks down at Yeona with a smile, who glances back at him in fascination, “Are you sure you don’t want to hold her?”

“Hm?” Your eyes fall onto Yeona, watching her curiously peer at you with even more fascination. She appears like any other baby would, with adorable squishy cheeks and hands the size of your one finger. The longer you stare at her, the more you can start to see the resemblance she has with her parents, her smile being on par with Namjoon’s dimpled one and her bright brown eyes reminding you of her mother’s when they perk up with excitement.

Nonetheless, a shiver runs down your back. “Nah….I’m good.”

Jin understandably nods, following you to the shelves aligned with various amounts of baby food. Skimming over the titles, you’re already wincing, pulling out one glass bottle filled with gooey amounts of dark green.

“Pea puree baby food?” You have to repress the urge to gag, “Why would they feed kids this?”

Jin takes the bottle from your hand, placing down Yeona to examine it, “Probably because they least expect it and it’s healthy for them.” He scrunches up his nose and hurriedly hands it back to you, “Still sounds pretty disgusting though.”

He laughs and you shake your head with a small grin. You start plucking out flavours that don’t sound as nearly as unappetizing and start handing them to Jin, who looks them over once before placing them into the cart.

“Okay, I think that should be enough for one week.” You let out a long sigh, overwhelmed with the new information being spewn at you. You’re about to tell Jin that you should look at some snacks for her as well, but your brows intensely contort once you catch sight of the trolley.

“Jin?”

“Yeah?” He’s looking at a pack of some garlic flavoured chips, a pout resting on his lips.

“Where’s the baby?”

His head snaps back at you, surprise emitting in his eyes. Then he spins around, his eyes becoming wider the more he realizes that the little human in the trolley has somehow gone missing.

You and Jin make instant eye contact, realization dipping within a flash before you’re hurriedly breaking apart and scavenging around to locate Yeona.

“She was just here a minute ago?!” You look between the two alleys, only garnering confused glances from nearby strangers.

“I could have sworn I put her in the trolley!” Jin professes, bumping into you halfway. An exhale leaves your lips, a hand running against your tensed temples.

You’ve only been with Yeong Hee’s baby for a day and you’ve already managed to lose her.

Great parenting, Y/N. 10 out of 10.

“Oh no.”

You whirl around at the sound of dismay Jin makes, coming straight into eye contact with Yeona.

On some lady’s leg.

“Oh my god.”

Jin rushes forward immediately, tugging the crawling baby up from the lady who seems at most confused from the sudden child’s appearance. He apologizes profusely to her, but she doesn’t seem to mind and tells him to just be careful next time.

“I had no idea she could crawl!” You whisper loudly to Jin, who is gasping from the earlier sprint he did at the sight of Yeong Hee’s child clinging to a stranger’s limb.

“Me neither.” He’s still panting so you offer up your arms to carry her, but Jin shakes his head.

“Just check out the food we have, so we can go back to your place.” He explains, “I don’t think it’s safe to have her here any longer after discovering how agile she is.”

You nod, a small smile on your lips as you grab your absent trolley. “Now that’s something she definitely shares with her mother.”

Jin sighs, “Let’s just hope she doesn’t share her father’s clumsiness.”

Your eyes widen, and he shares a knowing gaze with you.

***

Heading back to your apartment, you ultimately decide it would be best to take a shot at trying to feed Yeona for the first time. Propping her up onto a chair with a pillow, you grab a small spoon and a bottle of peach baby food.

You suck in a sharp inhale.

“You’re just feeding her Y/N.” Jin remarks in amusement, but the corner of your mouth twitches.

“After that little stunt in the grocery store, I’d better be careful.” Scooping up a mouthful with the spoon, you cautiously press it against her lips.

To your surprise, Yeona gobbles it up right away. You spin around and gawk at Jin, who shares your look of astonishment as she begins to flail her arms around, anticipating for more.

“Well that worked a lot better than I could have imagined.” Jin admits, so you try once again with more this time around. Yeona repeats the same action, her wide eyes following the motion of the spoon that lingers in front of her.

“Yeah…” You whisper surprised, repeating the action again. However this time you flinch when Yeona grabs onto the spoon in your hands, tossing it onto the ground and letting the bright orange splatter all over the ground.

A groan escapes you and you slump down onto the ground defeated, trying to clean up the mess. Jin gestures for you to keep feeding Yeona and that he’ll take care of it, but your next several attempts prove to be utterly futile.

Yeona flings the spoon the second time, but with a loud giggle coming from her lips. She then manages to grasp the bottle from your hands the third time, attempting to lick out the contents and getting them smeared all over her cheeks. When you try to clean up, she grabs onto the spoon you were holding and launches it straight for Jin’s head.

The latter manages to duck in time, but he presses a hand against his heart and stares at the child completely shocked.

“Is she trying to kill me?!”

You snort, but Yeona tries to grab the bottle again and you hurriedly swoop it up before she has the chance.

“I think eating is the last thing on her mind right now.”

“Here.” Jin advances forward, reaching his hands out, “Let me try.”

You hand the bottle to him and take a step back, hoping his actions will help things somehow. Although Yeona avoids the spoon whenever Jin tries to feed her, he manages to get successful by feeding her a large spoonful, something that has a smile of relief etching onto your features.

He subtly coughs over his shoulder and mumbles ‘Leave it all up to the handsome person in the room’. You roll your eyes with a lop-sided smile, expression softening when Yeona finally begins to eat like you had hoped.

It doesn’t last very long.

You’re suddenly back to square one when she starts avoiding the food again, but at this point she doesn’t try to grab it or spill something onto the ground for her own joy. She appears pale, delicate features twisting up and lips forming a pout.

You instantly reach out as Jin continues to try, “Wait Jin‒”

You’re too late.

Yeona opens her mouth and out comes something you wish had managed to stay in. Jin immediately staggers back, luckily not getting caught up in the array of spilled contents all over the ground.

“How did she….!?” Jin whirls around in disbelief, “We didn’t even feed her that much!”

