#I on the other hand think it’s hot that she makes poor life decisions and wants to fuck 20 year olds

[eskildit]

pyrrha dve is a sleaze. that’s why she’s hot btw

[johnnysuhbmarine]

What's my Problem? That's Easy, You.

Pairing: Haechan x reader Description: There’s no one on this planet that you hate more than your roommate’s best friend, Haechan, and he hates you back just the same. Though, sharing a best friend meant you had to see him all the time. When giving into one impulse desire ends with the two of you making out, it quickly develops into a friends (or enemies) with benefits relationship that the two of you agree to keep quiet about. Surely nothing could go wrong, right?  Content warnings: swearing, insults, talk about sex, Haechan in skinny jeans, Haechan’s girlfriend (later ex) is really mean to him, lots of eye rolling and head shaking, sexual harassment from reader’s professor, death (not a main character but it affects Haechan), lots of making out…taking off shirts…etc, Haechan is hot and arrogant but kind of a loser when it comes to y/n (eventually), mention of a choking kink, corpse lyrics, they have sex but it’s closed-door/SFW, Haechan makes one really poor decision, angst with a happy ending. Please let me know if I’ve missed anything. Word count: 21,108 :) A/n: Happy Haechan day! This has been in the works for entirely too long, but I’m excited to finally release a longer fic rather than one shots. This was only written because I had to do something after seeing Haechan in the ISTJ dance practice video cause he’s never left my mind since. Shout out to @fullsunstrawberry for listening to me talk about this fic instead of me actually writing it. Hey bestie, *waves* it’s finally finished :) Please enjoy, or don’t…I can’t tell you what to do. As always, feedback would be GREATLY appreciated :)

You open the door to your apartment-style dorm room, and when you see a figure on the couch, you assume it’s your best friend and roommate, Jessica. The two of you met in a class last year and you were over the moon at the idea of rooming with her for the rest of university rather than the roommates you currently had at the time. However, instead of laying eyes on your best friend, it’s a guy you’ve never seen before, casually sprawled out on your couch. You jump in surprise and furrow your eyebrows as you address his presence. “Wha- who are you?!”

He moves his gaze from the TV up to where you were, still at the door. “Haechan…Jessica’s best friend? I’m sure she’s talked about me. Who are you?” He replies in a condescending tone, looking completely unenthused to be talking with you and, within seconds, you were beginning to feel much the same. You shake your head, annoyed.

“No, I’m the one who lives here so I’m asking the questions. What are you doing here? How did you get in?” You ask, though now just wondering how long it would be until he left. 

He looks at you as though you were stupid, like talking to you was a waste of his time. Regardless, he gives you somewhat of an answer. “Are you dense? I’m hanging out with Jessica today. She let me in before she went back to go get ready.”

You freeze, anger coursing through your veins at the audacity of this guy. “I’m not dense. God, I hate people like you.” You spit back. Haechan raises his brows tauntingly. 

“‘People like me’ as in?”

“Arrogant dickheads whose brain power is just used to keep track of how many beds they’ve been in.” You finish, rolling your eyes before moving to set down your backpack and grab what you actually came back to your dorm for - your purse. You miss the devilish smirk that Haechan bears on his face, but you don’t miss the cocky laugh that escapes his figure before he speaks up again as you cross the room.

“Strange, I don’t remember bringing up my sex life before this. It must be on your mind then, huh?” He replies seriously, getting you to pause again. You ball your hands into fists, taking a few steps so that you were back in each other’s line of sight before arguing with him some more. 

“This is exactly what I’m talking about. You think everyone is thinking about sex with you. I hate to break it to you, but you’re not that attractive.” You say, more than glad when your last statement came out firm and serious…you typically weren’t good at lying.

Haechan lets out another laugh, stretching his arms up and bringing his hands together at the back of his head. “Yeah?” He questions lazily. “You’re not that hot yourself, sunshine.”

The nickname has your blood boiling. “Never call me that again. Besides, it doesn’t even make sense. You say I’m not hot and then call me sunshine. You know the sun is 15 million degrees Celsius, right?” You remark, but instead of making Haechan feel stupid, you seemingly gave him more ammunition.

“Oh,” he says as though he just figured out the answer to life. “So, you’re a nerd. I get it.” He adds, a stupid grin on his face.

You furrow your brows. “What?”

“You don’t get out much do you? Just spend all your time memorizing pointless facts and praying someone along the way finally has to find that attractive since you know you won’t pull a guy with your looks?”

You freeze, in a deadlocked stare with Haechan, both of your gazes filled with resentment. It wasn’t a pointless fact - you were an astronomy and physics double major, but saying that wouldn’t provide him with anything but more reason to call you a nerd, and the last thing you felt like doing was addressing the part about your looks. Instead, you shake your head, then motion to the purse you were now carrying rather than your backpack. “I’m going out right now, thank you very much. God. Tell Jessica to let me know whenever you’re going to be over. I’ll make sure to never be home for it. I don’t know how she can tolerate someone like you.” You spit out, turning to open the front door again.

“Right back at you.” Haechan replies, not letting up on his glare until the door’s completely closed again, then turning lazily back to the TV just as Jessica walks out from the bathroom.

“Were you on the phone? Who were you just talking to like that?” She questions, eyebrows raised, more than curious at the identity of who riled up Haechan like that.

Haechan shakes his head. “No, I wasn’t on the phone. Your roommate came in…and then left again.” 

Jessica’s face drops from curiosity to disbelief. “You were arguing with y/n like that?!”

Haechan shrugs. “If that’s the name of your irritating roommate, then yeah.” Jessica rolls her eyes, doing the mental calculations of how long this semester was going to feel with her two best friends hating each other.

When you get back from bar and trivia night with your friends a few hours later, your living room couch is back to just being occupied by Jessica. You smile at her as you walk in and lock the door behind you, but her face when you turn back around is more grave than you think you’ve ever seen.

“We’re gonna have to talk about you and Hyuck.” She says seriously, causing your eyebrows to furrow.

“Who the hell is Hyuck?” You laugh, and Jess just rolls her eyes playfully, nodding her head to motion for you to sit down next to her on the couch.

She looks you in the eyes intently. “Haechan.” She says, and your playful demeanor drops in an instant. “His real name is Donghyuck- but that’s besides the point. Look, he’s been my best friend for more than half of my life. He’s had an extra key to wherever I’m living every year of college so far…”

“No.” You answer firmly, and Jessica sighs.

“Y/n, he’s not a bad guy-” She starts, but you shake your head.

“I don’t care if he’s bad, I care that he’s the most aggravating person I’ve ever met. I don’t want him to have a key to this place.”

Jessica raises her eyebrows. “Not even if it doubles as a safety mechanism having someone other than the two of us be able to get in here should we need help?”

Technically, that could come in handy, but you don’t care. “No.” You reply, trying your best to be dismissive of the topic, but it’s apparently really important to Jessica.

“Y/n…” She says softly, and you roll your eyes with a huff of breath.

“Fine, but he’s not allowed to just come over whenever he’s bored. You two need to have set plans for him to use his extra key.” 

“Deal!” She says as she lights up, and you try to imagine yourself in her position - you’d probably want to keep the tradition of giving your best friend an extra key, too…though your other best friend wouldn’t be as annoying as Haechan. Regardless, you liked seeing Jessica happy, and if this was what it took, then so be it.

A week later, you and Jessica found yourselves sitting on the couch watching Bones, a typical after-homework routine. It became disgustingly less typical when your attention was turned to the sound of a key unlocking the door to your dorm. You hide your groan but nothing stops your eye roll as soon as you see Haechan. His gaze passes right over you as he greets Jessica, apparently his goal today was just to pretend you didn’t exist. You couldn’t be too peeved - the last thing you wanted to do was talk to him. However, you could be mad because you don’t remember Jessica saying anything about having plans with him today, and you watch as your one guideline for him having an extra key slips down the drain. 

Jessica doesn’t think anything of it, of course she wouldn’t, he’s one of her best friends. “Hey Hyuck, we’re watching Bones if you want to join.” She says neutrally. Somewhere along the line, Haechan must have figured out you weren’t just a demon in one of his nightmares, because you had the pleasure of being the subject of his reply.

“Not if she’s still going to be here, too.” He says sternly, causing you to scoff.

“I was here first, you dick.”

At your side, Jessica sighs, seeming to know exactly where this was going as Haechan’s eyes light with fire. “Okay idiot, and I was her friend first.” He spits back, making you clench your jaw…and a fist. A multitude of insults could be thrown your way and you would’ve brushed it off, but ‘idiot?’ That gets under your skin every time. Though, because you were Jessica’s best friend, she knew that, and immediately jumped to calm you down. 

“Okay…” She says, gently grabbing you by the shoulders and settling you back down into the couch. “Y/n, you are not an idiot, I promise. And Hyuck…” she continues, moving her flat gaze over to him. “You’re not a dick - though you make it very hard to defend you sometimes.” As Jessica finished, her gaze flicked back and forth between you and Haechan. The two of you shot your gaze off towards completely different walls of the dorm, refusing to look at the other even in the slightest. Jessica waited five seconds for either of you to say anything, but when that didn’t happen, she spoke up again.

“You guys are insufferable.” She begins with a sigh. “You know it’s my birthday this weekend. I was looking forward to being able to spend it with my best friends…all of them.” Her words are soft and you know she’s serious. Your shoulders drop.

“Where are you going with this?” You ask, immediately shutting your eyes in preparation for the answer you knew you wouldn’t want to face.

“Is it even in the realm of possibility for the two of you to get along for just one night? One dinner?” Jessica asks hopefully. You and Haechan finally whip your heads around to face Jessica, a matching look of terror on both of your faces.

“No.”

“Absolutely not.” You respond at the same time.

Jessica rolls her eyes, and you hate it because it meant your responses actually put her in a sour mood…and all you ever wanted as her best friend was for her to be happy. The horrible news is that she knew this, and used it to her advantage against the both of you. “If I put you on opposite sides of the table, could you at least be civil? For me.” She adds, the cherry on top of her already disheartened tone.

You and Haechan take one small glance at each other, enough to reach the same conclusion before you both respond. “Fine.” A smirk reaches Jessica’s face and you shake your head, getting up from the couch to instead find solace in your bedroom, letting Haechan take your spot without another word.

In what you thought was too little time, it was already the evening of Jessica’s birthday dinner. The dress code was fancier than you were used to, but all you had time for was one sigh at yourself in the mirror before Jessica was rushing you out the door. The two of you getting in the car must have been the trigger for her to start going over the game plan again, because the first thing she said as she pulled out of the parking lot of your dorm was, “there’s going to be thirteen of us there tonight. You and Haechan won’t be anywhere near each other, but even so, please just try and not hate him an overwhelming amount tonight.” 

You drop your head to face your lap with a laugh. “Don’t worry. You know me, you know the last thing on my mind is ruining your birthday. I’ll be good.” 

Her light laugh and nod in response let you know she believed you, and as she pulled to a stop light she looked your way for a moment. “You look gorgeous, by the way.” 

You roll your eyes but it doesn’t stop the smile from spreading across your face. “Look who’s talking.” You say seriously. Your best friend was always gorgeous, but times like these it was hard to do anything but stare. Jessica shakes her head.

“Well, you know. ‘Dress to impress’ and all that.” She replies, and you whip your head towards her, your words coming out as though you were frightened.

“Who are you trying to impress? Please don’t tell me it’s Haechan. Oh my God. No. I can stand the two of you being friends but you cannot date him or I might die.” 

At this, Jessica rolls her eyes, taking time to laugh rather than save you from your worst nightmare. “Y/n, how many times have I talked to you about guys in a romantic sense? Has any of it ever been about Haechan? No.” She answers for you. “It’s always been about…” This time she drags off and leaves you to fill in the blanks yourself. You finally get over the horror that could have faced you and your mind clears, causing you to light up.

“Mark! Wait, Mark is coming?!” You ask excitedly, making her laugh some more.

“Yes, Mark is coming. We are really good friends, after all. I’m just thinking if he sees me all dressed up, he’ll finally realize he has to ask me on a date sooner than later or someone else will. I’m getting tired of waiting for his dorky ass.” She replies, and you raise your eyebrows - you know she would wait forever for Mark, not that she necessarily should, but she would.

The two of you arrive at the restaurant to find out you were the first ones there for the party and start on checking in for the reservation. Then, as you both turn around from the host stand, you’re greeted with Mark and Haechan walking in together. You’re sure Mark looked great, but you would be lying if you said you even took one look at him. Instead, all of your attention was on Haechan, his white button-up tightly hugging his body, the look complete with rolled-up sleeves. You did your best not to stare, but it wouldn’t have mattered anyways, he wasn’t paying any attention to you. Instead, he was now entirely engrossed in conversation with Mark and Jessica. You don’t even know if he knew you were here, and in that moment you realized tonight was going to prove a lot harder than you originally thought, because you hated Haechan an overwhelming amount. 

Thankfully, the rest of the party arrived soon after and you were all quickly seated, Jessica in the middle with you and Haechan at complete opposite ends as promised. Instead, you got to sit and talk with Winter and Jisung. Overall, you really couldn’t complain. Winter was one of the first friends you made on campus. On the other hand, you and Jisung had been partnered for a project one semester that saw the two of you sharing way too many 2:00 am coffees as you tried to squeeze the semester project into the span of two weeks - your friendship with Jisung feels more so like the result of trauma bonding, but you wouldn’t have traded it for the world. 

That being said, dinner went pretty smoothly. After eating your main course, you excused yourself to use the bathroom, but you didn’t even make it ten steps before you realized you were being trailed. As you step into the hallway where the doors to the restrooms were, you turn around to face Haechan. “Really? You couldn’t wait until I was back at the table?” You ask plainly. Haechan furrows his brows.

“I didn’t plan this. I didn’t even realize you had gotten up from the table. I wasn’t paying any attention to you.” He remarks, and you roll your eyes.

“Right, all you ever do is pretend I don’t exist. How could I forget?” You say sarcastically.

Haechan scoffs, shaking his head. “Well, all you do is hate me for existing, so I feel like it’s a pretty even balance. Besides, every time I acknowledge your existence, it ends up like this.” 

You pause for a moment, glaring at Haechan. Was it truly easier to pretend you didn’t exist rather than deal with the fact that you do. “I hate you.” You finally say. Haechan feigns surprise, moving a hand over his heart as if he’s just been shot. Though, his face neutralizes in an instant.

“I hate you, too. Can we get on with why we’re actually here now?” He asks, nodding his head towards the men’s room as he looks towards you with disinterest. You clench your jaw, not bothering to give him a verbal response as you walk into the ladies room, where you finally let yourself breathe again. 

The rest of the dinner party went by quickly, and suddenly it was just you and Jessica back in her car. “Well, that went really well!” She said, beaming. You could hardly match the enthusiasm, though.

“Yeah…”

She chanced a look over at you, eyebrows furrowed. “Did it not go really well?”

“It was fine.” You reply softly, shaking your head. You didn’t want to ruin the night now after appearing to have successfully made it through dinner.

“You two weren’t even around each other.” She says, her underlying tone letting you know how confused she was.

“We ran into each other by the bathrooms.” You say, shrugging in your seat.

Jessica grimaces. “Didn’t go well, I’m guessing.”

You let out a heavy, defeated sigh. “I don’t understand what his problem is.”

“He doesn’t have a problem.” Jessica replies with a light laugh, and you shoot your gaze over to her in question.

“Really? So, he’s just always a dick?” You ask, trying your best to keep your tone light while also letting her know that, if that’s normal Haechan, you were harshly judging her choice of friends.

Jessica smiles, a small laugh coming out that’s more so just an exhale. “No…but maybe the issue is just the fact that you hate him. Maybe if you were a little nicer to him, he would calm down, too.” She says, doing her best to be convincing, but you just shake your head.

“I don’t want to be nice to him. Not ever.” You say firmly, and surprising you, Jessica just shrugs lightly.

“Well, I tried.”

You frown, looking over at her in the driver’s seat. “Sorry…it was a really fun birthday party, though.” You say, hoping she knew that Haechan didn’t ruin your day and praying that in turn, you didn’t ruin hers.

There seemed to be no reason to worry, though, because at the mention of the actual dinner party, Jessica lit back up. “Oh, you don’t need to tell me. I had a blast, and you and Haechan took care of all your fighting off-screen. Doesn’t bother me any.” She replies with a laugh, getting you to lighten up, too. Creating cause for excitement in itself, conversation for the rest of the drive back had nothing to do with Haechan. Instead, you learned that Mark did, in fact, figure out that his window of opportunity was closing and now he and Jessica have an official date tomorrow. In other words, the two of you squealed the rest of the way home.

It was close to a week later when you next saw Haechan again. It took Mark and Jessica one date to realize that they wanted to make things official, so you ended up seeing Mark around much more often than Haechan for a little bit. Though on Friday, the familiar turn of the key in the door was heard while you and Jessica were watching Bones in the living room, and you knew your mortal enemy was making his comeback after six days. 

Jessica paused the TV and you immediately got up from the couch, bringing your empty bowl of ramen to the kitchen so you could start on cleaning it. Then, Haechan finally made his way through the front door. You don’t bother looking up to greet his presence, he never did for you anyways. However, in an instant, Jessica was off the couch and grabbed Haechan by the wrist, stopping him from sitting down. 

“You look like you’ve been crying.” She says as Haechan turns to look at her.

He shakes his head solemnly. “No, I’m fine. They just wanted me to try a new brand of contacts since my other ones got discontinued, but these irritate my eyes. I just haven’t had the chance to go back and switch brands again, and I’m not really in the mood to pay for more contacts and waste all the money I just spent on these.”

“Take them out.” She replies instantly, and Haechan lets out something of a forced laugh.

“Well that’s the thing, these are weekly contacts, and I don’t have a case or solution with me to store them…and I don’t want to buy all that just for me to possibly switch back to daily contacts again soon.”

Jessica lets his wrist drop, seemingly understanding. From the kitchen, you shake your head, not remembering when you became so invested in the first place. In an instant, you finish with your bowl and head to your room without a word. 

You lasted in your bedroom doing homework for about an hour, which, everything considered, you thought was pretty good, but then you couldn’t stand the constant noise anymore from the other side of your bedroom wall. You threw all of your things into your backpack, getting up and storming out of the room.

“Agh! I hate his guts! I’m going to the library.” You proclaim loudly as you step back out towards the living room. 

On the couch, Haechan looks over at Jessica. “She talks about me a lot, doesn’t she? I didn’t even do anything this time.” He says with a laugh, but you just glare at him.

“Grow up, not everything is about you.” You spit out before heading towards the door.

Jessica waits for you to be completely gone before she ever answers Haechan. “Ha, she’s actually talking about our neighbor on the right. Their bedrooms share a wall and he has an unrivaled sex drive. I think she was traumatized the first time she heard…it. Though now, it’s just extra noise and it irritates the hell out of her when she’s trying to study.” Haechan’s jaw drops in surprise, the corners of his mouth wavering as he tries not to laugh. Jessica shakes her head, a smile coming onto her face. “It’s a little bit funny.” She says, getting Haechan to finally break into a smile too before continuing their conversation from before you left. Though, with it being a Friday, it wasn’t too much longer before they themselves were out of the house, though their destination was the bar instead of the library.

The next few nights came and went, until suddenly it was Tuesday again, when Haechan and Jess typically grabbed dinner together. You were doing homework at the coffee table, figuring a change in scenery would help you focus - that and the fact that your neighbor on the right was having another fun night. Jessica was still getting ready in her room when Haechan walked in through the front door. From the couch, you move your gaze towards him, figuring out he’s been holding out on you when it comes to his clothes. Today, he showed up in a black t-shirt, totally normal and fine, though said shirt was tucked into blue skinny jeans, not totally normal nor fine. 

“You’re staring.” Haechan says, bringing you back to real life. You shake your head, finally meeting his disinterested eyes.

“You don’t need to wear skinny jeans ever again.” You say flatly, and Haechan just scoffs before letting a smirk cross his face.

“My girlfriend wouldn’t take kindly to you telling me what to do.” He replies, and the news of a girlfriend only shocks you for a second before you snap back.

“Girlfriend? Wow, maybe you’ll get less annoying now that you’ve found someone willing to suck your dick.” You say, your face lighting up, although your tone conveyed how little hope you actually had in that happening.

Haechan narrows his eyes at you, his smirk turning evil. “Oh, I have a long, distinguished list of willing volunteers. Have you found anyone willing to suck yours yet?”

“Very funny.” You reply monotonously. Haechan just rolls his eyes, about hitting his limit of words spoken to you for the day.

“Where’s Jess?” He asks, his typical disinterest when it comes to you now back in his tone. You shake your head before nodding it in the direction of her room, not wanting to bother with actually talking to him anymore, either.

The next week, a casual Thursday night that you and Jessica thought you had to yourselves was disrupted with a soft knock on the door, and Jessica moved from the couch to open it, promptly stepping back to let Haechan inside, and you hate the fact that his loophole to not using his front door key unless he actually had plans with Jessica was just to knock instead. He walks in normally, but Jessica grabs his forearm with raised eyebrows. “Why aren’t you wearing your glasses?” She asks, considering the conversation from a little over a week ago.

You watch from the couch as Haechan visibly gulps, dropping his head to try and cover up his saddened expression. “...she doesn’t like when I wear them.” He states, and immediately you and Jessica both know he’s talking about his girlfriend. Despite never meeting her, you hated her guts. Ever since she got with Haechan, all she’s done is be toxic. You know so, because Haechan ends up at your dorm basically every night seeking comfort from Jessica after his girlfriend spends their dates degrading him the entire time.

You immediately pop up from the couch and storm to your room, slamming the door behind you, though that was more so accidental. How Haechan’s girlfriend treated him was none of your business, and not worth you getting worked up over, but his constant need to decompress in Jessica’s presence meant you had to see him a lot more than you would have ever liked, and that’s where you started having problems. If his girlfriend was actually nice and cared about him, you probably would have never had to see him again because he’d be spending so much time with her…it was your luck that the opposite happened. 

Almost two weeks passed of seeing Haechan every single day, and you started just strictly staying in your room any time past 5:00 to try and avoid seeing him completely. Though, when the next Tuesday rolled around, you were the one to open the door in response to the firm knocks. You knew Haechan and Jess were going out to grab dinner tonight, it was a weekly thing, so you didn’t understand why he couldn’t just use his key. In an odd turn of events, the first thing Haechan says as he steps through the door frame is ‘thank you.’ You stand there in shock, and he takes it as a sign that he needed to elaborate. “Sorry, I didn’t come from my house so I don’t have my extra key to this place.” He explains, but now you’re hardly listening to his words. Instead, taking the proximity provided by neither of you leaving the doorway to study his face with a frown. 

“Are you wearing makeup?” You question with furrowed brows. Surprising you, Haechan ducked his head, and his voice was weaker than you’ve ever heard as he responded.

“She said I have too many flaws on my skin right now and it was embarrassing her.” Your eyes widen. His girlfriend. His girlfriend, the reason he’s stopped wearing glasses and apparently the reason he has foundation and concealer covering his face right now. Your jaw clenches involuntarily. This is where you draw the line.

“Fuck that.” You spit out, grabbing Haechan’s wrist and dragging him to the bathroom with you.

He glances towards your physical contact before looking back up at you with scrunched eyebrows. “Y/n, what are you doing?” He asks as you place tons of different items on the counter.

“Taking off your makeup.” You reply sternly, and his eyes go wide.

“No, you can’t. Please.” He begs, and your heart chips a little. Your hand freezes above the water tap, sighing deeply in place of turning on the sink.

“Did you want to put it on or did she make you?” You ask softly, and Haechan’s face drops once again.

“She made me...” He replies in defeat, and you immediately turn the water on, much to his dismay. “You can’t take it off! I’m seeing her again tonight for something at her sorority!” His plea falls on deaf ears as you let the water warm up and start rubbing cleanser onto his face. You finally finish with your typical skin care routine for him, taking a step away to hang the washcloth to dry and start on putting your products away.

“If you want to wear makeup, that’s fine. But don’t ever come over here in makeup she’s made you put on again, or I’ll give you a reason to need concealer.” You say offhandedly as you finish and walk out of the bathroom with Haechan in toe.

“Did you just threaten to punch me?” He asks, a scoff accompanying it.

“Of course I did. I despise you. You’re an annoying prick, but I don’t need you feeling bad about yourself for any reason other than that…especially for something like this.” 

Haechan stares at you bewildered, trying to figure out if your words just meant what he thinks they did. “Y/n-”

“Have fun getting dinner with Jessica.” You cut him off, not giving his curiosity the satisfaction of an explanation. “Don’t worry about your girlfriend after…she won’t even notice. I gotta go do homework. Jess should be ready in a minute or so.” Then you were behind your closed bedroom door, fists clenched at your sides as you let anger run through your body. It wasn’t long before you heard Jessica come out of her room and start up a conversation with Haechan, and that was when you finally let yourself relax a little. 

Haechan was the one to start intentionally avoiding you after that. You figure you probably crossed a line that enemies don’t, but you don’t regret it. You and Haechan weren’t friends anyways, so it’s not like him now avoiding you really changed anything - it just made your own efforts to avoid him even easier.

So, about a month passed of you and Haechan avoiding each other, and when that wasn’t an option, sending each other nasty glares and rude remarks. You tried not to start anything, seeing as his girlfriend was doing enough damage to his mental health in the first place, but you still couldn’t back down and let him win if he started anything. Nevertheless, it was your birthday today and you were determined to make it as great as it could be, starting with not having Haechan anywhere near your thoughts. Instead, you were more focused on the three classes you had today, almost all of your brain power going towards making up scenarios for how your conversation with your last professor would go. 

As always, Dr. Choi never let your class out early, and you’re thankful you didn’t have a class following this or you would never get the time to ask him questions after. From your seat in the middle of the lecture hall, you made your way down to where his desk was set up, completely going against traffic as the rest of the students rushed towards the exits. As your footsteps grew closer to him, he looked up from his desk, a smile flashing across his face. 

“Ah, y/n. You look…” He starts, and you freeze as you withstand his eyeing you up and down. You should’ve known better than to imagine a case where this conversation went any differently. Dr. Choi habitually let his gaze linger on you too long, even if you were in a big t-shirt and jeans, but now here you were dressed up for your birthday. “Are you here to ask for extra credit?” He continues, and you slightly cringe in disgust. You were too used to it to have a bigger reaction, and you knew that if you didn’t play it cool, he would be uncooperative anyways.

