#I’m okay most of the time but 2 nights in a row my mom been freaking out and making me think of the worst

[1-sasha-stuff-1]

Into Another World - Mha x Reader

Chapter 9: A Slimy Start

A/n:

It's been a while since I've updated, so here's another chapter! Oh, and I'm pretty sure that I'll be able to post more chapters because I really only have Monday and Tuesday of school and I'm out for the rest of the week. Anyways, I hope you enjoy!

Key:

- h/c - hair color

- Y/n - your name

-L/n - last name

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Time skip - Last few months of 3rd year (Last year) of J.r High 

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| | | | | | “Now, the quadratic formula was first used in 1594 by a man named Simon Stevin. The purpose for this formula is to give us the roots of the parabola. Now the parabola is a mechanism that……”

The teacher at the front of the classroom went on with the lesson as the rest of the student's paid attention, well, some of them. 

Most of the students were either scribbling on a piece of notebook paper or on their phone while the teacher wasn't looking.

A certain h/c girl sat in the back row near the window. She looked out of it as her thoughts consumed her. 

It’s been a few months since the interaction between herself and Dabi. After he gave her his jacket and returned home, she noticed her parents were still out and about, so she took the chance to deep clean his jacket because it was covered in blood here and there. 

She ended up hiding that thing in her jacket, but fate had other plans because later that night her parents came home, and her mom went through her closet to find something of hers but stumbled upon the jacket and asked her where it was from.

Y/n, like any other teenager would do, lied and said that she bought it on one of her outings with Shinsou a month before they moved here. Absolutely, her mom believed her, why wouldn’t she? Her daughter never really has a reason to lie so why start now. Right?

After that meeting though, I haven't interacted with any other characters from the series except for the ones I've already met. I’ve also been training more as the year went by, increasing my exercise routine and pushing myself to the limit. 

So far, I’ve gotten good control over my wings but nothing fantastic yet, but it’ll be good enough for the upcoming entrance exam at UA. My knuckle-stingers, as I like to call them, have become stronger, I’m able to now produce at least 2 different poisons through them. The poisons being a lead and Hornet poisoning.  

“Alright students, you guys are all third years now and it’s time to start taking your future seriously!”

Once those words flew out of your homeroom teacher's mouth, your eyes widened slightly as you whip your head towards the teacher as he continues talking as he reaches for some stacks of paper on his desk.

“Finally, the plot really begins…”

“Now, I would hand these out .... but I know you guys are going to want to aim to become heroes!”

As those words left his mouth and those papers flew onto the floor, the students in your class all began to cheer and use their quirks. 

Looking around, you see the students using their quirks, a small frown on your face. 

Okay, you couldn’t lie that having a quirk and using it was awesome and pretty cool, mainly because you’ve never had one or they never existed in your world, but they still shouldn’t use it so recklessly. 

Finally, your eyes begin to move towards Midoriya as he sits at his desk with his head low and slightly slumped in his seat. 

From the time you first met him, you’ve never breathed a word about him receiving a quirk from All Might. You’ve made a promise to not involve yourself too much unless absolutely necessary, or things wouldn’t go the way they are supposed to go. I mean, you being here already made a big enough impact, but you want to avoid anything important if possible. 

“Hey, teach! Don’t lump me in with the rest of these extras! Like they’d ever compare to my level!”

Moving your head, you stare at a certain person who’s just said those words out front to the class as the rest of the students all start to slightly ‘boo’ him.

Ever since meeting him once again at the start of the year, the two of you have been verbally fighting, surprising enough, nothing physical. It was odd to you that he wouldn’t physically fight you, but he would threaten you with some explosions here and there, but nothing else, it’s mostly just him making fun of Midoriya, you are standing up for him, and Bakugo having an irritated face and mumbling out stupid things. 

“Ah yes Bakugo, you're aiming for UA High.”

The students froze at those words in front of the teacher as they began to talk amongst themselves.

“UA high?! They barely accept anyone!”

“I heard their entrance exam is super hard!”

“Didn’t they only accept like 70 students last year?”

“Ha! Might be hard for you useless lot but I passed that mock test, I’m getting into that school! And besides, I’m the only one who has the ability to get into that building!”

Bakugo stands up from his desk as he just boosts his own ego. 

“Hell, I’ll even surpass All Might! I’ll become the strongest and not to mention, the richest hero out there!”

The teacher then hums to his explanation and looks down at another sheet of paper in his hands.

“It looks like you're going to try out for UA also, L/n and Midoriya, right?”

As those words left his mouth, Bakugo seemed to have frozen while Midoriya was literally shaking like a leaf on a branch on a windy day. You looked perfectly calm on the inside while deep inside, you were slightly scared because you knew what was to come next, well, to Midoriya at least. Not so sure about yourself though.

“Well shit”

The students in the class have begun to laugh while Midoriya kept his head low, that is until Bakugo goes up to him and blasts him out of his seat and onto the ground. 

“Damn Deku! Do you have memory loss or something? Because last time I checked, you're quirkless! Ha, forget these stupid quirks, you have nothing! Do you seriously think you can get into UA?”

As Bakugo moves closer to Midoriya, small explosions coming out of his hand, Midoriya scoots his way towards the wall until he hits it, hands waving frantically as Bakugo stands about 5 feet in front of him.

“K-Kacchan! Y-You got it wrong! I-I wouldn’t want to g-go up against you! I-It’s just, I’ve always wanted to be a hero, and you don’t need a quirk to get in, they took that rule away. S-So, there’s no harm in trying, right?”

He looks towards the ground as he said those words and Bakugo just tsk’s at him and raises his hand up to throw him an explosion once more. 

“You're an idiot if you think that, Deku.”

With those words out, Bakugo releases his explosion towards the green-haired boy on the ground.

Closing his eyes shut, he waits for the explosion to hit him, for the heat to yet again, leave another incident to clean up and lie about to his mom once he gets home. 

It feels like hours and the explosion still hasn't hit him. And the classroom is dead silent. He slightly opens his eyes to see what had happened, and once he opens his eyes, a small gasp leaves his mouth.

Right in front of him was Y/n, his best friend and technically, first friend, clutching her left side as the students and the teacher all stare at her. 

His eyes seemed to have been stuck on her forever as his mind went a million miles per hour. 

“Is she alright? Did it hurt? That was so kind of her, but she shouldn’t have! Damn it Izuku, you really are useless if you have to get her involved in your fights with Kacchan…. wait, Kacchan…...”

He moves his eyes slightly to see how Bakugo reacted, only to see, well, he doesn't know what Bakugo’s reaction is. 

It’s a mixture between surprised, confused, angry, and…...

“Wait, no, he can’t be worried right? I mean, It’s Kacchan I’m talking about here, there’s no way he’s worried, maybe he’s mad?”

This is what Midoriya thought, no, wanted to think as he looked at Bakugo, but his eyes shifted back to something more important than his rival.

Y/n

The h/c girl standing in front of him. It feels as if someone stopped time forever until she finally breaks the silence.

“Idiot, that could’ve actually caused some permanent damage to him, think before you act.”

Gripping her left side with your right hand, you start to tremble slightly as your breath only slightly begins to become uneven, you could feel the warm liquid of blood underneath your school uniform as you clutch your side tighter. 

Bakugo seems to have been knocked out of his trance as he stares at you with an irritated face.

“Well, maybe it wouldn’t have hurt so bad if you didn’t get in the damn way you pest!”

Looking at him dead in the eye, you sigh and turn back towards the boy on the ground behind you.

Taking a couple of steps, you reach out your free arm towards him and smile. 

Midoriya’s face begins to burn as he looks at your extended hand and he grabs it, pulling himself up slightly but mostly pushing himself up from the ground so as to not cause you pain. 

“Bakugo, I’m too tired to give you a fight right now, and I’m not going to give you the satisfaction of beating up Izuku. If you plan on becoming a hero, learn to not be a bitch first.”

With those words said and out for him and the rest of your classmates and the teacher to hear, you head make your way out the classroom door with Midoriya behind you, still red in the face as he is still holding hands with you, and the teacher calling out that he’ll call the nurse that you’d be arriving.

Walking down the hallway, Midoriya looks over at your form. You're still clutching your left side of your stomach as your school uniform is already soaking in the blood from the injury.

He still couldn’t believe what had happened just a few minutes ago. One moment he was about to get blasted to the sky by Bakugo but the next moment, you took the hit for him. You stood up for him, against the someone that everyone at school feared, Bakugo. You had taken the hit and now there was blood on your uniform. 

She glanced at the boy as he looked away as she looked at him, his face becoming beat red once again.

“That feeling again, it feels warm. And nice? It’s hard to explain…. maybe I have a fever? Yea, that’s it! A fever, I need to make sure that I take some medicine once we get to the nurse.”

“Hey um, Y/n?”

“Yea?”

Midoriya takes a deep breath as he says the following words with his face bright red from embarrassment on what he’s about to suggest. 

“D-Do you want my jacket? Since yours is all covered in blood and stuff. B-But if you aren't comfortable, I understand! Youdon’thavetotakeitorfeeltheneedtotakeit-”

“Yea sure, that’ll be a great idea actually! But maybe once were done getting some bandages fist though!”

Midoriya stops speaking and nods while they continue to walk.

| | | | Later that day - Back at homeroom

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“Y/n, I think you should still go to the nurse's office, the injury that Kacchan gave to you seems pretty serious.”

The bell had just rung, and the last few people were gone from the classroom, it was now only Y/n and Midoriya in the classroom. Midoriya was packing up his stuff as the girl leaned against a desk nearby and scrolled through her phone, she had decided to not go to the nurse's office but instead sent Midoriya in their office to ask for some bangles and medical tape and once he received them, he gave them to her, and she bandaged herself up instead. And afterwards like he agreed, he gave Y/n his jacket so that she doesn't have to keep wearing her own with blood on it. 

To Y/n, it was a friendly gesture, you know, friends. To Midoriya, it felt like something more, but he kept to himself on that part and tried convincing his brain that it’s just what friends do, but he can help but like the way you had his jacket on, it felt right.

“Don’t worry about it Izuku, I’m fine really. And besides, if I did go to the nurse's office, my parents would’ve been called down to pick me up and ground me.”

“Yea but still, what if you hurt it again? Then it could be really dangerous because it’s near where your stomach is and if you hurt your stomach, you’ll-”

“Izuku, I’m fine! Just chill, okay?”

The boy shut his mouth and looked back down at his bag, silence coming over the two of you. 

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have been pushing you to do something you don’t want to do Y/n.”

Looking over at him, you smile softly as he looks back up and slightly blushes.

“No, it’s fine Izuku, besides, I think I was being a tad bit harsh.”

“Y-You weren’t being harsh! You were just standing your ground on a decision you made!”

“Ha, thanks Izuku, but it’s really not your fault so don’t feel like it is, alright?”

Midoriya stays quiet and so a minute passes by between them until he speaks up again.

“Thank you.”

Looking over at him, you tilt your head to the side slightly.

“Thank you, for what exactly? Oh! Was it for that sandwich I gave to you last Wednesday? Izuku, I already told you; I didn’t really like it-”

“No, I mean yes for that, but not for that. I meant about what you did today, standing up for me to Bakugo.”

“Oh, that…Izuku, you don’t have to thank me, really, I did it because I care about you, you're my best friend.”

Best friend, that didn’t seem to sound nice in his mind. Honestly, it felt off, correct but not correct at the same time? He really didn’t know.

But before he could think further on the subject, Y/n starts to talk.

“Oh hey! You know that incident that you saw this morning? It’s all over the news!”

Pulling out his hero analysis notebook, he opened it up and grabbed a pen in the process, mumbling to himself as you read him the article and he wrote the information down on the heroes involved and the villain. Before he could finish though, someone snatched that notebook away, and that someone was Bakugo. 

“Oi Deku, we were not done with our little chat from earlier.”

That’s the moment something in your brain clicked that it was that part when it happens.

You put on a tight smile, and look at Bakugo, but he refuses to look at you.

“K-Kacchan…. give it back.”

Of course, behind Bakugo were his “friends' ', mocking Midoriya.

“Kacchan, give it back! Ha! You sound helpless!”

“But hey! Maybe your knight in shining armor will come to your rescue!”

Both yourself and Midoriya's faces begin to heat up, while Midoriya is looking for words to say, you look at them unamused.

“Oh, shut up, will you? And you, hand over the notebook, we have places to be and don’t have time for this.”

Bakugo hasn't said a word or even looked at you throughout this whole interaction, not until you extend your hand for the notebook as he looks down at the notebook.

He seems calm on the outside, but on the inside, he’s fuming, and absolutely, that anger starts to show on his face as he clutches the notebook harder in his hand. 

“Why.”

The other two kids stopped teasing Midoriya as they all looked at him, you are the first to talk. 

“What?”

“Why did you choose Deku, of all people? You couldn’t have chosen someone else to hang around with, it just had to be him.”

Looking at him, your eyes are clouded with confusion on to where this is going, as you look past him and at the clock, you notice it’s beginning to get late. This isn't a good sign because if your memory is correct, Midoriya meets All Might in about an hour, and he’s been here for 45 minutes and that only leaves him only a few minutes to make it to the spot where the slug villain tries to take over his body and for All Might to save him and that’s where it rolls out from there. 

Irritated, you look back at Bakugo.

“We don’t have time for this bull shit Bakugo.”

With that, you snatch the notebook out of his hands, grab Midoriya so that he walks in front of you, and the two of you make your way out of the classroom. 

Right about to walk out the door, Bakugo yells out to the two of you and points to Midoriya all while smirking.

“Deku! I have some advice for you. If you really want to become a hero, pray that you’ll be born with a quirk in your next life and take a swan dive from the rooftop!”

There it was, the final nail in the coffin that Bakugo is rotten to the core. Sensing that Midoriya is about to cry, you drag him out of the classroom and leave the school, not looking back once. If you had, you would have seen how mad Bakugo was when you didn’t do anything about it, how you wouldn’t turn back at him and not Midoriya. 

| | | | | Underneath that bridge thing

| | | | | As the two of you walked slowly underneath the bridge, and when I say slowly, I mean snail speed, you had to make sure that Midoriya met All Might so everything went according to plan. But it was silent for two reasons. 

One, you were listening for any sound of the sludge villain coming and two, Midoriya was thinking about what Bakugo had said to him earlier.

Looking over at Midoriya, you pat his back as he looks at you and you smile.

“Hey, ignore what he said, he doesn't know shit okay? I personally think that you can be a good hero, no, scratch that, the best hero there will ever be out there! So, I don't like to give up on it, okay?”

Midoriya continues to look at you and slowly, tears start to form, tears of happiness and he smiles.

“Y-Y/n, thank you, thank you so much for being with me and supporting me every step of the way! I promise I won’t let you down!”

Smiling, you stop to give him a hug, and so he stops and hugs you, all of a sudden, you both hear something behind you.

“Oh? Am I interrupting something?”

Letting go of each other, you both turn around to see the sludge villain.

“Bigger than I expected…”

“Well, the girl will probably scream out if I take her, so I’ll take you kid!”

All in one second, the sludge thing wraps itself to Midoriya, suffocating him as he tries to free himself.

“Thanks kid! You're a real hero for helping me out here!”

Panicking

That’s what you did, panic. I mean, who wouldn’t? One thing was watching this scene through a screen, another was actually being in it and watching it in front of you. 

“What do I do, do I just let it happen? Wait, no, even if it’s supposed to happen, I can’t let him suffer through any longer!”

With that thought in mind, your eyes scanned the creature, looking for an angle to attack it from, or even to just distract it for just one second.

As you searched for a chance to attack, Midoriya’s eyes met yours with panic as he pulled off some slime from his mouth.

“Y/n! Don’t do anything! You’ll hurt yourself even more-ugh!”

The slime covered his mouth back up, choking him even more, and the sludge villain finally glanced at you and turned back to his victim as if you had just gotten an idea. 

Closing your right hand into a fist, the stingers came out from your knuckles and pulled back your arm, ready to swing it back at the villain.  

“Stinger Throw : Hornet Poisoning!”

 As you mentally said those words, the stingers became a slightly yellow at the tip and you finally swung your arm towards the villain while the four stingers left your knuckles and bolted towards the sludge villain, specifically aiming for its eye. 

The stingers flew right through the sludge villain, it looked back at the h/c girl with a smirk.

“You have guts, but did you really think that you could-aaaa!”

The sludge villain lets go of Midoriya and said boy stubbled for a bit until he sprinted towards Y/n. Now that they are reunited, they stand beside each other as they look at the villain.

Since the stingers she fist threw from her right knuckles didn’t hit it at all, she used the time that it was talking to her to create some more stingers in her left knuckles and threw them once more, finally ending in one of the stingers piercing threw it’s right eye. 

“Damn it you little-!”

Before it could finish its sentence, the sewer lid on the floor was thrown open as a deep, loud voice was heard. 

“It’s okay now! Why? Because I am here!”

In the flesh stood All Might, he reeled back his arm and aimed for the sludge villain, all while smiling. 

“Texas, Smash!”

And with that, he blew the sludge villain to pieces, literally, little groups of slime flew everywhere and so did Midoriya and Y/n.

Midoriya flew somewhere on the ground while you flew straight into a wall, and not wanting to injure even more your injury that you already have, you curl yourself into a tight ball to protect your left side as you head hit the wall and you fell onto the ground face first, that when everything blacked out.

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A/n:

I'm not the best at writing fighting sense so forgive me if it was pretty bad, but I tried my best. 

Anyways, I just feel the need to explain that the reason Y/n had the injury on her left side near her stomach was basically because she just barely managed to cover Bakugo's explosion that aimed towards Midoriya, and it ended up hitting her side. I'm planning on having her injury become impacted during and possibly during and after USJ at some point, and plus, I needed something to work with if I wanted her to have a platonic relationship with a few heroes here and there. 

If you guys want, comment which platonic relationships and/or romantic ones you want the reader to have, I'm trying to age down a few characters (such as Dabi for example) so that they can have a romantic relationship of some sort with the reader.

Anyways, have a good rest of your day!

[sweetsweetstrawbs]

The Woodsboro Horror Picture Show, Chapter 7

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6

I post all of these on AO3, my @ is buttonsinajar!

A/N: let's all pretend that it hasn't been over a year since I posted a new chapter ;-; on the bright side, i've almost finished my degree!

CW: brief description of anxiety

That day I had the most fun in art than I had for a while. Billy decided to ‘help’ me with my material experimentation, and by that I mean he drew abstract shapes in the empty gaps between my different sketches.

Apparently, that period was to be my only safe haven. By the time the class was over, everyone and their fucking moms had not just heard about what happened last night, but decided to try to talk to me about it. Because why the fuck not.

The hallways were thick with students as my friends tried to convoy me to my next classroom. The overheated bodies of other kids seemed to absorb all of the oxygen around me and forced the air out of my lungs. Every single eye in the corridor was on me as I tried to cut through the viscous mass of teenagers hunting for attention. My head throbbed with the dull noise of questions being thrown full-force at me. Sweaty, pencil-grimed fingers reached out to touch my shoulders, each graze feeling like I was walking through a rosebush. The bell calling for the next class to start rang out in time with my flying heartbeat. As we finally drew near the entrance to the English room, Billy's hands snaked their way from my shoulders to its opposite, hugging me from behind to push through the final clump of students. By the time we got to the door, Tatum and Stu had disappeared into the crowd like debris in fast-moving water.

“I think I’ll be okay for this one. It’d be a little more obvious if you tagged along here.”

"Are you sure?" I felt the air as Billy spoke into my ear go right through me and down my spine. "There's an empty seat right next to Sid.”

“Yeah I’m sure. Thank you though.” His face was so close to mine I could feel the heat of his skin. Or maybe it was my face heating up from his being so so close to me. Doesn’t matter.

“Alright. You can always leave class if it gets to be too much, don’t forget that.” His vice grip on me loosened, but he didn’t move. Praying that Mrs Taylor wasn’t at the front of the classroom, I quickly leant forward and kissed Billy on the cheek. Unless I was totally imagining it, I would swear I saw him flush a little.

“See you soon.”

“Yeah.” He breathed out, stepping back. Sid took my hand and gave it a small squeeze before pulling us both into our classroom.

In this room there are five rows of desks, each row with seven students. There are a few empty desks from Sid and I, and a few stragglers, as well as the one by the window that’s always empty. Besides those, all of the taken seats are accompanied by their own pair of eyes staring directly at me. As I wade through the suffocating space, I catch whispers of my name and words like “attack”, “murder” and “weird new girl”. God I wish I was anywhere else…

A few minutes from the end of class, I found myself in a group activity, buddied up by the teacher with two people I haven’t spoken to before. A girl called Emilia who seemed to be lacking in the literacy skills department and a guy called Rob who was mildly interested in finishing the task. I was just finishing up the peer feedback on Rob’s essay outline when I felt something cold touch my arm.

“So, where did you say you were from again?” Emilia asked, her pen still inches from my arm from where she poked me with it. Her tone is weird; almost questioning yet almost suspicious.

“The east coast.” I reply, keeping my voice calm but short. I seriously don’t want to get into it now.

“Yeah but like, where on the east coast?”

“Y’know. The middle bit.”

“You’re seriously not gonna say?”

“Nope.”

“Why not?” She’s beginning to glare at me now. Rob’s thankfully ignoring us.

“I’m actually on the run. I’m wanted for stealing a shark from the Philadelphia Aquarium.” She rolled her eyes at that, but shifted in her seat as she got ready for a different approach.

“Did you hear what happened to Casey Becker and Steve Orth?”

“Em, knock it off.” Rob grumbled, not looking up from his desk.

“What? She’s totally got a right to know.”

“I- I haven’t even heard those names before.” I cut back in, curiosity getting the better of me.

“Well, they were in our grade. That empty seat over there was actually Casey’s. They’d been going out for months then one day Casey’s parents come home to find them both with their insides on the outside. I bet the same guy that did that to them is the one who tried to get you last night.” “Fucking seriously, Em?” Rob shrank into his cardigan as he spoke. I had no idea what to say. Was it possible? The dipshit might have tried to rack up a few more bodies before mine… No, no, I’m sure if that had happened while I was here I would have heard about it before now. There’s no way he would have gotten to town before I even knew I was coming here. I’m not sure what’s worse though, thinking that I’d never really gotten away or knowing that there was still a murderer in town.