You pinch your brows together, “I think I read something on the net about kids having weaker stomachs. It takes longer for them to digest food on average.”

“But what do we do now? She’s barely eaten!”

“I guess wait it out?” You suggest, suddenly realizing that Jin appears just as stressed out as you. Before you even have the chance to say something comforting, Yeona lets out a small sound.

It’s similar to a grunt, and you swivel to see her bottom lip starting to quiver. Your eyes instantly enlarge and soon there’s water welling up in her eyes, loud cries flooding into every room of your apartment.

“She’s crying?!” You exclaim, not quite understanding that the combination of her sudden regurgitation plus you and Jin being stressed had welcomed an uncomfortable atmosphere for her. The problem with this situation though, is the fact that you and Jin are clueless as ever and scrambling to do something to calm her down.

Jin staggers in front of her chair right away, flailing his arms around and making silly pouty faces at the baby. He manages to capture the young girl’s attention with some of them, drawing out her innate curiosity from her wet eyes with his cute expressions.

You’re baffled by his sudden range of expressions you had no idea he could pull, but then he brings out the iconic ‘peek a boo’ faces and there’s no possible way you can keep down your laughter.

“Hey, it works with my brother’s kid!” Jin protests in retaliation, but Yeona’s interest is broken with his voice and her cries only escalate in volume.

While Jin continues to bombard her with more ludicrous faces, an idea surfaces to your mind and you strut over to your fridge, fishing around for the bottles of milk Yeong Hee left you. You grasp onto one and locate the warmer she thankfully left behind, heating it up within minutes.

Since Yeong Hee said her and Namjoon have been trying to get Yeona to eat solid foods, your natural assumption is that she dislikes them and that trying to adapt to a new habit is as challenging for a baby as it is to an adult.

The bottle finishes heating up and you hurriedly dash over to Jin, who looks like he’s dangling between the fine line of exhaustion and completely losing it. His eyes spark up at the bottle’s appearance, and he uncaps the top right away, testing it on his palm.

“Oh.” Your eyes light up in recognition, having forgotten the last crucial step Yeong Hee had taught you before leaving. Jin places the bottles against Yeona’s lips, and she gladly accepts, cries subsided and her eyes become drained.

You and Jin let out a simultaneous sigh.

Luckily, Yeona finally calms down. Her bright eyes stay to lull with time and her hands start to droop down from the bottle, so Jin takes the opportunity to put her down on the cradle in your room. He eventually returns after a moment, slumping down onto the couch next to your sagging self.

In a short and sweet way of saying it, both of you are utterly exhausted. It seems that every decision you need to make has to have careful consideration and some form of prior knowledge, two areas that you have absolutely no control over and are greatly lacking.

“Maybe this is what it’s like being a parent.” Jin remarks, “I don’t think I ever used to see my brother or his wife properly relax since having their kid.”

“Damn, you’re right.” You muse. It all makes sense now, why Yeong Hee always appears so battered and fatigued, why so many of your conversations would derail about how her child was doing and more so, to how she was doing. You didn’t give it much thought before at the time, but it seems like your time with Yeona is going to greatly change all of that.

***

After some constant pestering and encouragement, you convince Jin that sleeping on the couch for the night wasn’t a good idea for getting proper rest. Truthfully, you find that he’s extremely drained like you, not one of his familiar dad jokes surfacing up when he watches Yeona in her cradle with tired eyes.

You collapse onto the bed with him, eyes fluttering shut and mind begging for sleep.

A sharp cry breaks through the silence of the night.

Your eyes instantly wench open and you spring up, startled to the core from the sound. Your clouded vision looks around until you can locate your clock, the numbers 3:04 am being a friendly reminder of what stage of REM sleep you must have entered. Taking a deep sigh, you pull back your deranged hair and try to shuffle out of the bed.

A hand stops you, “W-What happened?”

“Don’t worry, it’s just Yeona,” You remind him, “Go back to sleep, I’ll take care of her.”

Jin mumbles what you assume to be a low thanks and you get out of the bed completely, peering down into the cradle. Tears stream down Yeona’s eyes and her cries are oddly high in frequency, making you lean down and slowly pick up.

Truthfully, you’re not even sure if you're holding her properly as your arms stick out in front of you, but you know that you need to calm her down as soon as possible and not ruining any of your boyfriend’s sleep in the process is probably preferred.

Setting her down carefully on your couch, you attempt to figure out what’s wrong.

“Did you have trouble sleeping?” You whisper, as if Yeona can understand you, “Are you hungry again?”

She continues to cry and your frustration increases as you fist your hair into bundles. You are so, so tired and nearly on the verge of falling asleep on the ground that your brain has no clue how to process what she needs properly.

That’s when you catch a scent of a new smell wafting through the air.

Instantly, you snap up and dash into your room, grabbing onto the bag Yeong Hee had given you. You rip it open within seconds, hands searching around until they come into contact with a feathery cotton material.

Your mouth puckers as you twist and turn the diaper around, squinting your eyes through the dark. Taking a second look inside the bag, you search around for a manual or anything Yeong Hee could have left behind in exchange for figuring out how to work the straps around. You decide ultimately that taking your best shot at it would be the way around and you orient the material around Yeona, tossing her old diaper out for the one in your hands.

It takes about ten minutes for you to finally get it on and ensure it won’t come off, but in that duration Yeona cries have spiked up, ringing through your ears as the tears wouldn’t stop pouring out from her tender eyes. You eventually have to let out a deep exhale once she calms down, rubbing your sore eyes before heading back to your room.

Once you reach your bed, you collapse down, exhausted beyond belief.

***

You’re woken to the scent to the scent of pancakes and eggs the next morning. Hauling yourself up the bed, you’re greeted by Yeona and Jin in the kitchen together, the latter holding the baby and attempting his best to feed her.

Plopping down onto a chair, you muse about the dark circles underneath his eyes, “Looks like someone got off on the wrong side of the bed.”

Jin cracks out an amused smile, “I’m surprised you think I’m the only one.”