Instead, you just shake your head lightly as if nothing was out of the ordinary. “No, I was wondering if you could open up the exam again so I can see which questions I got wrong.” You reply seriously. You got a 96 on the exam in question, and you’re sure no one who gets a 96 on a quantum mechanics exam ever takes the time to care about those 4 lost points…but it almost bothered you more than if you failed. You weren’t unprepared - all that a 96 shows is that there’s something you genuinely did not know, and not being able to look at the answers after grades were posted wasn’t helping you figure out what that was.

Dr. Choi’s reply is fast, monotone…deliberate. “Depends on if you open up your legs.” 

“Dr.-” You start flatly, but he’s quick to cut you off as his eyes light with fire.

“Into roleplay, are you?” He asks with a smirk, and if you were any less used to his behavior, you would have thrown up. Instead, you roll your eyes.

“No, Dr. Choi. You have a doctorate, so I’m being respectful. Is there any use in getting you to let me see the exam again?” You ask, staring him dead in the eye. His face loses its passion as he turns stoic, though maybe you could sense his disappointment in your dismissal.

“I told you my requirements.” He says somberly, and you just nod your head.

“Great. Thank you for your time.” You reply. Your walk out of class is natural in manner, but immediately once you get outside, your shoulders fall as you drop your head into your hands. You stand like that for only a moment to regain your composure, and then start up on your walk to your dorm. You had to get over it quickly and act like nothing was wrong. You still haven’t told Jessica about this professor. He was one of the heads of the physics department, so you’ve had to deal with him all the way up to now, and you’d have to deal with him after this course. You didn’t want Jessica to get all angry if there wasn’t anything you could do about it. So instead, you place a light smile back on your face and let yourself relax, knowing the rest of your birthday consists solely of time with your best friend - no vile professors, and no Haechan.

Another week goes by without a hitch, and so on Friday, you had spent most of the evening on the couch watching Bones. You had no homework and Jessica was out on a date with Mark for the night, not planning to get back until after 11:00. So, you figured you would occupy the living room rather than be huddled inside your bedroom hiding from Haechan if he had no reason to come over anyways. Though, it was only a little after 6:00 when the door to your dorm began to open, and you instinctively roll your eyes, knowing the only person it could be. “Jessica isn’t here, and frankly I’m gonna have to talk to her about you having an extra key-” You start as he opens the door, but then you finally see the state he’s in and worry begins to overtake your annoyance. “Haechan?!” You question, his tear-stained face a completely new sight to you.

His gaze has yet to be picked up off the floor, as he stands in complete defeat, his body shaking with sobs. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know if she would be here or not, and I couldn’t take the time to text and ask.” 

You’re immediately up off the couch, though you’re still frozen in your spot a few feet away from him. “You’re scaring me. What’s wrong?” You ask, trying to make your voice sound calmer than you felt in an attempt to get at least some control of the situation.

Haechan shakes his head. “No, you’re right. I shouldn’t have barged in. I shouldn’t be here.” He states, turning around to walk right back out of the door. He’s stopped though, by your firm tone.

“Lee Donghyuck, what is wrong?” This time, your question comes out more as a demand, and it’s enough to make Haechan freeze in his spot, dropping his hand that was reaching for the door knob. 

“My dad got in a car accident. He didn’t even make it through the ambulance ride.” He says, his words cut up by his cries. Your world stops, and you just stare at him. You were already really bad at comforting people, and this was the last thing you were expecting to hear, not to mention the last person you expected to be confiding in you.

“Hyuck…” You begin, but all you can do is fumble for words you know won’t come. Haechan gives you the pleasure of cutting you off.

“I didn’t know where else to go.” He replies, now fully crying again as he brings his hands up to cover his face. His sobs only silence for a second as he registers your touch. He brings his hands down to actually get visual confirmation that you were hugging him. You were standing in your living room and hugging your worst enemy, but you couldn’t just do nothing anymore. Your face pressed into his chest, you mumble out the best response you can muster.

“Here is just fine. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, and I’m sorry Jessica isn’t home to be the one to comfort you. I’m sorry it’s me, instead. I know you probably have other friends but…I’m watching Bones if you want to join. We can watch, like, an entire season if you want, and I’ll order your favorite food. If you want. I just- don’t really want you alone right now, and I’m scared that if I kick you out, you won’t ever find your way back out of your bedroom.”

At your words, Haechan seems to settle a bit more into the hug, using one sleeve of his hoodie to dry up his tears before replying. “Bones sounds good. What season are you on?”

You pick your head back out of his chest, staring up at him with a weak smile, hoping it conveyed just how grateful you were that he accepted your offer. “Just started season four. Come on.” 

You let go from the hug and motion for Haechan to find a place on the couch while you headed for the kitchen. While Haechan had been over more than you would have ever liked, your constant avoidance of him meant you had no clue what he actually liked. Instead, you stared at the open pantry with a frown before deciding to just grab all of your favorite snacks to share in hopes that he, too, enjoyed at least one of them. 

You place them all down on the coffee table in front of the couch, but suddenly you feel too awkward to say anything. So, you just make hesitant eye contact with Haechan for a second or two before he breaks away to actually look at everything you brought over. Though, because you’re still staring, you manage to catch the faint “thank you” that left his lips as he reached for a bag of chips. Despite yourself, the corners of your mouth perk up in a soft smile as you finally move to sit down next to him on the couch…a few feet away, but next to him.

It would have been completely quiet had the show not been on. Apparently you and Haechan were still really bad at being even acquaintances. Though, with the introduction of a new character, you quickly found your in.

“God, she’s had like, two minutes of screen time and I already hate Agent Perotta.” You say with a slight laugh, trying not to let it show how nervous you were to talk to him. Instead of glaring at you or pretending your input was the last thing he needed, though, he nodded a bit, smiling.

“Thank God you said it, because I hate her, too, but as a man I feel like saying it out of the blue would be distasteful.” He replies, and before you could stop it, you let out a heavy exhale of laughter. Immediately, your hand reaches up to cover your face, but Haechan had already whipped his head towards you. “Did you just find me funny?” He questions, the smile on his face growing.

You quickly shake your head, though your face wears a matching smile. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. This conversation is about Agent Perotta.” You say, looking back at the TV.

Haechan flashes his eyebrows up for a moment before redirecting his attention back to the show as well. “Yeah, I hate that bitch.” He says flatly, getting you to nod.

“I think this is the first thing we’ve ever agreed on.” You say, letting the shock factor show in your voice.

Haechan shakes his head, smiling in disbelief. “Should’ve known it was going to be about hating someone. Pretty sure you hate everyone except Jessica. I mean, what are we at now?” He teases, beginning to count them off on his fingers. “Me, Agent Perotta, your neighbor on the right, your professor who makes sexual comments about you…”

Immediately you jump up from the couch, staring at him with the widest of eyes. “WHAT?! How do you know about that?”

You watch as Haechan just shakes his head quickly, as if his previous statement would erase like an etch-a-sketch. “Oh, sorry. He’s on my list of people I hate. Mixed them up.” He replies like it’s nothing, and you don’t know how he’s being so nonchalant about this.

“Hyuck, we don’t share that class, how do you know about that professor? I haven’t even told Jessica.” You ask again, the panic beginning to seep through your words some more. You didn’t know how he knew, you didn’t know if he was going to tell Jessica, you didn’t know if it would change the way he viewed you, you didn’t know why Haechan’s view of you mattered because it was already shit anyways…all of it made you anxious. 

Haechan hangs his head back, staring up at you from where he still sat lazily on the couch. “Please don’t worry about it. Forget I said anything.” He responds, his orders strict but his voice calm. You just shake your head once more.

“Hyuck-” You start, but this time he rolls his eyes, finally getting fed up with the conversation.

“I just wanna watch Bones! Can we make this day about me again? Hello, I’m sad and in need of a light-hearted distraction in the form of crime-solving.” He says, his volume already much louder than it just previously was. Typically, his whining would just make you want to punch him, but he was right, at least a little bit. He was the one with the bigger stressor, and while it wasn’t a competition in the first place, you did want this to be a comforting time for him, not one where you grilled him over his knowledge of your personal life.

“Agh, you’re so difficult!” You shout back, though placing yourself down on the couch again anyways.

Haechan flashes a quick smile in response. “Great! You hate me, we hate Agent Perotta, we’re back on track. Press play.” He says, moving his arms out towards the TV in a showy fashion that you hated. Though, with Agent Perotta back on screen, it did bring up another truth.

“...I hate you less than I hate her.” You say quietly, but with your focus back on Bones, you miss Haechan’s smartass smirk falling into something softer in response. Then, Bones is the only sound to fill the dorm again.

A few hours and entirely too much takeout later, the front door opens again as Jessica walks through. 

“Hey y/n, I’m home-” She starts, locking the door, but then she finally turns around to the living room and her jaw drops. “Hyuck?!”

“Hey!” You reply as though nothing were amiss. Jessica looks back and forth between you and Haechan more times than you could count, her eyebrows furrowed.

“You two are hanging out??” She questions, and Haechan just shrugs.

“I had a bad day. Needed some comfort.” He replies neutrally, but Jessica’s eyes just grow wider.

“So you decided to hang out with y/n? Who you typically can’t stand to be in a room with for more than 0.5 seconds.”

You shake your head with a small laugh. “Jessica, he came over to see if you were here.” You say, stating the obvious. It doesn’t help Jessica’s shock.

“But when he saw it was just you, he stayed?” She asks, and you’re pretty sure you saw the mania start to set in behind her eyes.

“We’ve been watching Bones.” Haechan says with a smile.

Jessica shakes her head in disbelief. “And neither of you find this strange?”

“We hate Agent Perotta.” You reply with a smirk, and suddenly a wave of clarity washes over Jessica.

“Ah, common ground. Makes more sense.” She says calmly as she starts making her way to the couch as well. “Well, mind if I join-” She starts, but then Haechan’s phone begins to ring and he’s up off the couch in an instant.

“My mom is calling. I have to go.” He says, and the sadness and worry that you had managed to kill over the past few hours reappears in his voice in no time.

“Hyuck?” Jessica questions, but he just shakes his head in dismissal.

“I have to go.” He restates, and then makes his way to the door. You watch from the couch as he starts to leave, probably to go drive to meet his mom - this late at night…driving. Panic erupts in your system.

“Haechan,” you cry out, scrambling off the couch. He whips his body back around to face you rather than the door. Without thinking, you wrap Haechan in a hug, speaking softly into his shoulder. “Be safe, okay?” 

Haechan lets out a small sigh, knowing exactly where your mind was at. Gently, he places his arms around you, as well. “I hate you less than I hate her, too.” He says softly in place of replying to your last statement. You freeze in his arms and he’s the first to let go, his phone beginning to ring again and reminding the both of you he had somewhere to be. He’s quickly out the front door, leaving you to just turn back around towards Jessica on the couch. 

“What was that?” She asks, completely confused again. You just shake your head.

“It’s really not for me to tell you. Haechan just…got really bad news today. But you’re his actual best friend, he’ll tell you as soon as he can, I’m sure. Then you can take over my role and do a much better job at comforting him or so help me God.” You reply, a small laugh accompanying the end of your sentence before you continue. “I’m gonna go get ready for bed, if you don’t mind. I hope your date with Mark went really well.” Jessica just nods from the couch, a little dumbfounded by your behavior if you had to guess, but you couldn’t bring yourself to explain any further. 

Within the following week, Haechan had told Jessica about his dad. However, he also told her another piece of news, which Jessica immediately relayed to you once she got back from hanging out with him. 

“Hey, just thought I would let you know that Haechan and his girlfriend broke up.” She says after entering your dorm. You look up at her from the kitchen table, eyes wide.

“What?!” You question with more emotion than you could have imagined, but with the situation with his dad, was this really when she had to break it off and hurt him further. Jessica doesn’t answer your question, probably because it was incredibly vague. Instead, she moves on to her actual point of telling you.

“So, he might be over even more often than before.” She says carefully, trying to gauge how pissed you were gonna be at that piece of news. You just shake your head.

“Did he say why they broke up?” You don’t know why you asked, you didn’t care, but Jessica didn’t seem to think any of it was out of the ordinary.

“No, but he’s pretty torn up about it, which sucks because we both know how horrible she was to him.” Right, regardless of what horrible timing this was because of his already sad state, his girlfriend, or ex, probably wasn’t helping anyways while they were together. You figure Haechan dodged a bullet with the relationship ending sooner rather than later. You nod in response, speaking through a sigh as the past memories and stories about his ex replayed in your mind.

“Yeah…”

Jessica seems to be doing the same, but she shakes out of it quicker than you. “I think I’m gonna take him out to the bars next weekend or something. I don’t have a lot of free time right now, but I figure he could use a night out.” She says neutrally, and you nod, letting her know you probably couldn’t come up with a better idea.

“Yeah.”

Then two weeks later, you were telling Jessica to be safe as she left for the bars with Haechan. She extended the invite, but you figured Haechan probably had enough of you trying to support and comfort him, so you just told her that you’d stay home and to call if they needed a ride back. At one in the morning, that call came, but it was from Haechan rather than Jessica, and as you pick up, you forget the entire reason they went out tonight, your mind running on autopilot once you see his name light up your phone screen.

“What do you want?” You ask, your disgust at his call hardly hidden in your voice. You immediately feel bad though when he responds and his tone is much gentler than the one you used for him.

“Hey, Jess was the one who apparently needed to unwind tonight, so I let her do all the drinking at the bar…too much, apparently. I was gonna drive her back to your place but she was concerned about ruining whatever image she thinks you have of her in your head, so instead of her getting sick at your place, I let her get sick at mine. She just got in the shower, but I gotta be honest, now that I’m home, I’m pretty exhausted. Do you think you could come grab her?” He asks, and for a moment, you smile softly. You could tell Jessica had been stressed the past few weeks, truly probably needing the night out more than Haechan, and it was comforting knowing that he didn’t drink so that he could look out for her at the bar and back home. 

You nod your head before realizing he couldn’t see it, and then you speak up, much softer than before. “Yeah, I’ll be there soon. Send me your address.” You say, then hanging up and grabbing your things to head his way.

Haechan opens the door in response to your knocking, the familiar bored expression back on his face. “You got here quicker than I thought you would…Jessica is still in the shower.” He states, as though your early presence was a huge inconvenience. You don’t pay attention to his tone, though. Your mind focuses on his clothes as you unintentionally scan his body up and down.

“Skinny jeans, huh?” You question with a straight face, meeting his eyes again as he smirks down at you.

“Well, I knew there was a high probability I’d see you tonight so I thought it would be fun to torment you-” You don’t know what came over you, but surely it wasn’t your fault. You told him not to wear skinny jeans ever again, and he did so just to spite you. Somehow, it all made him really hot, and you find yourself cutting off his words as you press your lips to his. You pull away quickly, shock covering both your faces as you simply stare at each other, eyes wide and breath heavy as you process what you just did. 

You swallow hard, trying to remedy your suddenly dry throat. Your courage to look him in the eyes diminishes within milliseconds, and you drop your face towards the floor, which seemed to irritate Haechan to no end because as soon as your gaze met the floor, he walked the one step back over to you, grabbing your jaw to the point where it almost hurt and forcing you to look his way again. Then he kissed you harshly, and you fell right in line. 

There was no romance in the kiss. Instead, something like lust had your tongues fighting for dominance with each other as your hands tried to memorize every part of Haechan’s body. The two of you moved with intensity, stumbling around the room because you couldn’t possibly stay still with the amount of passion embedded in this kiss. The first time you remember breaking away wasn’t so you could take a breath. You were fine never needing oxygen again. Instead you broke away to pull his shirt up over his head, discarding it to the side without much care. You immediately press your lips back onto his, but he’s quick to pull back this time, looking at you with a shake of his head as his eyes move back and forth between your two bodies.

“No fair!” He complains, causing you to roll your eyes before removing your own shirt to reveal your black lace bra because the universe was apparently on your side when you got dressed today. You watch his adam’s apple bob up and down as he takes you in, a heavy sigh escaping his lips. “No fair…” He whispers before rushing to close the distance between you two again, but this time, his lips don’t land on yours. Instead, they find your chest as his hands squeeze at your waist. You throw your head back in response, giving Haechan the ability to leave a trail of kisses from your chest up your neck, stopping in the middle to nip at somewhere near your collarbone before his continued exploration, and you thank God that Jessica has the shower running to cover up the moan it produced from you. He kisses up your neck and jaw before eventually finding his way to your lips again, and you waste no time getting your tongue back in his mouth. Before you know it, he’s picking you up, just to throw you right back down on the couch. Your eyes open in surprise, but then the sight of him on top of you has you unable to function. For some godforsaken reason, he’s able to read you completely, chuckling as he looks at your breathless expression. 

The sound of his laugh gets you to break out of it, and you rush to connect your lips with his again. Your hands trace up and down his bare back, your nails sending goosebumps to his entire body as they claw at certain spots. Your hands get caught in his belt loops, causing a smile to cover your face and impeding your ability to kiss him, but you couldn’t help finding humor in the fact that his skinny jeans caused all of this. You shake your head, pulling away from the kiss for a moment and making Haechan pout before he moves to suck on your neck again.

“God, you have such a slutty waist for no reason.” You spit out in feigned anger, hands resuming their roaming over his figure. Haechan pops up so his eyes could meet yours. A playful smirk on his face covering up the split second glance you got of him looking ready to devour you.

“You love my slutty waist.” He responds confidently, and while you would love to prove him wrong, you can’t bring yourself to. So, you open and close your mouth, fighting for words that would never come out, and for a moment, Haechan looks down at you with something resembling fondness written over his features, though you were positive you were making that up. He shakes his head softly with a smile before leaning back down to kiss you, and once his lips were on yours, his entire demeanor was coated with a certain roughness and desire again that had you weak.

The only thing that pulled the two of you out of your bubble was the sound of the shower turning off, and suddenly your background noise was gone, making everything feel more real. Haechan broke out of the kiss with wide eyes, rushing to get off from on top of you as he grabbed your shirts from the floor, throwing yours over to you as he fumbled to put his own shirt back on. 

“Don’t you dare tell anyone about this.” He says sternly, running a hand through his hair to get it back to somewhat normal. You rush to put your shirt back on, bounding off the couch before Jessica could walk out of the bathroom.

“I wasn’t planning on it.” You reply in kind, refusing to acknowledge the pit in your stomach that formed as Haechan gave an uninterested eyebrow flash and went to busy himself in the kitchen, preparing to act normal for whenever Jessica eventually walked out so you could take her home. 

It was only three days later when you saw Haechan again. More excited than usual for their Tuesday dinner, Jessica opened the door before Haechan could even use his key. “Hey!” She greets with a smile which he reflects right back. 

“Hey!” He replies, actually stepping into your living room. 

Jessica immediately starts talking about how she’s not even close to being ready yet but was swamped with homework and couldn’t wait for the forced study break that came with dinner, even though she had to go make herself look presentable first. Haechan nodded along, but you’re not sure he was listening at all, because even though Jessica was right in front of him, his gaze kept wandering over to you on the couch before he could noticeably snap his focus back to Jessica. You tried to stay natural, that way if Jessica actually followed his gaze over to you, she wouldn’t immediately suspect something. Though, when Jessica did finally go back to start getting ready for dinner, you jumped off the couch and dragged Haechan by the collar towards the corner of the room furthest away from hers. 

“You have to stop being so weird around me. Jessica is gonna know something happened.” You say sternly, though you kept your voice at a near whisper just in case you weren’t as far away from Jessica as you thought. Your eyebrows furrowed as you looked over Haechan. He had never been this uncool before. 

Haechan shakes his head, keeping his volume low though his words were more frantic than yours.  “I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you.” You take a small step back in surprise, finally letting go of your grip on his shirt. That was probably the last thing you were expecting him to say, but you would be lying if you said it didn’t make your heart jump up in your throat. 

“So…” You start, begging for clarification on what that meant.

Haechan moves his head down so that he’s able to make better eye contact with you, so that you could see the seriousness in his gaze. “So can we maybe see each other when Jessica isn’t getting ready in the next room?” 

You swallow hard at the question. “That sounds like a lot of sneaking around.”

“It’s worth it for you.” He replies instantaneously, making you freeze again. He was saying a very right thing under what felt like the wrong context, and despite yourself, you try to remedy that.

“But- does it have to be all sneaky? I mean, couldn’t we just-” Though, that’s as far as he lets you get before he cuts you off, shaking his head with a small laugh.

“Y/n, be real. We don’t like each other. This isn’t something emotional, it’s physical. Yeah?” Right, this was your mortal enemy you were talking to. You guys didn’t like each other. An actual relationship would be the worst idea in the world, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that he looks like a dream in skinny jeans…and you’d take what you could get.

“Yeah- uh, yeah. Let’s do it.” You reply, and Haechan flashes you a killer smirk before breaking away and settling himself on the couch to wait for Jessica to get done. You don’t join him, already feeling dizzy from the conversation. Instead, you just find refuge in your bedroom until they leave, but that night didn’t end without a text from Haechan, already making plans.

You and Haechan quickly fell into routine. The first time you went over to his house under the guise of you going to study at the library, you hardly said two words to each other. Instead, Haechan opened his door to your presence and immediately pulled you inside by your arm, pushing you towards the general direction of the couch so he could get on top of you.

The next time you came over, he opened the door to see your bright smile. “Hey, Hyuck-!” You could hardly get your words out before he pulled you inside and pinned you against the now closed door. Through heavy pants in between harsh kisses, he speaks. 

“I love it when you call me that.”

You involuntarily smile a bit as you do your best to look at him with raised eyebrows. “Your name?” You ask sarcastically as he sucks on your neck.

He pops his head back up so he can look you in the eyes as he replied. “My name that the people who I care about call me.” You freeze, chills running through your entire body at his words, and in that moment, you knew you were fucked, because this was not just physical to you. Haechan was naturally flirty - a sweet talker. That wasn’t hard to deduce from his looks alone. He was hot and he knew it, which also meant he knew how to get whatever girl he wanted for the time being, but the idea of being a ‘time being’ girl of his began to make cracks in your heart. That night, you left with a spare key to his house and instructions of coming over whenever you wanted, for physical purposes, of course.  

As soon as Jessica said she was going back home for the weekend, you immediately texted Haechan to let him know, and not even five minutes after Jess closed the door to your place, you opened it back up again to Haechan’s presence. “Hey, y/n.” He says with a smile you can’t help but reflect back to him. 

“Hi, Hyuckie.” You reply bashfully. You watch as his eyes widen a bit, his smile now reaching the rest of his facial features. Without spending much time thinking about it, he leans in and gives you a quick peck on the lips before instantly retreating back and facing the floor. You laugh as you step back and actually allow him inside, figuring that kiss was probably too domestic for him to handle. 

Since the two of you hadn’t commenced this whole operation at your place before, Haechan waited for you to take the lead on deciding where he could have you. You watch his idle presence, laughing a bit, much to his confusion, before shaking your head. “Come here.” You say, nodding your head, and he’s quick to follow.

“Um, y/n?” He says as you turn into the room. “This is your bathroom.”

“I know.” You say, bending down to grab something in one of your cabinets. Haechan just stares at you bewildered, even more so when you pull out a lens case and contact solution. You smile at his expression. “Go on then. I know you still haven’t switched contacts and I know you brought your glasses with you.”

“What?” He asks with wide eyes. You shake your head fondly, placing a gentle hand on his cheek.

“Your contacts irritate your eyes. You look cute in glasses. Please take out your stupid contacts and put your glasses on.” You watch as he dismisses your words, shaking his head as his eyes glaze with fear rather than confusion. You bite on the inside of your cheek, beyond pissed that his ex turned him into this. “Hyuck, you’re the hottest person alive. I don’t care about whatever your ex-girlfriend said. I understand if you get self-conscious and want to wear your contacts out in public, but you don’t have to with me. All I want is for you to be comfortable, and I know you’re not in your contacts.” You watch as he nods his head slowly, and you leave the bathroom with a soft smile as he gets close to the mirror to start taking his contacts out. 

You sit on the couch as you wait for him to come out of the bathroom, scrolling idly on your phone. You pop your head up to meet him when you hear his footsteps cause the floor to creak. He looks small, his arms crossed, gaze aimed at the floor, and his glasses on. You smile warmly. “My pretty boy, come here.” You say, standing up with open arms, but Haechan freezes.

“What?”

You don’t know what he’s confused about until you trace back over your words, eyes going wide as you try and remedy the situation. “I- I didn’t mean to be so possessive, calling you mine and everything. I know you’re not…mine. I mean, this is purely physical. I wasn’t trying to be like- you know. It just slipped out. I’m sorry. Please come objectify me and make things normal again.”

“Y/n, you know you’re not just a body to me, right?” He asks softly, a skeptical eyebrow raised. You raise your head to look at him through narrow eyes. 

“I’m not?”

He rolls his eyes, shaking his head. “No, of course not. I didn’t mean to make you feel like that.”

“But then- but this is just physical…you don’t- I mean we don’t like each other so I don’t know how-” Your stumbling words are cut off with a kiss that you melt right into. Haechan pulls back finally with a tired expression on his face.

“You seriously talk too much. Yeah, we don’t like each other, but that doesn’t mean I act as if you’re just some body for me to use. You’re y/n, which means you’re my favorite person to hate. And you hate me back, which is great because you always look so hot when you’re pissed at me, it gets right under my skin in all the best ways. And I get the pleasure of knowing what you taste like? Do you know how big a flex that is? I mean, come on. You’re the hottest nerd around, and instead of the other nerds who probably have the biggest crush on you being the ones to kiss you like this, I’m the one who gets to know you use dragon fruit chapstick.” 

You’re able to let out a soft laugh. “You know it’s dragon fruit?” You ask in response, and Haechan raises his eyebrows, a smirk covering his lips.

“We kiss a lot.” He replies. You toss his words around visibly in your head.

“I don’t know. I don’t think we do it enough.” You say back, and Haechan just licks his lips. 

“You don’t know how badly I want to make you eat your words.” He says through his teeth, and you just throw a taunting grin his way.