By the time I eventually made it to lunch, I was about ready to start punching people.

“I have not caught a single fucking break today!” I yelled, still a few feet from my friends culminating at the fountain. Tate gave me a sympathetic grimace as I flopped down next to her. My bag fell heavily on the concrete at my feet, apparently to further punctate my entrance. Sid had walked out with me since we both just had AP history, and she flanked my other side (although she sat down with a lot more grace).

“Your streak continues.” Tate muttered, gesturing with her eyes to the bitch reporter from this morning making her way towards us. Not sure what else to do, I let my head sink into my hands as someone’s hand moves to my back.

“Dahlia! Dahlia! Are you ready to give us a few words?” She called as she bustled towards us, cameraman in tow. I snapped my head up, ready to tell her where to put said camera, but Tate had beaten me to it.

“I think I’d like to hear her say she’s not giving a statement.” I make out the reporter saying through the cacophony of insults. Weird, there it is, my last and final straw. I was wondering where I’d left it. I fly up and over to her, pushing past my friend. I can feel that I’m breathing heavily. I hadn’t even planned what I was going to say. I’m brought out of my anger-trace when Gale goes “See, now that wasn’t so hard?”. I grabbed the stupid mic she’s holding out to me and throw it as fast as I can into the fountain.

“Th… That was very expensive!” She gawked at me, clearly at a loss for words. I picked up my bag and started walking away, leaving her gaping at me like a fish.

“Girl you are a serious badass!” Tate admires, catching up to me.

“Yeah, what I’d give to just punch her right in the nose.” Sid mimes a right hook, laughing.

“That did feel pretty good.” I admit, and now I’m laughing.

“I fucking bet!” Tate chuckles.

[hannah-bannana444]

let me let everything out into the open, I never cheated on you. I promise you that, I promise the world that. I know how it appears, you break up with me and then all a sudden you see pictures of someone else, yeah I get how it looks. I wish I had to chance to explain it in person to you, it was a rouse to make you jealous to make you feel like shit about hurting me. I had known you were planning on breaking up with me for awhile maybe i was overthinking for weeks and it was wrong but I have the screenshots I sent to my mom and Erin about it, and no I didn’t cheat on you and use the excuse that you were going to break up with me. That’s nothing I ever did, at this point I would admit if I cheated on you, I know there’s never ever going to be a time we are back together and I know I’ll never see or speak to you again and I truly don’t care how I look to the public so I would admit if I cheated on you. I didn’t. I was more in love with you, Sean then I have been in my entire life and I know I’ll never feel that way again. When you broke up with me I lost something in me that day, I don’t know how to explain it but I wanted to mask my pain and die. I was afraid of loving you again. There’s some previous things that hurt me beyond words and I froze and wanted to ice you out of my mind so I did everything I could to protect my heart, by hurting yours. I regret it all, I can’t even imagine what you are thinking by now. Probably not much of me, I remember how there was a nice in the car we were going left onto 19 from gulf to bay and I was complaining of back pain and my boobs hurting and I knew it was my period coming but you said jokingly “maybe you’re pregnant.” Then you proceeded to say “it would be a fall down the stairs if you were.” I obviously knew that was a joke, I didn’t once take it as a threat but it hurt me bad because in the beginning of the relationship you said if an accident happened we’d keep it, and having a child is something I want eventually. It’s something I wanted with you. Not because I have the feminine urge to become pregnant but because I think we would’ve made amazing parents together, I wanted a family with you. We looked for apartments once and never did it again, no matter how desperately I needed to move out. I offered to pay the initial down payment with the accident payout but I don’t think moving in with me is something you wanted. I’m crying while writing this, I remember the week before the breakup I was so excited to see you and we had to go check on your sister because she had your moms car and I saw gabby on your recent’s for 2 days in a row, it hurt so bad because you promised you’d let me know if she contacted you. I remember the massage said “That’s so cool!” But I don’t know who sent it, but it fucking hurt. There was a time you were meeting up with Ryan and you guys went to pks, I live 5 minutes from there and going to arcades was our thing and you didn’t invite me, I sat in my room that night on FaceTime with Erin waiting for you to get home and call me, that was one of the last times you fell asleep on the phone with me. You’d always hangup the phone when you fall asleep talking to me. I’d wake up and I’d usually text you good morning first even though I knew you were already awake, you were the only person I loved after my abusive relationship so it was hard detecting what was normal and what seemed out of place. One of the most hard times on me was when you were at Shaka and quit outback, the night in the car when you asked if it was okay you calling Sean and you said you’d try and do anything to make me happy and you’d only work some days and not headwait and work something out where you have a set day off every week to spend with me, we were dropping off an instacart order when this conversation was taking place, we got to the Publix parking lot and that’s when I asked you if having a relationship was too much for you to handle right now and you shook your head yes, that’s when I uncontrollably started shaking and crying. I felt since that moment that you didn’t want to be

[carolinenicole13]

Under the starry sky

A beautiful girl, who was only 17 years old, had never dreamed of her dreams coming true….

One night, while surfing the Net, Destiny saw her favorite band is coming to her town next week. She immediately called her friends to tell them good news and how happy she is. Destiny just couldn’t stop thinking about it. It is like… in a dream, she thought. Next few days passed very quickly, like a blink of an eye. Destiny decided to wear black jeans, leather jacket and sketchers. She also put her ginger hair in a braid. “Okay, guess I’m ready”, she whispered, standing in front of a mirror.

One hour later, she was standing with her best friends in a first row at the concert. While Destiny was listening to her favorites songs, she thought she could have never been that happy. When the singer started to sing a slower song, suddenly he looked up and smiled directly to Destiny. No way! How could Tristan notice me…

After the concert, while Destiny’s friends went to buy some snacks, she chose to join them later, feeling a little dizzy and needing to catch some fresh air. That was amazing!, she kept thinking.

“What was amazing?”, somebody said behind her, in a masculine voice. Oh no ! I said it out loud. She turned around quickly and immediately felt cold and warm at the same time. Tristan was standing right in front of her, smiling to her ! “Umm….”, she started, unable to create proper sentences. “I uh… I really enjoyed being at the concert”, she finally said. He only smiled even more and leaned forward to whisper, “Do you wish to go away from this crowd?”. She only nodded, also smiling. After few minutes they were standing next to the park, near the building where concert took place. “Listen,” Tristan started, “I know it may sound weird, but umm… I remember you, from the concert that took place 2 years ago. It’s unbelievable, I know, but there’s something about you…. Something special that made me wonder if I… could talk to you or get to know you”. She looked at him surprised and stated, “Yes, of course ! My name is Destiny”. He blushed a little and lowered his voice saying, “Well, Destiny, I must admit – it is a destiny we could both meet”. Tristan leaned forward and kissed her, under the most beautiful starry sky she’d ever seen.

In dedication to my mom...

[ccrowsiie]

8-18 Diary

It's midnight as my husband sleeps peacefully beside me. Just like most nights, I’m almost wide awake with a screen in my face. While the half a glass mango green tea I had after dinner dukes it out with the melatonin gummies I took half an ago. About this time I’m usually winding down with a book, fic or YT video, but I’m not really feeling it tonight. I'm also not tired, but my vision is going dull so I think I'll spill some thoughts here before doing my skincare and heading to sleep.

Health update: My arm's getting better. The steroid shot hurt like a bitch after the lidocaine wore off, but the medicine finally started doing its job around yesterday afternoon. I've got around 70% function in the limb back - as in, I can raise and lower it with moderate support from the opposite arm. Sucks to be like this, but it is what it is. I'm trying not to future trip or let my anxiety get the better of me ...Though I do fear I've tacked on another day of recovery getting overzealous with those stretches. Hopefully, some sleep'll bring the inflammation down. If not, I suppose it'll be another rest day tomorrow...

Hubs and I went out today. There wasn't much of a plan beyond 'leave home and walking in a direction', but we still managed to scrape up a pretty pleasant afternoon. Stopped by mom's house for a while to drop off some skin care she'd proxy-shopped through me, hung around enough to watch some Netflix, then continued on further into the city. We had a very sweet conversation about child rearing our future biracial/dual-nation children, which is something that's been piquing at the back of our minds and the bottoms of our tongues for years now. Black Americans/European Caucasian are probably the most common biracial-international mix in the West, but there’re are bound to be challenges I don't think either of us are equipt to handle until they happen... On top of the rest of parenthood, that is. That said, is all speculative from the jump. I’m not pregnant yet (tempting fate here lol). Our family planning is a few years off. These are thought experiments, pretty much.

It’s always interesting to talk shop with the love of my life. Matching wavelengths aside, we’re such different people. Externally, internally, and not always in ways that seem obvious to outsiders or even to either of us. Where I am lax, he is disciplined. No snacks after 9PM. Where he’s lax, I’m a inflexible - sometimes to the point of being a little killjoy. I must get my 150 minutes of exercise or I will shrivel up and die. Though our core values align, everything else is a total toss-up. 

We often have these little impasses. He believes in 3 square meals a day with minimal snacking in-between. I, like the rest of my family, eat like a bird. One meal, maybe two if I'm real peckish, and maybe a snack here and there. The rare breakfast if I want to feel quaint. No lunch. Dinner can be any time between 2PM and 6AM, and it's always what I feel like eating at the moment. Pure ID ... OCD permitting (no red meat, no fried foods, low refined carbs, nothing that'll pique my anxiety). Fuck, sometimes dinner's a matcha smoothie bulked up with a few tablespoons of unflavored Metamucil (sounds gross, but a few drops of bakery emulsion will make anything taste like a milkshake). And I'm okay with that. He... isn't. He claims  my eating habits contribute to my fatigue and crabbiness. He's probably right... but old habits die hard, just like my abysmal sleep schedule. I'm still not sold on the rigid meal planning though. It'll be a cold day in Hell when I sit down for lunch more than 2 days in a row. I'm just not a big eater. Or water drinker, for that matter. Shit, my kidneys probably look like prunes. I’d survive off of sunlight and good vibes if I could get away with it. Lord knows I’m basically a succulent, anyway. 

Dinner was at a place called Chik’n’Cone... because we wanted chicken and it was near by. Yeah, I know. Sounds straight out of GTA. It was some kitschy shit that probably won’t be around in another 3-4 years. IIRC it had some newspaper articles and a couple of awards under it’s belt, but the chicken was just OK. Satisfying for dinner, but the gimmick got old fast. Especially since I opted to have my chicken bites sauced up in the cone. It was fine, but as iconically Southern (and delicious) as traditional chicken and waffles are... the dish does not translate well into the handheld generic waffle cone format. Maybe it’s my fault for opting for BBQ over the shop’s famous cinnamon-maple sauce. Maybe I was just utterly underwhelmed after having just horked down a generous shard of Jani’s delicious in-house made butter crunch waffle cone. Or maybe I’m just a stuck up little princess with the palate of a toddler. Regardless, I didn’t finish my cone. My husband, the less impulsive between us, opted for his sauce on the side, averting the dilemma entirely. 

Since we ate dinner on the down, I spent most of my kitchen time baking tonight. We stopped by the store for some apples before heading home since I had a few recipes I wanted to try out. Mr. Crowsie's been wanting me to bake for a while (nevermind the literal mountain of candy and chocolates he bought me - apparently that's mine and mine alone). I decided on this apple cake recipe that's been making rounds online. He does have an affinity for apples. My apple-cheeked baby boy. 

The cake itself is nothing spectacular, but it is quite pretty. Par-cooked apples (I used fuji) inverted onto a standard vanilla sponge. It was a one bowl batter, so I didn't have to spend 4000 years whipping up a genoise or folding in egg whites (which I've always found to be an absolute pain in the ass). The recipe itself was pretty foolproof so I felt at liberty to tweak it a bit. I added a little spice to the apples (just a bit, my secret blend) and used a bakery emulsion in lieu of vanilla extract (laziness, my arthritis was -not- letting me take the lid off of my vanilla and I wasn't about to make my poor husband leave the shower just to open a damn jar.) The cake baked up nicely, but since we'd had fried chicken and ice cream for dinner, we opted to save it for tomorrow.

I hadn't baked cake since my red velvet experiments back in July (successful, thanks for asking), so it was nice to break out the scale and spatulas again. Especially for him. Though, his European ass did want me to serve it up room-temp with some vanilla sauce (as opposed to my American ass's preference for warm with whipped cream). I'll take care of that tomorrow. Maybe as a mid-afternoon snack with the tea. I'll break out the color-coordinated saucers and matching mugs. I'll be the twee-ist shit you ever did see. Aren't I a domestic goddess?

Oh. Yes. I forgot to mention what goes into those color-coordinated matching mugs... Apple tea!

It's what I did with the bonus apples. Half Darjeeling (the only bagged tea in my tea box, I couldn't be bothered to use my premium loose leaf stuff. Figured the mellow, princessé mouthfeel would go well with the sweet, lightly tangy apple) and half unsweetened apple juice. Chucked in a whole, sliced apple and shoved it in the back of the fridge to steep. The initial taste test was promising, since it's pretty hard to fuck up adding fruit juice to tea.

Though I will admit, having fruit juice in my house feels weird. It was one of the first 'unhealthy' things I nixed when OCD really started ruining my life. I hadn't had any since post-surgery when I needed it to help get my guts moving and I never missed it. I feel that half-empty jug of gold elixir taunts me every time I open the fridge door. Maybe I'd feel better if it were the cloudy variety. At least then I could tell myself that the pulp provides some sort of nutritional benefit. I should've gotten juice from WF like a good little sucker. Most of their juice is cloudy.

...Anyway.

Tomorrow I want Chinese food. I'm thinking of something full of vegetables and chicken. I haven't gotten to cook in a few days, so I'm thinking it'll be at home as well. Maybe a Happy Family and some 12-grain rice to offset all that sugar and carb we've had the last few days. We can run out for some broccoli, baby corn and bell peppers. Or maybe some spare rib-style chicken wings, rice and garlic greens. I'll run it by him.

I know. I know. Whole Foods is part of the big evil shop bully conglomerate and is owned by Amazon and blah blah blah... but there's some really nice stuff there. I picked up a block of stupidly pricey brown cheese. Brunost, it's called. Very cute. My husband, the Scandinavian he is, had heard of it before but never tried it himself. Tracks, considering he’s  not much of a sweet and savory kind of guy. I get where he's coming from. I'm expecting a flavor profile something close to Chicago popcorn and goat milk dulce de leche. Distinctly caramel with a tang and nuttiness familiar to fans of traditional cheese. Just not, you know, as candy-like. I feel I'll like it. I'll test it out on some wheat crackers for tomorrow's breakfast. If it’s gross, no big loss. I’ll just pass it off to my sister, claiming it’s some foreign superfood. She’ll do something with it. 

Speaking of things to do after I wake up, my husband has stirred just long enough to beg me to give the typing a rest, so I think I’ll oblige him. My left hand’s also gone numb.  Here is to a livable tomorrow.  Goodnight. 

[gdayinla]

Tuesday, July 19, 2022

It’s one of those days where music doesn’t sound good.

I’m not concerned since food still tastes good. There’s times where both aren’t good and I spend more money buying food from restaurants because eating won’t be good unless it’s one specific thing.

That’s the ‘tism for ya.

At work I’ve just finished my container of yogurt pretzels- but I’ve bought a new container that are at home on my counter. I’ll bring them tomorrow.

I need to decorate my apartment. The walls need to be claimed. It doesn’t feel 100% mine with blank walls. I need to put something up. The gram situation is what I’m maybe slow on.

I realize once again I’m at my desk with my AirPods in and no music is playing. I like to have them in with nothing playing over silence without them in. Not sure why. Maybe it’s because I’m used to them. Maybe it some kind of comfort thing. I then debate again if I want airpod max’s. I like O’s. They’re cute. They sounds similar to AirPods but sit over the ears and have a slight different I feel.

But I don’t need them, so we’ll have to see.

I brought a different lunch today. Tortellini. I’m happy to eat it later. Switch it up a bit. Hopefully we sit outside for lunch. We didn’t yesterday and lunch was quite stressful yesterday tbh. I appreciate the lunch breaks I take with E, A and P. It’s such a late lunch at 2pm but it’s something I look forward to.

Each day I get hungrier and hungrier and maybe eventually give up and start to eat- but then one of them asks if I want to join. And I happily move to eat with them downstairs.

It’s nice out midday in LA most of the time. In the courtyard area we get a cool breeze. And I don’t know if I feel like eating outside alone. And so I wait until 2- but that’s not for 2 1/2 more hours. We’ll see.

——

Well the only music that sounds good is Phoebe Bridgers so maybe I’m just sad today idk

I did have a fucking awful dream last night though.

My sister died in my dream. And it was heart breaking. Dad was going to speak at the memorial and mom and I realized his speech was not something that should be read. So I improvised. And I had to get up in front of so many people that I know and tell them all that Emma and I hadn’t spoken in two months, but missed her more than anything.

And now that I think about the dream, I can’t imagine her saying the same thing about me. I don’t know. But we went through the whole process of someone dying up until the funeral, I think.

And then I woke up and texted her to make sure she was okay.

“yes”

So that’s good that she’s fine. She had nothing else to say though, which didn’t surprise me.

I’ve seen so many videos on tik tok of people talking about how they cut off their siblings. And while Emma and I don’t talk, she hasn’t cut me off. And I don’t know if we’ll ever really talk again. All I have to say when people ask, is that we haven’t talked since I graduated two months ago and I don’t know how she is. I don’t know what she’s doing.

And most days I decide that I’d be okay if we didn’t. That I can’t let negativity impact me that way and blood being thicker than water is just something people say to guilt families or friends to act a certain way.

But days like today I don’t know if I want that. I miss how things were four years ago. I get Snapchat memories of us laughing and talking.

We all might’ve been better off if she didn’t come to graduation.

Time to log onto a meeting about festival grids. Fun stuff.

—-

I force O to get the mail like I always do. It’s 90 outside but we’re in the shade and it’s refreshing. He opens a fan letter addressed to a client. He keeps the photo of two star wars characters- it gets pinned up at his desk. I need to bring a photo of Zuzu.

We hang outside with L and D for a while for a break. We talk about college and how NYU had Taylor Swift speak- and O was front row and so close to her. I tell him I’m mad at him because of it.

We make our way back inside and back up nine floors on the elevator.

Everyone but A & E have been feeling off today. I’ve made multiple mistakes today. A & E have been having a grand day entertaining one another at their desks. The three of us had lunch earlier today. It was nice. We ate at 1, which I appreciated.

But now at 4 I’m hungry again and thinking about that portobello mushroom sandwich

I try not to be one of those people that counts down the hours until you can leave for the day. It only makes the time go slower.

48 minutes left

Yes, I am counting. It’s just one of those days. The morning felt fast and the afternoon seems to be dragging.

I need to go to target but I think I will get dinner first in Westlake.

Listening to videos by the Dodo while I work. It puts me in a better list and I’m also contemplating shake shake for dinner.

And then the office is left to B, me O and A. And it’s 6:30.

Another A and E are always the last assistants here and it’s the first time we’re here after them.

And I leave just before seven.

This portobello mushroom sandwich has been on my mind since I had it weeks ago.

My uncle doesn’t tell me what dressing he wants on his salad when I order. The employee recommends a lemon tahini so he better like it.

And then I start to his house. The sun is setting. It’s so calming to be out here.

I eat my portobello sandwich from Natural Café and watch Family Feud. The strawberry banana peach smoothie I ordered is amazing.

We watch America Says. With these shows we yell out answers at the tv whether they’re correct or not.

After I’ve yelled poodle at the tv too many times, I get my things together and start the drive home.

I put on I Know The End as I leave like I do every time. I roll the windows down and the wind blows through the car windows.

I think about how tired I’ll be in the morning but I’m not too upset about it with the song playing.

Zuzu is mad at me but not until we’ll after I shower. Don’t know why.

I get ready for bed.

[faustocosgrove]

y’all ready for another weird ass dream? psychoanalyse this!

in my dream last night i was in a restaurant with some friends? i guess. it was people i didn’t know but we were eating together and chatting so i assume we were friends. a nearby table had a mother daughter father trio that the friend group i was in somehow knew but nobody liked. either that or my group were all being disturbed by them hollering at each other, i’m not really sure. at one point the daughter (who was like, 40. her parents were like 60+) came over to my table, sat down with us and gave us all the stink eye like she’s fight anyone who objected, and took the salt shaker. turns out that her and her father had been fighting over their table’s salt shaker and either broke it or just knocked the cap loose and spilled their salt all over the table. the father was non verbal, or else had throat cancer or something and could only talk in short whiny grunts. anyway, my response to getting my salt shaker stolen was to march up to them, and when i realized the daughter was trying to prevent her disabled parent the decency of using a salt shaker i knew i couldn’t just snatch it back and punch her in the face (a common problem solving strategy in my dreams as of late) so instead i snatched their table’s pepper shaker and sat back down.

as my group were leaving so was the problem trio and the restaurant staff was either charging them more for damages or being annoying or telling them to never come back or maybe all three. i had a moment of thinking “do i have everything?” before we all walked out the door and i spied my water bottle in the corner.

mild segue, the only item of mine i had was my water bottle, no wallet or phone nothin’. the water bottle was sitting on a place where i couldn’t see it while we were eating, nor was it in a place i would have placed it intentionally.

so i pick up my water bottle and a hand comes from my left to also grab it and without ever looking i know it’s the mother from the trio. and i’m struggling pulling my water bottle away from this crazy lady.

okay so quiz time! in response to a water bottle thief does Fausto:  A) tell her to fuck off B) punch her in the face to loosen their grip C) unhinge his jaw like a snake and take about half the mom’s wrist in his mouth and bite or D) all of the above?

now if you picked D you’re actually wrong even though now that i’m awake that seems like the most me thing to do. no the answer is C and i didn’t even like, struggle a reasonable amount of time it was like 2 second then it was biting time.  the biting didn’t actually work as intended though because she was not letting go so i bit harder and harder and just as i’m thinking that i’m getting more give with my teeth than i expect out of a hand i can’t over power by pulling i can feel the part i’m biting rip away from the rest of the arm.

so let’s add the ability to feel tension with both my hands and my teeth to dream sensations Fausto’s been getting as of late.

also, in hind sight there wasn’t any blood.

so the mom screams and i let go and with my water bottle make a run for it. in spite of having her arm half ripped off the mom is chasing me. immediately this turns into one of those dreams where running and walking isn’t working. the solution i’ve found to this type of dream is to use my arms to pull buildings, objects, or the ground itself closer to me. if you’re ever in one of those dreams it works! if you can visually see something being pulled closer to you, you’ll re-gain the sense of forward motion. so you’ll still be in a scary dream (with a crazy lady screaming at you and chasing you even after you’ve proved that you’re capable of tearing her apart with your teeth) but it stops feeling like a helpless scary dream.

anyway the exact method i’m using to move through the frozen legs dream this time was to use my water bottle to grip the groves in the sidewalk pavement and sort of like, row forward? i was rowing with the water bottle and sort of… leap frogging (?) my way between side walk lines. like i’d get a grip with the water bottle and pull myself then plant my feet at the line then reach with my whole body to the next line, rinse and repeat.

so i’d like y’all to imagine for a moment that you’re in a city at night in an area that’s got like, no night life. but nice wide side walks and you’re in a friend’s apartment and you look out the window and see someone inch-worming their way down the sidewalk with a metal water bottle asking the few passers by if anyone will help them or at least why no one has called the police because i know that moving this way this fast makes me look like i’m on crack. and you watch several bystanders awkwardly break eye contact and gently scurry away like one does for salesmen. and the only person you see who attempts to help this person doing the sideways rock climbing as the world’s worst parkour is batman.

so this is also my first batman dream.

batman’s attempt to “help” is him shimmying back in his batmobile-wheelchair-kiosk so there is room in the contraption for me to hide. i crawl in, thinking how under any other circumstances i would never willingly get close to the genitals of a man making that “i’m too cool for you” neutral yet expectant facial expression. so there i am, fetal position around batman’s shins, feeling slightly safer, when i wake up.