It’s not too soon when a yawn passes by your lips, serving as a reminder of the eventful night the three of you ended up sharing. After you had changed Yeona and fallen asleep with the hope of getting some shut eye, the mayhem had only begun two hours later. Jin had gotten up this time and tried his best to calm Yeona down, but her cries could be heard through the apartment and kept you wide awake. Luckily he returned once you were about to get up to offer some help, but the moment he fell asleep with you, the vicious cycle continued once again.

More crying. More not knowing what to do. More loss of sleep.

You and Jin had tried your best to alternate as much as you could, but your efforts ultimately didn’t end up paying off when you had both woken up this morning still looking like zombies.

Letting out a sigh from the ill recollection, one of your eyebrows perks up once you smell the air.

“Hey, Jin.” You ponder, watching him look up at you after successfully feeding Yeona a spoon.

“Hm?”

You sniff the air again, this time eyes widening, “Is something burning?”

Jin instantly whirls around, long forgotten those crucial moments he was trying to feed Yeona and heads straight for the stove. You peer behind him when he groans, the lovely view of burnt pancakes and eggs greeting your eyes immediately.

He pouts, “That was supposed to be our breakfast….”

You take another glance at the pot and wince. “How about you just take care of Yeona for now and I’ll make something for us.”

He dumps the contents into the garbage, attempting to scrap one burnt piece of egg off the pan. He lets out a sigh, shoulders slumping down in defeat as he decides to just let the pan sit in water for a while.

His eyes suddenly perk up and he whirls around.

“What if we just went outside and got some fresh air?”

***

At Jin’s suggestion, you decide to have a picnic. You were at first wary with the idea, unsure if you were really in the mood for going to the park after a horrendous day and sleep-deprived night, but he manages to convince you that the activity will be beneficial for all three of you, especially Yeona.

Which is why you’re currently sitting on a red and white checkered blanket and leaning against a tree while watching Jin dress up Yeona in a baby flower sun hat.

“There we go!” He turns to you in excitement, “What do you think? Doesn’t she look cute?”

You don’t get a chance to offer an opinion because the hat slips off and Yeona continues to gaze around as if she hadn’t just knocked off five minutes of precious hard work from Jin. He attempts to get it back onto her again, but it continues to fall off.

“It did look nice before it fell off her head.” You agree to comfort him, but he manages to get it right this time, and he turns to you with the same look of excitement (with an addition of bags underneath his eyes).

“Ta-dah! Protected from the sun and looks like an adorable angel!” Jin’s enthusiasm draws a smile from you and Yeona seems to reciprocate, wiggling her arms and staring at him with fascinated pupils.

You enjoy the light breeze as Jin plays around with Yeona, but her eyes soon begin to flutter close and before you know it, she’s falling asleep in his arms. Both of you decide it would be best if she could get some sleep, but after an hour of no response from her, Jin starts to grow dismayed.

You snort, “We went out for her, but she completely ko’ed on us.”

“I’m sure she’ll wake up soon.” He stares at Yeona in high hopes, but you wave him off.

“She’s probably as tired as us from yesterday.” You lean over to grab a packed sandwich, unwrapping it from the plastic. Letting out a long sigh, you catch Jin’s attention, “How did Yeong Hee even manage to do all this…?”

He cranes his head to the side, “What do you mean?”

You gesture to Yeona, “This. Taking care of a baby and trying to enjoy her marriage at the same time.” You shrug, “It just seems like so much work to me.”

Jin knowing laughs, “I’m assuming this is probably not helping you with wanting kids, right?”

“Far from it, actually.”

He narrows his eyes, “Can I ask you something?”

You hum, “Why did you even agree to this? You’ve hated kids longer than I can remember.”

“Well, Yeong Hee sounded like her and Namjoon haven’t had the chance to relax.” You explain, “I wanted her to be happy.”

Jin nods, like that much he had already guessed. However, you go on to continue, “And well…. I’m the godmother.”

His eyes widen and your gaze falls onto Yeona, still sleeping in his arms, “I figured I should at least get to know her properly, and since Yeong Hee gave me this responsibility, then I should be able to take care of her when Yeong Hee’s having a hard time.”

“But things definitely didn’t go the way I expected.” You reminisce, “I didn’t realize there was so much to it and how devoted you have to be.”

“I agree with you on that.” Jin acknowledges, letting out a small chuckle as if the past couple of incidents had really sent him down a whirlwind. After spending some time in the park with Yeona snoozing away, you and Jin eventually end up heading back with only one single thought in mind.

How are you going to do this for a week?

***

Within moments of returning to your apartment, you are pooped. This results in you spending the rest of the evening with Jin in a dire attempt to bring some normalcy from constantly running around yesterday, but you still find yourself considerably paranoid as you consistently check in on Yeona to make sure she’s okay. Jin does so as well, but eventually night falls and you know the two of you are extremely desperate for a long night’s rest.

“Y/N.” Jin whispers, shaking your shoulder, “Y/N.”

“Mhm?” You incoherently mumble, peering through your squinted eyes to gaze at his face. Jin lets out a sigh, shaking your form once more.

“Y/N, wake up. You fell asleep on the couch.”

You wave him off, finding too much comfort in the pillow you’ve managed to snatch up from the sofa, “It’s fine, just leave me here.”

He chuckles, but he suddenly presses his hand against your back and under your legs, lifting you up in an instant. You jolt immediately, scrambling to grab support onto something, before finding purchase in securing your arms around his neck. It’s a bit ironic as he carries you to your bedroom, since you’re probably the last person who needs to be babied in the apartment.

Plopping you down on the mattress, the tiredness in your bones immediately seeps away and you flutter your eyelids close, sleep grabbing a hold of you in an instant. You can feel the other end of the bed dip for a moment and assume Jin has decided to call it a day after settling Yeona down to sleep.

The comforting silence in your apartment lulls you until you plunge into a deep sleep.

***

A sharp cry breaks through the walls.

You jolt in your sleep, drooping eyes cracked with red being wide open and frozen in your position. Another cry resonates through the room, but this time it grows quieter and you mentally pray that it was a mere spur of the moment, nothing more to drag you away from the sweet remains of sleep your body is begging for.