“Then why don’t you?” You ask, and Haechan audibly laughs before grabbing you by the waist and crashing his lips onto yours.

You break after who knows how long when your stomach starts feeling like it’s caving in on itself. Haechan wastes no time in moving his lips from your own to your neck, guessing you probably just needed to break for air. You roll your eyes with a smile. “Hyuck.” You say monotonously, making him pop his head back up to your joyless demeanor.

“Did I do something wrong? I’m sorry. I just-”

“Hyuckie,” you laugh, and he seems to calm down a bit. “I haven’t had anything to eat yet today. I’m starving. I can’t physically kiss your pretty face anymore.”

Haechan shrugs. “Okay, let’s order a pizza.” 

You look at him, bewildered. “What- I thought- you’re not just gonna…I thought you were gonna go.”

“And why would I do that?” He questions, making you scrunch your brows down.

“Because then it would be like us hanging out while we eat. Not…this.”

Haechan laughs again. “I know. Let’s order a pizza. We’ve watched Bones on your couch before. You’re crazy if you think I’m gonna leave you so soon.” 

The shyest smile crosses your face as you reach for the phone to call the pizza place. You stare down at the number entered on the keypad - all you had to do was press the call button. Instead, you turn your gaze back over to Haechan, holding your phone out towards him. “Can you do it?” You ask shyly, and Haechan’s brows furrow.

“What?” He asks with ample confusion. You drop your head in response.

“I get really nervous when I need to order something over the phone.” You reply, your words hardly audible under your embarrassment. Haechan shakes his head, but the biggest smile comes across his face.

“You’re so fucking adorable. Give me the phone, you go get the TV ready.” He says, and you snap your gaze back up to him, a small grateful smile of your own painted across your lips as you move towards the TV. “Just a large pepperoni pizza, yeah?” Haechan continues, and you turn back to him with a nod.

“Yeah.”

You immediately turn Bones on the TV for the two of you to watch while you eat, and you’re pleasantly surprised to find a normal activity such as this didn’t feel awkward at all with him anymore. Haechan finished eating before you did, and he frowned at the space between the two of you on the couch for only a second before sliding over and wrapping an arm around your shoulder. You will your face not to blush at something as stupid as this, and you don’t even know if it worked. Regardless, there was still twenty minutes left on the episode when you finished eating, too. So, you made yourself more comfortable against his body.

Haechan started rubbing his thumb up and down your side where it had laid, incredibly too domestic for your liking. You try and shake it off pretty successfully, until his thumb moved ever so slightly to caress your covered breast. You sigh, turning to face him with a raised eyebrow. “You’re an idiot.” You say monotonously. 

He doesn’t look away from the TV, but he grins widely. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He replies. Though, his attempt to feign innocence is completely ruined when he straight up grabs your boob.

“Okay, that’s it.” You huff, switching from your position laying at his side to instead straddling him on top of your couch. Haechan looks at you as though he has no clue what you’re doing there, though his hands immediately latch onto your thighs, pulling you as close as possible to him. 

“You had enough to eat yet?” He asks with a smirk.

You give a minimal shake of your head. “I don’t know, you look pretty tasty.” You hardly get through your words before your ability to speak is taken from you. Haechan kissed you with a passion that couldn’t be rivaled, as his hands left your thighs to grab your waist, trying his best to pull you even closer to him. You knew you messed up when you started moving your lower body against his, making him break away from the kiss immediately. 

“Fuck, y/n!” He says loudly, but his grip on your waist only encourages you to speed up. As he tore his lips from yours, you moved to suck on his neck, another thing you shouldn’t have done. “No, no, no! That’s my job. Need your pretty neck.” He huffs, doing his best to remove your shirt. You let him, and then Haechan has a field day with your neck and chest as you still grind against him. Somewhere along the way, you managed to rip him from his shirt as well, your fingers lightly tracing his abs and making him go crazy. He eventually started dipping his fingers beneath the waistline of your pants. “Y/n, tell me to stop.” He breathes.

“Do I have to?” You reply in between kisses. 

“Yes, y/n. I- You don’t know how badly I need you.” 

“Show me, then.” 

Haechan pulls back from your lips, staring at you intently. “Y/n, I refuse to let this be something you regret.”

You laugh a little, shaking your head in dismissal. “I won’t. I promise.” 

Haechan looks at you as though he’s holding back his own laugh. “That sounded so certain. I would hate to be the guy that has you sure this won’t be as bad.” He replies, and you suddenly understand his interpretation of your words, causing you to duck your head, moving your attention to your hands that were currently fiddling with Haechan’s fingers.

“Oh, no. Hyuck, I’ve never…” Your words taper off, and Haechan looks at you with wide eyes.

“Oh my god, y/n. I can’t be your first. I mean, that’s a big deal, you know? You deserve-”

“Hyuck, there’s no one I trust more than you for this.” You say, cutting him off and getting him to render still. He licks his lips in contemplation, sighing heavily before he looks back up at you.

“You might end up bleeding - that’s okay. I don’t want you to worry about that or feel embarrassed at all because of it. I’ll clean you up after. If at any point you get uncomfortable, you tell me right away. I do not care what point that is, you tell me and it stops immediately, no questions asked. I will do my best to not hurt you, but you gotta tell me what feels good, okay? I’m gonna need you to be vocal and I mean it literally. I wanna make this about you, yeah? Tell me what you want and what feels good. And if you’re not 100% sure, I need you to be honest about it right now because-”

“Hyuckie.” You say gently, cutting him off. “I’m sure. You don’t have to worry.”

“Yes, I do!” He rebuttals. You just roll your eyes playfully, leaning in to give him a quick kiss before making eye contact again.

“It’s okay. Look, all you have to do is wrap your pretty fingers around my neck and we’ll be good to go.” You say plainly. Haechan looks at you in disbelief.

“A choking kink? You’re kidding me.” He says, adding on a dismissive chuckle. Though, you just raise your eyebrows at him expectantly, letting him know you were serious, and he turns slightly shy.

You watch as he sucks on his lips, eyes darting down from your own as he fights back a smile. “Like, is this good?” He asks, wrapping one of his hands around your neck lightly. His face contorts as you audibly laugh.

“Absolutely not. Come on, choke me like you hate me, Hyuck.” 

His eyes go wide as he pulls his hand from your neck. “You know, I don’t know if I want to take you to the bedroom anymore. You scare me.” He remarks playfully, but you send a pout his way and he instantly folds, picking you up from under your thighs and making his way to your bedroom. The two of you spend an ample amount of time just making out, exploring each other’s bodies. Then, with another check of assurance from Haechan and a rip of a condom packet with his teeth, he gave you a glimpse of heaven. 

Afterwards, Haechan got straight to work on his promise of helping you clean up. “Alright, beautiful, do you wanna shower?” He asks, but you don’t answer his question.

“Don’t call me that.” You say instead, watching as he furrows his brows. You sigh, dodging his eye contact. “Too domestic…” You add on, and you can hear him sigh.

“Okay, I’m sorry. I won’t call you that, but really, do you want to shower?” He asks again, and you nod. He immediately scoops you up, carrying you bridal style to the bathroom. 

“I can walk you know?” You say playfully before he sets you down on the bathroom floor.

“Yeah? Guess I need to go harder next time.” He replies with a smirk, but your playfulness falls into genuine happiness. 

“I’m glad there’s still a ‘next time’ after all this.” 

Haechan drops his shoulders, taking the opportunity provided by the fact that you were staring at the floor to look at you with a softness in his eyes. “There’s always a ‘next time’ with us.” He says, placing a gentle kiss on your forehead before moving to start up the shower for you. Standing frozen, by the time you realize you had to tell him that forehead kisses were also too domestic for you to handle, he was already out of the bathroom. 

When you walk back into your room wrapped in a towel, you’re shocked to see your bed stripped to just the mattress. You move your gaze to Haechan, a questioning look on your face. “Your sheets are in the washer right now. Do you have another set I can throw on your bed? If not, you can sleepover at mine. I’d just want to make sure we get your bedding in the dryer before we leave to go back to mine.” 

You’re quite honestly dumbfounded, and a smile takes over your face as you shake your head. “No, I don’t have another set. You didn’t have to do all this.” You say softly, but Haechan snaps his head back to you in an instant.

“Yes, I said I would. And this isn’t about me. How are you feeling?”

“Good.” You answer truthfully.

“Can I get you anything?” He continues, and you shake your head.

“No.” You reply. There was a beat of silence, and you lick your lips. “Actually…” You drag off, staring up at him to make sure he actually didn’t care about you making requests. “Could you just- can you just hold me for a second?” You ask weakly, and Haechan’s eyes widen.

“Yeah…yeah! Come here.” He says gently, and you take the few small steps right into his waiting arms. You don’t hug him back, your arms instead at your chest, holding up the towel that was still covering your body. Though, if Haechan minded, he didn’t let it show. His arms wrapped around you tightly, his embrace comforting. Then, without being able to really explain why, you began to cry in his arms. Haechan didn’t seem shocked. Instead, he just ran one hand gently up and down your back, though not letting up on his tight hold of you. 

“I’m sorry.” You say hoarsely. “I don’t know why I’m crying.” 

Haechan kisses the top of your head. “You don’t have to apologize. It’s okay. You’ve had an exhausting day. I’d rather you cry in my arms than alone.” 

You dig your head out of his chest, using one hand to wipe away the remaining tears on your face. “You can’t be this nice to me.” You say seriously, and Haechan sighs.

“Okay, no more being nice to each other…after tonight.” He says, and you find yourself nodding your head in response, getting him to relax again. “Do you still want me to hold you, or do you want to get dressed and head to mine?” He asks, truly not caring either way. 

You pull yourself out of his arms in response, facing the floor. “I’ll uh- get ready.”

The drive over to his place is quiet, with you staring out the window the entire time. Though, as soon as you walk through his front door, you find your words again. “I don’t regret it.” You say seriously. “And I won’t regret it when I wake up tomorrow. Or any time after that. I know I’m acting weird, but it’s not because of that. I promise.”

Haechan looks your way with a fond smile. “You aren’t acting weird, y/n. I put you through a lot today. I get it. Just come crawl into bed with me. I’ll hold you some more.” You don’t hesitate to give into his offer, though, you add it to the list of things that probably shouldn’t happen again if you don’t want to fall in love with Haechan. 

You ended up spending the entire next day with Haechan, under the reasoning that this would be the most time you guys would be able to spend together without Jessica getting suspicious. The two of you were walking back into your dorm Saturday night so that you could put your bed back together and hang out some more, figuring Haechan could just spend the night here and leave in the morning before Jessica gets back. That plan is instantly ruined when you open up the front door and see Jessica moving around in the kitchen. As quickly as you could, you shove Haechan back into the dorm hallway with one hand and slam the door behind you, praying he got the hint that Jessica was here and you didn’t just suddenly turn into a bitch. 

At the sound of the door slamming, Jessica shoots her gaze your way with a smile. “Hey, y/n!” 

You force your legs to start walking, moving towards the living room as if everything was normal. “Hey, Jess. I thought you weren’t supposed to be back until tomorrow afternoon.” You say, wondering why the hell she was already here. She waves an uninterested hand in the air.

“That was the plan, but I have so much homework and my parents had a brunch planned with some of their friends so there was really no reason for me to stay another night.” 

“Ah.” You reply, trying to just sneak away to your room without any more complications. You had nearly gotten away with it, but before you can step through the open door into your room, Jessica speaks up again, making you turn back to her.

“Oh, yeah. Where are your bed sheets?” She asks, curious, and you wince.

“Uh, they’re in the dryer. I washed them.” You say neutrally, but Jessica raises an eyebrow.

“You? Washed your sheets? You never wash your sheets.” She says with a laugh.

“Yeah well, you know. Just seemed like they needed washed.” You reply, trying your best to sound normal. 

“And uh- would that have anything to do with the hickies on your neck?” She asks, and you freeze on the spot, eyes wide as you make contact with her knowing expression, praying to God she didn’t know the all of it.

“Uh- yeah you know. I might’ve hooked up with someone while you were gone.” You say, fumbling through your words. You watch as Jessica lights up.

“Who?!” 

Your throat turns dry, and you start fiddling with the rings on your fingers as you find someone to pin this on. “Johnny! You know, the kid from Chicago who takes the least amount of credit hours a semester as possible so he can spend as many years at college parties as possible? Him.” You look back up to meet Jessica’s bewildered face.

“Wow.” She replies, seeming to be incredibly amazed by your ability to pull Johnny, and you can’t even begin to imagine what she would look like if you told her you actually pulled her best friend, instead. 

“Yeah, so- I’m just gonna go grab my sheets from the dryer and go to bed. I’ve had quite the weekend and we still have all of Sunday to get through.” As soon as you finish talking, you dart to where the washer and dryer were before rushing back to your bedroom and closing the door, immediately grabbing your phone to text Haechan.

Jessica is back early! I’m sorry for slamming the door in your face, but I didn’t know what else to do.

His response comes a few minutes later, finally letting you relax again. Don’t worry, I figured that was the case. I’m already back at my place…

Though you were glad he wasn’t still outside your dorm, because he definitely couldn’t come in now, your heart struggled with the idea of him already back at his house…without you. I wish we could’ve had our extra night together. I miss you, Hyuckie.

You watch as his text bubble appears and disappears. You bite on your bottom lip, opting to start putting your bed back together to keep your mind from running. After putting one corner of your fitted sheet back on, your phone dings and you instantly move to grab it and read his message. I thought we weren’t supposed to be nice to each other.

A small smile spreads across your face. He was making fun of you. You were the one who set those boundaries in the first place. You glance from your phone to your bed and immediately know how to respond. Don’t worry. I only wish you were here so you could help me make my bed like you said you would.

There’s my y/n. You read his text over and over again. Surely he just meant it in regard to your typical personality with him, the y/n he knew. Though, the more you looked at his text, the more you knew you didn’t want him to mean it in that way, you wanted him to call you his. That’s when you knew there was no way you could respond to that message. So, you continue the task of making your bed so you could go to sleep, trying to ignore how empty it felt without him. 

Two days later, you walked back in from class to see Jessica and Haechan hanging out in your living room. Your breath hitches at the sight of him, and you quickly turn around and act like you were still fiddling with the door so you could take a moment to fix a neutral expression on your face…and prepare yourself to scowl at him once you turn back around. 

“Hey, Jess. I’m home-” You start, moving to walk towards the living room. “-oh great. You’re here.” You continue with a roll of the eyes as your gaze lands on Haechan. 

His deadpan stare looks you up and down as his nose scrunches in disgust. “Yeah, cause I was told you weren’t.”

You flash your eyebrows at him, unamused. “Well, don’t worry. I won’t be bothering you.” You state as you start on your walk to your room. Haechan calls out after you.

“You already are, sweetheart.” He says condescendingly. 

“Yeah, fuck you.” You reply back, closing the door to your bedroom and giving yourself the ability to actually breathe again.

On the couch, Jessica rubs her forehead. “You know, I thought things were actually gonna get better between the two of you after you watched Bones that one day.” She says with a small, but defeated, laugh. Haechan clears his throat awkwardly. 

“Sorry to kill your spirits, but y/n and I are not meant to be friends.” He replies in kind before quickly getting the two of them back to their conversation topic from before you walked in. 

You were getting through some homework when there was a knock at your door. Assuming it was Jessica, you throw the door open, though shock courses through you when you see Haechan, instead. He leans in to give you a soft kiss before standing straight up again, as if that type of thing was normal between the two of you. “Jessica is in the bathroom.” He says softly, and you look at him with a raised eyebrow.

“That’s great, but I don’t think that gives us enough time to fuck.” You respond with a laugh, though Haechan’s brows furrow.

“What? I didn’t come here for that. I came to tell you I’m sorry for being mean to you when you came in.” 

Surprise runs over your face, but it soon drops into a gentle smile. “Don’t worry about it, Hyuck. We’re supposed to hate each other.”

He rolls his eyes. “I know, but it didn’t feel good this time.” He responds, riddled with defeat, and you can’t help yourself from getting up on your tiptoes to lightly kiss him again.

You pull back quickly, facing the ground. “Hyuckie-” That’s when the sound of the bathroom door opening fills the air, and you immediately jump to lean uninterestedly against your doorframe, arms crossed in front of your body as your face falls flat. “Homework! So, can you stop annoying me just because Jessica is gone for one second and you can’t annoy her?” 

As predicted, Jessica quickly finds her way over to the two of you, eventually coming to stand at Haechan’s side. “Can’t believe I come out of the bathroom to find you talking with y/n.” She says with genuine surprise. You make concerned eye contact with her.

“Talking? More like tormenting…” You say in response.

Jessica turns to look at Haechan, nudging him slightly. “Hyuck, I would be careful about pissing her off, now. She’s got some big men on her side that can come beat you up. I mean, she hooked up with Johnny Suh.” 

Your face becomes painted with shock. “Jessica!” You yell, causing her to put her hands up in defense.

“Look, it just came out.”

Haechan makes eye contact with you, a shit-eating grin on his face. “Hooked up with Johnny?! Really?” He responds, playing his part of not believing you pulled him exceptionally well.

You flash your eyebrows at him, doing your best to try and act all powerful now because you apparently hooked up with Johnny. “Yep! It was one hell of a first time.” You reply, and a soft smile is quick to adorn your face as you continue. “Not to mention he took…really good care of me after. You could learn something from him about how to treat women.” You add on, looking back up at him with a smirk. Almost all of Haechan’s body language could lead anyone to believe he hated you, didn’t give a damn about who you slept with, could hardly bother himself with this conversation at all, but his eyes were filled with fondness as he looked back at you. You inhale sharply, thankful when Haechan starts talking again to remind you of the environment you were in.

“Yeah? I’ll be sure to ask for lessons on how to tolerate you first.” He responds with a smirk of his own. Jessica finally gets fed up, rolling her eyes and grabbing Haechan by the arm to drag him away from you before you could argue any more. You almost instantly throw your homework back in your backpack, walking to the door to leave as you turn around to face them again. 

“I’m gonna head to the library since I obviously can’t get any work done here. I’ll be back later tonight.” You say with a smile aimed in Jessica’s direction. She threw a thumbs up your way along with a ‘be safe,’ and then you were out the door. 

You had just gotten to the library when your phone lit up with a text from Haechan.

I’ll pick you up from the library after Jess and I eat dinner.

You can’t help the laugh that escapes you, though really, you’re beyond glad he could see how much you wanted him tonight. I’d be pissed if you didn’t :) 

His response is instantaneous. Yeah, yeah. Go do your homework before I fuck you dumb <3 

Around an hour and a half later, you get a call from Haechan and you immediately stuff your laptop back into your bag before picking up the phone. “Hey, where are you sitting? I’ll come pick you up-” He starts, but you cut him off in an instant.

“Absolutely not. We cannot be seen in public together.” 

“Y/n, this isn’t some big scandal.” He replies lightly, but you shake your head, regardless of the fact that he couldn’t see it.

“You’re wrong. Everyone knows we hate each other and everyone knows Jessica is our mutual. If they see us together, it’s getting back to Jessica in an instant. Tell me where you’re parked and I’ll come to you.” A small laugh accompanies your words, even more so when Haechan pouts on the other end and you can imagine it vividly.

“Fine, but you’re never allowed to complain that chivalry is dead when you’re the one causing it.” You roll your eyes, stepping out of the library and immediately seeing his car anyways. You hang up on the phone and open his passenger door to slide into your seat. “Finish all your homework like a good girl?” He asks with a smirk and you send a glare his way.

“Shut up. I finished all but one assignment. I got a little distracted.” You drag off, and Haechan lights up.

“Oh my god, did you touch yourself in the library bathrooms?”

“No!” You reply adamantly before sinking back into the passenger seat a little. “But I would’ve if I had to wait any longer. Dinner took a long time, Hyuckie.” You add with a frown, and Haechan just shakes his head in the driver’s seat. 

“God, it is taking everything in me to not throw you in the backseat and have you right here right now.”

You roll your eyes, more than aware that you couldn’t have car sex in front of the library. Instead, you place a hand on his cheek and kiss him deeply. He didn’t complain, figuring making out with you in his front seat was enough to hold him over since he couldn’t fuck you in the back seat. You let an entire song play through the radio as you indulged in Haechan’s taste, finally pulling back with a heavy breath before you could forget your morals. “Um…Please drive now so we can go home and you can undress me. I need you.”

 Haechan tries to hide his smile as he shifts into drive and places his hands back on the wheel. “Yeah, yeah. Next stop…home.”

You stumble your way inside his front door, passionate kisses getting in the way of actually walking. The second you get inside, Haechan is sliding your shirt over your head. He keeps his kisses as consistent as possible until everything actually registers in his mind and he pulls back to look you up and down, absentmindedly licking his lips. “Y/n, goddamn.”

You look down at your chest just to laugh and fix your gaze back on him. “Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you. I did some shopping.” You say offhandedly, as though your new lingerie set wasn’t killing Haechan. He finally brings himself to look back at your face, not bothering to hide how pissed he was.

“On the couch, now.” He orders, and you just roll your eyes playfully, grabbing him by the neck of his shirt to bring him along with you. In no time flat, he’s completely on top of you, kissing what seemed to be every inch of your body. Though, the second his lips land on your neck, you remember the new boundaries you had to set. 

“Hey, you can’t leave marks on my neck anymore.” 

“Oh, but Johnny can, huh?” He teases as he props himself up to make eye contact with you. 

You roll your eyes. “He was the first guy that came to mind.”

Haechan shakes his head. “I’ll make sure you can never think about another guy again.” He says with conviction, and for a moment, you forget how to breathe.

“God, you’re so hot.” You say through an exhale, and Haechan just laughs before moving to suck and nip at your neck again. “Hyuck, that didn’t mean you could still bruise me, baby.” 

He hums against your skin, finding a way to respond without putting too much space between your two bodies. “Can’t help it. You look so pretty, all marked up as mine.” He mumbles. You sigh, running a hand gently through his hair as he works on your chest instead. 

“Hyuckie, I’m not yours.” You say softly, trying to make sure the defeat you felt while admitting that didn’t show. Haechan freezes immediately, and when he finally finds his ability to move, it’s just to press a lingering kiss on your lips.

“Just for tonight. Be mine just for tonight.” He says, though it comes out more so as a question. You let out another small sigh, shaking your head before moving to connect your lips to his again. 

“Jessica knows I don’t do any homework past 10:00.” You tell him as you break apart. Haechan takes a moment to glance at his watch, reading the time before nodding his head softly. 

“I’ll get you back by then. Don’t worry.” From then until 9:45, Haechan spent all of his time making sure you were his that night.  

It was about two months into whatever it was that you and Haechan had gotten yourselves into. You were currently sitting in the living room. You knew Haechan was fully aware that Jessica wasn’t home, so now you were just waiting for him to burst through the front door at any moment. When he finally does, he walks to put his keys and wallet down on the counter before making his way over to where you were sitting and placing a soft kiss on your lips. “Hey,” he says smoothly, causing blush to cover your face. You still weren’t used to the days where he would be more gentle with you, not that you were complaining, but it was unfamiliar nonetheless. You smile back at him, about to respond when he finally moves his gaze to assess what you’ve been up to. “Are you playing Mariokart?” He asks, and you laugh from slight embarrassment. 

“Yeah. Had to kill time while waiting for you somehow.” You say as you hit the home button to exit out, but then you notice the smallest traces of sadness cross his face, causing you to smirk. “Did you want to play?” You ask, and Haechan shoots his gaze back over to you, looking more like a boy than ever. 

“Of course I want to play!” He replies, and suddenly your laughter isn’t from embarrassment anymore. You move to grab another remote for him so the two of you could play together. You spent the next two hours playing Mariokart with him, trying to perfect all the circuits so you could collect all the best trophies, and though today’s physical touch went no further than celebratory kisses, playful shoves, and your head on his shoulder, you wouldn’t have traded it for the world. Though, it brought about a fundamental truth - you were not having passionate sex with your enemy. No, you found that you liked being around Haechan. 

The two of you had finished a quick dinner before the realization hit that Jessica would be coming back home from her night class soon. With a shared glance, you and Haechan both knew he should probably head back to his place. You reluctantly walked him to your front door, hand reaching for the knob to open it when Haechan’s hand grabbed hold of your own. You look up at him, confused, but he just stared down at you with a grin before leaning in to kiss you. “We can do this more often, too.” He says softly as he pulls back. You raise your brows in question. 

“Kiss?” You reply, trying to figure out what he was referring to. 

Haechan laughs, shaking his head and making his hair fall messily around his eyes. “No- well, yes, I always want to kiss you, but I’m talking about just hanging out. You know, playing Mariokart and all that…if you want! We don’t have to, I can just come over and immediately undress you and I wouldn’t mind that either-”

“Hyuck,” you say with a laugh, cutting him off. “We’ll hang out more, don’t worry. Besides, we still have the 200 cc circuits to beat.” 

You watch as he smiles brightly back down at you before leaning back in, this time to kiss every inch of your face and turn you into a giggling mess. “I’ll see you soon.” He says smoothly, and then he’s finally out the door and leaving you blushing profusely because you think Haechan just admitted to enjoying being around you, too. 

A couple of Fridays later, Haechan lets himself into your dorm as casually as ever when he comes over to actually hang out with Jessica. At the sound of the door closing, Jessica walks out from her room to greet Haechan, who already had his attention occupied by the new addition to your kitchen table. “Flowers? I didn’t know you could keep things alive.” He jokes as he turns around to face Jessica. She just rolls her eyes with a laugh.

“They’re not mine. Y/n bought them, and for your information, I can actually keep flowers alive way better than she can, thank you very much.” She replies, and Haechan turns back to study the bouquet again, trying to memorize them before Jessica could catch onto his actions.

“Should’ve known y/n bought them - these aren’t the prettiest flowers by a long shot.” He says with a scoff. 

Jessica shakes her head. “You should be glad she isn’t home right now to hear you say that. The bluebells in there are her favorite flower in the world.” At this, Haechan shoots his gaze back towards Jessica.

“Really?” He asks, furrowing his eyebrows after the fact to try and cover up the genuine curiosity that painted his question. Jessica seems not to notice as she just nods her head, but that’s when you finally come in through the front door, and they both turn their attention towards you.