[yoohyeon]

.

[btssavedmylifeblr]

Void - Part 7 (M)

title banner by @rude–jude♡

Genre: Sci-fi with a little angst and a LOT of smut

Pairing: BTS x Reader (yup - all seven)

Summary: You are the only female crew member on a 12 year space mission with seven handsome men. The sexual tension is real, y’all.

Word Count: 10.9k

Part 7 / ?

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6

Warnings: explicit sexual content, alcohol masturbation, voyeurism, more non-monogamy

The men at the table stare at you, dumb-founded. Jungkook’s mouth hangs open. Hoseok hides his mouth behind his hand; his eyes are wide with shock. Jimin spins around, trying to gauge the others’ reactions. Namjoon leans back in his chair, face unreadable, his chin resting on his hand as he looks from you to your powerpoint. Jin laughs uncomfortably then clears his throat and silence falls again.

Yoongi speaks first. “You put sources on your powerpoint about how we should all start fucking?”  

“It’s important to cite your sources,” you mutter, shuffling your feet.

Taehyung sits up straighter on his cot. “Are you saying we should start fucking you or each other?”

“Well, the bonobos do both. They are fully bisexual. Almost all aggressive contests are settled by sex. Even when two males squabble over a female, they often resolve it by rubbing their genitals together.”

“What?” Hoseok injects. “You want us to start rubbing our genitals together?” His cheeks blush.

“No, no, no.” You shake your head. “I meant you all should have sex with me.” Your own cheeks heat up as you say it. “I can’t control what you do with other people. In an ideal world, it would be both. But it seemed best to start with me.”

Jungkook mouths the words “start with” to himself, still staring at the table.

“But like, how would that work logistically?” Taehyung asks.

“Well, there are seven of you, so that could be like one per day. Take a week off for my period.”

Jimin splutters, whirling to face Yoongi. “Did you put her up to this?”

Yoongi shakes his head, frowning.

“No one put me up to this!” you argue. “This is what I think is best for the mission.”

An explosion of opinions pours out of all the men at once. Hoseok is swearing under his breath. Taehyung is trying to get Jimin’s attention, but Jimin is arguing with Yoongi. Jungkook wants to know how you decide who goes first. Jin says something to Namjoon that you can’t hear.

“So, um…” You struggle to regain command of the room over the chatter. “My period starts tomorrow, so take a few days to think about it.”

“Officer.” Namjoon’s deep voice cuts over everyone else and the conversation at the table ceases. “You and I need to speak privately. Now.”

The commander stands up from the table and gestures toward the door. The rest of the crew looks back and forth between the two of you wearing expressions of shock and confusion.

You avoid their gazes as you follow Namjoon’s direction out into the hallway. He steps out after you, closing the door behind him. A flurry of chatter resumes after the door shuts, but it’s too muffled to hear what the rest of the crew are saying. You and Namjoon stare at each other.

“So…” you say, shifting your weight between your feet.

“Let’s talk in my office,” he says, squeezing past you and moving in the direction of the sleep pods.

You examine him from behind as you follow him to his office, trying to gauge what he’s thinking. Are his shoulders tense? Is he angry with you? Are you about to be scolded?

His office is also his bedroom. And you did just offer to fuck him, no strings attached. But of all your crew, Namjoon is the one that you have the most strictly professional relationship with. His walls are almost as impenetrable as yours. But he is a man, right? And men like sex, right? It would have been more awkward to not include him. This wasn’t about personal feelings. It was about the mission. And you were all in the mission together.

________

Sweat pools at the base of your spine under the hot studio lights. A reporter drums her long red nails on her clipboard as the sound technician adjusts the microphones between interviews.

Press junkets are your least favorite part of the job, made all the worse by your mission director insisting you all dress in full launch gear, despite the launch still being two weeks away.

“This is the last one.” Namjoon turns around from his front and center seat to whisper to the rest of the crew.

Yoongi groans, rubbing his face with his hands. “Why do we have so many of them when they all ask the same questions?”

The eight of you have been trapped in this room all day as a parade of different reporters trail in and ask the same inane questions.

This new reporter opens with a softball. “How’s the food?”

“Good!” Namjoon patiently answers this question for the third time today. “The ICSE has recruited the top food scientists to figure out which foods hold their flavor and nutrition best in long term storage. And our chief botanist here is going to keep us well stocked with fruits and vegetables. Right, officer?” He gestures for you to chime in.

“Yup!” You are grateful to Namjoon for pitching you a question that isn’t about you being the only woman in a crew full of men. You’ve already had to explain how periods in space work twice today (short answer: pretty much the same way they work on Earth). “We have lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, peas, bean, soy, carrots, cabbage, chilis, potatoes, lemons, oranges and strawberries, plus a bunch of fresh herbs. They even found a way for us to grow mushrooms out of our culinary compost.”

The reporter makes a disgusted face at the idea of compost mushrooms and pivots to a new line of questioning. “What will you miss most about home?”

“Why don’t we go around the group?” Namjoon prompts. Even your commander seems to be fading in enthusiasm by this point. “I’m going to miss long walks in the fresh air, and my family, of course.”

Most of the crew answers with some variation of friends and family. Yoongi will miss his brother’s cooking. Taehyung will miss his dog who is going to live with his parents. Jungkook will miss long showers and his mom.

“What’s one personal item you’re taking with you?” she asks.

Namjoon is bringing a Chinese elm bonsai tree that he calls his tiny friend. Hoseok is bringing a stuffed Earth plushie given to him by his niece. Jin is bringing vodka.

The reporter narrows her eyes at the mention of alcohol and leans forward. “So what do you do if you feel a crew member’s judgement has been compromised?”

“We have protocols in place,” Namjoon answers. “Tests of cognitive impairment and such. We’re also coached in what we call “expeditionary behaviors” which are key to maintaining peace and cooperation on board.

Yoongi chimes in. “The key to solving all disputes is our ability to be honest with each other. When there is a problem, we sit down as a group and discuss it.”

“Our readers are saying what a tragedy it is that we are shipping seven of our most eligible bachelors off to space for a decade.” She laughs. “Any broken hearts being left here on Earth?”

“Oh!” Namjoon draws back and looks unsuredly at the rest of the group. This was not a question he was expecting to be asked today. “Umm…” he laughs nervously.

“My mom is devastated!” Jin cracks from the back row and the rest of the crew laughs in relief.

But the reporter doesn’t want to let go of this idea so quickly, so she turns to you. “Well, you must certainly enjoy having such handsome crew members.”

“Uh…” To your complete mortification, you actually blush in response. You clench your fist to try to get a grip. To your right, Hoseok’s hand flinches, as if he can feel the need to hold you back. “I’m going on this mission to find life on other planets.” You grit your teeth. “My only interest in my crew is whether or not they do their jobs.”

The woman shakes her head, laughing. “Doesn’t hurt that they look good doing it.”

_______

Namjoon opens the door to his office and gestures for you to enter. The number of papers on his desk seems to have multiplied, which theoretically shouldn’t be possible.

“I’m going to say three words to you,” Namjoon says as he closes the door behind him. “And then I need you to repeat them back to me: banana, river, finger.”

“Namjoon,” you cross your arms. “I’m not cognitively impaired right now.”

He mirrors your closed stance. “Please repeat the words.”

You sigh. “Banana, river, finger.”

He pulls a piece of paper from his desk and wipes it clean, before handing it to you, along with a pen. “I need you to draw a clock face.”

“Seriously?”

“Set it to quarter past eight.”

“This isn’t necessary, commander,” you grumble as you take the pen and paper, drawing a rudimentary clock face and setting the hands to 8:15. “See?” You hand the paper back to him and he inspects it.

He nods, rubbing his chin. “Repeat the three words again.”

“Banana, river, finger.” You put your hands on your hips. “You think my judgement is compromised?”

Namjoon sighs. “Everything seems to be in order. You must admit, your behavior recently has been uncharacteristic to say the least. Are you sure everything is okay?”

“Well, no, everything is not okay, that’s why I’m doing this.”

He leans against his desk, looking you up and down. “I fail to see how fraternizing with the entire crew will improve things.”

The back of your neck heats up in embarrassment, but you press on. You need the commander to be onboard with your plan.

“You admit we have a morale problem, right?”

He nods. “Hard to suggest otherwise. What with all the recent events.”

“Okay, so I was going through the principles of expeditionary behavior last night as I figured out what to do. Principle One:  Communication - talk so you are clearly understood, talk about intentions before taking action, share information freely.”

“I know the principles.” Namjoon interrupts.

“But don’t you see? That’s why I had to call the meeting. Why I had to get everything out in the open, share information freely.”

“That explains why you needed to inform the crew of your relationship with Jimin. It doesn’t explain why you think it would be good to involve everyone.”

“Principle Two: Self-care - manage psychological and physiological health, balance work, rest, and personal time, be proactive to stay healthy and mitigate stress.”

Namjoon arches an eyebrow. “A lack of sex doesn’t damage your health.”

“With all due respect commander, I think it does.”

“There are outlets to relieve sexual urges other than exploiting our only female crew member.”

“Well, they were all trading porn with each other. That’s how this whole thing started.” Namjoon purses his lips in thought. That seems to be new information to your commander. You continue your argument. “Principle Three: Team-care - monitor team for signs of stress and fatigue - which we have a multitude of, cooperate rather than compete, encourage participation in team activities.”

“Are you considering this a team activity?”

“Well, yes. Like the bonobos do.”

Namjoon shakes his head. “Let me speak so I am clearly understood. I can’t prevent you or the rest of the crew from doing what you want to do with your personal time. But I can’t participate in it either. I’m the commanding officer on this ship. It’s inappropriate. We can’t have an equitable relationship.”

“That’s why it’s not a relationship though, it’s just sex. And if everyone involved is consenting...”

He rubs the back of his neck. “Let’s be honest about intent for a minute. Is that really what you want? You want all seven of us?”

“Umm…” Your stomach churns as you are unable to admit that, yes, that is what you want. “I think it’s best for the mission.”

“Part of principle three is to volunteer for unpleasant tasks if they benefit the team. Are you sure that’s not what you’re doing right now, officer?”

“Yes, I’m sure.” Though embarrassing to admit, boning your attractive colleagues is not an unpleasant task in the slightest.

“You should also consider the fact that whatever forms do get signed will have to be sent back to mission control. And may get out to the press.”

“I thought HR decisions were confidential.”

“Juicy stories have a tendency to find their way out. Especially when they distract from failed missions that added years on to our trip.”

“I understand, commander. Information must be shared freely. I still think this plan is necessary if we’re going to complete this mission successfully.”

“Okay.” Namjoon sighs, dropping his hands to his sides. “It would seem there is no talking you out of it.”

“No, sir. I intend to implement with full commitment.”

The two of you stare at each other for a minute. An immovable object and an unstoppable force.

“So… should I go?”

“Yes, you’re dismissed.”

________

After the press junket is mercifully over, Hoseok catches you in the hallway.

“Hey, you coming to Tae and Jimin’s quarantine party tonight?” Tonight is the last night you all are allowed to see other people before you enter your two-week quarantine prior to launch. “Seems like you could use a drink.”

“I don’t know,”  you sigh, leaning against the wall.

“What’s on your mind?” He leans next to you.

“That last reporter, she got in my head.” You rub your forehead.

Hoseok rubs the back of his neck. His jawline tenses as he mulls over what to say.

Hoseok is so handsome. And smart. And newly single. He broke up with his girlfriend a couple of weeks ago before signing the final mission papers. And now he was going to be the one of only seven people in your whole world.

In another life, you would want to date him. You’d be dying to go to a party with him and plot how to get him alone for part of the evening. In another life, you would have fallen in love with him. But in this life, he’d been dating someone else for the whole time you’ve known him. And you have a mission.

What’s most grating is that the gossip columnist isn’t wrong. You’d be hard pressed to find a better set of men anywhere on Earth than the seven you were leaving with. They were all attractive, smart, kind, disciplined, athletic young men. It would be much easier to be entirely professional if you had a crew of balding middle-aged men.

“Do you think it's a mistake? Me going on this mission?” you finally ask.

“What?” Hoseok gasps. “No! Why would you think that?”

“The mission director said it was supposed to be only men. That mixed gender crews are too complicated.”

“Have we ever done anything to make you feel like we don’t view you as a professional?”

“No, no, of course not.” Other than being ridiculously good-looking.

Hoseok’s fingers twiddle nervously. “And we won’t. We’re a team. You’re our colleague. This mission is so much bigger than any one of us. And you’re the best candidate for this position.”

“I’m the only candidate.”

Hoseok smiles. “Well, that’s exactly my point. We’d be lost without our biologist. Besides, you were better than all the male candidates even before they dropped out.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Oh yes, I do. Are you forgetting how badly you kicked my ass all over organic chemistry? And I was the chem major! It was such a disgrace.” You both laugh.

You smile at the memory: early morning study sessions, Hoseok bringing you coffee in exchange for your homework help.

“Come on,” he insists. “I know you. You can’t not go. You’re going to be the first woman on Europa. It’s been your destiny since college. Don’t you want to see it with us?”

Yes, you wanted to see it so badly. You picture the two of you looking out over the icy surface together.

“Come tonight.” Hoseok insists. “It’ll be fine, you’ll see. We won’t mess this up for you.”

“Thank you, Hoseok.”

_______

You leave Namjoon’s bedroom and climb into your own sleep pod, the question of what mission control or the press know about what’s happening on this ship weighing on your mind.

Unfortunately, googling it for yourself won’t work. It takes between 10 and 20 minutes for a single signal to get from your ship to Earth, depending on exactly where you both are in your orbits. Then it takes another 10-20 minutes to return. Usually if you wanted to research something, you’d submit a formal request to your research assistants back on Earth,  who would gather a collection of relevant documents for you and send you a bundle of them all at once. But asking your research assistants to assemble a dossier on your rumored sex life was out of the question. You need someone you can trust.

You pull out your laptop and compose the following email.

Hi Dianna,

How are you doing? I’m sorry I’ve been slow to respond to your messages lately, things have been a bit messy out here. I was wondering if I could ask you a favor. Are there rumors about my personal life going around the ICSE? Or in the press? I was wondering if you’d be willing to run a quick google search and let me know what you find.

Thank you! I hope you and Melissa are doing well.

Dianna should have been on this mission with you. You wish you could talk to her in person. You’ll have to send her a video message when you have more time. But you are interrupted in your thoughts by a knock on the door.

“Who is it?”

“Jimin.”

You hit send on the email and open the door.

“Can we talk?” he asks.

You nod and stand to one side to allow him into your pod.

He sighs and rubs the back of his neck. “So I’m confused.” He runs a hand through his hair as he steps into the pod. “Last night you were mad at me for suggesting you date Taehyung. You said you wouldn’t be passed around between crew members. But now you want to have sex with the entire crew?”

“I’m not being passed around. This is my plan. I’m in control.”

He shakes his head. “The end results seem to be the same though. I don’t understand.”

“This way we don’t have to pretend this is something it’s not. It can just be sex, just release. We don’t have to pretend it means anything more than that.”

“But it means something to me.” Jimin frowns. “I have feelings for you.”

You sigh. “They’re not real though. It’s hormones and boredom. It’s just because I’m the only woman here.”

“No it’s not!”

“Yes it is! You didn’t feel this way about me on Earth, right?”

Jimin stammers for a minute. “People can change. Relationships can change.”

“Jungkook and Taehyung didn’t have feelings for me on Earth either and now that they’ve seen me naked they’re suddenly 'in love' with me. That’s not real. That’s just biology. We’re just apes in space with too much time on our hands.”

“Jungkook’s in love with you too?”

“I don’t know. He thinks he is.”

Jimin frowns, but seems less sure of himself. “Is this because I suggested sharing? Cause that was a dumb idea and I take it back.”

“No! You were right. It’s what’s best for the mission.”

“So what? It’s like this or nothing? I have to share you to have any of you?”

You don’t answer him. Currently, no one else has actually signed, so Jimin might get you all to himself anyways.

“Am I… am I not enough?” Jimin asks. “I can be more. I can do better. I can do whatever Yoongi does that you like so much.”

“This isn’t about Yoongi. It’s about the mission.”

“You said you liked me. You said you wanted to be with me. Was that just about the mission?”

“It’s not about what I want.”

“Yeah, yeah… it's about the mission.”  

He turns to go, but you catch his hand in yours. His thumb rubs across the back of your hand. All the men are just as touch-starved as you are. It’s probably unfair that you are playing to that now.

You see an idea flash across his face right before he scoops you up into his arms, kissing you passionately. “I’m going to show you,” he whispers between kisses. “I’m going to show it's real. I’m going to be what you need. My feelings are real.”

Then he places you back down and leaves. You lean against the door breathless.

________

Mistake number one: You should not have challenged Jin to beer pong.

Mistake number two: You should not have said goodbye to your parents and dog right before going to a party full of strangers and booze.

Mistake number three: You should not have gone to find Hoseok when you are this drunk and he smells that good.

You collapse onto the couch beside Hoseok, too tired to stand up anymore. Hoseok smiles to see you, face flushed red.

“Hoseok,” you whisper, even though he’s already looking at you. “Hoseok, I have something important to tell you.”

He leans in closer. “Yeah?”

“Europa’s oceans are ninety-six kilometers deep.”

He laughs. “Of course, I know that! I wrote my graduate thesis on Europa’s oceans!”

“Yeah, but like…” You wave your hand. “That’s like soooo deep. Like not intuitive, you know? Like that’s ten times deeper than any ocean on Earth. I can’t even conceive of how deep our oceans are, let alone Europa’s.”

You scoot closer to him on the couch. “That’s like…” You pull out your phone to do some basic math. “That’s like 120 Burj Khalifas!!”

Hoseok nods. “Yes… It is super deep.”

“Stacked on top of each other!” You slap your knee in emphasis.

“Yes, I know!” He laughs again.

You sigh. “Can I tell you a secret?” You lean in closer and put a hand on his thigh. He leans in too. “There just has to be life down there. I know there has to be.”

“I hope so.” He rests his hand on yours.

“We’re going to find it together, you and I.” You grab his hand and squeeze it.

Hoseok looks down at your joined hands and you worry that maybe you’ve gone too far. Maybe tomorrow this will be an awkward and embarrassing moment. But right now it feels nice. His hand is warm. You wonder if it would be too much to lean your head on his shoulder.

But then Hoseok’s phone buzzes in his lap. His ex-girlfriend’s name flashes across the screen and you drop his hand.

“Sorry,” he mutters, getting up off the couch. “I should take this.” He leaves and the couch next you is colder.

“Hey!” Jin stumbles over to your seating area. “Have any of you guys seen Namjoon?”

“I think he went to meet that girl he won’t tell us about,” Yoongi answers from a chair a few feet away. When did Yoongi get here?

“So everyone is getting laid tonight, huh?” Jin laughs.

“Not everyone,” Yoongi mutters, nursing his beer.

“Don’t be such a grump, Yoongi. It’s basically our last night on Earth! Take advantage!” Jin laughs before wandering back into the crowd.

“I’m not getting laid tonight either!” You yell across the room at Yoongi. More direct than you would be when sober.

He cracks the first smile you’ve seen from him in days, raising his beer into the air in a little clinking motion. You do the same with your plastic cup full of what Jimin had described as “Tae’s jungle juice”. It was red and smelled like tequila.

“Why aren’t you getting laid?” you ask, taking a swig of the juice for courage.

“Got dumped, not really over it yet,” he answers matter-of-factly. “What about you?”

You shrug. “The only men here are about to be my only companions for the next twelve years. Seems like a bad plan to fuck them.”

Yoongi laughs. “Suppose so.”

“Well, don’t you worry. If that reporter is right, we’ll all be having space orgies in a month anyways.”

Yoongi chokes on his beer. “Shit.” Beer dribbles down his chin as he laughs. “I think we need to find you some ice water and a cab.”

“Probably a good plan,” you mutter as you lie down on the couch and close your eyes.

________

When you wake up in the morning, there are still no signed HR forms in your messages. Had you been a fool to think any of them were interested? How much time does it take to decide such a thing? Perhaps by putting the idea out there explicitly, it had lost all of its taboo appeal.

There are two other things waiting for you to notice though: your period and a calendar reminder that today is chili pepper pollinating day. After dealing with the first of those problems in the bathroom, you head for the lab to find Hoseok.