It’s accompanied by several other acute cries.

With a low groan, you roll out of the bed, not even bothering to glance at Jin who’s busy snoring away in his own dreamland. Hovering over the cradle, you quickly inspect Yeona, calmly hushing her as to not wake the only person in the room that’s still asleep. Noticing that she didn’t need to be changed, you head over to the kitchen swiftly and grab a bottle from the fridge.

After heating the bottle to the right temperature and placing a portion of it on the base of your palm, you rush back to her and place it at her bottom lip. Yeona turns away from you, her cries increasing in intensity.

Frowning, you try again only for her to completely roll away from you this time, ultimately reasoning that she doesn’t want to be fed. You attempt to pull up the blanket Jin had placed on her, but she continues to sway around giving absolutely no response to your actions and persistently crying.

You’re beginning to grow desperate. It isn’t her diaper, she’s not hungry, and she’s not cold. That means you have the only choice to resort to a different means of matter.

Widening your eyes, you pinch your cheeks and spread them apart, pushing your tongue out. You know you’ve called Jin out about it already, but at this point you need to stop the insufferable cries flooding your apartment by the minute.

Yeona doesn’t even notice.

Thick tears are continuing to roll down her cheeks, eyes remaining glossed over. A patch of hair is fisted within your palm, knees bending down in exasperation when your brain is losing its function more as time passes and you don’t understand what she needs.

A warm hand places itself on your shoulder, causing you to swirl around with misery leaking into your eyes.

“Sorry for waking you.” You admit, having the false hope that you could’ve at least figured this out on your own. Jin shakes his head, clearly just as tired as you.

“We’re in this together.” He comfortingly says, stepping up to glance at Yeona, “Have you tried checking her?”

You nod, “I’ve checked her, tried feeding her and tried to cover her.” A long sigh leaves your lips, “I even pulled out a silly face too.”

Jin spins around, gazing at you in surprise, “Really?”

You solemnly sigh again, “Really.”

“Well, let’s see…” Jin hovers over her cradle, attempting to calm her down by making cute noises and widening his eyes. You plant yourself against the wall, shoulders slumping down further into defeat as Yeona’s cries seem to only increase in intensity. There’s a certain wail that gets to you, snapping your fine control of patience after having another decent night of rest snatched away from your clutches.

“What’s wrong?” You plead, questioning the crying baby as if she can answer you. “Just tell me, give me a signal, anything.” Voice slightly cracking and eyes glossing over, you wonder how long it’s going to be until you join her in her crying fit. “What do you need, Yeona??”

“Y/N...” Jin immediately tries to intervene, understanding your frustration. He places a hand on your shoulder, attempting to get you to back away. “You need to calm down, we can’t figure this out if you keep asking her questions like that.”

“But I am calm!” Although your words suggest it, Jin already knows the sleep deprivation is beginning to take its toll. At the sound of both of your tones, Yeona bursts into more tears, startling you. “Oh no, Yeona…”

You drop your voice down into a soothing one, abruptly plucking the baby up from her cradle in a dire attempt. Even though her high-pitched sobs threaten to make your ears bleed from the proximity, Yeona soon lets out a quiet hiccup much to your own surprise.

You can only stare at Jin with a dropped jaw as Yeona settles her head against your shoulder, her small hands tightly fisting onto the material of your shirt. She sniffles a couple more times and squirms around a bit, but it’s right before she finally settles down and welcomes sleep in your arms.

The apartment falls into a comfortable silence after a period of absolute chaos, the baby in your arms appearing more content than you have ever seen her.

“Way to go, Y/N!” Jin cheers, peering at Yeona over your shoulder.

“T-Thanks…” You mumble half-heartedly, taking occasional glances to confirm Yeona was still asleep on you. You attempt to rock her back and forth, eyes widening when a small yawn slips by her lips, and she nestles in closer to you.

Unconsciously, a soft smile makes its way to your lips.

***

“Morning.” You walk behind Jin into the kitchen, rummaging around the fridge for something to eat. Yeona is in his arms, bright eyes glancing around in contrast to yesterday’s sudden storm.

“Morning.” Jin replies with a smile, tiling his head to the side, “You seem well rested.”

You smirk, “For once.” Walking over to him, you lean down to poke Yeona’s cheek, “But this one appears to missing her mom more than I thought.”

“Hopefully her and Namjoon got to enjoy their mini vacation.” Jin exhales, carefully pushing Yeona up in his arms when she begins to slip. “They became parents a little fast, don’t you think?”

You shrug, “Yeong Hee was pretty excited to start a family of her own, but I don’t think she was completely ready to have kids after she found out she was pregnant at their honeymoon.” A long exhale passes by you, a crease forming between your brows, “You know, I did say that her and Namjoon should seriously consider their options before having kids.”

Jin playfully smiles, “Are you sure that wasn’t just you warning your friend about the woes of having children?”

“That’s‒…” You pout and Jin’s smile widens, knowing that he got you with that point. “You know what I mean, they should have waited it out before deciding to create a miniature version of themselves,” You scrunch up your nose, “One that at least didn’t make them want to cry with her.”

Jin hums in agreement but a giggle breaks through your silence. Your eyes warily glance down, only to see Yeona peering at the two of you with a giant smile on her lips.

“Did she just laugh?” You question as Yeona brightly gazes at you.

“Maybe she agrees with you.” Jin offers, but you shake your head.

“I’m literally scolding her parents!” You lean closer, placing your hands on your knees and narrowing your eyes, “Did you know your mom set me up on a blind date once and the guy never showed up in the end?”

Yeona giggles again, this time clapping her hands together and you’re astounded, a smile working its way onto your lips.

“Hey, you have me now!” Jin pouts, making you snort.

“I don’t know what’s cuter, her laughing at my complaints with her mother or you getting offended from one blind date that never showed up, might I mention again!” You raise a finger at him in protest.