You didn’t know Haechan was going to be at your place right now, but you probably should’ve guessed with it being a Friday - if Mark and Jessica weren’t going on a solo date, their friend group typically hung out and bar hopped all together. Regardless of the fact that Jessica was there, you couldn’t bring yourself to put on a look of disgust once you saw Haechan. Instead, you were radiating off a sort of empty feeling - you weren’t really sad, just hollow, not concerned enough to fake-hate Haechan. You don’t say a single word in greeting as you just go to your room and start getting things ready for a shower. 

Haechan turns back to Jessica with raised eyebrows. “Where did she just come from?” He asks, wondering what the hell had you looking like that. 

“Ummmm, today’s Friday, right?” Jessica asks, then looking at the time. “She just got back from quantum mechanics.” She answers, and that seems to calm her worries - she would look dead every time she had to sit through quantum mechanics, too. On the other hand, Haechan’s hands balled into fists. He knew that class was with your dick of a professor, and he could only guess as to what disgusting things he threw your way this time that had you feeling so dirty you had to shower right away. 

Haechan wanted to barge into your room, wrap you in the biggest hug, and let you cry in the comfort of his arms, but he couldn’t - not with Jessica here. With every muscle in his body tensed up, he thought about the consequences of his actions should he go wrap you in a hug anyways, but that wouldn’t be fair to you. You were a part of whatever relationship the two of you had going on, and you both agreed that relationship stayed hidden. He couldn’t ruin that now without your consent.

Instead, he just looked back at Jessica flatly, flashing his eyebrows in recognition of the answer, and then quickly moved along. “Do you wanna head out to meet up with the guys?” He asks in return, and if there was any desperation in Haechan’s voice conveying how much he needed to get out of your dorm before he cracked, Jessica didn’t pick up on it. She nodded, grabbing her things, knocking on your door to let you know they were heading out, and then following Haechan out of the dorm.

Before you knew it, six months had passed since Haechan lost his dad, and you decided to surprise him with his favorite meal. It wasn’t like the two of you weren’t planning dinners/hangouts/hookups basically every day anyways, but you still wanted this one to be more lowkey, more intimate in an emotional, rather than physical, way, and a surprise dinner would do just that. You picked up his favorite takeout for the both of you before driving over to his place, pulling out your spare key to his house with excitement overtaking you as you walked in.

“Hey, Hyuckie. I’m here with din- Oh god.” Your face, along with the bag of food in your hands, instantly drops as you turn back from the closed door to his living area, only to notice him on top of another girl…his ex. Tears immediately sting at the back of your eyes, and you’re using everything in you to not let them fall down your face.

Haechan pops up as soon as you had started speaking, his eyes wide as he turns to look at you over his shoulder, and his body still straddled over his ex. “Y/n!” He yells out in shock.

His ex moves to prop herself up on her elbows, giving her a clear view of your frozen state at the door. Then, she rolls her eyes with a laugh. “Oh, I forgot she was the one getting my sloppy seconds.”

Your brows furrow. In any case, this could have been two friends grabbing dinner together. There was no way for her to so confidently say you were hooking up with her ex without him saying so. You face Haechan with betrayal covering your entire being. “So much for not kissing and telling, huh Haechan?” You spit out before walking back out of his place and slamming the door.

When you were finally outside, that’s when you gave yourself the chance to bawl your eyes out. You knew you wouldn’t be able to drive home safely without letting yourself cry beforehand. What sucked is that it gave Haechan time to fling the front door open. “Y/n-” He starts, grabbing your wrist to stop you from walking. You do your best to face away from him entirely, yanking your wrist out of his hand and cutting him off.

“Don’t touch me, Haechan!” You choke out, and he lets go immediately, regardless of the desperation on his face.

“Look I-”

You stop him again, his voice alone sending more tears down your face. You finally turn to him, slowing your words down so your voice doesn't crack, or at least, you tried to. “How long has it been going on?”

Haechan’s face and shoulders drop in unison. “This is the first time she’s been back over since the break up.” He replies softly.

You shake your head, none of it making sense and all of it hurting you. “Why…?” You had more of a question prepared, but that was all you could get out. You watch as Haechan sighs.

“I ran into her at a darty today. She approached me and started conversation. I tried not to involve myself in it, but she laughed and told me I was stupid for not wanting to talk to her because she said no one else will ever love me. And when I went to refute, I accidentally mentioned you. And she- she laughed again, telling me that I was dumb for thinking you would ever care for me, cause you hate me. And I couldn’t think of anything to say in response. And so then we ended up here.” The more he spoke, the more enraged you became. You shake your head in disgust.

“Fuck you!”

Haechan’s eyes widened. “What-”

You make sure to maintain eye contact with him as you begin to speak, though your words were broken up by your intense sobs. “You couldn’t think of anything to say against her point?! Who was the one washing off the makeup she made you put on? Who was the one telling you that the last thing you needed to do was cover up your stupid pretty face in the first place? Who was the one with a contact lens case in their bathroom so you could take them out and wear your glasses while you were over because you’re more comfortable in them? Who was the one you came to for comfort when you lost your dad-?”

“I went over to find Jessica!” He yells, cutting you off, but you don’t take any of it.

“But you stayed when you saw it was just me! Haechan-”

“Can you stop fucking calling me that?!” He pleads, tears now running slowly down his own cheeks. 

All you can do is shake your head again sadly. “I don’t understand how you could go through all of that with her and then go back to it. Do you know how idiotic I feel?! Sneaking around and lying to Jessica because I’m hooking up with her best friend, who everyone thinks I hate, by the way, behind her back. Being so euphoric from your touch that I want to tell the world but I can’t because you told me I couldn’t tell anyone, and I wasn’t gonna break that promise because I wanted to be able to keep seeing you- would do anything to keep seeing you. Thinking that maybe there was the smallest chance any of this was real to you, too. To be so upset over something I have no right to be upset about because you were never mine.”

“Y/n-” He says as gently as he could given both your states. You lose the courage to look him in the eye, instead dropping your gaze to the floor as you respond.

“I feel like an idiot, Haechan.” With that, you turn to get back in your car and go home, and Haechan doesn’t stop you. 

You continued to cry the entire drive back home, but you managed to stop the debilitating sobs, and instead soft, insistent tears just rolled down your face. You unlock the door to your house, your voice cracking as you announce your presence.

“I’m home.”

“Y/n-” Jessica starts excitedly, but then she sees your state and instantly panics. “-are you okay?! What happened?!” She continues, running up to where you stand defeated at the entryway.

“Is everything okay?” A male voice adds, and you sigh as your cries get more intense again.

“Mark is here. Of course Mark is here. Cause you guys are together and happy.” You say in a snarky response, and out of your peripheral, you see a frowning Mark take two steps back from the hug you and Jessica were encased in.

“Y/n, what is going on?” Jessica asks, more confused than ever because you’ve never been anything but happy for her and Mark. You shake your head rapidly in response.

“Nothing. You would hate me.”

Though your face was buried in her chest, you can sense her rolling her eyes. “I can assure you, I wouldn’t.” She states plainly, and though you knew she definitely would once she actually knew what was up, you took her words for what they were worth and your explanation tumbled out of your mouth.

“I’ve been hooking up with Haechan behind your back.”

Jessica immediately pulls away from the hug, making concerned eye contact with you instead. “WHAT?!”

Mark glances between the two of you, feeling incredibly like he was intruding, even more so because Haechan was his friend, too. “I’m uh- gonna go grab food!” He interjects before dashing out of the door behind you. With him gone, you continue with your explanation.

“For months, Jess. And we agreed not to tell anyone because it was just a friends with benefits thing, or enemies with benefits I guess. But it was more to me. It was real. I love him, Jessica.” The words just tumbled out of your mouth, but they were true, you knew so the second you said it. You loved Haechan.

Jessica looks at you with a frown. “So why the tears?” She asks gently, and you immediately drop your gaze to the floor, embarrassed, ashamed.

“I went over and unlocked his door with my spare key because we were gonna have dinner together.” You say slowly, your words finally coming out more even.

“Yeah?” Jessica probes when you had seemed to stop talking completely. You swallow hard, squeezing your eyes shut to avoid more tears from falling, but then you just spit it out.

“He was with his ex. On top of her. On the couch that knows my imprint.”

Jessica’s eyes widened impossibly. “Y/n-”

“Why the fuck would he do that, Jessica?” You practically shout, your rage finally mixing in with your sorrow.

Jessica just shakes her head, sucking on her bottom lip. “I don’t know.” She replies softly, and then she just holds you in silence until your tears finally stop and you move to lock yourself in your bedroom. 

Two days later, when there’s a knock on your door, you assume Jessica is there to try and get you to eat something again. You slump over to open your bedroom door, already preparing how to tell Jessica you still couldn’t imagine stomaching food yet, when instead, it’s Haechan’s worried gaze meeting yours. Your eyes widen, stinging with tears already, but you can’t bring yourself to close the door just yet - maybe it was the fact that he was in his glasses, goddamned skinny jeans, and a bouquet of flowers in his hand. “Y/n, it was the worst mistake of my life.” He says sincerely, and you drop your gaze to the floor.

“What? Getting together with me or her?” You ask with venom.

His response is instantaneous. “With her. Obviously!”

“You sure? You sure she doesn’t love you more than I do?” You spit back angrily, daring to look him in the eyes once again just to glare at him.

The sadness in his face neutralizes in an instant, and he stares back at you with wide eyes. “You- do you- do you love me?” He asks hesitantly in response, and the tears you’d been holding back fell freely now.

“I’m not fucking putting myself through this.” You respond defeatedly, and you immediately close the door in his face, running to bundle up in bed in a mess of tears. 

When you finally step out of your room again to grab a water bottle, you’re met with the bouquet Haechan had in his hands now laying on the counter. You walk up to it, reading the sticky note now attached. 

This was the only bouquet they had with bluebells…I know they’re your favorite. Coincidentally, one of their meanings is forgiveness (according to the flower shop guy, at least). There’s nothing I want more than your forgiveness. Y/n, I messed up so bad, I know, I’m sorry. I never should have done that. I don’t know why I did that, not when you’re everything I’ve ever wanted. I’m sorry I never made you mine when I really had the chance. I was terrified you didn’t feel for me the way I do for you, but now I know how stupid that was. You’re the only one to ever care for me the way you do, and if you decide that what I did was too terrible, just know you’ll forever be my standard…my beautiful, incomparable standard.

When Jessica walked in through the front door after grabbing lunch with Mark, she found you still standing there in the kitchen, looking down on the now tear-stained note as your body still shook with sobs. 

She walked over to the counter, silently sliding the note away from where it laid in front of you to read it herself. From your right, you hear her sigh and she’s quick to put down the note and wrap you in a hug instead. You stay crying in her arms for what you felt had to be too long, but she never said a word about it if it was. 

Your days quickly started to blur, all of them feeling the same as you would drag yourself to class and then back home, with no extra plans to ever keep you occupied or active. You were currently on the couch, sweats adorning your figure, Bones on the TV, and a pint of ice cream in your hands. You had given up on trying - no longer caring about nice outfits or makeup, hardly eating anything of actual substance. As long as you had enough energy to sit through class, you considered it a win. It was after dinner time when Jessica got back from one of her dates with Mark, closing the front door to turn around and see you as her face falls. 

“Hey…how are you?” She asks lightly, walking over to where you sat in the living room.

You don’t move your gaze away from the TV, or more so, the ice cream you were eating. “Fine. Why?” You reply monotonously, and Jessica looks at you defeatedly.

“Because sweetheart, it’s been two months and you’re still devouring pints of icecream at a time on our couch.”

“I don’t like life without him.” You spit out in reply, though your voice is weak, and the more you thought about how true the statement was, the closer you got to tears. 

Jessica reaches over to brush some of your hair back from where it covered your face, making sure the two of you could make eye contact. “I know. He feels the same way, you know?”

“You’re just saying that.” You snap back instantly, but Jessica shakes her head.

“No, I’m not. I wouldn’t do that to you. Every time I go over to his place, he looks almost exactly like you do. He keeps beating himself up, saying he should’ve stuck to his plan for your birthday, that everything would’ve worked out perfectly if he knew you at least tolerated him before he indulged in your physical attractiveness.”

This finally gets your attention, and your face fills with confusion, feeling something other than sadness for the first time in two months. “Wh- what do you mean his plan for my birthday?”

Jessica seems surprised at the question. “Oh, I thought he would’ve told you. He was gonna pick you up from class and walk you back here so he could wish you a happy birthday.” 

In an instant, all of the color drains from your face again. “Why didn’t he?”

“I don’t know. He never told me.” Jessica answers seriously, now cementing the idea you had in your mind of what happened, everything clicking into place.

You finally speak again after what felt like forever of silence, your brain going 100 miles an hour. “...Do you know where he is now?” You ask seriously, and Jessica doesn’t hide her shock at your change in behavior.

“No, but I can find out. You okay?” She asks, and you just shake your head.

“No. No, not at all.” You reply, and you’re already up off the couch, rushing to put the pint of ice cream away and change into nicer clothes as Jessica texts Haechan, who just so happened to be at home…because his daily routine practically reflected yours over the past two months.

You knock harshly on his door, pacing back and forth as you wait for him to answer, nerves coursing through your entire being. After what felt like a lifetime, the door cracks open, and all of your movements pause. At first, it’s hardly open enough to see him at all, and you gulp back your awkwardness. “What do you-” He starts quietly, but he quickly recognizes you from the tiny view he allowed himself, and suddenly the door is swung wide open. “Y/n?” 

You stare up at him, heart melting at the sight. He was in a big hoodie and wearing his glasses, making the corners of your mouth perk up in a smile. Though, the smile quickly drops as you take in the rest of his features. Jessica was right, he looked as bad as you. To be fair, he was still the most attractive man alive, but he had dark circles around his eyes, and he looked as though he hadn’t seen the sun in weeks. 

You lick your lips, which were now noticeably dry, building the courage to speak as you did so. “You were gonna pick me up from class on my birthday?”

His eyes go wide as he moves his gaze away from you for the first time since he opened the door. “I-”

“Hyuck.” You cut him off, staring up at him intently and getting him to crack with a huff of breath.

“Yeah…yeah I was. Jessica said it was your birthday. And we still weren’t friends then, but I would’ve felt bad not at least wishing you a happy birthday. So I texted Jessica to see where you were and decided I would just walk you back from class. And I-” He breaks off with a faint laugh as he recalls the memory. “I put on a pair of skinny jeans beforehand because I figured even if you hated me, you found me at least a little more tolerable in skinny jeans. Then I went to go pick you up. When you didn’t come out with the rest of your class, I went inside the lecture hall to see what was up or if I just missed you somehow. That’s when I saw you talking to your professor. That’s when I heard his comments. You weren’t even in anything close to scandalous anyways. You just dressed up for your birthday. You were pretty. That was it, so I figured it wasn’t a one-off thing. How you handled it made me think it wasn’t the first time for it to happen, either. You could barely see your wince. The same couldn’t be said for me, though. I was mad, fuming. I got out of there as soon as I could so that I’d be out of sight by the time you got out. If you saw me and started a conversation, I wouldn’t be able to stop myself from bringing it up. God, I was so angry, and I figured that wasn’t what you wanted on your birthday.” He faced the ground while he spoke, but you studied his figure the entire time, your eyes finding their home as they landed on Haechan again after all this time. You hardly let him finish his last word before you speak up.

“Tell me you want to kiss me.” You say, and Haechan finally whips his head back up to face you, eyes wide in surprise. “Tell me you want to kiss me and have it mean something outside of these walls.”

“What?!” He responds, visibly thrown off. You don’t have the patience for it.

“Hyuck!” You say, and Haechan seems to come back to the moment, nodding his head rapidly.

“I do! I want to kiss you. Always.” 

The biggest of smiles overtakes your face as you press up on your tiptoes to finally lock your lips with his again. One of his hands immediately flew to your waist, while the other placed itself lightly on the side of your face, holding you as though one harsh movement would cause this moment to break, this dream to end. When you pull back for air, Haechan wastes no time. “Y/n, please be my girlfriend. Please be mine. Please let me tell the entire world that you’re mine.” He says, his intonation practically making it a beg. 

You nod your head before digging it into his chest in a tight hug. “I’m yours.” 

[aesthetic-bbyg]

SORRY NOT SORRY ~ Sanji

sanji x fem!reader

IN WHICH some guy poor attempt at flirting with you, in front of your man, backfires.

Nattie speaks: Another Sanji fic, what can I sayyyyy😋

WALKING INTO THE BAR YOU knew that someone would come up to you. It wasn’t like it was rare, a pretty lady entering any premises gives men the idea that she must be approached. Even if there was another man trailing behind, they still have the drunken confidence to come over and shoot gross comments. In your case, it was Sanji who entered after you, though he wasn’t just any other man, but you’re husband. You had the shimmering Diamond on your left hand to prove it. His hand was clasped in yours, large smiles still on your faces after sneaking away from the Going Merry for some time alone.

Immediately, you noticed how crowded it was, it seemed to be a particularly busy night. So much for time alone. Drunken bodies everywhere, perverted gazes burning right through you as sat down on a old barstool. Your hands clasped themselves in front of you, laying gently on the wood. Sanji took the seat right next yours, his large hand finding it’s place on your lower back. He looked at you, and you looked at him, seeing the love and admiration swirl his eyes was enough to have you blushing.

Entering the Baratie was one of the best decisions you’ve ever made because it lead to the life you had now. It was easy falling for Sanji, with his flirty comments sliding it’s way into your heart and his charming looks to back it up, how could you not? Despite your confidence with living in a world without a man and the fun it was being single, the thought of marriage with Sanji was something you didn’t stop to think about. You just knew, it was like you were made for him, destined to be his wife. The man could cook, for god sake, it was already enough to get you down on your knees and sucking on his cock as a tip for your meal. But the way he treated you was so much more better, truly you couldn’t think of another man like him. You never had the worry of infidelity from him, or him treating you wrong, never. You had such a strong trust for Sanji, if he told you that he could bring you all the stars, you’d believe him.

“Nice to escape the ship for a while, hmm?” Sanji asked quietly, rubbing a smoothing thumb along the clothed skin of your back.

You nodded in agreement, resting your elbow against the bar, supporting your head onto the palm of your hand. “Nice to have you to myself for a change.” You chuckled softly, “As much as I adore Luffy, his appetite is ridiculous.”

Sanji laughed, subtly flipping the loose pieces of blonde hair that covered his face. “I don’t mind, but I do miss having you to myself.” He squeezed the flesh of you side, smirking a bit as he stared into your eyes. You knew exactly what he meant. “How ‘bout you stay in the kitchen after hours?”

With such a tempting offer and the already growing arousal in you stomach, you couldn’t help but smile. Soon, the bartender approached opening his mouth to speak, “A martini.” You said before he could even utter a word, he nodded, stepping back as you tapped your fingers against the wood. Sanji decided to skip on drinking, not wanting to be intoxicated before dinner preparation. “Boring.” You mumbled, rolling your eyes. “I like it when your drunk.”

“You only like it ‘cause I absolutely embarrass myself and it gives you another thing to laugh at me about.” The blonde quipped back, making you chuckle, he was partially correct. You didn’t think he was embarrassing himself, you just thought he was…messy.

“Oh, c’mon, I like seeing you get naked.” You giggled, making Sanji blush and roll his own blue eyes. “That’s my favorite part.” The man had a bad habit of stripping down to his boxers whenever he was drunk around you. Slurred words claiming that your ‘hotness’ warmed up the room. “But I also like it when you start crying and start confessing you’re love to me as if we aren’t married.”

Sanji winced at the memory, remembering only the extreme headache and nausea from the next morning. It wasn’t until he recovered from his hangover and asked you the events of the night before that you told him. The intoxicated man had took you to a private area of the ship, bawling his eyes out and saying that he couldn’t keep living a lie. At first it terrified you, but when he began confessing his love and need for you it took so much control to hold back the laugh itching the back of your throat.

“Don’t even mention it.” He muttered with a quiet laugh, moving to rub a soothing hand on the warm skin of your thighs.

“A martini.” The bartender slid the shimmering glass towards you, the foggy liquid making you smile.

“Thank you.” You plucked the toothpick that held the olives, biting one and humming contently. “You’re truly missing out, Sanj.”

“I’m alright here, love.” He replied, watching you lightly sip and scrunch your face at the bitter zest the drink had to its flavor.

“Not even a taste?” You offered the drink, swirling around the olives, “It’s very good.”

He shrugged, a smirk building on his face. “Just a taste.” You smiled, pushing the glass in his direction before he leaned in, hands cupping your cheeks as his tongue intruded your mouth. You hummed, kissing him back desperately, enjoying the way his pink muscle explored you. “Not bad.” He mumbled, pulling away. “But I’ll still have to pass.”

You chuckle, wiping the saliva from the edge of your lips, “How long ‘til you think they find us?” You asked suggestively with a raise of your brow.

“I’ll give it a good twenty minutes.” Sanji replied, fiddling with the wedding band on his own finger. “Best use the bathroom here before we go back to using a bucket.” He stood from his spot, planting a kiss on the side of your head before walking towards the back of the place. He disappeared into the crowd, piles of bodies making him blend in within an instant.

You continued sipping your drink, feeling it burn your throat but satisfy your taste buds, you could practically feel the alcohol in your veins. Though, there was moments where you wish you were already drunk, like the moment that a man seat right in Sanji’s spot. He held a crooked smile, reeked of rum, and had disheveled hair.

“Well, what a pretty lady we got here.” He said, a beer bottle in his grip. “What’s your name, sweetheart?”

You sighed heavily, turning to him with a glare. “Not one that you’ll be remembering anytime soon.”

“Feisty, I like it.” He chuckled, hiccuping and holding back a belch. “You’re gorgeous.”

“I know.”

He let out another gross chuckle, his breath stinking of old fish, you sipped at your drinks hoping that the alcohol would neutralize the stench. He licked his lips, looking at you up and down, hooded eyes undressing you, and you fucking hated it. “Well, pretty lady, how ‘bout I offer you a drink.”

“No.” You replied, turning back to look straight ahead, focusing on something other then his babbling go keep you distracted.

“How ‘bout a trip back to mine.” He slowly stood from his seat, getting closer to you, the proximity made you cringe. You nearly puked when his hand rested on your thigh.

Your eyes flashed up, catching sight Sanji as he exited the bathroom. His own eyes met yours, taking notice of man in front of you and the expression on your face. He was already pushing past people to get to you but you remained emotionless.

“Sorry.” You pried his hand off your thigh, chugging down whatever was left of the strong drink, wiping the liquid as it dripped down side of your chin. You looked him up and down, taking in his round form, “I’m not into short guys.” You pushed yourself off the bar and shoving past him towards Sanji, who just watched.

The one thing he understood most about you was how capable you were of protecting yourself. How you’re able to outsmart your way out of a situation, or insult your way out, all with a pretty smile on your lips. The drunken man stared at your figure as you walked away, eyes widening at the sight of a much taller man glaring at him. Sanji’s lips quirked up into a smirk as he took your hand, kissing it softly while never breaking away. The anger now replaced with nervousness, he scurried away from his spot and into the booming crowd of people.

Sanji let out a chuckle, walking with you to the exit of the bar, where Usopp was coincidentally, entering. The sharp-shooter sighed in relief at the sight of the two of you, rushing out an explanation about how Luffy is ‘dying’ of hunger. Sanji’s assistance was needed urgently, having to cure the boy before his whines of starvation killed everyone else on the ship.

One dinner was served, you did stay back to help clean, watching as each crew member headed into their rooms. You indeed stayed after hours, many hours after.

Will forever live laugh and love our fav Chef simp. Did y’all get the Jennifer Tilly reference??🤞

AHHHHHHHHHH

[fantasyandshit]

Tea time

Type:one shot

Pairing: Azriel x reader

Summary: Yn sees a new kind of tea while shopping at one of her favorite shops, come to find out it’s a strong form of aphrodisiac, reverting the drinkers to ‘their most primal instincts’. Not believing it she decides to make it for her and her mate as a joke.

(A/n, this is my first go at smut. I’m so sorry if it sucks. Also sorry I haven’t posted in forever, I had like zero ideas- this why I need y’all to help me, I can’t make decisions for myself. Anyway on too the Oneshot)

Azriel is out on yet another spymaster mission, so to kill a bit of time, I stroll through the isle of my favorite tea shop in Velaris, Trixies tea time shop. As I’m looking through the different teas I spot a box I’ve never seen before, it’s red and black, with a heart on the front, looking at the description to see what it tastes like I see something…interesting.

This is a drink to give you and your partner a once in a lifetime experience. The natural roots in this drink revert one to their most natural state, all while tasting like sweet and sour cherry.

I inspect the box for a few more moments before ultimately deciding to take it. My poor Az has been so stressed lately, maybe this could help him unwind and lead to a night of fun for the both of us, also wever tried nearly every method to get me pregnant as we desperately want a little one of our own. Besides what’s the harm if it’s simply a hoax. Taking the three new times I’ve grabbed to the desk, the woman-Trixie who I’ve made friends with smiles as she looks at the red and black box.

“So you’ve got plans for tonight?” She teases softly as she tells me my total. I roll my eyes before thanking her and walking back home.

———

“Hey Az baby?”

“Yes love?”

“I’ve made some tea for us.” I smile softly as I set it on the coffee table in front of where he sits reading on the couch.

“Thank you sweetheart.” One of his rare smiles save for me graces his lips as he kisses my head softly before picking up the glass and bringing it to his lips. “Hmm, this is new? What is it”

“Oh just a new one at Trixies I saw, figured we could give it a try.” I bring my own glass to my lips and we both simply sit in each others presence until we’re done and take them to the kitchen.

I lay with my head in Az’s chest moments later, his hand absently running through my hair as he continues his book. “Is it hot in here?” He asks out of the blue, pulling at the color of his shirt.

“Yeah, yeah I suppose a bit.” My eyebrows scrunched as I just now noticed the sweat dripping from his forehead and my own dripping down my back. I sit up as he continues clawing at his shirt. As he peals it off with a grunt more arousal then I thought I’d ever had sweeps through me like a wave.

As my mate turns to me I hear him audibly growl before he opens his mouth and I see his canines sharpening and his eyes darkening. “What-“ another grunt, “-what was in that tea?” His voice seems deeper and by the mother I’ve never thought this male could be this attractive.