You find the science officer in the lab as always, sitting with his knee tucked up against his chest.

“Hey, um…” You shuffle your feet. Want to fuck me? No wait…

He blinks at you, bleary-eyed.

“Oh, you don’t look good. Were you here all night?” you ask.

“Um, was I? Yeah. I suppose. Lost track of time.” He rubs his eyes, before looking you up and down, then casting his gaze back to the floor.

All you want to do is ask about the forms. Or the meeting. Or what he thinks of you now. But you don’t.

“I need to pollinate the chili peppers today.” Usually Hoseok is the person who assists with that. “But I can get one of the other guys to do it if you need the sleep.”

“No!” Hoseok lurches forward, standing up a bit too rapidly and needing to put his hand back on the bench to steady himself. “I mean, I’m fine.”

You should disagree with him. He is exhausted. But you’d like more time to talk to him.

Pollinating the chili peppers is both time-sensitive and time-consuming, hence why it took two of you to get the job done. There were no insects on your ship to do the job for you and if the plants didn’t get pollinated, they wouldn’t bear any fruit. Chili peppers were your favorite crop. Not only a vital source of Vitamin C, but all your food benefitted from having a bit of spice added to it.

You and Hoseok head for the greenhouse together. The initial set-up gives you something to talk about in the beginning. Hoseok gathers the pollen from one flower onto a paintbrush, then hands it over to you to paint onto the stigmas of each little flower on the next plant.

Slowly the conversation dries up as you fall into a silent rhythm. Other than enjoying the chili peppers, this was also one of your favorite tasks on the ship because of the high likelihood that the two of you would brush hands periodically. It always gave you butterflies. But today he seems extra intent on keeping his distance from you. Was he disgusted by you now? His hands are trembling.

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

His hand twitches so hard that a little rain of yellow pollen cascades onto the floor. He curses in frustration before turning to face you. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

"I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“This, um, plan of yours…” he gestures to the vague tension in the air. “It doesn’t feel like you.”

“I’m trying to save the mission. That has always been my top priority.”

“Yeah, I’m still not clear on how this benefits the mission.”

“I outlined it all in my presentation. Plus Yoongi said…” you start to say, but are cut off by Hoseok's derisive snort.

“Look, if you’re in love with Yoongi, go date him, okay? Don’t feel obligated to include the rest of us out of pity.”

You frown. “I’m not… I’m not in love with him. It’s just sex. Just biology.”

“This isn’t you!” Hoseok argues back. “You hated the idea of anyone ever treating you that way. And now you want all of us to… to… use you like that?”  He splutters out the end of the sentence.

“No one is using me! This is my plan!”

He sighs. “Well, I can’t be a part of it. Excuse me.” He leaves you alone in the greenhouse.

Your lower lip trembles and you bite it to stop it. He’s disgusted by you. Yoongi was wrong; Hoseok doesn’t want you. It takes you the rest of the day to finish the pollinating on your own.

_____

There are no forms waiting for you when you wake up the next morning either. Perhaps this was a mistake after all. If the men aren’t looking for release in the same way you are, then there’s no point to any of this. Even Jimin has been keeping his distance, so all you’ve done is mess up the one relationship you did have and offend your commander and colleagues.

Your tablet buzzes with a notification. It’s a reply from Dianna.

It’s great to hear from you! I hope things aren’t too crazy up there. I haven’t heard any rumors at work, but I’ve not been directly involved with your mission. We’ve started the plans for Titan and it’s taking most of my focus. I can ask around though if you want me to. I was surprised to find this article when I googled. Is this accurate? I assumed you would have said something.

Hope you are well! Melissa and I are going to send you a video of our new puppy.

Dianna

There is a pdf of a magazine article attached to the email entitled “Love Amongst the Stars”. At the top is one of the official launch photos of the whole crew that has been zoomed and cropped so that it’s only you and Jimin sitting next to each other. The tagline reads “How two astronauts had to leave Earth to find each other”. It makes you cringe so hard you have to put the tablet down for a minute before you can read on.

It’s some sort of fluff piece about a secret affair between you and the mission specialist. You scan the article, trying to figure out what they know. “A source close to the couple spoke with us...” Who is their source? You haven’t told anyone on Earth about what's going on with Jimin.

“Coworkers said they always sensed a special connection between the two…” This is nonsense. Jimin is one of the crew members you knew the least about prior to launch.

“Other crew members are very supportive…” Uh, sure.

“Maybe we’ll even get our first space wedding…” You groan out loud, closing the pdf.

Maybe that seals it then. You’ll just be space-married to Jimin for the next 12 years and that will be that. The idea makes you feel a bit claustrophobic in your tiny sleep pod, so you throw on your exercise clothes and head for the gym to try to clear your head.

_____

What you call “the gym” is actually just a bunch of resistance bands and cardio equipment stashed into the walls of one corner of the hangar. When the gravity was off, you had a variety of different choices for which equipment to use. There was a treadmill in the ceiling and an elliptical in the wall so multiple people could use the equipment in your off hours. But with the gravity on, the stationary bike on the floor is your only option.

As you begin your warm-up on the bike, you mull over your next move. Why hadn’t any of the other men come and talked to you yet? Jungkook had confessed to you, why wasn’t he signing up now? And Yoongi? Yoongi said he wanted a form only a few days ago. Why did it feel so different now?

Were you stupid? Had you embarrassed yourself in front of your entire crew for no reason? Maybe Namjoon and Hoseok were right and this was a bad plan. You pedal faster, trying to burn out some of the tension in your lungs.

The radio buzzes and Taehyung’s deep voice sounds in your in-ear. “Looking for a location for our biologist.”

“I’m in the gym,” you radio back, pausing your bike ride to catch your breath.

Moments later, Taehyung pokes his head in the door of the hangar. It’s good to see him up and about, even if his arm is still in a sling.

“Hey.” He steps into the room, adjusting his hair with his one good hand. “I need to talk to you about this, um, ape sex thing.”

Oh my gosh, is it finally happening? Maybe Jimin was right. Maybe Taehyung is more interested in you than you had realized. He fishes into his pocket and pulls out his tablet. You wish you weren’t so sweaty and gross for this conversation. Taehyung is such an intimidatingly attractive man.

Taehyung opens up the tablet and flips to the form as he walks closer to you. It’s happening. He’s going to sign the form. Shit. Then what will you do? It’s one thing to say you want to have sex with your whole crew, but what if he’s hoping to go right now? You need a shower.

Taehyung has nice hands. Long strong fingers delicately navigate the touch screen. It seems totally improbable that a man this attractive would be into you, even if you were the only woman in the universe. It adds to your suspicions that hormones are driving everyone crazy. Perhaps if you slept with him once, he’d lose all interest.

He finds the form and then turns his gaze up to you, staring you down with those eyes. It’s a good thing  Taehyung rarely turns his full gaze on you, because it is almost too much to bear. Shit, is he going to sign it? Is he waiting for you to give him some sort of signal?

“You can’t do this to Jimin,” he says.

“What?” Not what you were expecting. “Do what to Jimin?”

“This.” He gestures over the HR form. “Signing these forms with everyone. Having sex with everyone. You’re going to destroy Jimin.”

“Jimin’s the one who suggested this whole thing in the first place.” It’s a lie. You know it's a lie. Or at least a gross exaggeration. But Jimin was the one who first brought up the idea of sharing. All for the benefit of the man in front of you now.

“No way.” Taehyung scoffs, crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow. “No way was it Jimin’s idea that you sleep with the whole crew.”

“Well…” You can’t bear his gaze anymore and look down at the floor. “He wanted me to sleep with you.”

“What?” He puts down the tablet. “Why would he want that?”

“He, um…” You rub your arm. “He thinks you’re in love with me.”

“What?” There is only surprise on Taehyung’s face. It’s actually a relief to see that Taehyung is as shocked by that idea as you were. “Why does he think that?”

“I don’t know…” You feel kind of dumb now. Of course, Taehyung doesn’t feel that way about you. Look at him. “Cause you told him you were jealous. Cause you can’t stand to be in the same room as us.”

Taehyung bites his lip. “Oh, um, shit, sorry, that’s not what I meant.”

“What did you mean?” you ask. If Taehyung wasn’t jealous of Jimin, then...“Who are you jealous of?”

“Nevermind…” Taehyung stumbles backward, putting his tablet back in his pocket. “Forget I said anything.”

“No wait,” you get up off the bike to chase after him, catching by the sleeve. As he turns around, you make a show of turning off your microphone. He does the same. “Are you jealous of me?” you ask. “Do you like Jimin?”

Taehyung’s eyes widen and he bites his lip. He glances toward the camera in the corner of the room, then stands up and begins unzipping his jumpsuit.

“Um…” You are distracted by the golden arms that peak from either side of the tank top as the zipper reaches his groin. “What are you doing?”

“Need something to block the camera.”

“We have towels,” you mutter.  But now he’s attempting to peel the tank top up over his head.

“Yeah, but this way anyone watching will think we’re having sex.” He answers. “Shit, can you give me a hand?” In his attempts to remove his shirt, he seems to have forgotten he is wearing the arm sling and is now stuck with his shirt over his head. His injured shoulder is black and blue from his accident with the ROV.

You gingerly try to disentangle him without getting too close to his warm, bare skin. You succeed in freeing him from his shirt and he tosses it up and over the camera.

“You want them to think we’re having sex?” you ask.

“Don’t you? It plays right into your whole ‘save the mission with bonobo sex’ plan.” He zips his jumpsuit back up as he turns around.

“I suppose.” Though the plan was also supposed to be that there would be no more secrets between the crew. “What plan of yours does it play into?”

“The one where Jimin doesn’t realize I’m in love with him.”

Of course, Taehyung is in love with Jimin. That makes so much more sense. They’ve been so close for so long. And Taehyung has always paid very close attention to anything going on with Jimin. “You’ve never tried to tell him?”

Taehyung laughs wryly and shakes his head. “How would that conversation go? Hey man, I know we’ve known each other for years and I’ve already seen you naked and that you just think of me as a friend, but I’m in love with you. I know that’s awkward but now you have to spend the next twelve years with me, knowing that I’m attracted to you when you don’t feel the same way.” Taehyung sighs. “Doesn’t sound like a good plan to me. If he doesn’t feel the same way, I’ve ruined the friendship for nothing and then I don’t even have that.”

“Yeah… I get that.”  There’s something touching about realizing that Taehyung has been fighting the same battle as you for the last two years.

“I couldn’t tell anyone before launch because what if they wouldn’t let me go then? You know?”

“Yeah, the director wasn’t big on sending anyone who might ‘complicate’ the mission.” The two of you share a sad knowing smile.

“Yeah… And I thought it would be fine, you know? I like women too. I’d just date women until launch and no one would know. I wasn’t planning on falling in love with my roommate.”

“I don’t think any of us knew what this would be like.”

“I knew it was going to be a problem. I should have pulled out…” he continues.

Your mind flashes back to your own moment of doubt when Hoseok talked you into still coming on the mission.

Taehyung sighs and leans against the ice drill. “But I couldn’t just let him go off into space without me. Even if he’d never feel the same way, at least he’d still be in my life.”

The emotion in Taehyung’s words makes your eyes begin to mist. “You really love him.”

“Yeah,” Taehyung sighs again. “But he’s in love with you.”

“Well, he thinks he is.”

“What does that mean?”

“He only feels that way about me cause he thinks I’m the only option.”  Maybe he would feel differently if he knew about Taehyung’s feelings.

Taehyung frowns and shakes his head. “You don’t give him enough credit.”

“Oh come on, you know him. How many women did he date while we were in training?”

“A few…”

“And how many of them was he in love with before he found the next one?”  

Taehyung purses his lips. He can’t argue with that. “So why are you with him then, if you don’t think it’s real?”

You shrug, rubbing your arm. “I like him. Lord knows he’s attractive. And he wants me. It’s nice to feel wanted, I guess.”

“You could have that with any man on this ship though...”

You scoff. “They’re all suffering the same delusion. It’s only-available-vagina syndrome. I just want us all to fuck and get it out in the open. Maybe if we could get it out of our system, they would see I’m nothing special. And then we can get back to the mission.”

Taehyung eyes you up and down. “You don’t give yourself enough credit either.”

You shrug. “You wait and see. Jimin will get bored of me. They all will.”

Taehyung pulls his tablet back out of his pocket. “Do you really think that if everyone just like, banged it out, that it would help morale?”

“Well, it certainly couldn’t get any worse.”

“And Jimin thinks I’m in love with you?” He reopens the HR form and stares at it.

You nod.

“What if I signed this? And we let him think that for a little longer? Just until I figure out how to tell him the truth?

“Like we’d pretend the two of us are involved?” Maybe that would help you get the other men on board with your plan.

Taehyung nods. “Would that be okay?”

“Yeah, that would work.”

Taehyung smiles and signs the bottom of the form, then sends it to you. “Thank you,” he says before he leaves you to resume your workout.

______

Other than Taehyung, no one else approaches you over the next few days. If anything, the crew seems to be treating you more professionally than they did before you announced your plan to fuck them all. You have signed forms from Jimin and Taehyung and have been rejected by Namjoon and Hoseok, but you’ve heard nothing either way from the other three. What are they waiting for?

By the time you reach the end of the Monday morning weekly meeting, you’ve had enough waiting.

Namjoon finishes his debrief of the week’s goals and claps his hands. “Anyone have anything else mission related we need to discuss?”

“My period is over,” you announce to your assembled crew.

A muscle pulses in Namjoon’s jaw. “Officer, I wouldn’t consider that mission-related.”

You cross your arms and lean back in your chair. “Just freely sharing information.”

“Already?” Jungkook asks. “I thought you said it would take a week.”

“No, finished this morning. It varies a bit from cycle to cycle.” you answer. Hoseok’s leg begins aggressively bouncing up and down next to you, but you press on. “I need to make a schedule. So I need to know who’s in and who’s out.”

“Ooh, what if you shared out your tracker info so we’re all on the same page.” Taehyung enthuses.

Yoongi scoffs. “Why don’t we just add it to our mission task list then?”

“I’m not clear on why menstruating means we can’t have sex,” Jimin interjects.

“Enough!” Namjoon regains everyone’s attention. “We need clear boundaries between what is personal and what is professional. Right now, you all have jobs to do. Dismissed.”

________

By the time you finish your chores for the day, you have convinced yourself that getting the rest of the team on board is essential to your successful completion of the mission. So you go in search of Yoongi.

You find him in his workshop. Pieces of an air filter are spread out on the workbench and he’s in the middle of cleaning it. You had forgotten that is the actual purpose of the workbench. So much for climbing on top of it and seducing him that way.

He looks up when you enter and you decide to cut to the chase. “I haven’t gotten your HR form yet.”

“Yeah…” He goes back to inspecting the clogged tube in front of him.

“You said you wanted to sign one with me.”

“I did say that, yes.”

“And now you don’t?” You thought if anyone was going to be supportive of the plan, it would be Yoongi.

He sets down the part he had been inspecting. “Have you really thought this through?”

“Yes!” You put your hands on your hips. “I made a whole powerpoint! With sources!!”

“I think it's a bad plan.” He picks up another long tube full of dust and threads a brush through it.

“I thought you’d be onboard with this plan. You said if I was fucking everyone, there’s no need for jealousy.”

“Yeah, well, I was wrong.” He sets the tube down and turns around to look at you directly. “ Is that really what you want?”

Why is he questioning you now? He was the one who put this whole idea in your head. He was the one who knew all your fantasies. “But you said…"

“I know what I said.” He begins pacing back and forth in front of the workbench. “But there’s a difference between a fantasy and a reality. You really want to have sex with a different man every day for 12 years on some kind of rotating daily schedule? Like how we water the crops?”

“You’re mad there’s a schedule?” You try to come closer to him, but he backs away from you, turning back to the air filter.

“Sexual desire doesn’t run on a clock, you know,” he says as he starts to pack up the equipment. “What if you’re not feeling it that day? What if they’re not?”

“I’m just trying to be fair to everyone.”

“But nobody actually gets what they want!” He throws his hands up in exasperation.

“And what do you want, Yoongi?”

He pauses, then deflates, dropping his hands to his sides. “Nevermind, forget about it.” He grabs a wet wipe off the shelf and begins cleaning the dust of his hands, not looking at you.

“No!” He’s the one who has been egging you on this whole time. “You were the one who was all ‘you have to fuck Jimin to save the mission’. You said you didn’t care if I fucked Jimin too. What do you want from me, Min Yoongi?”

“I’m going to go get some dinner.” He mutters, throwing the dirty wipe in the trash and turning to leave.

Oh no. He’s not going to escape you that easily. You need some straight answers. “You started all this, Yoongi! You said every man on this ship wanted to fuck me and none of them do! What was that?” You follow him down the hall toward the kitchen.

He stops and turns around in the middle of the hall. “This isn’t all on me! You made choices too!”

“Because of what I thought you wanted!” you yell back. “What is your deal? First you want me to fuck you, then you dont. Then you want me to fuck everyone and then you don’t. What do you want from me?” Your voice is echoing down the hallway but you are way past caring about it.

Yoongi opens and closes his mouth, then spins back around and heads for the kitchen, with you trailing behind him.

Jungkook is sitting at the kitchen table with a bowl of ramen. He looks up, startled as the two of you barge in.

“And what about you?” You fire the question at your youngest crew member. “Don’t you want to fuck me?”

The poor boy nearly chokes on his noodles. “I, um…” He swallows, wide eyes glancing between you and Yoongi.

You lean against the table next to Jungkook as Yoongi steps around the two of you to head for the pantry, but you see his fist clench as he walks by. You lean closer to Jungkook. “Didn’t you enjoy my video? Don’t you want to see the real thing?”

“Uh...” Jungkook glances at Yoongi again. “Maybe the two of you should talk this out…”

Yoongi’s hands tremble, but he doesn’t turn around, intent on starting the rice cooker. You turn your focus to Jungkook instead. “This isn’t about him. Whatever the flight engineer wants to do is up to him. He knows where I stand. This is about you and I.”  You are going to get a man on this ship to fuck you. Today.

“It’s not like I’m not interested…” Jungkook’s knee bounces up and down rapidly as he watches you. “But I told you I was in love with you and you literally had a panic attack.”

Oh right. That was back when you thought you still had a shot of stopping all this. Before half your crew had seen you naked. Before all of them had heard you having sex. Before you’d announced that you wanted all of them to fuck you. But you can still control this, if you can get them onboard with your plan.

Your tablet buzzes in your pocket. You pull it out to give yourself a moment to think. There’s a message from Jin.

Hey, come find me when you get this and we can talk. I’ll be in the kitchen.

You brace yourself for yet another rejection note. But you click on the attachment to instead find your HR form, Kim Seokjin’s signature scrawled right next to yours.

Holy shit. He signed it. Under no false pretenses. What do you do now?

“What is it?” Jungkook asks.  

But then Jin appears in the doorway. He startles when he sees you. “Oh! I thought you’d still be on shift.”

You shake your head. “You signed the form.”

“What? He did?” Jungkook asks.

“Oh, um, yeah,” Jin answers, laughing nervously. “That’s what you wanted right?”

“Yes, that’s what I wanted.” You stand up and move closer to your pilot. Jungkook crosses his arms. Yoongi finally turns around to observe the three of you.

Jin. Jin with his broad-shoulders and plump lips. Your friend. Your very handsome friend. He’s going to help you save the mission.

“You’re the first one I’ve gotten, so you can go first.”

“Wait, what?” Jin stammers. “But you and the commander?”

You shake your head. “He didn’t sign.”

“You and Taehyung though? I saw him take off his shirt and then cover the camera.”

“Oh right… sorry… I guess you’re the second one. But Tae’s still on shift.”

“Don’t forget about Jimin.” Yoongi helpfully chimes in.

Jin takes a step backward. “But I thought for sure these two…” He gestures at the other two men in the kitchen.

“Nope,” you move toward him. “Not yet.” You suddenly see a way to get them all on board at once.

“Oh, well, um...” His ears are bright red. “Maybe we can talk more about this after dinner?”

“That’s one option…” You lick your lips and find the top of your zipper with your hand, blushing as the next part of your plan unfolds in your mind. “Or you could fuck me now.”

“What?”

“Holy shit.” Jungkook mutters beside you.

Jin dives around you, moving toward the other side of the kitchen. “There are people eating here!”

“Nothing they haven’t seen before.” You begin unzipping your jumpsuit in what you hope is a seductive manner, rolling your hips as you follow him across the kitchen. You have both Jungkook and Yoongi’s rapt attention.

You take a cue from Taehyung and peel off your tank top, throwing it over the camera behind you, leaving you in a bra and the bottom half of your jumpsuit. “Though if these two are going to stay and watch, they better sign the forms as well.”

“Stay and watch?” Jin swallows, hands clenched at his sides.

You grab the waist of your jumpsuit, teasing it down just slightly as you make direct eye contact with Jungkook and then Yoongi. “What do you think boys? In or out?”

Jungkook lunges for his tablet. A satisfying ping on your own tablet confirms that this plan is working. Yoongi just crosses his arms and leans back against the counter.

You drop the jumpsuit, leaving you in nothing but your bra and underwear. You prop yourself up on the kitchen table next to Jungkook’s now cold bowl of ramen.

“What are you doing?” Jin asks, whole face beginning to turn red.

“Look…” You shimmy out of your bra straps so that your bra is only held in place by your hand. “I’m going to need you to fuck me right here on this table, Kim Seokjin. For the good of the mission.”

“Why does putting your bare ass on the surface where we eat help the mission?!”

“No more secrets. No more jealousy. Everything will be out in the open. Like the bonobos do.”

Your fingers tease at the clasp of your bra. All three men stare at you. You lock eyes with Yoongi, daring him to look away. Implement with full commitment. You drop your bra to the floor.

“Stop, stop!” Jin moves toward you as you slide your fingers into the band of your underwear. “Just hang on for one second.” He picks up your jumpsuit from the floor and comes closer, draping it around your shoulders in an attempt to cover you. “Look at me.” He grasps your chin and turns your gaze to meet his. “Are you sure that’s what you want?”

You lick your lips. “Yes.”