“Yeong Hee just wanted you to be happy too, that’s why she forced you to go on a date with me, remember?”

“Right, because she knew you were going to be her daughter’s future babysitter.” You sarcastically retort, leaning closer to Yeona. “Your mother’s kind of weird in some ways but I guess I snagged a real catch, huh?”

Yeona giggles again and you tenderly smile, affectionately poking her cheek. Jin on the other hand, is already smiling simply from watching you interact.

“Oh! If you’re responding to my complaints, I should try something.” You stand right in front of her, looking at the baby dead serious in the eyes, “I don’t really like kids.”

Something overcomes the baby, and she starts erratically waving her arms, like she wanted to be closer to you. Jin raises an eyebrow, cautiously lifting her closer to you as if he was giving you the chance to refuse. A small smile works on your lips and you hold onto her, watching her grow comfortable in your embrace.

You look up at Jin and he smiles at you, ecstasy on his features.

You suppose having Yeona around for a week wouldn’t be so bad.

***

Despite the fact that you didn’t know what to expect for the rest of the week in regards to Yeona, you’re surprised to find that time flies by faster than you know it and the pending day of her return is soon looming over you.

The past couple of days haven’t been much of a whirlwind. You and Jin found that you had started becoming used to the little bundle’s presence often and even possessed sense at times that you didn’t know existed there in the first place. Whether it was knowing when to feed Yeona and change her, to moments in the night where you found yourself automatically waking up to check in despite losing time on your clock for sleep. In many ways, her existence surprises you greatly, as you never knew that you could come so close to being this attentive after proclaiming your natural despise towards the little ones.

Regardless, all good things eventually have to come to an end and it’s a fact you have to inevitably accept when Yeong Hee is showing up at your doorstep once again, but this time with a warm smile on her face.

“Y/N!”

She immediately embraces you into a bear hug, something she hasn’t done in years. You’re puzzled by the action for a moment, frozen in place until you ultimately reciprocate and give her a smile.

“Nice to see you so cheery, Yeong Hee.”

She separates from you with a grateful look, “It was all thanks to you Y/N, you have no idea how much me and Namjoon needed this!”

You chuckle, “Believe me, I do.”

Yeong Hee glances around the apartment, her curious eyes inspecting around.

“Where is my little Yeona?”

You smile, pointing over to the couch where Jin is. He had ironically fallen asleep while rocking Yeona to sleep, so you decided it would be best not to disturb the two.

Yeong Hee plants her palms against her cheeks, hearts practically steaming from her eyes.

“Aw!” She slowly steps closer, a radiant smile on her lips. “That’s so cute.”

You hum in agreement and Yeong Hee spins around, shifting closer to you. “I know you didn’t want to have kids anytime soon, but…”

She points over to Yeona and Jin together with a soft smile, “If that man is able to bond with our child, then I think he’s definitely ready for anything coming his way.”

You chuckle at that, recalling how catastrophic both of you initially were around Yeona and freaking about the smallest of things that more parents would have found normal. However, that’s when you remember how things were once you’ve become familiar around her, your actions automatically reflecting her needs when you were just confused a couple of days ago.

Along with that, Yeona herself had seemed to take a particular liking to you.

“I know that’s what I said in the past, but I dunno.” You shrug, “Kids aren’t so bad.”

Yeong Hee immediately whirls around, gaping at you shell shocked. You raise an eyebrow at her blatant staring, only for her to murmur a sentence that has you laughing on the inside.

“Does this mean...my angel convinced you otherwise?”

“Oh she’s nothing but an angel,” You openly admit, pressing a finger to your lips, “She’s a lot more like her mom now I think about it.”

Yeong Hee laughs at that and you smile, your attention being drawn away when you notice Jin rising from your couch.

“Oh Seokjin!” Yeong Hee exclaims, “It's great to see you again!”

“Same to you.” Jin warmly smiles, before placing the now awake baby in her mother’s arms. Yeona’s eyes are open but she seems puzzled, as if confused as to what was going on.

“Hey Yeonie~ It’s mom!” Yeong Hee coos and Yeona’s eyes are still tracing over her features. You peer over her shoulder, a remark instinctively making its way to your lips.

“Maybe she just hasn’t seen you so relaxed instead of stressed out for once.”

Yeong Hee frowns at you, but Yeona lets out a loud giggle. Yeong Hee stares at the baby in her arms baffled, whirling around to face you.

“You made her laugh!” You smile, nodding, “I’m impressed, Y/N!”

An embarrassed chuckle leaves you, “I guess she I’m not as bad as I thought around kids.”

“Well, I think you did an excellent job.” Yeong Hee envelopes you into a giant hug, a smile reappearing on your lips when Yeona giggles again.

Yeong Hee says goodbye and eventually departs contently, leaving you and Jin alone together in the apartment.

He nudges your shoulder, “Hey, I heard you guys talking.”

You turn around to face him, and he sways back and forth, eyes gleaming, “Do you think...maybe not now, but in the future,” He quickly clarifies, “The idea of having kids isn’t too far…?”

A soft smile makes its way to your lips, “It isn’t.” Jin immediately perks up, a giant smile breaking onto his features.

“But.” You wave a finger at him, stopping him in his tracks, “After taking care of Yeona this past week, I definitely need some off time before considering the idea.”

“Oh, I’m so with you on that.” Jin exhales, “Let’s think about it when we’re actually ready.”

You warmly smile, “Deal.”

176 notes · View notes

kumawrites · 4 years

Text

what are you, my sugar daddy? (pt. 1)

☆ ushijima wakatoshi x reader ☆

☆ - 3.9k words

☆ - a/n: aight ushijima fuckers here y’all go. but like,,,, me too tho i’m a proud member of the ushijima club. alternatively titled, “y/n has good morals (unlike me) and ushijima really does not want to be sued”

☆ - taglist (ask to be added): @miceonmars

When you said you wanted to be hit by a car to pay for your tuition, that was a joke. A joke. Apparently, God didn’t quite catch that it was supposed to be a joke, and decided to bless you with what you asked for. A car! A car that ran you over at a crosswalk!