“I-it said its to bring us to our most primal instincts-I didn’t think-I thought it was a hoax.” I’m panting as all I can think about is the man in front of me turning me into his bitch, filling my womb with his seed and giving me his babies.

“I think-I don’t think it’s a hoax love.” The last word growls and an involuntary moan leaves my lips as a smirk graces his features. “I don’t think-gods you don’t know how badly I want to put you on all fours and make you my bitch, get you nice and round with my babies. How much I want to fill your womb as you beg me to stop.”

I crawl to the male like a bitch in heat. “Do it Az. Make me your bitch.” I’ve never sounded more desperate or horny in my life as something flickers in my mates eyes and he lunges for me with a growl like a predator to pray, his hand landing on my throat as the other wonders my body.

“I’m gonna make you my bitch, gonna have you begging for my babies. Do you want my babies? Want to be big and round for me?” I nod breathlessly as his hand squeezes the supple skin of my thigh. “Words baby.” His hand squeezes my neck, just enough to have me struggling slightly for air.

“Y-yes sir. Please, fill me with your babies, get me nice and round.” Just like that the weight of his body is gone and all I can do is whine, my body feeling almost heavy.

“Take off your clothes and get on all fours.” He grunts as he takes his painfully hard cock from the restraints of his pants, that’s when I notice it, a swelling knot at the base of his dick. I make quick work of slipping from my restraining clothing and getting on all fours, my Butt slightly raised and pointed towards the male. “Good girl. Such a good girl for me.” His face goes to my neck as he rubs my back and thighs.

A yelp leaves me as he sniffs my pulse point before biting down. Hard. Just as he does this his hand shimmies to my clit, rubbing softly before delving to my folds, spreading the soaked lips and feeling around them as I moan uncontrollably. He takes his fingers and brings them to my lips, “open.” I immediately obey and he sticks them in my mouth, I moan at the taste of myself on tongue as I suck his fingers like a whore. “Now here’s what’s gonna happen, I’m gonna fuck you so hard you can’t walk, I’m gonna fill you with my seed and make sure you know who owns you.”

“Yes sir.”

“Say it again.”

“Sir.”

A throaty moan leaves my mate just before he pushes into my slick folds and my head falls back in pure ecstasy.

Azriel pounds into me, his lips assaulting my neck as moans and grunts leave us both, at this point he’s fucked me in nearly every position, his cum dripping down my thighs as he pushed in again and again from behind me where I lay on my stomach. Bite marks litter both our skins, particularly near our pulse points where a delicious scent I’ve never smelt before radiates from him. “Gonna, gonna cum baby.” He sighs as he furiously drags himself in and out of my tight pussy, a ring of cream at the base of his knot. His words finish off my building orgasm as I cum hard enough to see stars. Azriel lets out one last chesty moan before his knots slips into me and I get dizzy, never have I been this full as he paints my wall with yet another load.

My mate falls to his side, me going with him seeing as we’re attached, however I don’t think I would be able to move on my own without him anyway. Az pulls me tight to his chest, nuzzling his face in my neck softly as he slowly falls asleep, snores falling from his parted lips.

——————-

I know it sucks but I tried ok. Please give me ideas guys! My suggestion box is open and in need of some good ideas. Love y’all.

[wherenymphsroam]

Game! Ship your mutuals with a character YOU think they match with 🤭

eee omg !! okay umm im So Sorry if some of these are maybe inaccurate or doesn’t make sense because most of these will be based off just overall vibes or A Feeling I’m Getting so !!

@kiorcel re4 leon !!! whether on a more romantic or platonic level, I feel like you guys def have vibes that would just Click. we haven’t interacted directly, but from what I’ve seen, it would be so funny to see how ur guys’ humor would flow with each other !!! see you guys as sort of a brother + sister that irritate each other for shits n giggles then apologize with a ‘hey wanna go grab mcdonalds, i’ll buy’ later that night :3

@90sbee HELENA !!!!! like first person to spring to mind was BAM helena. u guys are so girlfriends like,, very much envisioning checking + touching each others makeup up (her swiping an extra eyelash off ur cheek), u bamboozling her with lipgloss kisses b4 you guys go out for the night (she gets dramatic and almost convinced you she wiped the mark off, but the light catches the gloss on her cheek later that evening and she only smiles when you realize). def puts her hand in ur back pocket whenever u wear jeans :o

@burningcoffeetimetravel okay this is actually making me wanna like rip my hair out but I actually found ur work on ao3 first !!! and for the life of me, I can’t find what piece it was in my history !!! but I remember reading it and just like- being overwhelmed by the amount of Warmth and Comfort you provided the poor guy, and this is definitely pushing my decision to assign u re6 Leon !! re6 was definitely when he was starting to spiral, that breaking point just coming toward him quicker and quicker. this assignment is necessary just based off the fact that that man needs a hug and I just Know you would hold him so dear :( (heavy heavy whump/hurt + comfort vibes here omg)

@ovaryacted im sorry I can’t look at ID leon without immediately attaching u to him JSNDUSHDUS !!!!! very much a power couple fr. thinking like, planning out ‘fancy dates’ and being hot in public and people, except u guys end up cutting the night short to go on a drive (obviously his ass is not behind the wheel) talking about everything and nothing !!!! like …. can also almost see a sort of bonnie n clyde dynamic there ….

@roseglazedlens I def have to say either nanami or jill !!! you just carry this air about you that screams like — loving domesticity, something the both of these poor things Need in a way they can’t admit to. you are sooo so sweet, they would not be able to resist just melting around you :(( have the potential to turn nanami into a sappy man that always Needs to nestle his face into the crook of ur neck first thing when he gets home !!!

🤍 DC CREATORS UNDER CUT !!!! 🤍

@iwantyouinacage im gonna say ID Leon !!!! still has some of that snark from re4, but is wiser in how he uses his words. not nearly as jaded, but jaded enough to want to take it out on someone !!! he would def be a very dynamic and flexible, something I figure u could appreciate 👀 that guy is fr a three in one dom !!!

@misscimi hi I would pay money to watch u with vendetta chris n leon :3 more specifically I need to see u and Chris bicker and him trying to tame u while leon ends up getting inadvertently cucked because things just devolved into u guys arguing :3

@bratphilia MIKEEEE MIKE MIKE MIKE !!!!! I feel so very strongly he would like the frills n the pink and just overall having a pretty doll on his hip :3 very very baseless assumption, but u would put a bow on his fleshlight n he would keep it there because he thinks it’s adorable. comes pouting to you to ‘super glue that thing back on, he must’ve fucked the damn thing thinking about you’ :3

@gilfhub hi I would pay money to watch you and damnation leon try and out ‘creep by radiohead’ each other. better yet, pulling popcorn out when he ends up saying ‘what do you even know about nickleback’ :3 (GET HIS ASS !!!!!!!!)

@sicbaby OOOOO DI LEON. DI LEON ALL THE WAY. sorry he would take such good care of you. the most patient out of all of them, but also the sharpest with his words and knowledge <3 he’s always getting a kick out of you, snorting under his breath at cute mannerisms, silently entertaining any teasing. but will flip the script so fast on u !!!

@dollfacefantasy ummmm i HAVE to say vendetta leon !!! you guys are very similar I think in how you go interact with your space, and I have a feeling you may even somewhat mirror each other in how you process/observe the world around u? anyways u guys are very much strangers that met at a bar and end up round back not even thirty minutes later panting into each others mouths type beat :3

@d10nyx i…. am very much seeing re2 leon with u. except he’s literally just the kid of the guy ur mom got married to, and he’s obviously the golden child and is favored as soon as he moves in, and you guys Hate each other. okay so what if he steals ur panties !!!! maybe you should put your dirty laundry in the wash right away instead of letting ur dirty laundry basket sit in the laundry room while you wait for a different wash load to be done !!!! please give him a sabotaged mayo oreo for me he deserves it thanks 🧍🏻‍♀️

[wolfawaycamp]

Rylan: Dylan has been super frustrated and depressed about the loss of his hand and the fact he isn’t able bodied anymore, he’s upset that Ryan has to do most things for him, even simple mundane things. So Ryan takes Dylan to look at trained service dogs in hopes to adopt one that knows tasks that fit Dylan’s emotional and physical needs :)

🐼 I really wanted to explore this more from the angle of Dylan being the stubborn guy he is + trying to navigate the wolf-related trauma he probably has from Hackett’s Quarry, so it may not exactly be what you expected, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless! Thanks as always for the ask :)

Dylan would swear to anyone who asked that he was a lover of all animals. Like, the kind of kid who would see a scruffy looking stray on the sidewalk and beg his mother to rescue it from the horrid reality of street life. It had worked once; that was how he’d been introduced to his beloved Schrödinger. It had been raining and she’d sat outside their door mewling pitifully until he’d scooped her up (she was surprisingly docile) and shoved the poor, wet thing in his mom’s face. “Look at her! How can you say no to those eyes?!” he’d begged. One thing had led to another, and now, six years later, Schrodie was living her best pampered life at the Lenivy household.

Dylan would have taken her when he and Ryan had moved in together, but Ryan’s allergies were so bad they’d made the excruciating decision to leave her in his mother’s capable hands — which led them to discussing the prospect of obtaining another furry friend.

The topic first came up when Dylan was having a particularly difficult time untwisting a jar of preserves for his sandwich; the hot water method wasn’t working, nor was the little knife-tap trick he’d learned when was having difficulties with two hands. Ryan walked in on him holding the jar in his hand like Hamlet, attempting to coax it into submission. “Look. I need you to give me what’s inside you so I can consume enough food to have the energy to get you open next time. You like being used, don’t you? So give me what I want and I’ll—” He paused when he noticed his boyfriend’s amused face popping into view.

“This hostage situation seems kind of intense. Should I leave you two alone, or…?” Ryan eyed the helpless jar trapped in Dylan’s palm. 

Dylan placed the jar on the counter. “No, uh, it just needed some…encouragement? Can you…?” He hated asking Ryan to rescue him from the final boss of the kitchen, but someone had to do it.

Ryan gripped the lid with both hands and twisted it with ease. “You know, I’ve heard you can train some service dogs to do this kind of stuff.”

“You want us to get a dog to help me make PB&Js?” Dylan snarked. “That seems like a pretty dumb reason to me.”

“People have gotten them for equally mundane reasons,” Ryan countered.

“Like what?” Dylan gestured vaguely in Ryan’s direction, briefly unconcerned with the fact that he was now brandishing a butter knife.

“I-I don’t know them off the top of my head, man. If you’re really that against it, it’s not a problem.” Shit. Ryan was getting anxious. Knife down, idiot.

Dylan softened his furrowed brow. “I’m not totally against it; I just think, y’know, there are only so many canines in the world and my…needs aren’t that high on the priority list.” Ryan’s face was still slightly dejected. “I appreciate the thought, though. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to make art.” He turned back to his half-formed sandwich.

“Careful how you wield that paintbrush. Don’t want you losing the other one,” Ryan commented, leaving the kitchen.

“How would that even work?!” Dylan shouted after Ryan, but he was long gone.

-

The second discussion happened when Dylan was playing on his gaming console; it was a low-intensity adventure game with decent accessibility controls, but one part still required a level of dexterity he couldn’t quite master with just one hand. Ryan was sitting next to him on the couch, quietly watching him play while also scribbling in his sketchbook.

“Fuck! How are you even supposed to get the thingy in the hole with the normal amount of fingers?” Dylan grumbled in frustration.

He realized his terrible choice of words too late; he glanced at Ryan, who looked up from his work-in-progress and decided to speak up. “Whoa, what kind of game is this again?”

“Very funny.” Dylan dropped the controller beside him and rubbed his temple. “I think I’m done for tonight.”

“You sure you don’t want me to—” Ryan started.

“No! I don’t need y—sorry.” Dylan sighed and tried to reign it in. “It’s fucking pathetic to always have you pick up the slack because of this stupid thing.” He held up his left arm. “Like, I know I’m not a helpless idiot but sometimes I sure as hell feel like it.”

Ryan stared at him for a moment, contemplating his response. “Dylan, needing help with certain things isn’t an inconvenience. Not to me, at least.”

“I appreciate the thought, but…I don’t know. It feels different when it’s for shit like this.” He tilted his head toward the TV screen, which was currently displaying the game's pause menu. “I don’t like being reminded of my most brilliant fuck-up to date every time I want to partake in gamer hours.”

“I get it,” Ryan said quietly. Dylan studied his face. It was Ryan’s ‘I want to say something but I’m not going to’ face.

“What?” Dylan pressed.

Ryan held his gaze for a second. “I just…worry.” His eyes darted away, back down to his sketchbook.

Dylan fought the urge to roll his eyes and snap at Ryan. Normally he wasn’t so easily bothered by his boyfriend’s beat-around-the-bush tactics, but he despised people feeling the need to show him pity, or whatever the fuck this was. “If you’re going to bring up getting a service animal again—”

“No—well, not like that. I was thinking more for emotional support.”

“Ryan—” He paused, not quite knowing how to articulate his thoughts. It wasn’t that he didn’t want something to help him cope with the frustration of permanently having 80% of his original function, but the idea of being near anything dog-like was…terrifying. “Fuck. This is going to sound ridiculous, but…I can’t be around a dog! Or like, even one of those miniature ponies. Did you know those were a thing? Therapy horses? Way too fucking big and scary.”

“Maybe we could get a hamster or something,” Ryan offered.

“You mean the animal that infamously will find the most fucked up way to get itself killed and only lives about three years anyway? I’m better off trying to get another plushie from the arcade. I think I’m incapable of being satisfied by anything other than my child.” The image of Schrödinger’s sweet face in Dylan’s mind could’ve brought a tear to his eye. “Fuck your allergies, man.”

Ryan nodded solemnly. “Fuck them, indeed.”

-

He didn’t know why he did it. He’d set himself a boundary, and then two days later he’d crossed it by dragging Ryan to the pet store when he knew they were doing adoptions and he knew they’d have plenty of dogs right in front of the door where he couldn’t avoid them.

They hadn’t even made it within 6 feet of the small dog enclosure before Dylan started feeling…not trapped, given he was outside, but rather confined. The barking, the mannerisms, the smell…

“Yep, this isn’t going to happen,” Dylan said decisively, turning on his heels and booking it to the car. Ryan followed close behind, making no protest.

Once in the car, they sat in silence for a few seconds. Ryan spoke in a calm yet concerned tone, “You gonna be okay?”

“What? You think a little old Pomeranian is gonna scare me?” Dylan was trying so very hard — and failing — to hide the fading panic in his voice.

“I mean, that is kind of what happened,” Ryan pointed out.

“Nothing gets past you, huh?”

Ryan shook his head. “Nope.”

“Look, I just wanted to make sure we exhausted every option before committing to something. Dogs are cute, and fluffy, and sweet, and,” he looked sheepishly at Ryan, “now I can’t fucking stand being around them anymore.”

“I shouldn’t have let you convince me to come here,” Ryan lamented.

“No—don’t do that whole ‘I have to take responsibility’ thing. It’s just a pet shop. We can, I don’t know, go get fro-yo or something to make the trip worthwhile.” Dylan knew he had to pull out the puppy-dog eyes — Hmm, not the best choice of words — for this one.

Ryan didn’t hesitate to take Dylan up on his offer. “Deal.”

-

That night, Dylan had stayed up far later than normal, coming to bed hours after Ryan.

He quietly entered the room, keeping the lights off as he fumbled his way to the bed. Once he was comfortable, he wrapped his arm around a sleeping Ryan’s shoulder.

“Mm?”

“I have a surprise for you.” Dylan whispered.

“Is it a boyfriend who doesn’t wake me up at 2 a.m.?” Ryan mumbled into his pillow.

“Close. How do you feel about needles?”

Ryan turned to face him. “They’re…not that bad? What are you planning on injecting me with?”

Dylan knew Ryan couldn’t really see his face in the dark, but he grinned regardless. “I talked to my mom. She told me about these allergy shots — they’re like, kind of expensive but they work super well — and she said she’d be willing to pay for your doctor’s visits.”

“Why would I need allergy shots…?” Oops. He forgot to give Ryan context.

“For the cat, of course. She and I both agreed that Schrodie living with us would probably help the morale around here,” he rubbed his hand up and down Ryan’s arm, “I mean, if it’s okay with you. I can always keep looking. Snakes are pretty rad—”

“I think your mom’s got the right idea,” Ryan interrupted. “Tell her I said thanks.”

Dylan snuggled closer, positioning his face inches from Ryan’s. “I will. And also, thank you for caring so much.” He gave him a quick kiss, pulling away sooner than Ryan seemed to anticipate. “I can’t believe I’m gonna finally have my baby back. It’s a Christmas miracle.”

Ryan snorted. “So miraculous it’s happening in February?”

“Okay, a Valentine’s miracle? That’s kind of romantic.” Dylan leaned back in.

Ryan took the bait, kissing him again, albeit more lazily this time. “Go to sleep.”

“Can’t. Too excited.”

“The earlier you wake up, the earlier we can start getting this place ready for Schrodie.” Ryan turned back around, clearly trying to manipulate Dylan into making good choices.

It almost worked. “What if she doesn’t like me anymore?” Dylan mused.

“Not possible,” he heard Ryan mutter softly.

[cleoluvrr]

The Last Days of Summer XVIII (Rafe Cameron x Heyward!OC)

Warnings: violence, underage drinking, drug use, verbal abuse, jealousy, forbidden relationship, enemies to lovers, kidnapping, gaslighting + manipulation

Synopsis: Stuck in a situation she never dreamed of, Neriah Heyward blurs the line between Kook and Pogue; Rafe Cameron a witness.

masterlist

word count: 5.5k+

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“...your little pogue brother and his friends don’t know how to butt out.” 

“I’m sorry about your brother, but he was just collateral damage.”

“You’re really pretty for a stuck up, pogue, bitch, y’know.”

“Poor little Pogue girl can’t remember her place and needs someone to remind her…”

As the hot water rains over my skin and rinses the evidence of the previous days away, I can’t help but to think about all of the times Rafe openly talked about his disdain for the other side of Kildare. I already knew about it, it was impossible not to. He wasn’t the only one like that, however, so I never gave it much weight. 

When you go to school with Kooks, when you run in the same circles as them and hang out at the same spots as them, when you befriend them, you tend to take the casual classism on the chin. You shouldn’t have to do that, but it’s what one does to live a decently pleasant life on Figure-8. 

However, when you make a Kook, the Kook, your boyfriend, you shouldn’t have to do that. You would think that he would accept the fact that you’re not rich, that you live on the other side of the island. You’d think that your Pogue status would be an absolute non-issue, because why else would he make you his girlfriend? You shouldn’t have to take any of the constant quips about your place in the hierarchy of Kildare that you hear from your peers.

And yet, I do.

I think I let myself get too used to it, let my mind become clouded with Rafe’s change in behavior. I let myself believe that he was genuinely trying to become a good person, that he wanted to change for the better. The rose-colored glasses were strapped on tight.

It was hard to let myself think logically about everything when things were moving so fast. He never gave me time to think about what I really wanted to do, but at the end of the day, it was ultimately my choice whether or not I wanted to give Rafe a chance. It was my decision to look past the way he treated me because he gave sweet kisses and promises backed by nothing. The way he treated my brother and his friends.

I think back to a conversation we had when we first began dating, one that should’ve been much more of a red flag than I treated it then.

“I’m also a Pogue.” I point out. He shakes his head again and reaches to twirl the ends of my braids with his finger. “You can pretend that I’m not, but you see what side of town you’re on. And I am also friends with John B in some capacity.”

“You aren’t like them.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” I say scoffing.

“You’re better than them. You’re smart, and kind, and not a criminal.” He explains. “You’re even better than I am, and I love that about you.”

“That doesn’t make me not a Pogue, Rafe.”

“I know that, but you are more than just that.” He places a hand on my cheek softly, thumb caressing the skin beneath it. “So many of them are just that and nothing else. They have nothing going for them. Being born a Pogue isn’t their fault, but they don’t even try to change anything for the better. But you? You want to get the hell off this island and make a life for yourself, and that makes you different.”

I should’ve known by the way he tried his damndest to separate me from the identity of Pogue that it was a bad idea to give him the time of day.

He didn’t like me for me, he liked the idea of me. He picked out the parts of me that he liked the most and decided that was the girl he wanted. 

I felt so stupid for falling for him so quickly. I should’ve been smarter than that, I am smarter than that, but I let my feelings cloud my judgment. The feelings of frustration and anger with my brother for choosing his friends over his blood, the feelings of being doted on in a way that I’ve never experienced. 

I’m not even sure if the moments of vulnerability he shared with me were even real anymore. If he truly wanted to be open with me, or if it was just a manipulation tactic. It’s not like he wasn’t smart enough to do that, he may be mentally unwell but he wasn’t incapable of using my empathetic heart and mind to his advantage.

The betrayal I can take. I can take the manhandling and the yelling, having my autonomy taken away. Crazily enough, I can handle being taken to a remote island against my will to fulfill whatever sick fantasy of a happy family Rafe has dragged me into. The criminal aspect of it all didn’t make me flinch as much as I thought it would.

What I couldn’t take? Watching my brother drive off with his friends and leaving me in the hands of a man on the borderline. That betrayal was something that hurt me almost more than anything else, but I couldn’t even be that mad about it. I betrayed Pope just as much for choosing to even be with Rafe. The situation was complicated.

Rafe’s blatant disregard for the lives of innocent teenagers was the one thing that hurt me more than that. Listening to him brush off the possible death of my brother and his friends, of his own sister, and treat it like it was nothing serious made my stomach churn.

Sighing heavily, I shut off the water in the now lukewarm shower. My skin felt clean but my brain was weighed down by a plethora of thoughts that only brought down my already poor mood.

Rafe wasn’t on the bed when I exited the bathroom, nor was he downstairs when I went to go find something to eat. I hadn’t touched food or water in days and my body was beginning to feel the effects of it, but I didn’t trust that family to throw me a cracker if I were starving to death.

I stole a few days worth of food from the pantries to take back to the room so that I could avoid contact with them for as long as possible. 

I hadn’t left the room more than a handful of times in about a week, not that I could really count the days, and the only contact I had with the outside world was Rafe coming back to shower or sleep. Whenever he did those things I would make my way to the balcony overlooking the yard, avoiding any effort Rafe would make to speak to me.

I’m sure it was beginning to drive both of us crazy. Me because I hadn’t had human contact in possibly over a week and I had nothing to keep me occupied outside of staring out the window for hours or reading the book I packed in my bag over and over. The white walls of the room were beginning to feel less like prison and more and more like an insane asylum.

Rafe, however, was going crazy for a much different reason.

He hated nothing more than when I ignored him, and going a week without my attention while being in the same room as him was starting to have some effects. He would slam every door he used, became short with Wheezie anytime he spoke to her, and he barely treated Rose like a respectable human being anymore. Not that she was, anyway.

I think he spends most of his time at home in his dad’s room. I walked past the room a couple times on my short journeys around the house, the door wide open as he sat next to the unconscious man just watching him. 

It’s hard for me to not feel sad for him. He lost his dad once, though he was alive the whole time, and he might lose him again. If Ward were to never wake up, it would not make my life any worse, but it would probably destroy Rafe. I shouldn’t care about him after everything he did to me, but I do. I wish I was telling the truth when I told him I hate him on that ship, but I wasn’t. 

In the days that I spend alone I often think about what I’d be doing if I hadn't given into Rafe that night. If I told him I couldn’t come over, if I slept in my own bed and woke up the next day in my own room. If I would be eating lunch with my best friends right now, if my parents would yell at me to stop slacking off while working Heyward’s.

I wonder if Rafe and I would have lasted back home. If he never revealed his true self to me, if I would still be head over heels for him. 

I am snapped out of my thoughts by the sound of footsteps thundering through the house. The familiar sound of Rafe’s footsteps stomping up the stairs disturbs my peace as it does a least twice a day.

Rafe left earlier in the day to run off to some mysterious place once again. I’m sure he told me before he went out, but I can never find the energy to listen to him for longer than three seconds before drowning out his voice with my own thoughts. 

The door bangs open suddenly, the loud sound of the knob slamming against the wall making me flinch. My head turns to Rafe annoyedly at the disturbance, but the sight leaves my eyes wide and jaw resting in my lap. I can’t help but to gawk at the blonde, his appearance eliciting a feeling in me I hadn’t experienced in a long time.

“What the fuck?” I say quite loudly. The sound of my voice captures his attention almost immediately, neck nearly snapping to face me completely.

In front of me is a very bald Rafe Cameron, atop his head a fresh buzzcut that was not there this morning. 

“Neriah.” Rafe sounds surprised that I spoke in his presence, as if the sound of my voice is unfamiliar to him.

The strong features of his face are emphasized by his cropped hair, jaw sharp and cheekbones high. He looks much more mature with the haircut, the length of it suits him better than the usual state of his blonde locks. His blue eyes look lighter without his hair overshadowing his face, two perfectly shaped eyebrows framing the sockets they sit in.

Dressed in a pair of vineyard vines shorts and a short-sleeved t-shirt, his tanned arms looked even more bronze than before. The natural tan of his skin brought out from the bright island sun and his long days out of the house. 

I stop my eyes from wandering any further and bring my gaze back up to his face. 

“What the fuck did you do?” 

“I…cut my hair?” He answers, unsure of if that’s the response I was looking for. He closes the door behind him and steps into the room further. My eyes follow him as he approaches the bed cautiously, body tense as if I’m going to lash out and attack him.

“Why?” I study his face again, drawing my lip into my mouth to chew on subconsciously. He stands by his side of the mattress and looks down at my questioning figure, a well-read book resting open in my lap as I lean against the headboard.

He shrugs, eyebrows pulling together in confusion. He reads my face too, well aware of my unmasked ogling. I don’t bother to stop, the part of my brain that instructs me to have some shame long gone. 

“I can’t cut my hair when I want to or something?”

I release my lip from my mouth and purse them together instead. Nodding my head, I drop my eyes back to the book in my lap and pretend to read the page that I had been stuck on for the past thirty minutes. I flip to the next page loudly, the sound of the paper filling the air as it faces the abuse from my irritated fingers.

“I forgot I’m not allowed to speak, sorry.” I say shortly. 