He kisses you, hard. It’s aggressive, urgent even. His hands are on your shoulders, then sliding down your back, pulling you toward him. Your eyes close as you momentarily lose yourself in it. Despite you begging him for it, it still surprises you how insistent he is. His hands keep sliding down your back, until they reach your buttocks, running over the thin cotton of your underwear and scooping you into his arms. You wrap your arms around his shoulders for balance, and then he is lifting off the table.

He breaks out of the kiss to pick you up even higher and then proceeds to throw you over his shoulder.

“Jin! What are you doing?” You kick your feet into the air.

“I am a man, not an ape,” he says, picking up your jumpsuit and bra and tossing them over his other shoulder.  “And if I’m going to fuck you, it’s going to be in the privacy of my own sleep pod, where the only man enjoying it is me.”

He hauls you ass first out into the hallway, with Jungkook and Yoongi both watching wide-eyed as you are carried away.

“I can walk,” you argue as Jin turns for the sleep pods.

“Nope,” replies Jin, readjusting you on his shoulder before carrying you down the hall.

As you reach the junction to the bridge, your ass runs into something warm and firm.

“What the-” says Namjoon. Your whole body flushes hot as you realize you’ve run butt-first into your commanding officer.

“Shit, sorry commander.” Jin laughs. “Excuse us,” Jin says and continues down the hallway, not setting you down or stopping.

Namjoon has pressed himself up against the wall with his hands in the air, a look of shock on his face. He looks like he is about to say something, but then Jin reaches his sleep pod and sets you down inside and you can’t see the commander anymore.

“Well, that was the best thing that has happened in a long time.” Jin chuckles as he closes the door. “The looks on Namjoon’s and Jungkook’s faces will power me for a year. You okay?” he asks, handing your bra and jumpsuit. “For the record, I’m not expecting anything else to happen here.”

“You don’t want to do anything else?” You hold up your jumpsuit to cover yourself, more disappointed than you would like to admit.

Jin eyes you up and down. “I mean… I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t interested, but that wasn’t my intention in bringing you here.”

“You hauled me half-naked to your bedroom and your intention wasn’t to have sex?”

“I know, I am such a gentleman, aren’t I?” He laughs, then shrugs. “Seemed like maybe you needed an out. Things were getting kind of crazy back there.”

“But you signed the form? Doesn’t that imply a sexual relationship?”

“I guess I’m not really a ‘sex in front of two other men before we’ve even been on a date’ kind of guy.”

“How about a ‘sex in the sleep pods’ kind of guy?”

“Are you even actually interested in me?” Jin asks, getting more serious. “Because none of what happened in the kitchen felt like it was about me. I don’t want to be some pawn in your plot to make Yoongi jealous.”

“It’s not about Yoongi!” You groan. “Why does everyone think this is about Yoongi?”

“Have you seen the two of you interact recently? There are some seriously repressed feelings going on there.”

You bang your head into the door of the sleep pod in frustration, before looking up at him. “You’re a very attractive man. Maybe I have feelings for you?”

He sighs. “Yeah, but you don’t. You can’t swap us out for each other.”

Shit. The way you’ve been treating the men is exactly how you feared they would treat you. While you fear being wanted because you’re the only woman, you’ve made all the men on the ship feel as though you think them interchangeable simply because they’re men.

“It never occurred to me that any of you would have real feelings for me.”

“Well, you are very dumb.”

“Hey…” You hit him gently on the chest. He catches your hand in his.

“Amazing they would trust such a crucial mission to someone who is so very stupid,” he teases, still holding your hand.

“I’m not this stupid about mission related stuff, just all this relationship crap.” You laugh softly.

“So tragic. Someone with so much training ought to have better sense.”

He squeezes your hand and you look into his eyes again. He smiles a soft reassuring smile and for the first time in weeks, you feel like maybe everything will be okay again at some point in the future.

“You’re a good man, Kim Seokjin.”

“Best man on the ship.” He chuckles.

“Kiss me again.”

He arches his eyebrows. “Why?”

“Because I want you to.”

“Are you sure?”

“Look there’s no one else here right? This is only about you. I want you.”

He kisses you again, tenderly this time. His warm arms wrap around and you realize you’re still naked except for your underwear. You curl into his embrace. He smells good, warm and manly, like good cologne. You run your hands over his muscular shoulders that you can feel through his clothes. It’s slow and leisurely, like you’re savoring each other.

“You sure you’re not a ‘sex in the sleep pods’ kind of guy?” You tease as you slide your thigh in between his legs and feel his erection pressing against you.

He groans, resting his head on your shoulder as you grind against him. “I’d like to think of myself as more of a ‘sex in the sleep pods after the third date’ kind of guy.”

You pause and look up at him surprised. “You want to go on a date?”

He nods. “At least three of them, in fact.”

You smile. “That would be nice. I’d like that.”

He kisses you behind your ear. “So are Mondays my day then? Can I take you on a date next Monday?”

You gasp as he rolls his hips against you, the heat of him seeping through his clothes. “That’s a long time to wait, especially if you’re going to make me wait through three of them.”

“I’m sure we can find other ways to entertain ourselves.” He cups your naked breast in his hand, massaging gently.

“Is there anything in particular you want to do today?” You palm his erection through his pants and he gasps.

“Stop that, you temptress…” He grits his teeth. “I’m trying to be a gentleman.”

“Aww, come on, there must be something I can do for you.”

“Well…” He bites his lip. “I will admit that I am awfully curious what was on that video that got five of my crew members suspended.”

“I could show you.” You start to shimmy down your underwear. “But there was no touching in the video.”

He kisses you one last time on the cheek, before pulling away and pressing himself into the opposite wall of the sleep pod. “Okay, show me. I’ll be good.” He puts his hands up by his head in mock innocence.

You finish removing your underwear, spreading your legs apart as best you can. You trail a hand down between your legs, finding yourself wet already. “It was me masturbating.” You tease around your clit without touching it directly.

He groans, hips kicking forward as he stays up against the wall. “Show me.”

“Well, first I took my fingers and sucked on them.” You narrate your actions as you wet your fingers. “Then I touched my nipples.” Your nipples harden before you’ve even touched them, but you continue to tease them for his benefit.

His eyes dart back and forth between your face, your breasts, and your spread legs, as if he can’t decide where he wants to look first. He licks his lips like a man starving. “Keep going.”

“I’m very wet.” You continue your narration as he clenches his fists. You run your fingers through your wet folds, then hold them up to show him. His hips buck again as he groans, still fully dressed and pressed to the wall. “And then I touched my clitoris.” It’s your turn to moan as you finally touch your swollen pleasure center, stroking slowly and keeping your eyes fixed on Jin.

“Goddamn…” He drops to his knees, hands resting at his sides, eyes fixed on your hand as it strokes around your clit.

“Do you wish it was your fingers right now, instead of mine?” you ask.

He nods, tongue darting out of the corner of his mouth. He begins inching toward you on his knees. “Do you think… maybe…?”

“I thought we said no touching,” you tease when he gets to your feet, his head level with your hand, eyes fixed on your wet cunt as you continue to touch yourself.

“I just…” His eyes flick up to meet yours. “I want to smell you.” A pulse of arousal rocks through you at how eager he is. You nod. He moves his nose right over your pubic mound and inhales a long slow savoring breath, tickling your hairs.

“Ah…” He releases a long, loud satisfied moan. His knuckles turn white, but his face is relaxed. “You smell amazing.” He inches even closer, just millimeters separating you from his face and inhales again.

“Oh shit.” You feel the pleasure skyrocketing as your orgasm catches you off guard. You grab him by the back of the head to stabilize yourself and his nose bumps firmly against your clit.

He groans again, loudly right against you as he grinds his nose into you, letting you ride his face as your orgasm washes over you. You thread your fingers through his hair to hold him in place. He wraps his hands around the back of your thighs to press himself into you harder. You cry out as waves of muscle contraction course through you over and over.

“Fuck…” you both say in unison as you collapse back against the door. Your eyes meet and you both start laughing. He places a light kiss right below your belly button before he gets up.

“Well, I see why that was worth getting suspended for,” he says, unzipping his jumpsuit and using the bottom of his shirt to wipe his face.

“And you didn’t even come yet.” You slide your underwear back up, wondering if he would consider a blowjob to be a step too far before your first date.

“Um, actually…” he gestures down at his crotch and the new wet spot you find there makes your pelvic muscles clench.

“You came in your pants? Over me?”

Jin laughs. “God, you have no idea how sexy you are, do you?” He picks up your clothing off the floor, before kissing you softly on the forehead. “I will have a hard time waiting for Monday.”

“Me too.” You mutter and get a sudden sinking feeling. You don’t want this to be over right now. You want to stay here with him, to cuddle and be held by him, but you have made this very clear to everyone involved that these dalliances are not relationships. It’s just sex. And now the sex is over. Until next week.

You slip back into your clothes and give him one last kiss. You tablet pings as you head out into the hallway and you fish it out of your pocket.

Yoongi: Okay, I’m in.

Below his message is his signed HR form. A swell of smug satisfaction makes you smile as you cross the hall and climb into your own pod. You open up a group message for the five men whose signed forms you now have in your possession and type out the following:

Mondays: Jin

Tuesdays: Jungkook

Wednesdays: Taehyung

Thursdays: Jimin

Fridays: Yoongi

“Saturday and Sunday to be determined,” you whisper to yourself as you hit send.

____

Next part

[saintobio]

underground fight club. (final)

↳ iwaizumi hajime x f!reader

summary: gym trainer by day, underground fighter by night—Hajime Iwaizumi gives you a front row access to Tokyo’s biggest underground fight club after setting his eyes on you as his shiny new toy. little does he know, you’re there to infiltrate the illegal underground fighting scene with another purpose in mind.

genre: angst, smut, underground fighter au, 18+

warnings: profanity, violence, mentions of human trafficking (just discussing a criminal case), suggestive, some angst and yearning

a/n: the final chapter is here bye i’m crying — no but rly, thanks so much for supporting this series. this is by far my most popular series and i’m so genuinely thankful for everyone’s love 🥺 until the next one !!

part eleven <- masterlist

1 YEAR LATER

Hajime’s dad passed away.

At least, that was the last news you’ve heard about him according to Becca. It has been a year since you last saw Iwaizumi after he flew back to California and left you with a broken heart that still hasn’t healed for the past year. It was difficult to move on because everything reminded you of him. You remember him whenever you see the tattoo on your hip, you remember him when you see UFC fights on tv, you remember him every time you lay in bed at night hoping to feel his warm embrace. You missed his wood sage and sea salt scent that always lingered through your nostrils. You missed tracing the tattoos on his body—the tiger on his chest, the ‘no mercy’ kanji on his rib, or the snake on his forearm. You missed kissing his soft lips, having him dominate you and make you feel divine with the way he desired you.

With Hajime gone, you were lonely.

You’ve come into a conclusion that he did love you and that the only reason he had to leave was because he needed to be with his dad which was a decision you respected. Oikawa actually confirmed this after you spent weeks crying about his best friend’s sudden departure. However, considering the pain that he was going through made you feel awful and selfish because he went through a lot and it was sad that you couldn’t even be there for him at his lowest. You knew how much he loved his dad and the fact that he lost him 2 months after he came back to California must have shattered his already-vulnerable heart.

You had no idea how he was coping by himself but it had been a year now and he never once returned to Japan which meant that he was most likely starting a new life in America that, devastatingly, no longer included you. You weren’t going to sugarcoat and say it was okay—it wasn’t. You were broken but so was he, and at least even if he was going through a tough period, he had his mom and sister by his side. Although eventually, you learned to accept that he may never return to see you again so you had to go back to your boring old life prior to Iwaizumi. Except, this time, you were still intact with his circle of friends.

It was crazy to believe how you were actually still very close with them despite the betrayal you’ve showed from a year ago. You’ve done your utmost effort to apologize to them as time heals and they gave you a second chance to still be a part of their circle, minus the undercover situation, to simply act as you. They claimed that they could never get truly mad at you because you were only doing your job and they did feel the genuineness you showed towards them. Somehow, it was also Iwaizumi’s last request for them to accept you back in their lives should you wish to still be around them. Becca treated you like a real sister, Oikawa would often check on you, while the others would casually invite you over whenever they had plans. You were truly seen by them as family.

Just like tonight, after you’ve just closed another undercover assignment, you found yourself spending your Friday night at Oikawa’s house as he invited you over for a party with only his closest circle.

The reason why you loved being around them was because they reminded you heavily of Iwaizumi. Seeing them made you feel like he was still around and you were comforted at the thought that you could hold on to a piece of him despite of his absence. He may be a thousand miles away, but hearing about him from his friends filled the abyss he left in your heart. You were contented with the slightest crumbs you were indirectly receiving from him through his friends.

“There she is,” Becca acknowledged your arrival with a smile as you walked further to Oikawa’s poolside lounge where the clique always hung out. The others were happy to greet you and even offered you some drinks. “Hey, chill out with the drinks. She just arrived!”

You released a silent chuckle when Kuroo handed you a red cup. “It’s okay,” you told Becca before turning to Tetsurou, “Is this beer?”

The guy shook his head in response just as Bokuto appeared next to him with an arm around his shoulder, “Why do you hate beer so much? It’s good.”

You scrunched your nose and sipped from the red cup. It’s vodka, you silently thanked. “I don’t like the taste of beer. You guys know that.”

After your little alcohol discourse with the two, you later found your spot on the seat next to Oikawa while the guy was busy arguing with Hanamaki about who got laid the most for the past week. Apparently, you learned that Hanamaki was ‘bedding Oikawa’s bitches’ because the latter was too busy waiting around for that girl from the SWAT team that he seemingly was still trying to pursue.

What he didn’t know was how the girl actually liked Tobio based from what you have observed lately. It was painfully obvious. They’ve been in the same unit for a year now and you could see how they have gotten closer. You even wondered why they still weren’t dating, but every time you asked Tobio, he’d wave it off and say he wasn’t ready.

“How’s the last undercover stuff, Y/N?” Issei curiously inquired just as Becca situated herself on her boyfriend’s lap.

You leaned back and started your little story time, “It’s tiring but fun. I went undercover as a bartender for this club and we tracked down a serious case of sex trafficking in there. It was another successful raid.”

“Sick,” Hanamaki commented, looking genuinely impressed before he gestured towards Oikawa. “You should keep an eye on this pimp, too.”

“Shut the fuck up before I make you,” Tooru retorted.

Hanamaki grimaced at the guy’s choice of words, “Dude, that sounded wrong.”

With Bokuto and Kuroo sniggering on the side, you joined and watched how another round of childish arguments went on between Oikawa and Makki until Becca snatched your attention away.

“Your job’s like so cool, though,” she noted, approving the idea in her mind with the way she bobbed her head. “I think you’re literally perfect for it. Like, I know I got mad before when you went undercover on us but to think about it now, it’s because you were actually pretty convincing.”

Issei agreed, “For real. I never would’ve thought ‘til I saw you fight with Gia.”

Of course, that was one of your dumbest moves. “Yeah, well,” you trailed off to take another sip, “Haji thinks I was pretty stupid. He’s a lot smarter than I thought and he had everything calculated.”

It was true. You’ve never dealt with anyone like Hajime before and that was what made your undercover assignment with him one of the toughest and most memorable. Sure, it brought you a lot of pain, but it also led you to him.

“Iwa’s really fucking smart,” Kuroo chimed in. “That’s why he’s undefeated inside the octagon. He uses his brain, unlike someone...”

Bokuto and Oikawa both reacted against it and it made the rest of you laugh. Kuroo didn’t even drop names but they were fast to defend themselves as if the guy just stepped on their precious pride. Moments like these reminded you of how fun it was to forget about your hectic job for awhile and be around carefree people like them. If Hajime was still here, you were certain he’d be laughing along—apart from the constant kisses or his arm traveling around your waist. It might be repetitive to say but you missed the guy so terribly.

“I heard Iwa does underground fights in Irvine,” Hanamaki said which immediately took all of your attention. You had no idea he still did fights but this was news to you and Makki seemed to have noticed how your head perked up at the mere mention of his name, “California is home to many underground fight clubs, Y/N. Pretty sure he’s well known around there.”

You turned to Oikawa for confirmation since he was the one who had contact with his best friend, “Tooru, is that true? He still does fights?”

Oikawa nodded with a proud, smug face. “Hell yeah, he does. He said fighters in Japan are no match for those California dudes.” Suddenly, as Oikawa observed your full interest at the conversation, he decided it was amusing to tease you about it. “Why so curious, Y/N-chan? You still think about him?”

“N-No,” you denied to save face, “I’m just surprised he still does fights.”

“So you don’t think about him?”

“No. I mean, yes I don’t think about him.”

Your denial only made him snicker, “Really? Since you don’t think about him, you don’t mind knowing that he’s actually dating someone?” he asked, watching your emotions closely, “He showed me his new girlfriend and she’s fit as fuck. He’s really in love with her, too.”

Wow. Your heart stung. That stupid piece of vital organ caged inside your chest felt like it was being squeezed very painfully but you tried your utmost best not to show how hurt and affected you were. It has been a year and there was no sign of Hajime coming back. Did you really expect that he’d wait around for you? Of course he’d fucking find someone new. You weren’t the only girl in the world and you were surely easy to forget about. He was probably very happy with his new girl and that was the reason why he never bothered to return anymore. He found his life with her.

“Good for him,” you silently responded, forcing a smile.

The corner of Oikawa’s lips soon lifted into a smirk, “I can totally hear the pain in your voice.”

And as you were about to reply, Becca already threw an empty cup towards the guy’s head. “Stop messing with her. Iwa’s gonna fucking kill you if he was here.”

“Don’t worry about it,” you immediately clarified, albeit hurting inside, “Really, I-I couldn’t be more glad that he’s seeing someone new.”

Maybe it’s time for me to find someone new, too.

You caught how Bokuto and Kuroo shared glances at each other with a knowing smile while Becca was gesturing for Oikawa to shut up. Whether they were trying to protect your feelings or not, you were somehow glad to know that Iwaizumi was able to love again. He deserved it after everything he went through when he was with you.

“Whatever, hey,” Oikawa called to cut you out of trance. “You’re gonna watch me next Friday, right?”

You suppressed a sigh and gave him a reassuring nod, “Yeah, I’m gonna watch and cheer for you.”

Although your heart was eating you inside, you managed to smile when he playfully pinched your nose, “Good, ‘cause I don’t want you to miss it.”

“No way, he’s dating someone new?”

You never expected Keiji to be shocked at the information you told him because it shouldn’t be surprising to know that Iwaizumi would end up getting a new girlfriend after a year of living in America. That place was his home after all. That was where he spent his college years on, so you assumed that he had many friends and perhaps girls that surrounded him.

As for you, you were just alone. Technically, you were back to square one just like when your other ex-boyfriend left you, but the difference between your ex and Iwaizumi was how the latter’s absence hurt you ten times worse. You even ended up crying yourself to sleep that night at Oikawa’s party because you had to release the weight on your heart before it wrecked you. Knowing that Iwaizumi had found a new life with someone else was as brutally painful as a train bulldozing you at full speed.

“Yeah. It’s okay,” you lied, almost inaudibly. “I should start dating too, huh?”

Akaashi patted your back as the two of you walked towards the hallways on the way to Chief Director Matsuda’s office. “I think you should, but you don’t need to pressure yourself if you’re not ready.”

Frankly, the only thing that held you back was Hajime and the fact that no one really desired you the same way. “Guess so.”

By the time you reached your destination, you found Tobio and Alisa in the room swiveling on their chairs as they talked about the recent case and how it was finally closed. It wasn’t really a tough one, but the amount of poor women that were exploited in that nightclub really angered the shit out of you. How could men like those pigs exist in this world?

Your job may seem ‘exciting’ for others (according to Bokuto, he’d be like Jenko from 21 Jump Street if he was undercover), but in real life it was, in fact, very stressful. Not only were you required to be physically fit with exceptional analytical skills, you also ought to stomach seeing all sorts of criminals ranging from thieves to murderers and actually learn how to outsmart them.

“Hey, guys,” you greeted, taking your seat next to Alisa. You acknowledged Tobio with a nod and noticed that he was the only one who wasn’t in an office attire. “Are you still undercover or what?”

Tobio, with his feet on the table, gave a subtle shake of his head. “No, I just felt like wearing ripped jeans.”

“He’s trying to be MGK,” Keiji jeered which was followed by a scornful chuckle from Alisa.

“I’m not!” the sniper countered immediately. “I’m off duty. I’m not required to wear my uniform.” He then turned to your direction and brought up the recent case. “Is it true you shot the guy on the dick?”

“Wha—” Absurd, wherever he heard that. “I didn’t even fire the gun. I just aimed it at him.”

Alisa joined the conversation shortly, “We’re not allowed to shoot fleeing suspects like you do, Mr. SWAT. It takes a reasonably crucial situation before we can do that.”

“You guys suck,” Tobio commented, quickly raising his hands with a grin of mischief as you and Alisa threatened to throw the nearest object you two had on him. “Just kidding. Intelligence Agents are cool. Right, Keij?”

The investigator simply nodded, “They’re cool.”

“Oh, shut up. You guys totally think you’re better,” Alisa bitterly assumed while you were playfully agreeing next to her. What Alisa hated most were misogynistic men—it was already hard enough to gain some respect in the PSIA as women, so you understood where she was coming from.

The Chief Director later came in his office, even though it took him awhile to fully give his attention to the four of you because his secretary was busy trying to get him to sign documents left and right. If you thought your job was demanding, you could only think about this man right here. He was the very definition of workaholic.

“Alright,” he finally spoke as his secretary left the office, “Good job on the last case. Are we ready for the next one? I have another undercover assignment that I think you guys might be interested to participate in.”

Seriously.

“So soon?!” You didn’t mean to overreact but holy shit. You literally just closed a case and now another one was being assigned. “Chief, are these cases like infinite or what?”

The man found humor through your reaction but tried to calm you down before you lost it. “Agent Y/N, you don’t have to participate if you wish not to. I’m just proposing the new assignment as it might be of your interest. You’re gonna be high school students—”

“Shit, I’m in!” Tobio quickly raised his hand like a schoolboy causing the three of you to look at him questioningly. “What, high school’s fun. Think of all the house parties.”