In retrospect, it was probably your fault. Sure, you were on your phone, too engrossed trying to read a tweet while walking, which was surprisingly hard as you couldn’t really keep focus on the words. But you could have SWORN that the light turned green. For you. Not for the car. You think. Well, maybe not. You really didn’t remember, too focused on the pain sizzling through your entire body to think straight. The (very expensive looking) car had hit your body head on, and while it wasn’t going too fast, you would probably be dead if it was, it was still a car. And your body was still in the street, just chilling.

And oh god, you still had to get to class. Not only were midterms just around the corner, but maybe you had spent too much time in class definitely not paying attention and rather playing a bootleg Club Penguin on your computer. Trigonometry is boring, and Club Penguin is not. But, your negligence to your studies was going to be your downfall if you didn’t actually start paying attention. And you had planned on it! Too bad your plans got ruined.

At least the sky was pretty today, and so was that guy. Wait, what? You’re well aware that there was a crowd surrounding your dead(?) body, but no one had really made it into your peripheral, probably too scared to move your body. You didn’t blame anyone for not getting too close to you, it was a good precaution to not get injured any further. But you noticed that one man was crouched over you, brows furrowed, phone next to his ear. He looked distressed. Wonder why? That was your last thought before you promptly passed out on the warm concrete.

When you came to, you knew you were in a hospital without even opening your eyes. The smell of the whole place was almost sickly, not surprising, hospitals are literally made for sick people. It smelled heavily of disinfectant and sadness. You hoped that you weren’t hooked up to a bunch of machines and that you weren’t missing any limbs. That would mean a longer stay, which did not sound optimal.

As you opened your eyes, you were absolutely blinded. No, not by the light, the windows were closed and you weren’t even next to them. But by the extremely attractive man, sitting in your room on his phone. Well, that’s new. It wasn’t like you knew who he was, no one that hot was actively associating themselves with you. You didn’t have time to process who the mystery man might be before we turned his head from his phone and locked eyes with you.

“Hello.” He spoke with a deep rumble in his voice. Wow, that’s hot.

You attempted to greet him in return, but your voice crackled leading you into a coughing fit. The man furrowed his brows, and suddenly you recognized him. He was the one that was crouched down by your body! While you were presumably coughing up your lungs, the man quickly left the room. And there he went. Maybe he was an angel. Maybe God sent him down as an apology for not reading the entire request. That was probably it. Hot people like that definitely didn’t exist in the real world.

Too focused on the crazy thoughts in your head, you didn’t notice that he actually came back! With a nurse! Oh. He came back?

So he was real, you deduced. Well, when you were able to get words out of your dry throat, you’d ask him his skincare routine. And workout routine. And well, his life routine at this point. It was like there were no faults, physically at least. He was probably a psychopath who broke into your hospital room to kill you. Yeah. That’s it.

You weren’t paying attention to reality, and didn’t even notice the nurse leave to go call a doctor. And then there were two. You only snapped out of your very deep and intellectual thoughts when he cleared his throat.

“Hello. Again. I apologize, it seems I hit you with my car.” His brows furrowed once again, and you were extremely tempted to tell him to stop, he would get premature wrinkles if he kept that up. But, you needed to have an actual conversation with this not so mystery man.

You took a breath and actually managed to speak this time, although it was still raspy. “Howdy.” Howdy? Did you really just say howdy? “It seems you did, huh?”

That was all you were able to get out before the nurse came back with a doctor. The doctor grabbed his rolly stool and sat down by your bed, explaining that you had only sustained minor injuries and were actually lucky since you didn’t hit your head. Your left leg, however, was a different story. Since that was the side you got hit on, your leg was basically in shambles. Okay, maybe that’s an exaggeration, but you wouldn’t be able to walk for quite a while, having broken your bones in multiple spots. Well, that sure did suck.

You didn’t have a car, so you were forced to walk everywhere. But, that didn’t really matter at this point. It wasn’t like you would be able to drive a car with a broken leg.

Other than your broken leg, you were basically fine, and would be able to be released from the hospital in a few days. They wanted to run some extra tests, just to make sure you wouldn’t die somehow due to your injuries when you got home.

The nurse then switched out one of your IV bags and promptly left with the doctor, after making sure you didn’t have any further questions, leaving you alone in the room with the handsome man.

You didn’t really know what to say to start off the conversation, but luckily, he started. “Do you feel okay?” He questioned and you had to ponder that. Yeah, for the most part you did feel fine. But you hadn’t gotten out of the bed, and whenever you shifted your hips they ached. So, a solid maybe? But you didn’t want to make him feel bad, so you simply nodded your head.

“Yeah. Aside from the leg, obviously, I feel alright.” You shrugged as you examined your casted leg. Your gaze shifted from your left leg to the man, sitting a safe distance away from you. He looked rather stiff, with his hands properly placed in his lap. His posture was impeccable, and you bet he didn’t have back pain when we woke up in the morning, lucky bastard. You also noticed the very expensive looking watch, adorning his left wrist. Then you remembered just what kind of car hit you. It was for sure some fancy car, but you were no car expert, so you had no idea what model or even brand it was. But that meant this man had money. Good for him.

“I’d like to make up for it. If you’re okay with it, I’d like to pay your hospital bills.” Your eyebrows shot up, not expecting that. Honestly, you were ready to take the L and go into debt to the hospital. And then probably pitifully ring up your parents and beg for some money. It wasn’t like your family was poor, but they were for sure not rich. While they’re able to keep themselves afloat, you weren’t sure what a presumably large hospital bill would do to their finances. And they really weren’t responsible for you at this being, being that you’re in college and living on your own. So simply taking this stranger's money would be super easy, right?

It would! If you didn’t feel extremely responsible for the entire situation. Damn it good morals! Why did they have to come out now! Thinking back on the accident, it was most certainly your fault, and taking this law-abiding citizen’s money just rubbed you the wrong way. Yeah, he was rich, but he seemed genuinely extremely apologetic. If that was what the furrowed brows meant. You were just assuming. You were also assuming that he was a law abiding citizen, but his presence alone almost guarantees it. Almost.