Rafe sighs heavily and runs a hand over his semi-bald head. I feel his eyes on me, his heated gaze leaving my body feeling warm and vulnerable under his watch. Shaking his head, he ignores my comments and walks around the bed to disappear into the bathroom. 

I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about Rafe for days. 

My usual daydreams of home had begun to become mixed with flashes of him and his new appearance. I was truly starting to feel just as crazy as him, the once plain, four white walls of the bedroom that I would stare at blankly for hours became blank slate for me to imagine his face plastered all over them. My book was no longer entertaining to me, the words on the off-white pages becoming unrecognizable as they were slowly replaced by Rafe’s name in my unwell mind.

When he would come into the room for a brief shower or a few hours of sleep, I could barely control the urge to keep my eyes off of him. I’m sure he could feel the tension in the air when he exited the bathroom, chest still damp and warm from the shower with a towel draped around his waist. Only when he would enter the closet to dress himself did I allow myself to outwardly react, hands for the nearest pillow to smother myself with silently.

I should have more shame, really. The man abducted me and told me in so many words that he’s glad my brother and his friends might be dead. But he was my boyfriend only a week ago, I can’t pretend I don’t find him attractive. The butterflies that took home in my stomach didn’t just die off because he was no longer in my good graces.

Was my boyfriend…Did we ever technically break up? Sure, I told him I hate him, but we both knew I was lying. No, I don’t particularly care for him right now, but it’s not like my feelings for him just went away.

God, I’m so pathetic.

After that week of silence that I punished Rafe with, I would never know peace again. I was forced to eat at the dining table with everyone else, my self-isolating behavior no longer being tolerated to the extent that I took it. I didn’t mind Wheezie’s presence, and Rose I could ignore like it was my job. 

However, I hated the heat that rose to my face when I would raise my eyes from my dinner plate and catch Rafe already staring at me. I couldn’t focus on anything when his eyes were on me, appetite disappearing immediately when I noticed the feeling of his eyes on me. And it wasn’t only at the dinner table.

While I could just barely keep myself from ogling the eldest Cameron child, he had absolutely no shame. The feeling of someone watching me never went away if we were in the same room.

Like right now, for example. 

I feel Rafe’s burning gaze on the top of my head as he watches me skin over my book for the hundredth time that week. His towering frame leaning against the railing of the balcony on the opposite side of the room, his view of me unobstructed. Every time I lifted my head, I would catch him staring shamelessly, expression stoic as his crossed arms flexed against his chest. I could feel his frustration from here, my blatant refusal to interact with him willingly finally starting to make him crack. 

Tearing my eyes away from my book, I make eye contact with the blonde once again. His stare was unwavering, and it was making it terribly hard to focus on anything else. All I could focus on was keeping my breath steady to mask how nervous his watchful gaze was making me.

“Can I help you?” I say, finally breaking the silence. I shut my book and set it on the nightstand before locking my fingers together, hands resting tensely in my lap. 

“Hm?” Rafe hums. His face doesn’t move, the sound leaving his throat lifelessly.

“Can I help you with something?” I repeated to him. “You’ve been sitting there staring at me like you have a problem.”

Rafe shrugs in response and tilts his head to the side. The wet, pink muscle of his tongue slips out of his mouth to moisten his lips as his eyes rake over my face once again.

“I can’t look at my girlfriend now?”

My head jerks back at the G word, the mention of our relationship leaving me puzzled. Rafe looks at me expectantly, not so patiently waiting for an answer to a question that was clearly rhetorical.

“Girlfriend?” I raise my eyebrows far into my hairline. “I wasn’t aware we were still together.”

“I wasn’t aware we ever broke up.”

Rafe steps into the room from the balcony and shuts the double doors behind him. It was a beautiful day, the mid-afternoon sun was sitting high in the sky and casting a warm light on the house. The white room practically glowed from all of the sun shining through the windows. 

He looked so intensely handsome.

“Well...you kidnapped me, for one.” I point out obviously, tongue poking through my cheek as I squint my eyes at him. He slowly approaches until he reaches the end of the mattress, legs pressing up against the foot of the bed. 

“I didn’t kidnap you.” The blonde rolls his eyes at the claim. He was either delusional or in denial of how I ended up here.

“Okay.” I say shortly, not willing to argue with him about it right now. “I definitely told you in very simple terms that I hate you. Multiple times, in fact, you stormed out of the room right after. I think that qualifies as a breakup.”

Rafe folds his lips into his mouth and tilts his head again. His eyes squint in a way that mirrors mine as he shakes his head no at me in disagreement. He releases his lips with a from the confines before he starts tsking at me as if I’ve said something incorrect.

“We aren’t done until I say we’re done, and I never said we were.” He sounds like a typical control freak, and it makes my head hurt. “And we both know you were lying, so don’t–don’t even do that right now, okay?”

“Do you know how mental you sound right now? Not that it’s out of the ordinary for you.”

Rafe scoffs at me and runs his hand over his semi-bald head. He really has no room to feel offended at all, it’s not like it was a lie. Sure, maybe it was a low blow, but it was deserved. The blonde hits himself on the side of his head with the heels of his hands like he’s trying to beat the thoughts out of it. It was something he did when he was too frustrated to form a proper sentence, when he couldn’t think.

“Please…Neriah.” Rafe says. Putting his hand to his mouth, he briefly chews on his thumb nail before dropping it back to his side. He takes a deep breath before continuing to speak. “Don’t, don’t make me mad right now. I–I don’t want to get mad at you, you know that. You know that right?”

“I don’t even know how you can be so delusional, Rafe. Really, I don’t.” I continued on. I knew that I was going to strike a nerve by implying that he’s crazy, it was something he hated to hear. “I think you were more sane when you were a drug addict-”

“Shut up. Shut the fuck up!” Rafe interrupts angrily. He takes a few long-legged strides to reach my side of the bed, the speed in which he appeared beside me inhuman. His hand flies out from the side of his body and snatches up my face, strong, tan fingers digging into the flesh of my cheeks.

It was an aching pain, the feeling of his thumb pressing deep into the bone of my mandible. His eyes held a burning, blue fire. A special anger that could only be triggered by questioning his sanity. 

He forces my head back to raise my eyes to head, the rough motion straining my neck uncomfortably. He lowers his face to meet mine and our breaths mingle together. My jaw clenches down on nothing, eyes burning just as hot as his.

Being this close to him was hard. I felt weak when his skin was on mine, when his lips were so close to mine. I hated being able to breathe in his scent so easily, I hated the way it made me feel. I hated the hammering of my heart; it only reminded me that I feel something for him that I know I shouldn’t.

“You don’t talk to me like that. Ever.” Rafe says lowly. He speaks through gritted teeth, voice rough and teetering on the edge of sounding dangerous. “I’ve been very nice to you, very…very respectful. But I’m not gonna let you walk all over me like I’m a little bitch. Is that what you think I am?”

I don’t verbalize an answer, letting the silence speak for me. I guess that wasn’t acceptable enough for him.

“Huh? You think I’m a little bitch, Neriah?” He repeats, the pads of his fingers gripping my face even tighter. I wince in pain for a second, but it looks more like a sneer than evidence of my discomfort.

I feel gross for the way it makes my body tingle when he looks at me like that, when he speaks to me like that. The longer I’m stuck here with him, the sicker I become. I don’t know why his manhandling suddenly makes me giddy, why I purposefully provoke him just to see what happens. It made my brain feel like it was going to combust.

I would never let him find that out, however. I don’t know what would happen if that became known. If it would ruin the fantasy of me being his perfect little doll and put me in more danger than I may be already.

“I don’t think you want me to answer that.” The sentence is slurred together as it leaves my mouth due to the lack of mobility in my jaw, the hinge of it held prisoner by Rafe’s hand. 

“You think you’re funny?” He says, eyebrows pulling together in faux curiosity. 

A smile plants itself on my lips, a dry laugh itching to climb up my throat and right throw itself into Rafe’s face. I’m not sure what will happen if I laugh directly in his face, and I don’t care to find out while he’s so unstable, so I settle for the small grin that has found home on my face.

The smile is short lived, the expression wiped clean off my face when he opens his mouth.

“Do you like acting like such a fucking cunt?” He says, hand pushing my face away roughly. The vulgar language leaving his mouth makes my jaw drop in shock. 

Instinctively my hand shot up from my lap, the sharp sound of skin on skin echoing off the walls. Rafe’s head snaps to the side at the violent contact, the force of the slap producing a pink mark on the side of his face. My own palm stung from the impact, the sensitive skin tingling with a continuous stinging pain.

Rafe doesn’t move for a few seconds, shock rendering him completely frozen. Slowly his head turns back to face me once again, the movement reminding me of an owl. Eerie and unnatural.

His jaw is clenched tightly, the muscles stretched over his mandible flexing tightly. His hand reaches up towards his own to wipe at the spot where I struck him. He pulls it away to examine his fingers, digits rubbing together as if there was residue left behind.

My heart pounds against my chest, instant regret filling my body. It was a rare occasion that I was genuinely afraid of Rafe, and this was one of those moments. Swallowing dryly, I watch Rafe closely as he looms over me silently. 

Nodding his head a few times, his gaze finally lands on me. 

“Because I’m a nice guy, I’m going to give you a chance to apologize.” Rafe says calmly. I rip my eyes away from the reddening print on his cheek to meet his eyes. He was very obviously furious, moments away from snapping if I said the wrong thing.

I care more for my pride than my safety in moments like this. 

“Are you gonna apologize for calling me a cunt?” Is what I choose to say instead. I can still feel the ghost of his fingers pressing into my face though they are long gone.

“No.” He doesn’t explain himself any further, leaving me with a single word answer.

I shrug my shoulders at the response and cross my arms against my chest. Rafe looks down at me expectantly as he awaits my apology.

“Then you deserved it.” I say boldly. Swinging my legs off of the bed, I push myself into a standing position directly in front of Rafe. Though my stomach was churning I wouldn't allow him to know that I was all but terrified of what his retaliation may be. “You deserve a lot more than that, actually. You wanted a Pogue girl, so you’re gonna get a Pogue girl.”

Pushing past him I enter the walk-in closet, the mirror at the very back of the small room showing Rafe’s still back facing me. I searched through my side for a change of clothes, the shower sounding like a perfect escape from the ominous blonde just a few feet away.

I brush past him once again to enter the bathroom, the feeling of his eyes hot against my back as I move silently throughout the room.

It’s when I enter the bathroom that I finally hear him move. His feet lead him into the bathroom with me, eyes weighing heavy on my back as I adjust the temperature of the shower. After a minute of pretending to wait for the shower to heat up to my liking, I turn to face Rafe with exasperation covering my features.

“Can I help you?” I make my annoyance clear, not letting my voice waver despite feeling quite apprehensive. “You see I’m trying to do something.”

He says nothing in response. Instead, he fully enters the bathroom, the door shutting behind him loudly as he shoves it closed. I flinched from the loud sound, the force of the door shutting gently shaking the room. 

He advances quickly, cornering me against the glass of the shower door and leaving me with no clear escape route. I swear in my head as my back presses up against the cold glass, Rafe showing no signs of stopping as he travels in long strides. Our toes touch as he presses himself up against me, the material of his boots firm against my bare feet.

“You’re so ungrateful.” Rafe says with a pout. I eye him warily as he brings his hand up towards my face. He runs the back of his fingers over my cheek softly, something he always does when he’s trying to intimidate me. “I do so much for you, I’d do anything for you, and this is how you think I deserve to be treated?”

“I’ve never asked you to do anything for me, Rafe. I never wanted any of this!”

“Stop!” He shouts directly in my face, anger finally boiling over. “I’m talking now! It’s not about what you want, it’s about what's good for you. If it wasn’t for me, you’d still be in the cut with–with a bunch of fucking drug dealers and low lives.”

“You mean your drug dealer?” I knock his hand away from my face, the feeling of his skin on mine making my heart race faster. “Y’know, Rafe, maybe I like the cut! At least I can do whatever the hell I want instead of sitting in here all day like I’m living in a dollhouse! What do I have to be grateful for?”

“I buy you nice things, I take you nice places, I treat you like a fucking princess, Neriah!” He exclaims. “You asked me to stop doing drugs, I did that. You wanted me to leave your brother alone, I did that! Anything you want, I do. But-but what do I get in return? You treat me like I’m some piece of shit! Like-like what I do means nothing to you. All I ask is that you listen to me, that you behave. That’s it, that’s all I want!”

“I’m not some docile, little fifties housewife that you can order around, Rafe! You can’t dose me up with barbiturates, and–and give me fancy things in exchange for my obedience. I’m a human being.” I push him away from me roughly, the lack of space between us and the steam building up in the closed-off bathroom beginning to clog my mind. 

I look down at the tiara-shaped ring adorning my hand, the stones glinting in the white light of the bathroom. I rip it off my hand and throw the jewelry at Rafe’s feet, the ring sliding across the tile floor and stopping abruptly by the toe of his boot. He looks like an angry cartoon bull, nostrils flaring wide at the sound of the metal clattering against the floor and invisible steam blowing out of his ears.

“And you know what…Here, Rafe! Take your fucking ring back!” I yelled. I’m sure Wheezie was eavesdropping, something she was notorious for, but I didn’t care. I was angry. “I don’t wanna be your ‘princess’ anymore. I never wanted any of this shit! Matter of fact, take this fucking necklace too.”

Before my hand gets too far up my neck to yank the chain off, Rafe rushes me. He presses me up against the now warm shower door again and smacks my hand away from my neck. His hand flies up to my neck faster than I can blink, the warmth of his fingers engulfing my whole throat rather firmly. 

The new necklace sits a thousand pounds heavier than the diamond one resting between my collarbones. 

I gasp quite loudly, the contact far too sudden for me to be prepared for it. I’m sure Rafe can feel me gulp against his palm, the blood pumping through my jugular pulsing against his fingers. 

“Don’t you ever take that off.” He whispers harshly. 

The churning of my stomach has turned into a tingly feeling, the butterflies that take residence fighting to fly out of my mouth to a world of peace away from Rafe.

“You ignore me for days, you can hit me, you–you can call me names, I don’t care.” His hand drops down to the piece of jewelry, the pendant of his initials embraced tightly by his fingers. “But this? You don’t touch it.”

I have no response, voice stuck in my throat when his gaze catches mine. His eyes are stormy, as they always are, the color of the ocean just outside this house. My chest rises and falls intensely against his hand, our closeness and the thickness of the foggy air rendering me speechless.

Swallowing thickly, I push him away from me again for a second time, eager to make some space. 

“Get out.” Is all I can find the strength to say.

He stands there for a long moment, just watching. His hand runs over his face roughly, the movement breaking the staring contest between us. Finally he turns around and heads for the door, the white wood slamming shut behind him.

I release a breath I didn’t know I was holding, hand shooting up to cover my mouth.

I felt sick.

I was allowing myself to feel anything but disgust when Rafe touched me, feeling everything but disgust, while my brother could be out there dead somewhere. I wanted to lobotomize myself.

My body takes me to the mirror on its own, and the girl I saw in the reflection looked every bit dazed and confused. Reaching up towards the diamond encrusted RC, I hesitantly graze it with cautious fingers. 

“You were mine a long time ago, I’m just glad you finally realized it.” 

I’m reminded of the moment in my room back home as I watch myself play with the necklace, the words meaning something more now than they did then.

[mitsukiwa]

Baby, love me cause I'm playing on the radio.

A/N: FYI, I posted this story in Wattpad, therefor I don't want to hear I'm copying from someone or they're copying from me. I can assure you I'm the same person. With that being said enjoy (Billy willy has my heart) Pt 2I Pt 3I My wattpad user is 6arelyhuman_ if u want the outfits visuals u should read it there.

WARNING!!! There will include: angst, fluff, smut, love triangle (it's a bill ff so don't worry)

Summary: You love bill and there's no doubt in your heart, unbeknownst to you he feels the same way. You both have to overcome challenging events that leads the both of you to grow apart, what happens when his twin brother feels for you? Will you be able to crush his heart? What will you do to prevent hurting them both?

''If we could go back in time, what timeline would you go back to?'' I ask after a long moment of silence.

A stray thought that had crossed my mind, he hums in thought. Seemingly really thinking about it. He shifts his position on the grass. I also reposition myself differently, rolling over to my side to look at his side profile. He glances at me, then back at the sky.

''I would go back to before we got well known.'' I open my mouth to say something, but before I can he interrupts me.

'' Don't get me wrong, I'm happy with my life and how it turned out, It's everything I wanted and more.'' He lets out a sigh through his nose.

''Like if I actually would have gone to college, and I don't know? Lived life as an average man''

You nodded slowly. You knew where he was coming from because you had also thought of the same thing before.

''Tom wouldn't be a cocky womanizer,'' I say, electing a laugh from Bill beside me.

''Yeah, I think it's gotten to his head.'' ''You think?'' I say sarcastically. We both look at each other for a moment and burst into laughter.

Our laughter dies down, and we're left in comfortable silence. I glance up at the night sky, gazing at the stars that twinkle. Some were bigger than others, some even looked about the size of a speck of dust.

A sudden memory came to mind when we were little, the four boys and I would climb onto the roof of the twins' house and watch the night sky. We'd scream out 'Look a shooting star' as a bright star shot through the dark abyss. Simone would even prepare snacks for us to eat while we were up there.

The boys and I would make a wish, Tom always blurted out his, ''I want to date a hot model!''

I would playfully punch his shoulder as we all laughed at him. My wish was to always have the five of us stick together, no matter what.

''Remember Ria?'' Bill said, bringing back me from my thoughts. I roll my eyes at the name.

Bill dated her for a year. She was such a slut, she slept with Tom, knowing they were brothers. Bill was upset with his brother's poor decision. They didn't talk for months. They finally got over their differences so Bill forgave Tom.

''Yea,'' I say bitterly.

''Sometimes I wonder if she would have still dated me if I wasn't famous.'' He said honestly.

''probably not'' I say. In my opinion, she was only with Bill because he was a successful band leader.

And just wanted him for his fame, I wouldn't be surprised if she never loved him.

''I thought so too.'' He saids lowly.

It honestly breaks my heart. How sad and vulnerable he sounded saying this.

I reach for his hand interlocking my fingers with his. He rubs his thumb in a circular motion on my hand.

''she missed out on a whole lot'' I say causing him to smile.

''Really?'' he asks.

''Im sure'' I respond.

This seemed to make him feel better.

''You're a great friend'' He said, flashing me the brightest smile. I wince at the word 'friend', before quickly masking it with a smile of my own.

''I try to be'' I manage to say.

''Have you given Tom an answer''

" Have you given tom an answer?" God, why did he have to ruin such a great moment. I let out a sigh, " No, i've been avoiding him". Now saying those words out loud made me feel shitty. Bill frowned at me, clearly disappointed in my actions. " that's not how you should handle it" He said in a disapproving tone, shaking his head at me. " I know, I know I just" , My hands fly up to my face. I drag them down my face, leaving them to cover over my mouth. " I just don't want to hurt him with my answer" My words sounded muffled, though bill still managed to hear my words. "I'm pretty sure it hurts him more that you're ignoring him" He saids, stating the obvious. "I know and i feel like an ass hole" i groan out. "well, do you?" He asks, It takes me moment to process his question. "Do i what?" " Like him" He states simply, as if it was the most simplistic thing in the world. "I" The words caught in my throat. He pokes my cheek with his index finger. "Is that a blush i see?" He teases.

My heart breaks, he thought i liked tom, it wasn't like that at all, I only saw him as one of my best friends. Don't get me wrong i love him, but it was different than what i felt for bill.

I sit up, rubbing my hands on the fabric of my jeans, something i did when i was nervous, bill sat up also. "I don't know Bill" I say below a whisper. He frowns at me. " what is it, you can tell me" He throws an arm around my shoulder, bringing me close to his side. He places his chin on top of my head. I breath in his scent, breathing in what smelt like cologne and a hint of cigarettes.He was smoking again. I frown at the discovery. He had promised he would quit that habit, he only did so when he was stressed.

"The only right way to handle this situation is to tell the truth." I deflate, of course he was right, but i was scared, this could potentially ruin my friendship with both of them. And I honestly don't think i could ever handle something like that. They both mean so much to me. "come on" He nudged me in his arms.

HIS ARMS I felt so safe in his arms, his embrace was warm, the soothing strokes of his hand running through the locks of my hair could be enough to lull me to sleep.

I let out a puff of air, forcing myself to muster up some courage. "I'm still trying to figure out things out" It wasn't entirely the truth but somewhat close. I needed to figure out confessing my feelings to bill, or if i wanted to have tom hate me by doing so. It was the same outcome, one i so badly wanted to avoid. He hums in understanding.

"Got it, just don't avoid him, instead tell him those exact same words"

God, bill always knew what to say or do to make me feel better. I nod. I let out a quick 'ok'

"alright, i think we should get going, It's far too dark to be laying here in the park" He looks around. I laugh at him, he gives a frown in response.

"yeah, we may even get mugged." His eyes widened. He was so paranoid. I pat his shoulder, "Relax, the only thing they'll be getting is a card, and i sure as hell am not giving them my pin" He laughs at my humor. As we walk to his car in the parks parking lot he tells me about a few demos he's unsure of releasing. The ride to his apartment complex in LA was spent blasting music at full volume.

© Mitsukiwa 2023-Do not copy,post or translate my work anywhere.

[ay0nha]

Thorn in My Side | Tangerine (Bullet Train)

Summary: A constant or persistent cause of annoyance, frustration, or trouble.

Pairing: Tangerine x femme!reader

Word Count: 3K

A/N: Wrote this in one sitting oop. It’s out of my system it seems, but lowkey though if anyone has ideas/requests for Tangerine send them to me pls. My brain needs it.  I already have like another 1K dedicated to fake dating....maybe a part two for this is anyone likes this....but we’ll see.

Inspired by: @whatiswrongwithpeople​‘s post and post

Warnings: cheesy troupes such as there is only one bed, jealously, slight enemies to lovers, etc. mentions of death/dying (not tangerine though I can’t do that sorry), angst, mentions of blood and injury, etc.

The metal handcuffs felt tighter than usual, but she could never truly get used to the sensation no matter how many times she ended up in this type of predicament. The room was typical; containing the two-way mirror that held the bastard that arrested her behind it. Her orange jumpsuit reflected off of it brightly due to the harsh lights of the room. She knew it was only a matter of time before she was joined by him to hear his bad cop rendition.

Quietness finally fell upon her as she stretched back as far as the cuffs would allow her. It was a moment of tranquility she would relish knowing for the next few months, her time would no longer be her own. She could hear the shuffling from the other end which only interrupted her calm, but she was ready for it.

She had a quip prepared for when the door opened, but when she was met with the unexpected, a curse fell from her lips, "Fuck."

"Now,"  Tangerine spoke clearly, knowing her instinct to run.  "Let's not make any rash-

The table propelled forward as she kicked it into Tangerine's stomach, propelling him back and cutting off his warning as his back hit the wall. It allowed the perfect window of time for her to slip out the door and sprint past the hallway's carnage that he had left in his wake.  

From the outside Tangerine's suit and jewelry helped cover how menacing he could truly be. But the foul mouth that followed him gave him away. It was what helped her dodge him as he blundered after her. She knew she needed to be careful, knowing his twin wouldn't be far behind.

With help from the prison sirens, she was able to sneak past some security that was most likely looking for her and the professional assailants. Tangerine was skilled, meaning he'd find her quickly.

Although she was fast, she had yet to earn the upper hand. It was the reason she held her still handcuffed hands close to her chest and waited for Tangerine to catch up. The breath she held in her chest was tight, she was never overly skilled with hand-to-hand combat, but it was the only chance she had to get away unscathed.

Once she saw him, she used the chains connecting her wrists to pull as hard as she could against Tangerine's throat. Luckily, her force was enough to cause him to stumble and grasp at the chains for air. She didn't have the time or mental capacity to understand how suspiciously easy her actions were working. If she were anyone else, she'd be on the ground already begging for her life.

But, as expected, his counterpart was hot on his trail after her as well. Lemon.

The panic was starting to set in. She had lost her edge, leaving her susceptible to poor, dangerous decisions. Lemon could see this in her eyes, despite the fact that his brother was starting to turn purple.

Lemon turned calm, quickly,  hands placing his gun away to then place his hands up in peace, "I just want to talk."

Her silence showed her apprehension. She relied on blind luck most of her life, but she was starting to  think it was no longer a blessing, but the worst curse of all. She had  ambition in life, and goals she wanted to accomplish, but one thing led  to another and became the way they are now. She never had intentions of  being surrounded by paid mercenaries, mafiosos, and other higher forms  of criminals. Most of all, she never wanted to consider herself one.

Lemon stood firmly as she finally felt Tangerine go slack in her arms, "We need your help."

The skill she held was valuable, she was good at going undetected and it was almost unmatched, but ironically drew the attention of others seeking the same. Even her selection process reflected that; she would only take on jobs where she knew the outcome clearly.

Yet, the low-hanging fruit of her last one led to her being sold out by those who hired her. She was finally connecting the dots. Her handler was anonymous, not entirely uncommon, but a risk for her. And now, she'd run into the twins too many times to not question it.

"You two hired me, didn't you?"

"Depends on how you look at it," Lemon squinted in contemplation, not  sure how to answer it. Although it was his idea, his handler was the  one who technically hired her.

"And got me stuck in this shit-hole." Her voice was starting to reflect her frustrations.

"That was, uh," He clicked his tongue against his teeth to refer  behind her to his brother, "Thought it was easier to pick you up than to chase you."

It was smart, she could admit that. It saved time and put her in  checkmate; jail or a job. It always came down to an ultimatum, but even  if she chose jail there would only be so much time before they'd kidnap her in the night. What they were doing now was a nice way of asking her to come with them. It was only a matter of time before they

"Mind grabbing his shoulders?" Lemon asked, yet really instructing  her to do so since he'd already gotten his ankles, "We've got to get out  of here before they find us..."

---

"It gets easier."

Tangerine's tone was soft. Softer than she'd ever thought it could be, even his accent seemed faint.

She hadn't realized how she stood static, staring at swirling the tinged pink water. She could see now how Tangerine took her hands in his own, trying not to look frantic while he removed the blood that settled deep between her fingers.

It had all happened so fast, things she never wished she witnessed. She learned that Tangerine had no limits and she almost wanted to flinch from his touch. With his sleeves rolled up now, she could see the tattoos that littered his arms, his forearms flexing as he finished.