Oh my god. “I knew it”

You almost laughed when the Chief Director looked at him in disapproval. “Officer Kageyama, if I catch you distributing alcohol to minors, I’ll arrest you myself.”

All three of you snorted while Tobio was being told off by the chief and you didn’t miss the scowl he sent you before he gave a salute to his superior. “Yessir.”

You’ve decided to pass up on the next assignment mainly because you knew going undercover as a high school student was a pain in the ass and you wanted to just simply do office works at the PSIA headquarters for the mean time. Alisa, on the other hand, would partake on the said case together with Kenma and Akaashi because Tobio had to work full time with the Tier 1 Special Assaults Team.

It was somehow a nice breath of fresh air to be able to take some time off of being undercover because you also wanted to spend more time with your other circle of friends outside your work. You could live working behind the scenes until you were ready to do undercover work again.

For now, Tobio was walking with you towards the foyer before he brought up a topic that he knew had been on your mind for days.

“He’s not coming back, huh?” he asked, despite knowing the answer to your question. “What’s your plan now?”

You realized that shrugging was the only option you had. “I don’t know. I guess I’ll just...try to forget.”

The words that left your mouth weren’t really convincing for Tobio because he was aware of just how much Iwaizumi meant to you and he said that seeing the guy surrender himself to the cops led him to believe that the love you two had for each other were real. But things change and people change, too. Iwaizumi was the first one to let go, so in your part, you had to learn how to do the same. For your sake, this time.

“You know I’m always here for you, right?” the six-foot tall man softly asked, seemingly very cautious of your vulnerability and strong emotions towards your ex.

He didn’t have to worry that much. It wasn’t anything you can’t handle—losing Hajime shouldn’t be the end of the world for you. “Thanks for being there, Tobio.”

As for him, he didn’t really accept gratitude in the form of words. Instead, he pulled you for a warm embrace, hugging you tightly to let you know that he was here for you and that he would always be. That was what true friends were for.

You were grateful, but as much as you enjoyed the comfort you received from his hug, you had to pull away the moment you saw the girl from his unit entering the lobby and immediately spotting you and Tobio enveloped around each other. You just didn’t want to give her the wrong impression and you hoped that she wouldn’t mistake it for something else. Or something more.

Too late, perhaps, because you saw the look of hurt in her eyes that she soon disregarded when she gave you a friendly smile. You returned the gesture and waved at her, patting Tobio’s shoulder so he could turn around to look at his girlfriend not-girlfriend.

Ironically, you saw so much yourself in her when you first got together with Hajime.

You weren’t one to break promises, so even if you were exhausted after a whole tedious day at work, you still ended up going to the fight club to watch Tooru’s fight.

Yes, the fight club. And no, not the illegal one that was demolished by the police from a year ago.

This new and modified fight club was rebuilt by Oikawa and Kuroo who both worked hard for the past 6 months just to bring it back. You were even involved throughout this whole fight club rebirth because they consulted you into knowing what was allowed and what wasn’t. With two consenting adults and registered fighters who wished to engage in mortal combat under a controlled setup—together with licensed medical personnels and official referees—the new underground fight club, by all means, was now legal.

It was Kuroo’s idea to open up a dojo out of the old arms depot where Oikawa previously stored and manufactured their guns before they moved to a larger warehouse and the latter was very much willing to have the old place be renovated into a new Tokyo Fight Night venue that was technically not so ‘underground’ anymore. Still, everyone was happy that they were finally able to step inside the octagon again without having to worry about cops raiding the place. The thrill to get caught was no longer there but this was better than nothing.

Invites were still strictly amongst fighters and closest friends only to avoid the attraction of locals who could potentially just bring harm to the already-heavily imposed set up. So far, for the past 3 months, none of the fighters have been brutally injured and the most they’d have were light bruises. Oikawa complained that it was becoming more of a spar than an actual fight but despite his multitude of complains, he knew that he would still abide by the new rules. Nonetheless, the vibe was the same. Coming inside the fight club reminded you of the very first time you came to the old one—where the smell of musk, leather, smoke, and sweat filled the place along with the loud music being played from the bass boosted system that somehow overpowered the loud cheers. It wasn’t as crowded, but still as rowdy per se and there was no gambling involved, just pure passion for the combative fighting in itself.

Soon as you walked in, the first one to greet you was Rampage himself who seemed like he just got out of an earlier fight. “Yo,” he bumped your fist with his bandaged ones. “You didn’t see me fight with Kuroo!”

He was slipping a black shirt on as you spoke, “I thought you said you’re gonna quit underground fighting since you’re going pro?” you asked, remembering that one time Bokuto told you that he registered to the Japan Boxing Commissions to start professional fights.

“This is just a practice zone for me, baby doll.” He simpered just before a lightly beaten Kuroo appeared next to you. The grey-haired guy was fast to give him attention by mocking him. “I didn’t even hit you that hard, motherfucker. You’re just acting hurt so you can have that hot nurse come to your aid.”

Boys. You chuckled with a small shake of the head, looking around the place to search for Oikawa until you did locate him climbing inside the octagon ring. You cheerfully called for his name and he ran in circles around the ring while looking at you with a peace sign. It didn’t take long until Hanamaki, Issei, and Becca walked to your side.

“He’s so fuckin’ excited to get his ass beat,” Makki ridiculed, nodding his head at the Capoeira fighter. “Watch him walk out of the octagon with a limp.”

You doubted that would happen because Oikawa was a really good fighter unless he was fighting against someone way better than him. “Uh, who’s he fighting today?” you inquired. “Don’t tell me it’s Atsumu again.”

God, the amount of times Tooru and Atsumu fought each other were ridiculous at this point. They were literally like what Muhammad Ali was to Joe Frazier. Or Pacquiao to Mayweather. They were taking their rivalry way, way too seriously.

Becca opened her mouth to respond but was essentially cut off as the lights turned dim with only the spotlight on the octagon and a familiar loud music suddenly reverberated throughout the warehouse.

At the first drop, you recognized the song being blasted as the Crank That Travis Barker version.

“Don’t tell me this trash thinks he’s gonna win against me!”

Impossible. There was no reason for your heart to ultimately take a halt after hearing that very familiar voice. It was hard to believe.

Everything fucking stopped—your mind, your heartbeat, your pulse, the time, the whole world itself, even your breathing had ceased to the point where your body seemed to no longer require any oxygen.

This must be some kind of a sick dream.

You failed to distinguish reality from imagination when you saw a silhouette of a man with a dragon tattoo on his back walking past you before climbing the ring like a fighter who was excited to ravage his opponent. Like a fighter who was a fucking beast inside the octagon.

Then and there, you wanted to burst out crying.

Shocked. Dazed. Overwhelmed. No word was perfect enough to describe the intensity of your emotions.

“Let’s go, Young Tiger!”

Iwaizumi momentarily turned around to acknowledge Becca with his infamous lopsided grin and you felt like your heart was going to explode. You lost all of your five senses at the sight of your one true love standing a few meters away from you. Here, now, at this very moment.

This couldn’t be fucking real.

“Becca,” you turned around to face her with glistening eyes and a shaky voice, “Y-You guys didn’t tell me he came back—”

A sad smile crept up to her face before she clung to your side comfortingly. “Sorry, babe. He didn’t want us to tell you yet.”

Good Lord. You had so many questions that you couldn’t formulate because your head was in utter discombobulation. Your whole body stiffened that you couldn’t really do much other than to have your wide eyes and parted mouth displayed across your visibly surprised face with the vividness of Iwaizumi’s figure looming over you as he stood in the octagon with Oikawa. Black shorts, red handwraps, tiger tattoo. You barely noticed the fight officially starting as infinite thoughts ran through your head in complete spirals.

Hajime had gotten more tan, almost sun-kissed, as he also lost some weight. His hair was now short cropped and while the silver earring from his ear was still there, the slit on his eyebrow was gone.

“Come at me, Iwa-chan!” Oikawa challenged, hustling around before throwing an Armada kick, following it up with a Queixada.

The Young Tiger merely scoffed as he dodged the attack by retaliating with a clinch. “Capoeira doesn’t work on me, dumbass.” You recognized those moves so well, you knew it so well and have seen it way too many times that you already figured that Iwaizumi would go for a takedown to grapple Oikawa into a submission.

However, Oikawa was fast to recover and deflect the Jiu Jitsu fighter with the knowledge that his best friend would be completely ruthless once he started performing BJJ skills. Inhale, exhale. You blinked thrice in the same second while thinking of how watching Hajime fighting an opponent inside the octagon felt like it was only yesterday.

“Breathe, Y/N.” Hearing Kuroo tease you, you got out of your benumbed stupor to see him and Bokuto wriggling their eyebrows at you.

You slowly shook your head in disbelief as you turned your attention back to the guy who claimed his territory in your heart and soul. Iwaizumi circled Oikawa around as he was looking for an opportunity to put him in a lock hold but the latter’s roundhouse kick to Young Tiger’s bare chest caused the former to lose some balance.

“Take that, Iwa-chan!” Oikawa jeered in triumph, sticking his tongue out at his best friend with his fists positioned for a defense. “¡Toma eso tú!”

Iwaizumi, who was clearly unbothered, casually stretched his neck. “I don’t speak Spanish.”

While you were still astounded by Iwaizumi’s presence, you managed to laugh along when Makki and Mattsun erupted into a guffaw. You only realized just how much you yearned to see this again—him, doing fights. Him, being cheered on by his friends. Him, simply being here.

Before you knew it, you were cupping your hands around your mouth, “Go Haji!”

You met his eyes for a fleeting moment and believed that the world took a pause so you could appreciate each other’s existence once again. All the longing, the pining, and the intense desire to hold each other again reflected from his eyes to yours. There was an inexplicable feeling inside of you when you finally had Hajime’s attention and how the corner of his lips stretched into the most genuine smile you’ve seen on him.

He must have forgotten that he was engaged in a fight because Oikawa’s foot flew towards his left hip. “Iwa-chan, don’t get distracted!”

Iwaizumi snapped out of his gaze and charged on his best friend, “As you wish.” Those simple three words had an underlying threat because he finally unleashed the exact reason why he was called the cold-blooded Young Tiger.

He was fast, aggressive, and hungry to kill. In a span of five seconds, he already grappled Oikawa against the cage and put him in a shoulder lock before they both fell on the padded ground. “N-No, no, no,” Oikawa humorously countered as panic ensued from him, but Iwaizumi couldn’t be stopped when he clinched him from the mount.

“It’s his fuckin’ guillotine!” Makki yelled, clapping his hands to cheer for him. “Choke the shit out of Oikawa!”

Becca, too, joined the claps of encouragement. “Looking sexy, Iwa!”

Had you really forgotten how actually freaking hot it was when Iwaizumi did his signature move? Although the guillotine choke was one of the most common BJJ submissions, seeing him perform the technique with such ease made you weak on the knees. Some of the girls inside the fight club even started squealing at the sight of his muscles flexing from his arms that were constricting Oikawa’s neck.

Hajime’s brows were furrowed as he placed the pressure points around his best friend’s windpipe while knowing full well that Tooru could never win against him once he had him in his favorite submission technique.

Truly. No one could.

Because when Oikawa finally tapped out to signal his lost, Hajime Iwaizumi was once again hailed undefeated.

There were only four fights every fight night because there were restrictions on how many fighters were allowed to participate unlike before where they just randomly threw in whoever wanted to fight. The difference from then and now was how some fighters would usually come home with a battered face or a broken rib, now barely anyone would shed blood or had heavy bruises on their faces after the fight.

For someone who worked together with the law enforcement, you were happy to see that safety became their priority.

Though you could hear Hajime complaining about the lack of thrill in it when the rest of you were walking towards the parking lot. He was a few steps ahead with Oikawa, Hanamaki, and Matsukawa while you were walking together with Becca closely behind.

You haven’t really gotten the chance to talk to your past lover since his fight with Oikawa ended because everyone else surrounded him and you didn’t have the courage to approach him after a year without communication. It was just surprisingly awkward. You didn’t know how much has changed within Iwaizumi but you were scared to know that the same man you fell in love with was gone.

And besides, he had a girlfriend. You no longer bear any sort of importance to him other than being part of his circle.

“Bro, fighters in LA are fucking bloodthirsty. I’m being for real,” Iwaizumi enthusiastically gushed in his flawless American accent, placing an arm around Oikawa’s shoulder with a grin. “Don’t get me started on San Fran.”

Oikawa slapped his back as they reached their cars. “Whatever, Cali boy! I don’t care who you faced off in the US of A but this Tooru from Argentina is gonna beat you to dirt next time.”

“You barely even got out of his grip. What makes you think you can win?” Issei commented on the side which allowed the brown-haired boy to send him a childish scowl singing, “Blah, blah.”

“It’s nice to have Iwa back, though,” Becca spoke just after you two stopped from your tracks to see them turn around. “We missed you a heck lot.”

The man, the love of your life, smiled glancing at you before looking at Becca. “Good to be back, too.”

There was no denying how different Iwaizumi had become, but in a good way. He just seemed... happier. His face was free of any sadness, or resentment, or anguish. It was as if he was no longer holding a heavy weight in his heart unlike when you first met him. What exactly happened in California that changed him?

“Someone’s awfully silent.” Hanamaki fake-coughed, clearly directing his words to you.

It was probably embarrassing how you had to quickly deny it. “What do you want me to say?”

“Like, I miss you ‘Haji’?” Oikawa mimicked your voice, snickering like the annoying asshole he was. “Like, I love you ‘Haji’ I can’t stop thinking about you for the past year.”

Your cheeks heated up and you refused to see Iwaizumi’s reaction out of pure shame. “Stop it, Tooru.”

The rest of them playfully cleared their throats while you heard Iwaizumi trying to shut them up. You didn’t really expect that he’d talk to you after that at all, “Princess, I’ll take you home.”

Was it the nickname or his mere attention that sent you to euphoria?

“Oooooooh!”

You looked up at him and paid no mind to the teasing remarks. “No, it’s fine...” Being alone with Hajime in an enclosed vehicle might kill you inside and you weren’t prepared for that tonight. Heck, you haven’t even gotten a grip of your feelings since you saw him again for the first time in a year.

“Just get in the car, Y/N!” Oikawa whined, stomping towards you and dragging you inside Iwaizumi’s car despite your cries of protest. You just didn’t want to act childish because between the two of you, Oikawa was the child, so you silently got inside Iwaizumi’s truck just as he started the ignition.

The last thing you’ve heard before he drove off was Becca telling Iwaizumi to bring you home safely.

You’ve been inside his pick-up truck so many times before when you were still together but it was for the first time that you were ever self-conscious around him. He seemed like he was, too, because he didn’t really speak while he was driving with one hand while adjusting the temperature on the other.

It was agonizingly silent and you felt the urge to start the conversation for the sake of it.

“I thought you weren’t coming back,” you spoke inaudibly but he was able to catch it when he looked at you. It was true, just a week ago you were lamenting about the fact that he might never come back and that you should finally give up. But now that he was back, all your plans had gone to waste. “A-Are you just visiting?”

He kept his eyes on the road as he shifted his gear. “Do you want me to stay?”

Yes. Yes, I do.

“I don’t know, I just... I can’t believe you’re back,” you tried to play it off as nothing, “I mean, you probably prefer California.”

He didn’t respond sooner than you expected but he did let out a sigh. “Japan’s still my home,” he answered, taking a quick look at you. “How’ve you been?”

“I’m good... Still an agent. How about you?”

“Good... All good.”

“That’s nice to hear.”

“Is it?”

“...Yeah.” God, the awkwardness was killing you softly.

It was already uncomfortable to be alone with him in a sense that you two didn’t have an actual closure from the time you’ve separated. Now, you two lived different lives and you recalled the fact that he was apparently in a healthy relationship with someone else now.

“Won’t your girlfriend get mad?” you silently asked, “I don’t wanna ‘cause you any trouble if she finds out you took me home.”

Surprisingly, Iwaizumi turned to you with a perplexed face. “What do you mean?”

A bit as befuddled as him, you clarified your statement, “Oikawa said you’re dating someone—”

Hajime quickly sighed in exasperation. “I’m gonna kill him,” he mumbled before looking at the road, halting the car at the red light. “Don’t believe him. He just did it to get a reaction out of you.”

Oh... What the hell?

You hoped that the sigh of relief you had wasn’t as noticeable as you imagined because the beat of your heart started pacing faster. “So you’re single? That’s hard to believe.”

“Didn’t I promise you that night at the tub that I won’t look at any other girl?” he reminded, gripping the steering wheel tight, “Besides, I didn’t have the time to see other people after my dad died.”

While you were screaming inside from his first sentence, you chose to show sympathy for the second. “I’m sorry to hear about your dad. I-I wish I was there for you but...”

“S’okay,” he quickly dismissed, “If you were in my position, you’d have wished he finally took his eternal rest, too. I wanted him to just end his suffering here on Earth. I’ve accepted it.”

You felt for him. You really did, because you were aware of just how much his father meant the world to him. You’ve had your fair share of losing your parent when your mom left the country, but watching one of them leave this world permanently? It must have devastated him. You couldn’t even begin to think how he was able to cope with his loss for the past year, but you admired his strength and mental resilience.

“You know what’s crazy? He actually remembered me during his last few hours,” Iwaizumi opened up after a minute of silence, “He said he was happy to see what a grown man I’ve become and wanted me to keep pursuing whatever made me happy.”

That explained why the overall atmosphere he had just changed remarkably. When you noticed the aura of happiness and contentment that surrounded him, you realized that he was only taking his father’s last words with him.

“He asked me if I had a girlfriend,” he added, resting his head on the headrest, “I told him she’s back home. Then he asked, ‘why didn’t you bring her here?’”

Your heart somersaulted. He didn’t realize how he gave it away that he never really just ‘acted’ being your boyfriend before. His feelings were a hundred percent authentic.

“I’m... sure he’s very proud of you,” you said with a gentle smile.

He returned the gesture back to you for a fleeting moment that left your heart leaping out of your chest. You knew that your love for him was entrenched to the point where even if you haven’t seen him for the past year, nothing had really changed. Loving Iwaizumi was almost visceral, as if he was the other half of your soul that you were destined to meet in your physical form.

Whatever was running in his head, you couldn’t tell. But when he pulled up outside of your apartment complex, you suddenly came into realization that this was exactly how it was with you two on the first night. He drove you to this same apartment in this same car over a year ago. Deja vu was the closest description that you felt out of it.

“You still live here, huh?” he asked, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel as soon as you arrived your apartment complex. Hajime was seemingly not wanting to let you go for now.

You responded with a nod, but fell into state of astonishment when your eyes caught sight of the new tattoo on his ring finger.

They were your initials.

“Hajime...” You restrained your vulnerable emotions from showing because your chest burned with an ache that was worth feeling. You wanted no one else in this world but this man and you knew you were two seconds away from tearing up. “Do you... wanna stay for the night?”

Just like the first night. Exactly like the first night when you asked him to come over, not realizing that it would be the start of a relationship that you would never forget in your lifetime.

His adoring eyes were glued to yours, with a heavy breath and a quick glance to your lips, he answered, “Yeah.”

However much you tried to suppress your tears, they naturally came out as soon as you entered your apartment and he was following closely behind. He wasn’t dumb—he knew exactly why you were crying and he was pulling you to his arms for an embrace that the both of you longed to have. The gush of tears that you tried to keep since the moment you saw him again were finally released with the sole realization that the person you loved was now here with you and God, you couldn’t believe that you meant so much to him that he had your initials tattooed on his ring finger.

“Hey, look at me,” he gently spoke, wiping the faint tears from your cheek, “don’t cry.”

You gulped as your chest heaved and he took the opportunity to wrap his arms around you, placing a kiss on your hair to soothe your crying heart. “Haji, I m-missed you,” you sobbed, “so much.”

“I missed you more,” he reassured, moving his lips to press them on your temple. His scent, his hug, his kisses—he felt like home to you. “It’s been a year and I never stopped thinking about you, Y/N.”

His words left even more tears spilling from your eyes while you pulled away to have him press his forehead against you. “You don’t know how happy I am that you’re back.”

“Thank you for waiting for me,” he spoke through his raspy voice that left hints of his own heartbreak. He held you by the waist and stared straight at your lips. You didn’t resist when he cupped your cheek before your lips reunited again after what seemed like an eternity. This kiss couldn’t compare to all the other kisses you’ve had in your twenty seven years on Earth. Only Hajime had the ability to invoke emotions of pure love straight from your soul and solidify it with his own devotion and ardor towards you. He kissed you with overflowing passion that you were instinctively placing your arms around his neck while his mouth moved against yours. The smooching sounds only allowed the both of you to envelope each other’s lips like suction.

“I love you,” he said it first, this time around.

You took deep inhales, glossy eyes locked on his beautiful olive green, “Truth or lie?”

He smiled, “Truth. Always was.”

Before you could break into tears again, you already had him engulfing you for a deeper kiss until you were breathing him in, stumbling backwards, mind running on cloud nine. Kisses of pure passion and longing and a year’s worth of loyalty. The next thing you knew, he was undressing you and you were undressing him.

No one else was more beautiful than Hajime Iwaizumi.

You remembered the very first time you shared an intimate night with him without knowing that the both of you were doing it for your personal gain. That time, no real feelings were involved more than the physicality of it and the satisfaction to fill your carnal desires.

Tonight, no one was acting. No undercover duties. No revenge set in mind. Just two people who wanted to make love and show just how much they missed each other.

Hot tears ran down on the corner of your eyes as you lay underneath Hajime who trailed kisses on your neck. Your hands traveled to his shoulders before you clung to him when he carefully sunk himself into you.

“Mmh...” You bit your lip, restraining your breathing until he gave you kisses with tremendous fervor. “I-I’m sorry for lying to you before.”

He thrusted his member inside your clamped walls as he pressed his chest against your bare ones. “I’m sorry for lying, too,” he whispered against your lips before he entwined your fingers together. “I know you still deserve better than me, but I’ll be selfish and say that I want you for myself.”

“Y-You’re all I want, Haji—” A moan escaped your lips to cut you off your sentence. You’ve had sex with him more than the number of days present in a calendar and yet this was the most emotional intercourse you’ve had out of all of them. “I-I wanna be yours, forever.”