“Don’t worry about it. I appreciate the offer, but this whole situation is for sure my fault. My carelessness led to your car, uh, hitting me. So don’t worry about it. I’ll just call my parents, and figure something out.” You said as you brushed your fingers through your ratty hair, attempting to get the knots out. It was a mess, and you couldn’t even see it. You wondered what you looked like, probably not hot. The man, however, did not seem pleased by your response, somehow managing to furrow his brows even more at your response.

“No, I insist. Please let me pay for your bills.” He seemed almost offended that you attempted to decline his offer.

Nonetheless, you weren’t about to allow yourself to mooch off of a stranger, even if he looked rich. “Thank you, but it just feels wrong, you know? They can’t be too bad.” Somehow you knew that sentence was going to bite you in the ass later. You gave him a slight smile and before he was able to respond to your foolishness, his phone dinged. He looked down at his phone, and abruptly stood up, and wow, he was tall. But you almost expected him to be this giant, since his whole being and presence was just like his height, large. You blinked at him, as he looked almost distressed as you kept looking at you and then back at his phone. He sighed as he slipped his phone in his windbreaker.

The man glanced around the room until he found a slip of paper and a pen. He quickly scribbled down something and then handed the paper to you. “I have to go, but here’s my contact information. Please don’t hesitate to call if you need anything.” And with that, he left the room. You looked down at the paper and read his name, Ushijima Wakatoshi. Huh. Sounded familiar, but you just couldn’t quite put your finger on it. You shrugged and put the contact into your phone, knowing that you would somehow manage to lose the paper if you didn’t.

You were fully prepared to never call him, however, still not wanting to make him pay for anything.

Your eyes almost fell out of your head as you read the bill. Was it even possible for a number to be that big? The amount of digits was almost offensive to look at, and your roommate, Kaori, seemed to agree.

“Y/N, that number is going to give me a migraine, please put it away.” She dramatically sighed as she sprawled out on your bed, next to your sitting, basically frozen body. You break one leg! Just one! And this is how much that costs? You’d have to sell your soul and kidney to even begin to pay the bill.

“If I throw this bill away, do you think it’d just disappear?” You asked, fully prepared to rip the paper in half.

“Hmm.. Probably not! I don’t think the IRS would be too happy with that. Wait, is that was the IRS is for? You know, I don’t know. But it’s worth a try!” Kaori and her many words of wisdom never seem to get old.

“Very helpful Kaori.” You sighed and flopped down next to her. She instinctively began to scratch your scalp, as a way of support. Whenever you were stressed or upset or anything, you’d come to Kaori and ask her to scratch your scalp. It felt good, and she knew where all of the best spots were. “I don’t know how I’m going to pay for this, especially without letting my parents know. They’d seriously castrate me, Kaori. I would be dead. Deceased.” You dramatically wailed, and Kaori just kept running her fingers through your hair.

“Didn’t you say the guy who hit you offered to pay for it?” She arched her eyebrow and you sighed.

“Yeah.. But I just feel bad? You know? Then again, he looked like he wanted to pay.”

“Then let him! There’s your solution. Call him up right now and explain that you’re just a little too broke to pay for them and would very much appreciate his financial support.” She sat up and removed her fingers from your scalp, causing you to groan. She grabbed your phone, unlocked it, you had given her the passcode ages ago, and opened your phone app. “I’ll even call him for you! Well, press the call button. You need to talk to him. What was his name?” She asked as she scrolled through your contact list.

“I don’t know, uhh, Ushijima? Yeah, Ushijima. I think?” You casually mentioned and didn’t even notice how Kaori’s eyes went wide with shock.

“Sorry, what?”

“Huh?” You turned your head towards her at the sound of her confusion.

“What.. What did you say his name was?” Kaori looked shell shocked and you had no idea why.

“Ushijima..? I forgot his first name, it was Waka something. Umm, Waka, Wakatoshi? Yeah, that’s it. Ushijima Wakatoshi. Why, do you know him or something?”

“Know him? Do I know him!? Y/N, he’s a D1 athlete! Ushijima Wakatoshi hit you with his car! Oh my God, Ushijima hit you with his mcfreaking car!” Kaori exclaimed, and you could only look at her in confusion. You genuinely had no idea who that man was, other than the man who ran you over, but apparently he’s a big deal. To Kaori at least. You listened to her as she spoke on and on about Ushijima and how great of a volleyball player he is. Apparently, in high school he was one of the top aces in the country. Honestly, you didn’t know what an ace was, but you nodded along to whatever Kaori said, knowing that she was a manager for her highschool’s volleyball team and a sports medicine major.

“So, basically, what you’re saying is, I got run over by a super famous athlete? Is that it?” You blinked at her as she finished her speech that was basically about the entire history of men’s volleyball. You learn something new everyday.

She nodded enthusiastically and re-unlocked your phone, in search of one name. “And that’s why you need to call him! Think about the scandal of it all! ‘Famous Athlete Brutally Runs Over Innocent College Student’! He definitely does not want that on the news.”

“Well, first of all it wasn’t brutal. The only thing broken about me is my leg. Second, I’m pretty sure I’m the one who caused the whole thing, so I’m not innocent. And finally, I’m not going to blackmail him into paying for my bills.” You rolled your eyes playfully at your roommate and she huffed.

“Fine, fine. At least call him so he knows you’re still, well, alive.” She handed you your phone back, and his contact was already dialed. You groaned at Kaori and put the phone up to your ear as there was no going back.

After about the fourth ring, the line was picked up. “Hello?” Ushijima’s deep voice managed to sound deeper over the phone, and you had no idea how that worked, but this wasn’t the time to think about that.

“Uh, hey, Ushijima? It’s Y/N, the person you, uh, hit with your car.” Was it even possible for you to sound even more awkward? Out of the corner of your eye, Kaori was muffling her giggling and you threw a nearby pillow at her face, which she caught. Stupid sports majors with their stupid athleticism.