He caught her eyes in the mirror, scanning the rest while asking, "None of this is yours, right?"

It felt unusual for her voice to be caught in her throat the way it was. Tangerine knew better than to push her and ask again, but he did in need of resolution.

"No, n-no," She shook her head, pulling her hands back to herself. Luckily, none of it was hers. Even if it was, the adrenaline that pushed the ring through her eardrums would prevent her from realizing it.

They could both hear Lemon cursing in their ear, desperate for them to move quickly and clean up the mess they'd created. But Tangerine tuned his voice out expertly, with complete focus on the shaking body in front of him.

"You alright to go back out?" He checked again, even though her answer didn't really matter. It was a courtesy if anything. "We just need to keep going."

Tangerine  knew who she was from the start, but he labeled  her as a nuisance  after they first met. She posed no real threat and as  ruthless as he  seemed, he still had a heart. As long as she stayed out  of his  business, he held no qualms. however, she was now a part of his world in a different, direct way.

By their fourth mission together, Tangerine learned the hard way how  she graduated from a nuisance to a  flagrant distraction. It wasn't her  fault, she always followed the plan  to a tee, doing it beautifully, but that was the problem.  

Tonigh was different with her just out of his reach. The  strategy they  gave her was always simple, she was an extra pair of  hands that  Tangerine and his brother never realized they needed. It  made the  workload manageable and operations smooth. Like now, while Lemon broke  into the safe for retrieval, Tangerine kept a watchful eye on her  through  the scope attached to his gun from the building over.

Tangerine watched how she stood there, taking in  the unwanted compliments from the man who  stood too close. The man whose safe they were currently stealing from.

Tangerine barely managed to not intervene when how she was pulled into the man's arm and glided across the floor with the other elegantly dressed women. But his patient was truly being tested when she was led to a private room where she shouldn't have gone alone.

Lemon's knack to read people meant he knew his brother like no other and that meant he wasn't blind to how Tangerine's soft spot was becoming reserved for her. Therefore, Tangerine's position was intentional. Lemon needed everyone to focus, but didn't take into account the man's wandering hands.

Yet, as the man's hand crept further down her spine it caused Tangerine's  patience to run thin. When they'd finally made their way into a separate room, Tangerine's finger hugged the trigger.

The man next to her was destined to die that night regardless, Tangerine was only expediting the process. The minute he pulled the trigger, the gun was already by his side as he made his way to her with fervor.  

She was covered with debris from the situation, as the body fell onto her bloody and warm. It was the closest she'd been to this side of the world she belonged in. A side she avoided at all costs.

Her purpose was to be the key distraction, but now with no one to keep her occupied she simply stood there waiting for her body to catch up with her brain.

The dress she wore was ruined. Her eyes were glued to the stain on her stomach that only grew larger by the minute.  It made her feel queasy and her stance uneasy. If it wasn't for someone pulling her away, she might have crumpled in her spot.

She recognized that it was Tangerine removing her from the mess. He looked just as much as a mess. His hair was unruly, likely due to the burly men he had to get through to even approach the room. Blood was on his hands just as much as hers.

It was imperative that they clean themselves up to look inconspicuous in the crowd they'd have to return to. They needed to move swiftly, find Lemon, and leave before others caught on to what had happened to the host of the event.

"Let's just get this over with." Her voice held stability this time as she swallowed the rest of her apprehensions.

Tangerine wished they stayed in the small bathroom, where she was close to his side. Because the minute the door opened, they parted returning to their roles effortlessly.

Despite the mishap, the night ended soon enough and the three returned to the safehouse with minimal damage.

Lemon groaned when they locked the doors behind them, complaining backhandedly to his brother about what he'd put them through and how the consequences would reflect. He also requested to be left out of whatever was going on, having no energy for quiet yearning, notwithstanding Tangerine throwing curses his way for the comment.  

She kept quiet upon their return. It made Tangerine's body guilt-ridden. She knew she wouldn't sleep because if he were in her position he wouldn’t be able to either.

But he stayed like a rock on the small loveseat that didn't allow him any space to stretch out. Tangerine was tempted to join his brother but it was only fair to not interrupt his sleep when Tangerine was the cause of all the stress put upon the house.

She had her own space, perfectly away from Tangerine. She tried to shower off her feelings and lingering remnants of the night. Her body was sore and needed to rest. She thought she'd receive it when she finally rested horizontally, but sleep was hard to find when the memory played over and over in her head of how she saw the man's life leave his eyes.

She hadn't intentionally sought Tangerine out, but her feet carried her to the dingy living room he occupied.

"Are you awake?" The voice startled him but broke his internal thoughts easily.

It was like his body wasn't his own as he moved quickly to sit up, eyebrows furrowing as he nodded.

He saw her now, standing next to him. It was like she came to him with a bad taste in her mouth and nothing but distress.

He went to speak, but she spoke over him, "That man posed no threat."

Her words were abrasive which invited the frown and attitude to be present on Tangerine's face.  Guilt was being replaced with aggravation towards her seeming ungratefulness.

"He was the threat."

"I had it under control."

"No one said you didn't, love." Tangerine's usual tone returned, the one he used with her to remind her of her place in his world.

The way she viewed it was that Tangerine needed to insert himself. That his firing shot was yet another action to taunt her. During their missions together he was intentionally cruel.  Like he was putting on a show to annoy her and make her feelings towards him worse with each interaction in hope that one day she'd stop accepting the invitation from their handler. As if that in itself was much of a choice.

"We're even now."

She was talking about their last mission  together months ago, the one where she saved his life. He would have  been fine in the end, but with her help, he avoided broken bones and  nasty gashes. They'd never acknowledged it, but it added to the divide between them.

Tangerine wished he was level-headed in the moment, but instead he sought to challenge her, "That's all you have to say?"

"Am I supposed to say thank you?"

"That's what one usually says after being saved, yeah," Tangerine's characteristic frustration was beginning to show.

"Saved?" She scoffed, arms crossing with bitterness, "Is that what you think you did? Save me?"

"What would you call it then, eh?"

"An ego-filled interruption." Her words were punctuated and intentional.

"I think you're conveniently forgetting what happened."

"You could have waited."

"I saw an opportunity." He countered, his voice rising with anger.

She always made him defensive in the worse way possible. But he acted like he wasn't her main antagonist. What he didn't realize was how he had been the source of her fear and the reason why tears brimmed her waterline. She was afraid and this was her way of expressing it.

Tangerine didn't speak until a tear broke loose, "Look-

"No." She backed away from him, quick to remove any trace of vulnerability, "I don't want your pity."

It was hard to tell what she needed when she provided him with nothing but a blank stare.

"It happened and now it's over," Tangerine started again, leaving his conviction behind for the moment. He was trying to make what happened out to be mundane, but he struggled to. He wanted to yell at her and make her understand this was the life they lived, but when he drew in his breath he repeated the same advice, "It gets easier."

Her lip dared to tremble, but she held still as he read her. Tangerine wasn't sure if he was envious of her naïveté or empathized with it. He wanted to lie to her again, to tell her the feeling would go away, but he couldn't muster up anything.

With a few more calming breaths, her eyes glossed over, pushing anything remaining aside as she said, "How's the couch?"

The question gave Tangerine some relief. His shoulders relaxed a bit as he looked up at her. He could view their conversation as unorthodox progress.

He waited for a beat, eyes moving back and forth between hers before settling with characteristic charm, "Absolute shit."

"Lemon was quick to pick the bigger bed," She mirrored his growing amusement, "...There's plenty of room for you two to share."

"I'd rather join you."

His words sunk deeper into her chest than they were meant to. Tangerine was referencing Lemon's uncurable sleep apnea that he had since they were teens. But now a door was open that could never be closed again.

She toyed with the thought of her next move. She should have done something to contradict their desires, but instead, she left an open invitation:

"Come on, then." The invitation wasn't warm and inviting, it reflected her sleepless night and the company she required to even attempt to sleep again.

By the way she entered the other room alone, she assumed he'd decided against her better judgment. However, relief flooded her veins when she felt the bed dip beside her, but she kept her back to him as she adjusted her pillows.

Hesitation made the decision of Tangerine's every movement. The desire to provide her comfort overwhelmed him. Especially as he could see now how he failed to thoroughly realize how she'd been hurt.  

From the scope earlier in the night, Tangerine missed how tightly the man grasped her arm and now held the bruises to remind her. His actions felt more justifiable now.

With hands supporting the side of his face Tangerine whispered out the question

"Did he hurt you?"

Part of him hoped she'd fallen asleep. But she moved slowly to face him, face pulled in different ways to represent her confusion.

"What kind of a question is that?"

It was a loaded question. Of course, she had been, but like everything else of the night, it was expected but not desired. It was hard to tell if she was showing him vulnerability or if he'd just built another wall between them.

Regardless, Tangerine's brashness was put aside for a moment as he searched for her hand in the cool sheets all while maintaining his distance.

“I’m sorry."

[boliv-jenta]

Angelo (OMC) x f!reader, tiny bit of Nico x reader.

WC:3.4k

Summary: After some time apart, you and Angelo catch up. A purely self-indulgent fic set in the Kitten Universe.

Warnings: Smut. Rough P in V sex. Dirty talk. Daddy/Papi kink. Vaginal fingering. Mentions of M/M sex.

Angel

"Hey, Sweetie. How are you?" It has been a few weeks since you had seen Angelo. He and Owen had welcomed a new addition to their happy home. They'd adopted a slightly timid Boxer Terrier.

For the last ten nights, Angelo has slept in the living room while his new baby, Oisin, adjusted to his surroundings. Owen had doted and fussed over Angelo, making sure the anxious new parent was comfortable and actually sleeping. Rather than watching their new baby sleep.

"I'm freaking out. Owen wants me to meet Lily." Lily was the apple of Owen's eye, his granddaughter.

"Why are you freaking out? You've met his kids. They love you."

"Yes, but they are adults. Kids are brutal. They have zero filter."

"You mean they're honest, and she will honestly love you."

"But what if she doesn't. Now that we live together Owen wants her to stay over. What do four year olds even do? How do you even talk to them?"

"Angel, you're spiralling."

A deep breath blew down the phone. "Can we go out for lunch? A little retail therapy?"

"I suppose I could be convinced. I do have some good news to celebrate."

It was a warm day. The breeze blew pleasantly across your skin as you waited for Angelo to return from the bathroom. As he walked over, you couldn't help but admire the flash of his muscular legs under his skirt. The leather swished from side to side with the swish of his hips, giving you a tantalising glimps. 

"So you had good news?" He sat back in his seat, bringing another piece of his vanilla crown to his lips.

"Yes. I didn't mention it before because I thought it was such a long shot and I don't understand all the legalities but I'm going to get a settlement from all the work I put into my family's business."

Angelo's breath hitched in delight. "Oh, that is wonderful. Congratulations."

"Thank you. I can finish my degree. Afford a new place…."

"With Nico?" 

"Maybe." You grinned at the thought of the man you loved. "Not yet though."

"Oh?"

"We've decided to take things slow."

"Sure, you don't want to rush things with a man that has already violated you in every way imaginable." He added a pastry muffled 'twice'.

"Funny." You rolled your eyes mockingly. "We're taking things slow to build a strong foundation. We want this to last. You know beyond the really hot violation of each other's bodies. Twice." You weighed up adding the next part for a moment. "We started to see a couples therapist."

"Really? How's that going?"

"We're only two sessions in. I think we've overwhelmed the poor man. He's mainly given us tips for communication."

"Well, good for you. I'm glad you guys are planning for the future. You both deserve to be happy."

"Thank you." It warmed your heart that Angelo meant that with all of his. "So Lily?"

"Lily. I'm thinking bribe her with presents and use Oisin as a social buffer."

"You're a very successful doctor, who makes life or death decisions, and you are terrified of meeting a child."

"Damn right. Medicine I know. Growing up with my cousins I was the little effeminate kid who read, while they were all rough and tumble outdoor kids. Until I was twenty-nine I was a gold star gay. I was in two long term relationships with men who didn't want kids. I wasn't good with kids when I was a kid and I never thought I would have to deal with them as an adult…."

"Spiralling…" you reminded him as you stirred more sweetener into your coffee.

"You're right." He lay a hand on your arm in thanks.

"Out of curiosity, what happened at twenty nine?"

"A post break up dry spell, coinciding with the farewell party of a beautiful colleague who was going back to Germany and a few too many two for one cocktails."

"So I have Appletinis to thank for having you in my life?"

"First of all, it was Cosmos. Second of all, no, you should thank Dr Meyer for showing me what I was missing. The alcohol just got me over my nerves."

"You? Nervous about sex?"

"Not exactly about the sex. I was living as an openly gay man. I had the odd crush on a woman but I'd never acted on it. It was the whole ramifications of if I liked it. It would open up a whole new side to explore, and as you know, with new things in my personal life, I tend to…"

"Spiral. I know."

"Well I'm glad you explored that side." You leaned in to kiss him. He hesitated to meet your lips. "What?"

"I'm just thinking about the couples therapy. Is this still okay? Us?"

"Yes. That part he was surprisingly chill about. It was more the self delusion and lying that he had a problem with."

"Well, in that case." He shuffled closer to lean in conspiratorially. "After we finish stocking up on bribes for a four year old, you wanna come back to my place?"

"I'm not a hundred percent on board with bribing a child."

"Please. Bebita. I need help to choose the right things."

Angelo pulled you into a half hug. As he did, your hand grazed rather high on his thigh.

"Are you not wearing anything under there?"

"What do you think?" His low tone and warm breath in your ear sent a shiver through you.

"That we'd be better going to the toy store on Third. There's a stationary store next door too. Kids love crayons."

Angelo's eyes creased adorably as he laughed. The two of you quickly gathered your things and left.

On the way home, Angelo ran a scenario that he was eager to try past you. As you entered the apartment, shoes were kicked off, bags were left in the hallway. Angelo pulled you lightly along to where he wanted you. Past the dog bed near the living room. "Puppy school." He offered as an explanation as to it being empty.

The balcony wrapped around their penthouse apartment. They shared the floor with one other apartment. A thin wall separated the individual parts of it. It provided a little privacy but not much. Voices would easily carry to the next apartment. When you were in reach, Angelo promptly pushed you up against said wall. His hands skimmed along your thighs, worrying the hem of your dress. His lips left red hot kisses on your neck.

During the last couple of weeks, you'd missed Angelo. You'd missed the easy, carefree relationship you had. He was your best friend here. Actually, he'd become your best friend, period. The new person you had become this last year didn't have as much in common with her old friends. She still loved them dearly, Angelo was just a better fit for the new you.

"Are you sure they're not home?" You asked nervously. Public sex was never your thing. The idea of accidentally violating someone like that if they caught you was a turn off. They'd be one time with Nico but that was more about the rush of being with Nico. The attraction and the power you had over each other. So desperate for each other that you didn't care who saw.

"You sound like Owen. I told you they are away for the week at the same conference. That's how Owen found this place. He works with the neighbour." He pressed a reassuring kiss to you temple.

"Come on. I'll keep the skirt on. I saw how you've been looking at me." He twirled his hips for effect, the fabric swishing from side to side, inching up to show more of his toned flesh. "I've been thinking the same about that little sundress." The flimsy sundress nearly burned off your body under the heat of his gaze. Those soft brown eyes turned predatory. "Do you have underwear on?"

"Of course." You laughed. The material was light, a good gust of wind would leave you exposed if you didn't.

Angelo sat himself down. "Take it off. The panties then the bra. Slowly."

"The bra?"

"I want to see if I can fuck you so hard that they bounce free."

Something about that tickled you and a laugh bursted from you.

Angelo laughed with you. "You're laughing? Don't you think I could? Come here…." A tug on your arm set you off balance until you landed in his arms. His large hands tickled just under your ribs. "Angelo!" You couldn't help but giggle. Angelo was always warm and playful. It was hard to imagine him at work being the very serious doctor man. To you, he was your sweet Angel. There were times when his intensity bled through but with Nico there, Angelo usually fell into a sub role. That gave you an idea. 

"Well, what if I want to fuck you in your pretty skirt instead?" The nudge of his rapidly swelling cock against your thigh told you he was more than okay with that. "Would you like that, Baby?" You rolled your hips, grazing his dick. "I'll fuck you so hard that my tits bounce out of my dress."

"Fuck the dress." Angelo did his best to strip it from your body. The top of it ended up hanging around your waist, he completely abandoned it at the sight of your delicate chiffon bra. His fingertips traced your nipples through the sheen fabric. As your nipples pebbled his tongue darted out to wet his soft lips. Before he could lean in and capture one in his mouth you stopped him with your hand in his hair. A sharp tug on his tousled curls stopped him in his tracks. The shift in the energy between you showed in his eyes.

"You didn't even ask, Angel. You should remember your manners." You chided. 

A shallow breath rattled in his chest before he spoke. "Please?"

The quiet desperation in his voice made you clench around nothing. The well toned muscles under his shirt strained under your palm as he waited for your answer.

"Go ahead." 

Suddenly, his lips sealed around one of them. His firm sucks drew out your moans like he was nursing on them. His thumb made sure the other nipple wasn't neglected before he swapped over. It took no time at all for your panties to be as wet as the sodden bra covering your nipples. While your nipples ached from over stimulation, your pussy ached from lack of attention. 

Another tug on his glossy curls was followed by an order. "Go sit down."

"Si, señora." He folded himself down into one of the large sofas. Stripping his shirt off in one move as he did. It was tossed to the floor where your panties soon joined it.

Angelo's well defined legs dropped open under his skirt. The leather rode up to mid thigh as they did. The sight has you on your knees and pushing the skirt up around his waist in seconds.

"Hmmm. I've missed this pretty cock." You told him before traces the thick vein underneath it with your tongue.

"Oh, fuck, yes." Angelo's head rolled back only to snap back to you when you stopped. "Wha..?"

"You don't get to be inside me, in any way, until you make me come."

"Easy." He pulled you into his lap. His large hands spread your legs either side of his before one of them came to your folds, only to be stopped by you.

"Not like that."

"How?"

"Talk to me." You lowered yourself against his hard length, letting his thick shaft rub against your clit.

"Oh, I can do that. I can tell you how much I've missed you on top of me. I've missed your curves under my hands, the warmth of your pussy as it drips all over me."

"Mmmm. What else?" Your hips sped up as much from his words as from your needs for more friction.

"I can tell you that just from the thought of seeing you today, I had to jerk off this morning."

"I bet you looked so good doing that, Baby."

"I was naked on our bed, I came so hard at the thought of fucking you I painted my stomach with it."

There was something about watching your boys jerk off that just did it for you. Maybe it was the added naughtiness of viewing what could be a private moment. Or the fact that they could take themselves apart so easily, you were rewarded with the sight of them coming so quickly. The thought of his naked body glistening with his creamy release pushed you closer.

"Love watching you touch yourself."

"Maybe you could ride my thigh instead and you could watch me now?"

"Look at you trying to turn the tables by offering what I want. Naughty boy! I'm still in charge, you stop if I tell you to."

"Of course, señora."

With a little adjustment you were soon riding his thigh and getting closer than ever watching his large hand be dwarfed by his even larger member. His strokes were slow and firm. There was something so debauched about watching his first his cock that was peeking out of his skirt. It was a mystery to you how even after all these months of filthy, no holds barred sex that some things could still give you that type of thrill.

"Tell me how it feels?"

"Not as good as when you do it. Or when I sink into your pussy."

"I'll let you have it soon, I promise. Just be good for me. Keep talking to me."

"You know, the last time I sat in this chair Owen was sucking my cock." The lewdness of his confession made your hips stutter. A smirk played on Angelo's pretty lips. "He wouldn't let me fuck him out here though. He was too afraid of being caught. I wouldn't give a shit. I want the world to know how good he makes me feel. I had to settle for fucking him up against the window there. I took his ass while I pumped his cock. I talked so dirty to him I had him whimpering for me. He came so hard I had to clean the whole window." The mental image had you on the edge. Angelo could feel you tensing against his thigh. "So, señora, do you still want to be in charge or do you want me to fuck you hard?"

Being so close to climax had you needy and weak for him. "Fuck me."

"Oh, Cariño, you can ask nicer than that."

"Please, fuck me. Please."

The hand that had been around his cock, wrapped around your throat. "Who do you want to fuck you?"

"You…" A squeeze of his hand prompted you to remember. "You, Papi."

"Buena niña." His hand remained at your throat as he kissed you deeply. The passion that you had missed from him had his tongue swirling around yours like he was trying to lap you up. The entire time he guided you across the balcony, his lips barely left yours. When they did it was to spin you abruptly. When he stopped your hands automatically braced yourself on the brick wall of the balcony. The height of it allowing you enough cover to protect your modesty but your head and shoulders peeked above it, giving you a view of the city.

"Do you think people can see you from up here? Do you think they'll be able to tell that you are taking my cock in your tight little cunt?" He filled you as he spoke.

"Angelo!" He was pushing as deep as he could, making you take everything he had. 

"I want you to be completely full of me when you come. I want to feel every excited twitch of this sweet pussy." His fingers strummed your clit as kept himself pressed deep inside.

At this high you wondered if people heard your scream as you finally burst apart around him. 

"Sucia. Look what a mess you've made of me." His words didn't register as you were too gone from your orgasm. Absently, you let him turn you and push you down to your knees. He bunched his skirt up in his hand at his hip. "Clean me up."

Your tongue made quick work of the sweet fluid glistening in the hairs as the base of his cock and the top of his thighs before you moved onto his length, taking as much as you could into your mouth. "I said clean it, not enjoy it. Get up." His fingers caught in your hair. Dragging you up, he bent you over the balcony wall again. 

"Fuck!" He bellowed as he slid back into your now drenched pussy. "You've made it too easy to pound the fuck out of you." His hips moved languidly, teasing you with the ease of his movement inside you. "Papi is going to use this little cunt until he fills it. You are just going to take it. I don't want to hear you holding back any moans. I want to hear all of it. ¿Comprender?"

"Yes." A sharp slap to your chest served as a reminder. "Yes, Papi."

After that point, any thought of anything but Angelo left your mind. The tip of his cock slamming impossibly deep. The girth of him stretching you out. His fevered mutterings in Spanish and English, all of them undoubtedly filthy no matter what the language. The caress of the soft leather of his skirt against your ass. Your arms strained with effort to stop your delicate skin pressing into the rough wall. When he realised this, he pushed you face first onto the nearest sofa. The wood groaned under the plush cushions as he rutted into you hard and fast. Another orgasm swelled within you, it didn't come to fruition before Angelo's cock swelled inside you, pumping out every drop he had to give you. 

"Yes. So good for Daddy. Love this perfect cock sleeve." He babbled as he finished inside you.

After pulling out and wiping the sweat from his brow on his forearm he turned his attention back to you. "You were close for me. Let me see if Papi can finish you off while I stuff all my come back inside of you. I want to be so deep in you that Nico can still taste me later on."

Three fingers scooped his seed back up and rammed it back inside. You whined at the sudden intrusion. "Shhh, Bebita. Just take it like you took my fat cock. Come on, come for me." His thumb gently coaxed you towards your end as his fingers pumped his spend in and out. He could feel you close on his fingers. "That's it. You took me so well. Let me use your perfect hole to come. You deserve another orgasm. Come for me."

His sweet words pushed you over the edge. This time was even more intense. Your whole body lit up with it, chasing his touch. "Oh, Ang…Papi!" 

A satisfied smile played on Angelo's lips. "That's it, come for Papi." His fingers worked you until you begged him to stop. 

Happily exhausted, Angelo flopped down next to you, cuddling into your side. He intertwined his legs with yours, his softened cock pressing into your hip.

"Are you alright? I didn't hurt you, did I?" The softness returned to his eyes.

"I'm fine…Papi." You smiled.

"I know. It's such as fucking cliché but it gets me going."

"Everything gets you going! Why Papi in particular?"

"I don't know. You think young women are the only ones that can have daddy issues?"

"Maybe you should speak to someone about them? Our therapist suggested bringing you along."

"Therapy with you and Nico? I would do anything to get out of that."

"Anything?" You closed the gap between your faces. Stopping just before your lips touched.  "Then try talking to Lily before you try to bribe her. She will love you like we do."

"I love you too." A tiny kiss was pressed to the tip of your nose. "Well, come on then."

"Where?"

"I'll need your help to hide all the gifts before she sees them."

The gifts were hidden, Oisin was picked up from school, and the three of you spent a quiet night in.

Owen arrived home mid-afternoon. After Angelo and Oisin welcomed him home, with matching puppy dog enthusiasm, he exchanged pleasantries with you before he ushered you towards the door. "I know you want to get home to him. He did great. Take care." He gave you a warm hug before calling the elevator for you.

Owen's words repeated in your head. Nico had been so nervous about starting at a practice again. The conference had been his first big step. Oddly, it was nice to be the one being leaned on for a while. Nico had done so much for you even if he didn't realise it.

Before you knew it, you were home. "Hi." Nico beamed at you from behind the counter.

Freshly chopped herbs scented the air. Quickly washing and drying his hands, he came around to pick you up into a hug. "I've missed you. How was the weekend with Angelo?" He set you down but kept you close to his chest, rubbing circles on your back.

"I shopped. Played with an adorable puppy. Let Angelo fulfil his desire for outdoor sex by fucking me roughly. Watched a movie. Then, this morning, we went for a run. Showered together, and just before I left, he made sure to make an absolute mess of me for you to clean up. The usual." You casually remarked.

Nico responded by walking away and turning off the pans in the kitchen. "Let's go." He pointed in the direction of your now shared bedroom.

"What? But food! It smells so good."

"Oh, I'm still going to fed you, Kitten." He smirked as he spanked your ass.

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[braveclementine]

Chapter 34

Warnings: None

Copyright: I do not own any Marvel characters or locations. However, I do own my OC: Elizabeth Y/L/N (created so you don't get Y/N and Y/S/N consistently mixed up. I do not condone any copying of this.

"I WANT ANSWERS!" SAM SNAPPED AS HE stormed into the room. "No more beating around the bush, no more lies, no more secrecy, why the hell do the two of you keep antagonizing and just being plain rude to the poor girl?"

Bucky looked up awkwardly from where he was sitting in the corner of the room, his arms resting on his knees.