With the reassurance of you dedicating yourself to him, he let out a hum of satisfaction before placing your legs above his shoulders. The position allowed him to go deeper inside your core as curses were released under his breath of being reminded just how much he loved being inside of you.

You had all eyes on him even when you were crying out his name at every penetration that sent you to another dimension.

Whichever dimension it was, you only wanted Hajime by your side.

“Aah... nngh... I’m gonna—” You held your breath to hear the bed squeaks and the squelching noises.

His voice turned an octave deeper when he ordered you to hold it in, “Wait for me.”

You always did, even when you were nearly disintegrating beneath him as he slid in and out at a much faster pace. You could feel his weight on your bosom with every grind of his hips, skin against skin, lips to lips, and soon enough, he released his warm load straight to your womb just as you clenched around his member.

You were scared that you could wake up next morning and realize that this was all just a dream.

“I’m so goddamn in love with you,” he spoke, panting as he collapsed beside you. Your own eyes were glued towards the ceiling before you scooted closer to your man. Your only one.

Your cold, shaky fingers traced the tattoo on his chest while the physical and emotional exhaustion made your eyelids fall heavy. “I’m so grateful that I met you.”

Waking up next to the person you love was one of the happiest things to experience in your lifetime. Iwaizumi’s return felt like such a wonderful dream that could turn out into a nightmare. You immediately looked to his side of the bed as soon as your eyes fluttered open the next morning to make sure that you didn’t just imagine the whole thing last night. He’s real, you sighed of relief. He’s real and he’s chuckling at me right now.

“Morning,” he greeted you with a peck on the lips while you were unknown to the fact that he spent the past thirty minutes staring at your angelic face. “I really sleep well when I’m next to you, princess.”

You cupped his cheek with your palm, “I love you so much.”

“Love you more,” he responded, caressing your hip where his tattoo was engraved on your skin. “We have a lot of making up to do.”

His words made you giggle. Indeed, Hajime was still your Hajime. Just happier and more in love. “How do you feel about knowing I’m not taking birth control since you’ve been away?” you asked, reminding him of how he came inside of you last night.

You only said it as a joke, but the guy barely reacted against it. “Then you’re gonna be a mommy soon.”

Gosh. “Not so soon.”

“We’ll do it again,” he teased, planting kisses on your shoulder, “over and over until we have a mini me.”

“I...” Speechless. “We literally just got back together and you wanna get me pregnant right away.”

The chuckle he let out were music to your ears. It was nice to see how genuinely happy he was and it was all because of you. “Your dad wants a little boy, Intelligence Agent Y/N.” He soon watched how your eyes widened in surprise. “I met with him before I came to the fight club last night. I gave him an answer to his advice.”

“What advice?” you asked in complete bafflement. He sat upright, pulling you up with him before he kissed your hand and you brushed your thumb against the ring finger where your initials were forever inked on his skin. Just like the love he had for you.

“He told me a year ago to decide whether or not I’m still worth your time,” he spilled as you were dumbfounded of being unaware that he had such conversation with your father from last year. “I told him yesterday that I’ll make sure every time you spend with me from here on out will be worth having.”

Your body already tackled him into an embrace before you realized it. You were just grateful for this moment and for God because he allowed you to have someone like Iwaizumi in your life. Every person in this world would have their own soulmate. Luckily for you, you finally found yours and there was nothing else that could take this moment away from you. Not now, not in a million years, not in another version of you from a parallel universe. Today, you were his. Tomorrow and for the rest of your life, you would remain his and his only because he was meant for you and you were meant for him.

“Let’s start again?” he asked, eyes fixed on you.

With a peck on his lips and a heart that was beating at the same rhythm as his, you answered, “Let’s start again.”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

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[sweetchup]

Bi•valve

Noun

an aquatic mollusk that has a compressed body enclosed within a hinged shell, such as oysters, clams, mussels, and scallops.

AKA

The Most Common Seashell in the Ocean

————————

Vol. 2: Into the Deep // Ch. 8

Type: Poseidon x reader

Word Count: 4,500+

⚠️Warning⚠️: Slight Mature Content

Masterlist

————————

Blue. Everything was blue.

From the bubbles you exhaled to the sun streaming through the window. It was all blue.

Even though you’ve been staying here for about a week, you still couldn’t get used to waking up like this. Underwater. Trapped in a fairytale-like world.

Was this how Triton felt adjusting to the human realm?

“Mom?” As if summoned by your thoughts, you felt Triton shift in bed next to you. The mattress slightly caving in as the young boy cuddled close to your side. “You okay?”

“…yeah.”

You shouldn’t be the one asking me that, you can’t help but think. After all that happened last night, Triton should be the one more shaken up.

…What has this young boy gone through?

Gently, you reach down and run one of your hands through Triton’s hair. It’s silky and soft texture felt ethereal in the water-like environment. Like as if it was threads of gold tediously woven slowly by hand.

“Mom….?” Your hand pauses as Triton lifts his head to look at you. Blue… It must be because you two were underwater but Triton’s eyes were a striking bright blue today. Unlike their usual pale grayish version. Seems like everything would truly be covered in blue while you were here, “Are you sure you—“

“My, oh my. This is unexpected.”

At the sudden new voice, you jolt out of bed. It seemed like you couldn’t even get a bit of peace for a second in the place. However, as you take in the figure that was at the door you soon pause.

A butler? A human looking one at that. Was he perhaps a siren or mermaid? But he also had no tail…

“Hermes!” You feel yourself choke slightly at what Triton shouts. Hermes? As in the Messenger god? He looked nothing at all like the mythology books.

“Good day, Master Triton.” Hermes greets as Triton comes crawling out of bed and up to him. As you watch Triton start telling Hermes a story about something, you see Hermes' gaze shift from the young boy in front of him to you. Red… You are cut off guard as you notice Hermes’ eyes were a surprising color of scarlet red. As in the most ripe apples and cherries or that of a deep red ruby. However that wasn’t what entranced you the most. No, it was the unusual spider web irises that accompanied those pits of red.

“By the way, What brings you here, Hermes?” Thankfully at Triton’s question, Hermes' gaze turns away from you. Allowing you to release a breath you didn’t know you were holding. You weren’t sure what it was but for some reason you felt like you had to be careful around him.

Hesitantly, you pull the covers off of your form and make your way out of bed next to Triton. You didn’t want to get closer to Hermes but you also didn’t want Triton to be left alone with the young man. Who knows what the god could be up to, “Master Zeus wanted me to return a special package to you.”

“A package?”

Nervously, you let out a small gulp as Hermes disappears back into the hallway to grab the mysterious “package”. Should you make a run for it? After all, it could possibly be dangerous. He could—

“Here it is.”

“Ack!” You can’t help but let out once you see what Hermes is holding in his arms. Did Zeus really order Hermes to go all the way to the mortal realm to grab that?

“Alexander the Great!” Triton cheers out as he grabs the ginormous king turtle from Hermes. Clearly happy to be reunited with his trusty stuffed animal. “Oh! I know the perfect spot to put you.”

You watch as Triton races across the room to a corner filled with fluffy pillows and blankets. Even here it seemed he built those nest-like beds. You wondered where he got such a thing from.

“Now, My Lady…”  Startled by the warm breath on the shell of your ear, you feel yourself freeze before shakily turning to look at Hermes standing close next to you, “I have a package from Zeus for you as well.”

“O-Oh really…?” You hesitantly say as you take a step away from the god. Was personal space not a thing for them?

“Yes, now if you would follow me.” Hermes states, gesturing to the door.

“Thank you but I’m going to grab it later. I want to stay with Triton for now.”

“Oh but my Lady. I insist.”

“I’m really fin—“ You are cut off as Hermes places his hands around your waist and proceeds to carry you out of the room. He was so fast you hardly had time to blink or even realize what he had done.

“We will be right back, Master Triton.” Hermes shouts out to the young boy as he leaves the room and makes his way into the hallway. Finally able to realize what is going on, you grab at Hermes’ hands on your waist. Futility attempting to get him to let go of you.

“Hey! Let go of me.” You shout out to the god. However, the only thing you got was a curious eyebrow raise in return.

“Oh.” Hermes let out as if suddenly realizing something. Interested you pause at your fighting, only to soon regret it as you see a dangerous gleam in his eyes. As if a mischievous plan was forming in his head, “I apologize My Lady, I wasn’t thinking. You must be used to the way Master Poseidon holds you.”

“H-Hey—EEepp.”

Instantly, in pure terror, you grab onto Hermes shoulders as he throws you lightly up in the air. Thankfully, you didn’t squeal too hard as you had already known what he was possibly referring to about how ‘Poseidon holds you’.

“Now, is this more comfortable, My Lady?” Hermes asks as he holds you bridal style in his arms. What in the world was with gods and their need to hold Humans, or possibly lesser beings, this way?

Now embarrassed, especially at how the maids and servants whisper to each other as you two walk by, you give up the need to fight Hermes. Knowing there was no chance in hell you would be able to get away anyways with how strong he was compared to you.

“Lord Hermes—“

“Please, just call me Hermes.” The messenger god states cheerfully as he cuts you off. As if he totally didn’t just kidnap you.

After letting out a small sigh in frustration, you continue, “Alright, Hermes. Where are you taking me?”

“Just to the main foyer, My Lady.”

At Hermes' simple minded answer, you feel your eyebrow twitch slightly. If you weren’t already afraid of the god, you bet you would have smacked that smug look off his face by now. You could clearly see now how Hermes was the Son of Zeus, “Okay… So, Why are you taking me there?”

“To meet someone special that Master Zeus invited.”

.

..

…

You swore to god.

“Who is that special someone?” You state, making sure to emphasize on your question this time. As if sensing your frustration, Hermes, clearly pleased with your reaction, smiles slightly.

“Scylla. You are meeting Lady Scylla.”

“…Scylla…?”

You feel yourself pause at the name, an odd sense of familiarity blooming in your brain. You had definitely heard that name before but… where….?

“Scylla, as in Scylla and Charybdis.” Hermes explains, his smile growing wider as he takes in the confused look on your face. As you ponder the second name, it finally hits you about why it had all sounded so familiar.

Scylla was a legendary monster in Greek mythology that lived on one side of a narrow channel of water, opposite to her counterpart Charybdis.

Scylla's description varied from tale to tale but she was often described as a female monstrosity. Her lower body consisted of six serpent-like heads on long snaky necks, each head having a triple row of shark-like teeth. Then, on her stomach were the heads of ferocious dogs.

However, it wasn’t her appearance or the fact that she was a monster that startled you the most. No.

Scylla wasn’t always a monster. No, she used to be a nymph. There are two tales that explained as to why Scylla was turned into a monster in the first place. One of them being, as well as the most frightening one to you, was that…

…Amphitrite was jealous of Scylla.

“W-why am I meeting with Scylla?” You questioned outloud to Hermes. Whose grin only seemed to grow once you asked him.

“Pardon me but it is much more fun if you find out yourself.” Hermes explained casually as he stops in front of a room. He wasn’t…

“Wait—“

“Have a fun time, My Lady.”

And with that, Hermes proceeded to shove you in the room and close the doors behind you. That bastard… you knew you shouldn’t trust him.

“Are you Lady (y/n)?”

Freezing, you look across the room in the direction of the voice. There was no doubt that it was Scylla. But,…

You find yourself pausing as you gaze down at her abdomen.

“Pomeranians?” Instantly, after the word slips out, you cover your mouth. Great going there, (y/n).

Though, it wasn’t just the fact that the supposed ‘ferocious dogs’ were sophisticated Pomeranian that caught you off guard. The lady, well ex-nymph, before you looked about in her late 50s and was dressed quite modestly. Yet also very sophisticated.

“Yes, they are Pomeranians.” Scylla answers, seeming to take a pause as she sips from her teacup before continuing, “Now, as I asked before, Are you Lady (y/n)?”

“Oh, I apologize. I am Lady (y/n).” You answer back, not missing how Scylla eyebrows slightly twitch.

“…It seems I have a lot of work…” You hear Scylla mumble lightly under her breath as she proceeds to shake her head. What was she talking about?

“…Pardon?”

“Oh, nothing. Please take a seat, Lady (y/n).”

Carefully, you make your way across the room to sit at the table. As you do so, you don’t miss the chance to notice how extravagant the room was. Not only was it made of marble and intricate gold carvings like the rest of Triton’s Manor but it also had a beautiful ceiling mural and, next to where the table that Scylla was sitting, a wall to wall and floor to ceiling grand window view.

As you take a seat down across from Scylla, you have to hold yourself back from gasping as you could now take in the full view. There were arrays of colorful Coral reefs and plants. Some that you have never ever seen, perhaps they only grew in the realm of the gods and were special in some way. However, it was past the Coral reefs that were placed outside the window that gained your interest. Far out in the horizon, stood what looked like a grand underwater city that looked fresh out of a futuristic sci-fi movie with its intricate buildings and colorful lights.

“Ahem.” At Scylla’s cough, you finally turn your attention back to the older woman, “I will now formally introduce myself. I am Scylla, a former nymph that worked for Lord Poseidon. As well as…

…Triton’s former Nanny.”

“I see.” You let out as you take in the information the woman has told you. It seemed like just how the other gods were different from mythology so was Scylla. But, you couldn’t write off anything about Scylla yet. You didn’t know her full intentions on accepting to come to see you here today. “Can I ask why you came to see me today, Lady Scylla?”

“Of course.” Scylla answers as she carefully places her teacup back down on its plate and looks at you, “I am not here to hurt you but rather to help you. My first duty in coming here is informing you about everything you need to know. From Master Triton’s childhood to Lady Amphitrite nature, I am hoping to tell you everything possibly important I have seen in over the millennia I have worked for the family.”

Now you understand why she was here. If you didn’t understand the inner workings or secrets of the family, it could honestly get you killed. And that could count for either Poseidon or Amphitrite. It also makes sense why Zeus specifically sent her as he still had the intentions of you replacing Amphitrite as Poseidon’s wife. So, knowing what makes Poseidon tic would be crucial.

“My second reason for coming here is to teach you the proper etiquette of the gods.”

You feel your thoughts come to a screeching halt at her statement, “Huh?”

“I’m going to be honest with you, Lady (y/n),” Scylla vocalizes as she shakes her head, “Since you are a human, you are considered at the bottom in our realm. If the citizens of Atlantis don’t like you, they will kill you. If you disrespect a god or goddess, they will kill you. If someone wants your spot on the throne, they will kill you. If you aren’t strong or smart enough, you will get killed. Respect, etiquette and knowledge are the three things that will keep you alive here…”

Scylla pauses as she looks around to make sure that no one was nearby to hear what she would say next.

“Lady (y/n).” Scylla starts as she surprisingly reaches across the table to hold your hands. “I know of Lord Zeus’ plan to make you the next queen. As a former Nymph, where my kind is often taken advantage of by gods just like humans, I beg of you. Do not. Follow. Zeus’. Plan. It will surely get you killed. To him, if you die, He will simply take another human or some other god to take your place. All he wants is Amphitrite off the throne.”

It wasn’t as if you already didn’t guess that from Zeus. You already knew, deep down in an unsettling feeling in your stomach, that he considered you lesser than himself. No matter how kind he seemed to act to you.

Also it wasn’t as if you were trying to seduce Poseidon or become the next queen in anyways. Your main objective, as it always had been, was to protect and care for Triton.

You are brought back to reality as Scylla lets go of your hands and stands up, “Come. We don’t have much time.”

“Right.” Instantly, you follow the older woman as she makes her way across the room. You didn’t know where she could possibly be going but followed her anyway. “A frame?”

You look curiously at, what you guessed to be, the decorative frame of a mirror. You had no idea why you two have specifically stopped here. Was the frame important in some way, like some sort of secretive family heirloom?

However, you soon doubt that previous guess of yours as suddenly, as if bent by Scylla’s mind and will, the inside of the mirror starts to glow. It continued to glow as the light slowly trickled to the rest of the mirror and once it was fully completed, Scylla moves out of the way and gestures to it.

“You want me to walk up to it?” You ask Scylla as you make a small step to the blinding mirror. Slowly as you grow closer, you reach out your hand to slightly graze its surface. Only to realize it wasn’t a surface at all. “W-Woah!”

You are caught off guard as you are suddenly pulled into the mirror by a great force. Hissing, your eyes stung by the ever so bright light. What is happening? You thought Scylla was going to explain to you about the family history. Could she possibly have lied and tricked you?

Amphitrite… Daughter of Nereus and Doris…

“W-Who goes there?” You shout out, startled by the booming voice. “Were you the one who pulled me in here?”

However, as if the voice couldn’t hear you, it continues it’s speech and you are suddenly placed into a white blank room.

One of 50 sisters, known as the Nereids…Amphitrite grew up as any other goddess…

An ancient stone wall suddenly appears right in front of you. It’s drawings and paintings seeming to depict the beautiful Nereids.

…However, that was far from the truth…

All of sudden the paintings come to life, some of the Nereids were killing and even poisoning their sisters.

…All of those sisters were filled with greed… greed to be ever so powerful like their father and it only seemed to grow when it was announced that Poseidon would choose one to be his queen…

The stone changes once more, completely wiped clean except for one lone woman in the center. A shining crown placed on her head.

…And Amphitrite came out on top. With most of her sisters dead or banished by her, she was now the lone survivor to gain all the power she desired…as the new goddess and queen of the sea…

…However,…Poseidon wasn’t how she expected….

You are startled as the full white room, even the ground you were standing on, changes. The room now taking on an elegant bedroom. A grand circle bed was placed in the center of the room. With Pillows and silk blankets scattered around in it.

A sudden loud creak catches your attention and you spin your head around. Caught off guard at who was in front of you.

“What are you doing here?” Poseidon's voice booms out as he glares daggers at you. His form no longer dressed in his usual attire but instead one made for bed.

“I-I—“ “You can’t possibly expect nothing to happen on our wedding night.”

Taking a step away from Poseidon, you turn and realize he wasn’t talking nor glaring at you. Instead, his piercing gaze was directed at a woman sitting on the bed. A simple yet sexy nightgown covering her form.

You have never seen her before with her long and deep colored scarlet hair, with her sea green eyes and pale clear skin. But you could at least guess who she was.

“Amphitrite. Leave.” Poseidon orders, as he turns away from the woman to shrug off his shirt, “I won’t be asking again.”

The woman only giggles in response, seeming not to take Poseidon’s threat seriously as she makes her way up to the male.

“Oh god—“ You can’t help but let out. Quickly covering your eyes as you see Amphitrite loosen her strap of her nightgown, causing the article of clothing to fall to the floor. What was the woman thinking?!

Even with your heart practically beating out of your ears, you hear Poseidon let out a deep sigh and the loud sound of heavy footsteps making their way past you. From what you guess, this was a memory of the past and the two couldn’t see you.

“W-Where are you going—“ Amphitrite voice is cut off as the door is shut with a loud bang. It is quiet for a moment. Yet it was only a moment. As soon afterwards, the loud banging and breaking sounds ring out around the room as Amphitrite takes her anger out on the area around her. “That fucking piece of shit!! I’ll show you—“

Amphitrite voice is once again cut off. Yet this time not by Poseidon but instead the blinding light as the voice changes the scene. Deeming it safe, you uncover your eyes and take in the new scene around you. You were no longer in Poseidon’s bedroom but seemed to still be in the palace. This time the bed was a simple queen one, it’s sheets covered in blood that scared you for a moment. That is until another item gains your attention.

A baby crib.

Amphitrite was furious about how she couldn’t get Poseidon to bend to her will. She believed that he should be groveling at her feet and craving for her affections…

…This only got worse after she found out she was pregnant with an heir that Poseidon didn’t care for….

Startled by what the voice was saying, you take a step towards the baby crib. That means this crib was…

You let out an audible gasp as you lean over the crib. An ever so familiar pair of pale blue eyes staring up at you. It was baby Triton.

Damn, you wished you had your phone on you to take a picture of this moment. He was just all too adorable.

At the pregnancy of the child, Amphitrite left it in the hands of a nanny. Not wanting to bother with a child that will only hold her back.

“Lord Poseidon. I beg of you, Please do not hurt—”

“Silence.”

That voice… Hastily, you make your way across the room to the door that was slightly ajar. Standing outside was Poseidon, a couple of his attendees and Scylla. Scylla, who seemed to be back when she was a nymph, was on her hands and knees, begging something out of the god.

“Tch.” Poseidon lets out, seeming annoyed. You freeze as you see the male grab his trident and make his way towards the door.

“Lord Poseidon, Pleas— Ack!” As Scylla tries to bring her head up and grab onto Poseidon to stop him but before she could do so an attendee stomps on her back. Stopping her in her tracks.

“Do not come in.”

You back away as Poseidon makes his way into the room, shutting the door behind him. He wasn’t planning to…

You cover your ears as a loud screeching sound fills the room. It was coming from Poseidon’s trident as he drags the blade across the floor, Leaving long scratching indinents in the marble floor.

This is in the past, (y/n). You forcibly remind yourself as you watch Poseidon get closer to the crib. Triton is still alive, he’s not going to die here.

You freeze as the screeching sound stops and Poseidon lifts his trident. Uncovering your ears, you stare, mind boggled, at what happens next.

Poseidon… was whistling.

Was he attempting to soothe the baby before he killed it? What sort of Psycho was he—

“Ah! Stop!” You shout out as Poseidon’s trident comes barreling down towards the crib. He was going to actually kill—

Suddenly, Poseidon’s arm comes to a screeching halt.

“Bo ba ba booo.” Triton babbles away, seeming to attempt to imitate the song Poseidon had just whistled out.

.

..

…

“Tch.” Poseidon imbeds his trident in the marble before picking Trident up by the back of his onesie.

That’s not how you were supposed to carry a child! You could accidentally cause it to choke itself.

As you make your way closer to the two, worried about Triton’s safety, Poseidon once again whistles out. His gaze trained to the baby’s face.

“Boooo ba ba boo.” Triton lets out again, seeming to try his best to imitate Poseidon. Giggling slightly at the end as he reaches out towards his father and grabs a piece of Poseidon’s hair.

“You’re doing it wrong.” Poseidon mutters out as he brings his other hand up to Triton, the time adjusting his grip so that he was holding the baby by the armpits.

Poseidon whistles out once more. This time going slightly slower for the baby to listen.