“Hello, Y/N. How do you feel?” Even though you had only spoken to Ushijima once, you could tell what kind of person he was. Blunt and didn’t have a lot of words to say. He was probably the kind of person that didn’t bother sugarcoating anything. Respectable.

You hummed in response. “I’m okay. My leg doesn’t hurt, but I guess that’s because I can’t really feel it? Or something.” You bit your lip and an awkward silence fell over the phone call. “Um, how are you?” You asked completely out of formality and because you had no idea what else to say. Holding a conversation seemed like it wasn’t going to be easy.

“I’m fine. Y/N, I’d like to ask to pay your hospital bills once again.” Oh, you were right. He went straight to the point.

“I really appreciate it, but like I said before, I definitely caused the accident. It’s not your responsibility to pay for my bills. They’re, uh, not really that much anyways. Haha.” Could he tell you were lying? Kaori sure could, and even you could recognize how fake your voice sounded.

Apparently, he could tell that you were lying. “I asked to see how much the bill was when I was at the hospital, and it is not a small amount, Y/N.”

“Oh. Uh. Well, I guess you’re right. But still! It feels a little icky?”

“I don’t mind paying. My job pays me very well. I can easily pay your bills. Are you in college?” He asked out of the blue, following his not so subtle flex. Okay, he probably didn’t mean to flex, didn’t seem like that kind of guy, but boy he sure did.

“Sure am. I’m in my second year, dying.” Groaning, you remembered all of the schoolwork you have to catch up on after putting it off AND getting hit by a car. You wouldn’t be surprised if you failed Trig. But you probably shouldn’t.

He grunted in response. “Do you drive?” Ushijima asked another odd question that seemed to have come from nowhere.

You didn’t know how that had any correlation with the current conversation at hand, but you responded anyways. “Oh, no I don’t. I usually just walk everywhere, not that hard to do. Well, maybe now it might be.” The annoying realization that you couldn’t just simply walk everywhere had just hit. Again. When you remembered earlier at the hospital, you simply forgot all about it! A true way of solving your problems! But what an inconvenience getting hit by a car is. At least you got to meet someone who could be considered a celebrity. And he was hot! Really, it was a win-win. No, that’s a lie. Your leg is broken and you’re suffering from crippling debt. But you still met a hot guy!

“I’m going to pay the hospital bill, Y/N.” Ushijima bluntly stated and snapped you out of your daze You honestly almost replied with a ‘yessir’. He was just so confident, how could you argue with that? Wait, how were you supposed to argue with that? The whole goal of it is for him to not pay your bills, but how is he so damn convincing with just a few words? He’s truly an enigma.

“Please, Ushijima, it’s really fine. I think. Wait no, ignore that. I’m very much confident that I am fine. Yeah. That.” Your voice wavered as you panicked and your eyes darted to Kaori, watching your dumbass in amusement.

“Excuse me for a bit.” It didn’t seem like Ushijima had cared to listen to your babbling, and simply hung up. You put your phone down from your ear and stared at it. What? He just excused himself? Can he do that? Well, of course he can do that. It’s Ushijima Wkaatoshi, and at this point, you were pretty sure that he was capable of doing anything if he really wanted to.

Kaori crawled back next to you and tilted her head. “Did you hang up on him?” She curiously stared at your phone, displaying the recents page of your phone calls.

“Uhh. No. I didn’t, at least. He was just like, excuse me, and hung up?”

“Huh.” Kaori simply vocalized.

“Huh for sure.” You agreed.

Before you had time to even think a cohesive thought, for once in your life, your phone rang. You looked down at the display to see that it was Ushijima calling. Well, he did say excuse me, implying that he was coming back, but you didn’t really have the time to process his words before he hung up, just minutes ago. You stared at your phone before you answered, still trying to wrap your head around what was going on.

“Uhh, hello? Ushijima?” You answered your phone.

“I paid your bills. Please do not worry about them. They were quite significant.” You choked. Kaori stared at you like you had just grown two heads, presumably hearing Ushijima’s words. He, he just, did it? This man just paid your bills? Like it was nothing? Was he allowed to do this? It wasn’t like you weren’t relieved that someone else took care of your ridiculous bill. At this point, you were just downright impressed! Ushijima really just did that, huh. A true display of big dick energy, if you must say yourself.

It was almost impossible to find a way to reply to him, after all of this insisting that you were completely fine and he didn’t have to cover the bill. Apparently, you must be really bad at pretending since you were definitely not fine. Or maybe Ushijima is just incredibly perceptive. You weren’t for sure, and you also weren’t for sure if you’d ever figure out. Actually, you’re well aware that you’re a shitty liar.

“I would also like to cover your physical therapy and transportation until you completely recover.” Well that statement certainly gave you whiplash. It was almost as his expensive car ran you over again. He wants to what?

“Wait, hold on. Okay, so first, thank you for paying my bill, but really you didn’t have to. I’ve said this enough, but it really was my fault. And you don’t have to cover anything else, the hospital bill was just enough. I seriously can’t thank you enough, and I’m fine and alive. You really don’t have to do anything else.” You explained and hoped you didn’t come across in an ungrateful way. This man had just paid your unreadably expensive hospital bill, after all. He was showing you so much kindness already that you really didn’t know what to do. Your kindness acceptance meter was full.

Even after your mini speech, it still seemed like he didn’t care. “Please send me your schedule for classes and your address. If you want anything, do not hesitate to call me. That includes food, or anything you want. It does not matter. I have to go now. Please take care. I will see you soon.” And with that, he hung up, leaving you shell shocked. Did this mean what you think it meant? Anything? Seriously, anything? You were very much sure that this was far past the usual situation. Ah yes, the usual situation where a famous athlete hits a dumb college kid with his car. Happens all of the time.

But you were pretty sure that it wasn’t a normal thing to be offered food, or as he said, anything you want. Wait a minute. Wait a damn minute.

“So?” Kaori was looking at you expectantly.

“Okay so, I don’t know if this is how it works but, I think, just maybe, I got a sugar daddy?”

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