Steve on the other hand, didn't even glance over at him. "I just want to find Y/N and bring her back safely."

"So you deliberately yell at her!? How is that supposed to help anything?" Sam smarted. "Good lord, how about you just hit her around some and add some physical bruises instead of the emotional ones!"

Bucky actually flinched and Steve just glared over at Sam.

"Why aren't you accepting her? Why aren't you rejecting her? Why are you keeping her somewhere in the middle?" Sam shouted. "Y/N, your precious Y/N that you can never just shut up about even told the two of you not to leave her in the middle!"

"That's enough Sam." Steve demanded. "I've told you time and time again that I have my reasons and that's my-"

"No." Sam shook his head. "No, not anymore. Not when I'm being torn in two as well. You think this decision is only hurting Elizabeth? It's hurting me Steve. How am I supposed to keep doing this? It's like living a double life. One with her and one with you two and Y/N. We were supposed to share everything together! So no. You don't get to keep saying it's only your business! I mean, you've wanted a female presence so badly that you almost went back for-"

Sam cut off and then asked, "Wait. Is this because you think she looks like Peggy?"

Steve didn't look at him now and Sam scoffed, "Unbelievable. She looks nothing like Peggy."

Sam turned on Bucky, "I know you can't possibly be avoiding her because she looks like Peggy! Hell, I've seen the way that you look at her! I know what you like and her long hair has got to be a contributing factor. In fact, I thought you would have preferred Elizabeth over Y/N because of that!"

Bucky's eyes shifted uneasily between Steve and Sam. Sam was hating how Bucky seemed to scared to say anything in front of Steve.

"Who do you love more Sam?" Steve asked quietly. "Us or Elizabeth?"

Sam's mouth actually dropped, "Are you serious right now? I don't love any of you more than I love the others. That's why I need you to tell me why you're not getting along with Elizabeth."

Sam was silent for a moment and then said, "Steve, I love you. I love you Bucky. But if you make me choose, then you're going to lose me."

Sam walked out, slamming the door closed behind him. Then the tears started to flow on both sides.

ₓ˚. ୭ ˚○◦˚.˚◦○˚ ୧ .˚ₓ

ELIZABETH HAD CALMED DOWN ENOUGH to be of some use and the Avengers were off to save Y/N except Clint who had passed out from pain on the couch, and Wanda who had wanted to stay back with Elizabeth.

Wanda watched as Elizabeth knelt by Clint's side, wafting the smelling salts under his nose to wake him up. She also already had a cup of hot milk with cinnamon waiting for when he woke up.

Wanda was sure the young woman would make a wonderful mother and wife. She could've also worked in the medical field, she would be amazing with patients.

"Are you alright?" Elizabeth asked softly as Clint came around.

"Ow." Clint mumbled and winced as he got into a sitting position. Elizabeth set the smelling salts aside, handing him the cup of milk instead.

"Thanks little bird." Clint brightened immensely as he sipped the warm beverage. He looked around the abandoned common room. "Where's everyone else?"

"Stephen transported all of them to find Y/N." Elizabeth answered, getting up to throw the trash away before settling into the arm chair like a cat. "And Hogun's taking a nap. I have no idea where Bruce is."

"He's been checking on Natasha's vitals for the past couple of hours." Wanda answered softly. "He's a little worried about the effects of the magic bond between her and your mother."

Elizabeth nodded a little and turned back to Clint, "How are you feeling?"

"Like the pain never happened. There's no lingering pain anyways." Clint grunted, before draining the rest of the milk. He set the empty cup down on the table in front of him. "But I reckon it's worse when it's actually happening to you."

"I don't remember most of it." Elizabeth said softly. "I was under anesthesia for the most part."

Clint didn't miss a beat. "What about the parts you were conscious for?"

Elizabeth hesitated and then admitted, "I wished I was dead."

Clint rubbed her shoulder comfortingly.

Suddenly, another portal opened up and the rest of the Avengers rushed through. Clint's hand dropped from Elizabeth's shoulder and Wanda watched Elizabeth get up and walk out of the room.

"How'd it go?" She asked Pietro who sat down next to her immediately.

"Fine." Pietro shrugged. "She's back at any rate. With powers, mind you. They're already started arguing about safety precautions."

Wanda sighed. She hated the idea of soulmates. She had two of course, Vision and Rhodey, and both treated her immensely well. But at the same time, having multiple soulmates, especially when it was siblings sharing like Y/N and Elizabeth seemed to be causing more problems than it was worth.

She couldn't really pin blame on any singular person. Elizabeth, she found completely blameless and Y/N was pretty much as blameless as well. Tony and Stephen had been completely unaware, and creatures of habit and they'd made up for what wrong they may or may not have caused. Hogun, Clint, and Thor had done well overall, as had Loki. Sam had slipped up at the club- but really they all had- but since then he'd done well. And Bucky. . . well Bucky seemed to be following Steve's lead.

But could all of the blame really be put on Steve's shoulders?

She wasn't entirely sure what Steve's reasoning was. In the very beginning, a relationship between Elizabeth and Bucky had seemed promising, but now. . .

Bucky was clearly following Steve's orders, but then why would Steve order Bucky to stay away from Elizabeth in the first place? Wanda liked both of the sisters, though both of them had their own problems to deal with. But nothing that seemed that either sister should be shunned by her soulmates.

"Did you hear me?" Pietro asked and Wanda jerked.

"No, I'm sorry." Wanda apologized.

"They want to know your opinion on whether or not Y/N should go into one of the holding cells until her powers are cultivated." Pietro muttered.

The others weren't looking at her and Wanda surveyed the area now. Steve was having a standoff with Tony. Y/N looked furious, red in the face. Clint, Thor, Loki, Stephen, Sam, and Bucky just looked torn.

"This is ridiculous!" Y/N smarted. "Why should I have to go into a holding cell?"

Tony rubbed his eyes. "It seems to be the new protocol Y/N. Elizabeth-"

"-tried to kill me. I haven't tried to kill anyone." Y/N finished.

"She didn't try to kill you." Clint and Wanda said together. Wanda continued, "She simply lost control. You could easily lose control as well. I don't think you should have harsh restrictions, but you have to be watched. Pietro and I both spent time in holding cells until we could control our powers."

Y/N looked extremely angry and Wanda felt terrible. The last thing she wanted was for anyone to be mad at her.

"Perhaps I can take her to Asgard and my mother can work with her instead?" Thor suggested. "She was able to help Elizabeth."

"Yes." Y/N finished. "Why can't I do that?"

No one had an answer.

Wanda noticed that Tony looked horribly upset. Bucky, Steve, and Y/N left the room when no one had any further comments and Tony finally sank into the arm chair Elizabeth had previously occupied, his face in his hands.

Stephen converged on him immediately, murmuring to him.

"Where's Elizabeth?" Loki asked, looking over at Wanda.

"She left when you lot came in." Clint muttered. "I think she was avoiding Y/N."

Wanda was certain that was an accurate guess.

And she couldn't blame her either.

ₓ˚. ୭ ˚○◦˚.˚◦○˚ ୧ .˚ₓ

YOU COULDN'T WAIT TO FIGURE OUT WHAT sort of superpower you had been gifted with. Maybe you'd be able to shoot lasers out of your eyes. Maybe you'd be able to create fireballs and lob them at bad guys. Maybe you could create earthquakes or call up lightning storms. Maybe you could create weapons out of thin air.

Thor and you were sent up to Asgard by yourselves. Steve said he had things he had to deal with back on Earth, but to hurry up and come back home to him. Bucky had been rather silent and you couldn't help but think he looked downcast. He was probably upset to see you go.

You and Thor flew back to the castle, using his lovely hammer. Once landing in front of the castle, you were greeted by Volstagg and Fandral who had been walking in the gardens.

"Hello Friends!" Thor boomed cheerfully. "Have you seen my mother?"

"She's tending to your father in the dining hall." Fandral said. "Or was as of an hour or so ago."

"Thank you." Thor said and the two of you headed off to find his mother.

She was not in the dining hall- nor was Thor's father- but you did find her in the library, books revolving around her with magic. She smiled as the two of you walked in, "Hello dears."

"Hello mother." Thor said, letting her kiss him and then you let her embrace you.

"So, what brings the two of you to visit?" The Queen asked.

"Y/N has developed powers as well and we were hoping that you could help her before she loses control." Thor replied.

"I see." The Queen said, taking on a serious demeanor. "I suppose you should leave us now Thor."

Thor took his leave and you and the Queen were left in the quiet library.

The Queen took your hand and led you over to the couch, the both of you settling on the floor instead.

"Ah Y/N." Frigga said sadly. "Look where your jealousy has gotten you now."

You felt angry with this comment. "I don't understand why you think I'm jealous. Of who?"

"Your sister." Frigga said, looking at you. Her eyes were deep and penetrating. "Why would you let them do this to you?"

"I wanted this." You replied, stretching your hands out to your sides. "I wanted-"

"To stop your sister from being special." Frigga finished.

You winced slightly. "Look, that's just what I told her to get her to leave-"

"But you know deep down it's true. Elizabeth finally had something you didn't, something you wanted even. And you had to go and try and get the same thing. Was it worth it?"

You gaped at the Queen. "It's a superpower! Maybe you don't understand because you have your magic you're entire life, but I wanted to have something special, regardless of whether or not Elizabeth had it. Imagine shooting fireballs from your hands or shooting laser beams out of your eyes! I'll be able to join the Avengers now, go on missions, be a superhero."

The Queen simply looked at you, and didn't answer. "Did you think about the long term consequences? Or if you'd even get such a destructive power?"

Destructive? She clearly didn't know how these things worked. It was all in the comic books.

"Do you want to help, or not?" You grumbled instead of answering.

Frigga sighed. "Of course I'm going to help you. But I wanted you to realize the choices you've made are out of jealousy. I really think you and your sister should talk."

You said nothing, wanting to move onto the part where the Queen actually helped you with your powers.

There was silene in the room for another twenty seconds, and then Queen Frigga settled her hands in her lap. "Close your eyes and let's begin."

⬅️➡️

[nuriaredgrave]

Prompt #9: Fair

Nuria groaned in discomfort, leaning over a railing that hung above a pond nestled within the bustling theme park. Hani and Dane had warned him to take it easy on the fair food, but with so many bizarre and delicious snacks being offered up, how was he supposed to resist? Deep down they expected this, Nuria was nothing if not stubborn. The two friends simply rolled their eyes at each other, sighed and began rubbing his back to try to ease his misery.

Aside from this the day had been great. The three of them arrived at about midday, Nuria practically vibrating with excitement as they waited in line at the entrance. Dane raised an eyebrow, "You gonna be alright? Kinda freaking out, there." Hani laughed, "I think he's just excited." Nuria really had no idea what to expect, for all the times he'd heard of fairs and carnivals he'd never actually been to one. After what felt like an eternity the gate swung open, and the eager trio made their way inside.

Nuria was like a whirlwind the girls could hardly keep their eyes on. Breathlessly sprinting from vendor to vendor, buying up the strangest foods he could get a hold of. His arms seemed constantly full of these snacks, always ready to share a new one with his friends. However after their 4th deep-fried, cheese-glazed, body-destroying nightmare kebab the girls swore off fair food for the remainder of the visit. Of course, Nuria soon ended up with another monstrosity in his hand. Hani gave him a concerned look, "Nuria...I really think you should take it easy." Dane just shrugged, "Nah, let him go for it. Can't say we didn't warn him."

He did alright for a little while, he was honestly having the time of his life. A bit of wood-breaking with Dane, a Whack-a-Bomb game with Hani, the three of them even took a relaxing ride around the fairgrounds on a miniature train. They found a funhouse hall of mirrors which Nuria kept moving far too quickly in, repeatedly slamming his face against mirror walls and sending the girls into tear-jerking laughing fits. The last attraction was a pitch-dark haunted house, which practically terrorized Nuria and Hani but had Dane giggling the whole way at the cheap scares. She'd never admit it, but she was guilty of brushing her tail against Nuria's legs a couple of times to get a good scream out of him.

As the sun began to set, and after all that running around and screaming, here the friends were at the railing as Nuria paid for his poor eating decisions. After a while he stepped back and slumped on the nearby bench, leaning his head back and letting out the most worn-out "Fuuuuuuuuck" this star had likely ever heard. Hani and Dane came to sit on either side of him. He let out one more pained groan and mumbled, "Sorry this is how the night's ending, guys. Eyes were bigger than my stomach." Dane patted his back, "No worries, big guy. We had a great time anyway. Gods, you just.." she was struggling to hold in her laughter, "..you just couldn't stop running into those mirrors." Nuria snorted, breaking through his belly discomfort with a smile, "It was pretty funny, huh." Hani beamed at him and reached up to fix his messied hair, "I thought today was great. Even if you were being kind of a butthead eating all that food."

The three of them sat and relaxed for a while, making small talk and enjoying the evening breeze. When all's said and done, they were always happy to spend some time together. With how busy they all were and how chaotic things had been in Eorzea in recent times, it wasn't something that happened as often as they'd like. So they made the most of it when it did. Eventually they all got up, stretched their legs a bit and made their way to the fairgrounds' exit. Just then, a vendor wheeled past them with a cart serving delicious piping-hot pizza by the slice.

Nuria looked at his friends sheepishly for a moment, slowly turned away from them, then darted after the vendor. Dane sighed heavily but smiled, "As usual, he didn't learn a thing did he?" Hani just chuckled, "That's Nuria, alright."

[bridgertonandchocolate]

While my account lately has been Bridgerton dominant I do have other things I obsess over. One of them is musical theater. And the man, the myth, the legend Aaron Tveit is probably my favorite performer ever. And he’s back in Moulin Rouge on Broadway so I made poor life decisions and went to the show shortly after his return. And if anything he’s even better than he was before. It’s astounding.

Anyway while I love MR the Broadway musical and the movie there are some key differences that I have liked and disliked. Here’s some of them (SPOILERS AHEAD: YOU’VE BEEN WARNED):

1. Like - the change for Christian to be a songwriter and Latreuc (pardon my poor spelling) to be the play writer. They really gave Latreuc more of a backstory and character in the Broadway show as compared to the movie where there just isn’t too much.

2. Like - the family feel of the club. In the movie it seems like there’s a lot of animosity among the people of the Moulin Rouge and in the show you see that a smidge, but throughout you really get the feel that they are all they have in the world and they genuinely love each other. Especially the Nini/Satine relationship.

3. Like/Dislike - this is a rough one for me. And I think it depends on who is playing Satine in the show. In the movie she really is just looking to become a “real actress” whereas show Satine is looking to better her life and the lives of everyone at the Moulin Rouge. So you see her giving into the Duke a little more than you do in the movie. Because he’s promising her a better life than she has. But in the show I feel like if the emotions aren’t played in a certain way you don’t sympathize with her but that’s just my opinion.

5. Dislike - the ending. Channeling the Duke in the movie “I don’t like this ending”. The movie ending is quite different from the production. In the movie Christian returns and pays Satine for her “services”. In the show Christian is pretty dark and murderous. In the movie they reunite and in the show that part is pretty similar but then the Duke continues to try to kill Christian with a gun but in the show Christian has the gun and is going to kill himself in front of Satine. I just hate it. I don’t know if they changed it so there was still a gun involved or what. But it makes Christian seem very unstable and almost that his love was such a fantasy or infatuation. In the movie the Duke parting ways with the club is shown and it’s not in the production. The Duke gives satine flowers the night of the performance and she tells him off, but he has a line saying basically she is still his and always will be and that’s it. It’s just a really missed moment. There is no severing the ties with the Duke.

5. Like - the change in the Duke. Show Duke is hot. It makes it more believable and tempting for Satine to stay with the Duke as opposed to the movie when it seems like such an easy decision. Show Duke is also way crazier and more dangerous than movie Duke. I love when someone plays the Duke absolutely batshit crazy.

All this to say that MR on Broadway is hands down the best production I’ve ever seen. From the minute you step into the theater you’re transported to a different world. It is such an experience. And I adore going and notice new things every time. Even though my biggest disappointment is the ending of the show I will never not go. Although I will say I have never not seen Aaron Tveit in the role of Christian. Every time I’ve gone he’s been on and I can’t bring myself to see anyone else. So be sure to catch him for his limited run until April 9th. You won’t be disappointed.

[mousegard]

for the ask thing

rhea

favorite thing about them

oh god. where do i start. she's so fucked up and she's so hot. she's an absolute mess on every level. my daughter who has every disease. my poor little meow meow. she did everything wrong and i love her for it. she's so bad and it makes me want to clap my hands and rub them together with glee. all of the rest of my answers to this meme are my favorite thing about her

least favorite thing about them

the fandom

aside from that, her lack of relevance in azure moon sucks. i'm glad that at least she got more focus in azure gleam, as much of a cursed route as that was, if only because it just makes it so obvious how incredibly and delightfully toxic rhea has been for fodlan and its people

favorite line

every line rhea gets is just fucking. so good. cherami leigh is perfectly cast in the english dub. her lines are dripping with menace when they need to be, unsettling when they need to be, and vulnerable exactly when they need to be. every fucking line she gets in cf is just so, so good and the voice acting brings it all to life perfectly.

rhea's lines when byleth chooses to protect edelgard in the holy tomb are my favorite. especially the sheer contempt you can hear in "you are just another failure"

chills every time. the truth comes out there. exactly how she sees byleth and exactly how she sees humanity as a whole

brOTP

one of the fascinating things about rhea is that nobody is on an equal footing to her. not seteth or flayn, her fellow nabateans, whom she never answers to for any of the decisions she makes, despite seteth being nominally her advisor. not catherine or jeralt, who were brought under her wing in exchange for their servitude as knights, one of whom was successfully groomed by her and one of whom wasn't and got out while he still had a chance.

honestly cyril is the only human character in the game that rhea doesn't appear to have a purely transactional relationship with, and... he's a child. a child who cleans her room and does chores for her. okay that's pretty transactional now that i think about it.

so, given that rhea doesn't have anyone she can be bros with, my brotp for rhea is...

rhea/catherine. you get the more wholesome ending of a deposed rhea retreating from the world and catherine looking after her, which is quite bittersweet. but you can also be delightfully fucked up with it. imagine if cf ended with the black eagle strike force being routed in fhirdiad and fresh off a decisive church victory over the empire catherine had to live with the thousands of civilians she'd murdered on rhea's orders, with nowhere to go but deeper into rhea's arms. hhhhhhhhhh

OTP

i don't think rhea is capable of having a healthy romantic or sexual relationship with any other playable character in the game (she might have had one with wilhelm, but that was 1000 years ago), but a relationship doesn't have to be healthy to be incredibly fascinating and compelling. that is why my rhea otp is rhea and cf!dimitri. the feedback loop of bloodthirsty revenge they would enforce for each other would be fun to watch... from several miles away.

nOTP

rhea/byleth. like... rhea outright doesn't see byleth as a person (in stark contrast to the other humans in her life, who she at least understands are people and not merely vessels) until the end of ss/vw and tried to erase their entire identity without their foreknowledge or consent. that's not something i can ship. i can fantasize about how fucked up it is i guess but as a ship? nah

also rhea/edelgard is one of those ships which i like mainly for horny reasons but under certain circumstances it goes instantly to squick. and it's a fine line but a line nonetheless.

random headcanon

this isn't so much of a headcanon as it is an interpretation of sothis' characterization through her behavior in 3 hopes, but i believe that sothis felt no affection for the nabateans she created; they were just tools to her, and she cared about them as much as a paperclip maximizer cares about the paperclips it makes. and that makes it extra tragic for rhea, who wastes her entire life after slaying nemesis trying to recapture a maternal love that only really existed in her own head.

gives me real nier automata vibes. isn't that hilarious? doesn't it make you laugh?

unpopular opinion

rhea is the villain everyone accuses edelgard of being. she's a sympathetic and fascinating character, but at the end of the day she's an alien colonizer who spent 1000 years fucking up an entire continent. and she didn't have to be any of those things. you know it. i know it. she knows it

song i associate with them

See these eyes so green I can stare for a thousand years Colder than the moon

It's been so long

Feel my blood enraged It's just the fear of losing you Don't you know my name?

You've been so long

And I've been putting out the fire with gasoline

favorite picture of them

SageOfAnys

frogbians

[desertdollranch]

Caroline’s Expanded Collection, Book 4: Caroline Takes a Chance

As part of an ongoing project, I am attempting to fill in the gaps of Caroline’s collection by imagining and creating what I think she would have been given had she been released in the Pleasant Company era, instead of 2012. She was only available for three years, and had only a few outfits and accessories before she retired. As I’ve been rereading her stories, I’ve tried to identify exactly what elements in her books could have been turned into clothes and playsets. A full collection would have been amazing, because her books are really, really good! If you haven’t read them yet, I recommend doing that. She’s such a well-written character and her stories are fast-paced and always interesting.

Caroline Abbott’s story takes place in the first year of the War of 1812, between Great Britain and the United States, which had only won its independence three decades previously. She is the daughter of a ship builder in Sackets Harbor, New York, right on the shores of Lake Ontario. When the war begins and the British take her father captive, Caroline is forced to grow up quickly and accept many changes in her life. She must remain strong and steady as she waits for her father to come home.

In Caroline Takes a Chance, Caroline and her friends Seth and Rhonda are fishing in the lake when they spy a British war ship chasing an American ship bringing much-needed supplies to Sackets Harbor. The three friends make the difficult decision to hack apart their boat in an attempt to block the British ship from entering a waterway. Later on, as a favor to Seth, Caroline offers to take his mail delivery route. When she finishes that, she decides to take the long way home and in doing so makes an exciting discovery that changes everything!

Check out my tag for the rest of Caroline’s expanded collection for her five other books! 

I based her accessories on things that show up in the book: a canvas mail bag, a handful of mail, a lantern with a candle, a lunch bag with food, a fishing pole, a fishing basket, and three trout. 

Her lavender dress is featured on the cover of the book, and appears in a few other illustrations in other books as well. I made the dress about two years ago, but I recently did some reconstruction in the bodice after some of the stitching came loose because I used kind of poor quality fabric in the lining the first time, so it looks a little more presentable now. I bought the lavender-print cotton from eBay; it’s actually a reproduction of a fabric produced in 1830! She’s borrowing Felicity’s round-eared cap, which I also made, and she’s wearing Bitty Baby boots. 

Caroline and Seth teach Rhonda how to fish, and this basket can hold all the trout they’re sure to catch. I made the basket using burlap coated with glue and shaped around a mold, which makes surprisingly durable baskets! The fish are painted clay, and the fishing pole is a dowel with a string attached. 

Seth Whittleslee is the local post walker, and he walks miles around Sackets Harbor delivering mail and newspapers to residents. When he decides to join the navy, Caroline offers to fill in on his last day of work so that he can go join a day early. She carries his waxed canvas mail bag.

I based this on the book’s vignette illustration. I painted the rectangles of canvas fabric with a mix of white glue and food coloring.

She’s got a few letters inside the bag. In Caroline’s time, letters weren’t mailed in an envelope. They were folded and sealed with hot wax, into which a metal stamp was pressed that contained the sender’s signature symbol. I tried using candle wax to seal them, but that didn’t work so well, so I used hot glue and paint instead.

Since she starts her route early in the morning, Mama insists she take a lantern, which I made from wooden craft sticks and clear plastic. The candle inside is a birthday candle. I painted both the wood and the windows with glue/food coloring mix, which creates transparent paint. It looks good on wood because it preserves the natural grain look of the wooden sticks, and keeps the windows from becoming opaque.

For the lunch that Mama packs for Caroline, I used a fabric scrap to make a simple drawstring bag. 

She’s got a lunch of bread, cheese, and smoked fish, wrapped in an embroidered cloth napkin. These are all painted clay.

[nametoshort]

Far From the Madding Crowd

I have a hot take about classical lit that will have academics everywhere coming for my head, but Thomas Hardy wrote Far From the Madding Crowd from the wrong perspective. Gabriel Oak is fine, but he is predominantly an onlooker on Bathsheba's life, meaning that we miss a lot of narrative insight. Why would she send the letter to Mr Boldwood? According to Gabriel, she thinks it would be a good joke, which is fair enough reasoning, but for all that happens after, I feel like we would gain a lot from knowing her own thoughts during and after. When Elizabeth Bennet rejects Mr Collins's proposal, despite being a sensible choice of marriage, we have it from her perspective, so even though she turned down a good match, we understand completely why she would. Again, with Mr Darcy's first proposal, it is an advantageous match, but we see it all from her perspective, so turning him down makes sense to the reader. With Mr. Boldwood, however, we only really get a retroactive explanation, with his later actions proving her decision right, but almost feels like Hardy is trying to justify it to the reader because marrying Boldwood was very much the sensible choice. I know comparing any novel to Jane Austen is unfair, but at the same time, there is a lot that can be compared to Pride and Prejudice.

To compare, if P&P was told from Mr. Darcy's perspective, I think we would miss a lot of the development, so when Elizabeth accepts his second proposal, it might come across to the reader as if she is accepting as a way of thanking him for saving her family. If we were told the story of Pride and Prejudice from Darcy's perspective, we get a lot of consistency because his feelings for Elizabeth don't change much from the first rejection. If the story was told from his perspective, we would get a lot of insight into his character development from the brash "your family are poor and trash, so marry me" to the final proposal. But the main development comes from Elizabeth's side, especially regarding Darcy, and realizing that she was hanging on to her prejudice against him. Both characters learn a lot, yes, but from a narrative perspective, seeing someone challenge their own prejudice is much more engaging and rewarding than someone shedding their pride. Because we are told the story from Elizabeth's POV, we are certain that she is marrying Darcy because she loves him, not because he saved her family or the fact that he's rich.

I think that's why Far From the Madding Crowd is told from the wrong perspective. Gabriel Oak is consistent (as is shown in his name) in much of his character and his feelings towards Bathsheba. Miss Everdeen, on the other hand (read that in the voice of Donald Sutherland), goes through the most change. In a way, her marrying Gabriel blurs the lines between her realizing that who she wanted was in front of her the whole time and settling for the last man standing because we don't get that internal monologue. When you only see development from the outside, through the perspective of a character who is unchanging, you lose a lot of nuance and don't fully grasp the extent of that change. Because of this, it feels almost as if Bathsheba is settling at the end by marrying Gabriel Oak.