Was this guy seriously attempting to teach a baby how to sing a song when he tried to kill it only seconds ago? Plus it was a baby for crying out loud.

“Hey! Get back here!”

The door comes flying open with a startling bang as Scylla trips her way into the room.

“I warned you!” Scylla screams out as the attendees' sword comes barreling down at her. However, thankfully, it never hits her. “L-Lord Poseidon-n…”

You cover your mouth as the attendee falls to the ground, his body separated in half by the trident Poseidon had just thrown.

“Silence.” Poseidon orders out to the rest of the attendees, who quickly release Scylla and back away. “You, Lady. Come here.”

“M-me?”

Scylla freezes as she sees the look Poseidon gives her. About how she should know better than to make him repeat himself. Frantically, she makes her way over to the two.

“What’s its name?” Poseidon asks Scylla. Who grows pale as she watches as Triton pulls at Poseidon’s hair. Yet, surprisingly, the god of the sea doesn’t flinch nor remove the annoyance, allowing the baby to continue what it was doing.

“I-uh. L-Lady Amphitrite never gave the child a name...”

Silence. You let out a small gulp as you anxiously take in the scene in front of you. Poseidon definitely wasn’t pleased with this development.

“Pardon me, M-My Lord. May I suggest something-g?” Scylla stutters out as she anxiously twiddles her thumbs. She seemed to be on the brink of collapsing from stress and anxiety.

“Speak.”

“Why…Why don’t you name the boy?”

Once again silence. However, it wasn’t as tense as the previous one. It seemed Poseidon was truly pondering Scylla’s suggestion.

“Triton.” Poseidon booms out. “His name will be Triton.”

“An E-Excellent choice, My Lord.” Scylla compliments. Yet, even though Poseidon accepted her suggestion, she didn’t seem pleased. “A-Another thing, My Lord. You aren’t supposed to hold a baby in that manner.”

“Huh?”

Quickly, Scylla attempts to cover her mistake, “I-I mean-n! You can hold the boy however you want. It just that isn't the most comfortable manner! You don’t have to listen to what I suggest. Please forgive me.”

You are surprised once more as Poseidon gives Scylla the baby. Seeming to tell her to show him how to hold Triton without wanting to ask. You have grown to notice that his pride seems to get in the way of things a lot of the time.

It eerily, in a way, reminded you of what happened last night when Poseidon listened to your own suggestion. Would he act in a fit of rage this time as well? Could this be how Scylla got—

“Bah!” Triton shouts out, startling you out of your thoughts. Currently, Poseidon was attempting to cradle Triton the way Scylla had shown him. The nanny fiddled with her fingers as she worriedly watched the two.

“Booo ba ba booo…. Boo boo boo boooo… boooo….” Triton babbles out, this time somewhat replicating the song accurately.

“Heh.”

Heh? You are startled at the sound Poseidon makes. Did he just laugh slightly?

Inching closer, you take in the look on Poseidon’s face as he looks down at Triton. As if his cold exterior had cracked ever so slightly, you could see a sliver of fondness in Poseidon’s cold blue eyes. A look that showed love for his newborn son.

…Yet, you thought Poseidon didn’t feel that way about Triton.

“My Lord.” Poseidon's fondness quickly disappears as he turns to look at Amphitrite who stood at the door. You could see an ever so slight smirk on her face. “I didn’t realize you wanted to visit our son. You should have told me, I would have come with you.”

Oh. Was it because…

“Zeus and Hera wanted to see the child.” Poseidon lies to Amphitrite as he gives the child back to Scylla. Seeming to believe her husband, Amphitrite's smile soon turns to a scowl.

“I see.” She bitterly spits out before walking away. Not wanting to stick around for any longer.

Once Amphitrite footsteps are no longer heard, Poseidon turns back to Scylla. Whispering in a low voice so that the attendees can’t hear.

“I’ll be back tomorrow. Same time. Don’t be late and don’t tell anyone.”

With that Poseidon walks away, his attendees quickly chasing after him. As Scylla seems happy with the new found development, hugging Triton tightly to her chest as she showers him in praises, you… didn’t know what to think.

You…

…Couldn’t wrap your head around why your chest aches so much when you watch the two.

…What in the world happened between Triton and Poseidon that changed them…?

Author Note: Just in case people didn’t see my notice about this yesterday. I decided to split Ch. 8 into two parts, due to it revealing a lot of things. So the second part will be up tomorrow (Friday). If there is any confusion, please feel free to ask or comment. I will be checking my tumble a lot today since I know this is a crazy chapter.

Taglist: @angeli-fucking-cat @marixxhq @sproutcorner @orophaea @anime-lover-forever-1127 @fortuna-stella @icy-spicy

[mypoisonedvine]

The Kind of Girl You Take Home to Mom (part 3 - FINALE) | Andy Barber x reader

(part 1) (part 2)

summary: andy knows how to take what he wants, and he wants you.

word count: 5.6k 

warnings: SMUT, subtle dubcon elements, loss of virginity, infidelity (obviously), wedding ring kink (shocking!!! jk), 

a/n: wow, after all this time I FINALLY finished this series.  sorry it took so long.  I still have an alternate ending that I want to write... but I wanted to go ahead and get this out first.  thank you everyone for your patience!  I kind of expect this to flop despite being the most requested thing ever, but idgaf.

“Honestly?  I always had this weird fear that he was going to try to seduce one of my girlfriends.”

For the second time that day, you choked.

“Wh— are you okay?” Jacob gasped, running over to you as you coughed up water.

Your attempt to respond was useless as you could only sputter and cough, trying to communicate that you were fine with a casual wave, but only managing to flail your arm wildly.

“Was it something I said?” he pressed.

“No, I just—” you wheezed, but interrupted yourself with another coughing fit as your eyes watered from the lack of air.

He slapped your back to try to help you along but it wasn’t very effective, just adding one new source of pain to your predicament.  I always had this weird fear that he was going to try to seduce one of my girlfriends, that was what he’d said.  What does that even mean?  Did he mean it like “I always had this fear, for no good reason,” or did he mean it like “I was always afraid of this, and now it’s come true”?

The way Jacob was looking at you— kind, concerned, patient— it didn’t seem like he suspected you of anything.  He probably would’ve led with that if he knew something, right?

When your airways finally cleared and you were able to start catching your breath, you finished getting ready for bed quickly and hopped into bed.  You couldn’t handle any long conversations with Jacob, though you tolerated some cuddling before you fell asleep.

You dreamt that night that you were drowning.  Andy was holding you, his arms wrapped around you from behind as he pulled you to shore.  Or was he pulling you under?  Either way, you figured you’d had enough water in your lungs for one day.

~

You probably should’ve let them win at Scrabble… you just couldn’t help yourself.

“I have…” Jacob trailed off as he counted in his head, “177 points.”

“209,” Laurie announced, reaching over to rub Jacob on the shoulder sympathetically.  “Sorry, honey.”

“384,” Andy grinned, setting down his pen and pad triumphantly and looking to you for your score.

“Um,” you stalled, almost embarrassed to say now.  “I got, uh, 559.”

Laurie and Jacob erupted into sputters of confusion, demanding that you recount your points as if they hadn’t all seen you play ‘quixotic’ on a triple word space.

“Good game,” Andy murmured with a soft smirk as he stood up and left the table.  You smiled back at him quickly, the other two too busy recounting the numbers on your pad to even notice.

So, that was the end of board games for the night.  Jacob suggested a movie but you just knew that would just be you and him cuddling under one blanket… while Laurie and Andy cuddled under another.  You weren’t sure you could take that.  Instead, you decided to read your book outside— even though you figured Laurie was disappointed you didn’t want to do anything more social.  Complimenting her beautifully landscaped backyard eased the blow, though.

It was hard to get comfortable on the patio couch, not because of the couch itself but because you knew it wouldn’t be long until somebody bothered you.  When you heard the door open, you were a little disappointed to see Jacob approaching you.

“Hey,” he smiled, sliding in next to you on the couch and wrapping an arm around you.  

“Hey,” you greeted in reply, slightly flat in your affect as you immediately dove back into your book.

“You’re feeling okay, right?  We could go for a drive if you need some space,” he offered, rubbing your shoulder gently.

“No, I’m alright,” you mumbled.  “You know me, I like my peace and quiet when I can get it.”

“You… like them, don’t you?”  He must’ve sensed that you didn’t understand what he was referring to at first.  “My family, I mean.”

“Oh!  Yeah, that’s not the issue, really.  I know we’re going back home tomorrow but I still need to decompress a little bit.  I’ll be more social tonight, promise.”

When you looked up at him, his face was closer than you’d anticipated.  It reminded you of when you two met, at a party where the music was so loud that you’d had to stand about this close to be able to carry a conversation.  Well, technically that wasn’t the first time you met, because you had him in one of your classes that semester, but it was the first time you’d talked.  He was fun, he was new, he was friendly.  I can’t stay long, I’ve got a test in the morning, you’d yelled your explanation.  You’re gonna ace it anyway, he had dismissed at the time, so you should stay and have fun!  You deserve to have fun.

Maybe that was what had made you attracted to him: you couldn’t think of anyone else who had been so worried about what you deserved.  But now, Andy was added to that list.  You hated to imagine that Jacob had inherited that nature from his father.  Is he treating you right? Andy has asked you that night, and you really weren’t sure even now what the answer was.  He certainly wasn’t treating you poorly, but was that enough?  

Back in reality (and not in your whizzing, anxiety-ridden thoughts), Jacob leaned in and kissed you softly.  The kiss was just like him: patient, gentle, but also somehow energetic.  It was… nice.  Comfortable.  Feeling a surge of boldness, you set your book aside and leaned into him, pushing the kiss a little deeper.

He let out a tiny little noise, nearly a moan, as your tongues began to slide together.  His hand reached up to cradle the back of your head— you remembered that he did that a lot when you were making out, but all those times felt so foreign now.  Your hands reached up to rub against his chest through his t-shirt; that dark maroon one he wore all the time, so much that it was forming a few holes at the hem.  His hand slid down to your back and—

“Am I interrupting something?” Andy’s voice tore you both from the moment and from each other’s arms.

“Dad!” Jacob protested, sounding particularly immature with the way his voice rose to a shrill yelp of shock.

“I was just coming out here to let you know that your mother wants your help with dinner,” Andy explained, “but I wasn’t going to let an opportunity to embarrass you like that go by.”

“You never do,” Jacob sighed, giving you a quick kiss to the cheek as a goodbye as he stood up and walked inside.  You felt Andy’s eyes on you as you looked to the ground awkwardly, wiping your mouth with the back of your hand.  A few seconds after the door was shut, he spoke again.

“I couldn’t let you two get too hot and heavy, and besmirch this innocent patio couch.”

“You’d better not be mad at me for kissing my boyfriend,” you frowned as you stood up.  “That’s the most normal thing that’s happened all weekend.”

“I’m not,” he assured, beginning to step closer to you.  “Jealous?  Slightly.  Not that I see him as competition or anything.”

“Uh, you probably should,” you disagreed, raising your eyebrow in a mix of confusion and challenge.  

“Honey, I saw you kissing.  It was nothing to write home about,” he laughed.  “He doesn’t seem to realize that, since he brought you here.  Can’t blame him—-” he stepped closer to you and ever-so-delicately brushed his fingers against your arm— “but you know you can do better.  You know nobody can make you feel like I do.”

“Andy,” you murmured, trying to step back as you glanced to the window by the backdoor, through which the both of you were clearly visible to anyone who sat in the living room.  It was empty now, but it was too close for comfort.  “Someone could see…”

“They’re in the kitchen, don’t worry,” he soothed, leaning down to ghost his lips over your cheek and neck, “nobody’s gonna see us, angel, s’just you and me…”

You didn’t want to, but you melted into his touch anyway.  Just those little circles that his fingers drew on your back made your entire body erupt in shivers.  “Andy,” you found yourself whispering as if you needed to remember who was doing this to you.

“I’m gonna fuck you tonight,” he whispered against your ear.  

Your breath caught in your throat.  

“Are you scared?” he teased.  “Afraid my cock’ll split you in half?”

Embarrassed, you nodded.

He grinned, pulling back from your neck to force you into a deep, dominating kiss.  You wrapped your arms around his neck and clung to his shoulders, eagerly allowing his tongue access as it pressed into yours.  A little moan escaped you, causing him to pull your body even closer.  You had worried that kissing the two of them in a row like this would lead to an inevitable comparison, which would be beyond disgusting.  But nope, this kiss made you forget that you’d kissed Jacob at all.  Not that that exactly stopped it from being disgusting.

You knew if you didn’t stop yourself now, you wouldn’t be able to soon… and you really needed this kiss to end before you two got caught.  Pushing on his chest, you pulled back with a sigh.

“We shouldn’t—” you began.

“No, you’re right,” he agreed with a reluctant nod.  Still, you missed his touch now that it was gone.  “We’ll have plenty of time for that later.  It’s just hard to keep putting on a happy face when all I want is to grab you and bend you over the table and—”

“Oh god, you can’t talk like that,” you laughed nervously.  “You’re gonna drive me crazy, I swear.”

“Haven’t I already?” he smirked.

You nodded, because he was completely right.  With a quick wave, you opened the door to step into the house.  He called your name, getting your attention as you turned around.  In his hand, arm outstretched, was your book.  “Almost forgot this,” he smiled.

“Right, thanks,” you nodded, taking it and going back inside.

~

You spent the rest of the day reaching new heights of anxiousness.  Shaking your leg, chewing your lip, scratching your wrist— how could you relax after what Andy had said, how could you act casual?  You were just waiting for the other shoe to drop, for the obvious opportunity to arise and for Andy to be inevitable like he always was.

You weren’t sure how he did it, but he did.  He got Laurie and Jacob to leave you two alone in the house.  With his influential career, he was probably used to getting what he wanted, but you hadn’t anticipated that he was so good at the hard work it took to get those things.

He got you, though.  Not that that took all too much hard work.

“Enjoy the movie you guys!” you told them as they were making their way out the door.  Jacob leaned in for a goodbye kiss, and softly asked one last time if you wanted to come.  

He pulled your shirt up over your head, and you hadn’t even gotten it all the way off before he undid your bra with a quick motion.  You hated to think about Jacob in that moment, but those few times you’d fooled around with him to this extreme, that part of the process had taken quite a bit longer.

When your breasts were free his hands latched onto them instantly; the rough pads of his fingers felt good against the sensitive skin, and his hands were so damn big.  You felt your back arching into his touch.

“Can’t wait to get my mouth on these,” he purred, “but I need to see all of you first.”

You yelped as he picked you up and tossed you back onto the bed.  He took off your socks first, which made you feel a little hot for some reason, and then reached down to pull at your shorts.  You lifted your hips to make it easier, looking up at him and gnawing on your bottom lip nervously.

As he tossed your shorts and underwear aside, you suddenly felt very naked compared to his clothedness.  Probably because you were completely naked and he was completely clothed.  He smiled down at you before grabbing your ankles and resting them on his shoulders, starting to kiss up your leg slowly while never breaking eye contact.

You whined impatiently.  “Andy, please, need you…”

“Shh,” he soothed, “we’ve got time baby, I finally got you all to myself and I’m gonna savor it.”

His lips moved up your calf and thigh, but irritatingly skipped anywhere salacious to get straight to your hips and belly.  “Hnng, Andy—” 

You choked on your words when he licked over your nipple, swirling his tongue around it before sucking it into his mouth.  It instantly hardened between his lips and he smiled.  “Baby, you’re so sensitive,” he cooed against your skin as he kissed his way to the other and did the same.

Your hips bucked up and made contact with his clothed thigh; you let out a high-pitched moan and did it again, rubbing yourself against his suit pants.  The rough material sent shocks of pleasure through you as Andy smiled and left little love bites along your neck.

"Look at you, such a needy little girl," he tsked.  "Rubbing your cunt on me like a whore.  You're gonna make a mess, baby."

"'m sorry I just— oh, fuck," you sighed, your head falling back onto the pillow with a soft thud.

"It's only fair," he shrugged.  "I don't mind spending the rest of the night with your come on my slacks.  So long as you spend it with my come still in your cunt."

You gasped, trying to imagine how you would hide that from Laurie and Jacob…

But you couldn’t keep on that train of thought for very long as he started to kiss down your stomach again.

“Please, Andy, need— fuck, I need you to— um, taste me, please,” you whimpered.

“Hmm, beg a little more,” he smirked.

It was a long line of nonsense after that; some barely-intelligible string of ‘please’ and ‘Andy’ with a little flair of embarrassing whining.  He laughed a little before he finally did what you’d asked, latching his lips onto your swollen clit.  Your back arched instantly as your hands clenched at the comforter beneath you.

It wasn’t at all like you’d imagined it would be— it was so warm, and he alternated between surrounding you with his mouth and teasing you with the tip of his tongue.  You let out a long, deep moan when his tongue slipped inside you, twisting and massaging your walls so perfectly.  Your hands carded through his hair, accidentally tightening and pulling when he licked right over your clit.  He didn’t seem to mind, though, just moaning against you and doing it again and again and again until your legs were quivering. 

Just as you were about to tell him that you were close, he instantly pulled away to speak.  “I can tell you’re close,” he purred as if he’d read your mind.  

“Please, don’t stop,” you begged, but he continued to sit up and started to open his belt.

“It’s not time to come yet, honey.  It’s gonna feel so much better when you come while I’m inside you— for both of us,” he grinned.

As his sweater was discarded and his trousers were pushed down, you bit your lip.  You weren’t sure you would ever get used to seeing his cock, especially when it had leaked enough pre-cum to leave a wet patch on his boxer briefs.

He was on you the second he’d finished stripping, caging in your body with his, growling as he started to kiss your neck.  You whined and arched your back, your heart racing as you tried to cope with the fact that this was happening, this was really happening.  It was surreal, or maybe it was more than real— you were going to lose your virginity.  To Andy fucking Barber.

“I think you’re ready for me, don’t you?” he asked teasingly, his hips moving forward to press his cock against your inner thigh.  You nodded as you swallowed thickly, gasping as he reached down and started to rub his swollen head through your folds.

“Please…” you sighed, even as your chest tightened with distant fear.

You had wondered if what he'd said about his marriage to Laurie being sexless was true.  It certainly would be a convenient lie to garner your sympathy and make him look better.  But you had no doubts it was the truth when he pushed his cock into you; he moaned like a man who had dreamed of this moment for years, who had been so deprived of affection for so long.  

It hurt less than you’d expected, although it was certainly overwhelming.

“Oh fuck, Andy,” you moaned,

“Say my name again, baby,” he demanded with a groan.

“Andy!” you repeated, a little louder right as the tip of his cock hit so deep inside you that it hurt— and for some reason, you wanted him to do it again.

“Fuck, you need to be quiet, or the neighbors’ll hear you,” he hissed as he pumped into you deeper and faster.  “Can you do that or do I need to choke you to shut you up?”

You whimpered from fear at that idea and he laughed a little.  

“Don’t act so innocent, baby, I know who you really are: you’re my dirty little slut.”

“No I’m—” you began to disagree.  A quick slap to the face, not too hard but stinging nonetheless, shut you up.

“You know you are,” he hissed, “so say it.”

You could barely carry this conversation, his cock filling you so completely that you couldn’t think about anything else.  “Andy, I—”

“Say it.”

You gulped but managed to pant between heavy breaths, “I’m…  I’m your dirty little slut, Andy…”

He grinned and began to move faster, deeper, somehow.  You clutched at his shoulders, kissing him and groaning into his mouth.  When his hips slammed into yours, you moaned louder than maybe you ever had before.  "You want it rough, honey?” he taunted.  “Want me to fuck you hard?"

"Yes, please!" you sobbed, your voice hoarse and desperate now.

He grabbed your hips and made good on his offer of brutality, and then some, making you nearly scream.  He kissed you again, perhaps in an attempt to keep you quiet, although it didn’t work that well, as you mouth fell open with every cry.  His teeth captured your lip as he growled above you, holding your hips up so the angle was perfect to send his cock right into the end of you, so deep— too deep, in the most perfect way.

His cock stroking against your walls was indescribable; each thrust made your entire body erupt in shivers.  The stretch was difficult but you loved it, you loved the way his body pushed yours to its limits.  

"Gonna come inside you, honey," he moaned, "gonna fill you up so good, gonna mark your body with my come and make you mine."

"Oh god, Andy, please," you sobbed.

"You gonna come for me, pretty girl?” he encouraged.

“Yes, so close—” you cut yourself off as you choked on nothing, you entire body beginning to tighten and seize up as pleasure spiralled higher and higher.

“Just like that, come on my cock,” he demanded, but you couldn’t do anything else even if you tried— the coil snapped as your vision went spotty.  Just as you started to close your eyes, he held your neck and stared down at you.  “Look at me when I make you come.”

You struggled to keep your eyes open with the intensity of sensation washing over you, but you didn’t want to know what would happen if you disobeyed.  Those blue eyes pierced through you as you shivered underneath him, and with your walls constricting his cock just felt even thicker inside you.  “Andy,” you whimpered, your fingers and toes erupting into pins and needles as you felt him flexing inside you— and he must have been coming in you in that moment, with the way he sighed and his thrusts pumped deeper yet more erratically.

Warmth spilled inside you as numbness decorated your extremities and fogginess clouded your mind.  You lost focus as he collapsed beside you— even when he pulled out, you still felt full, due in part to his come inside you and in part to being ruined so thoroughly by him.  Maybe you’d feel normal again tomorrow, or next week, but right now it was impossible to forget that you were fucked, in every sense of the word, by Andy Barber.

He pulled you into his arms and kissed your neck slowly, his breathing slowly returning to a stable pace as his chest pressed against your back.  He was mumbling something about how you were his girl, how you did so good for him, but you were already drifting into sleep even though it was barely nine o’clock.

You woke up the next morning in the guest room with Jacob beside you, who informed you that he’d found you already asleep when he got back from the movie he’d gone to see with his mom.

You left just a few hours later, waving goodbye to Mr. and Mrs. Barber as Jacob pulled the car out of the driveway.

three months later...

The sun was just starting to set as you made your way home after your last class of the night.  Campus was gorgeous at this time of day, but you weren’t really taking the time to notice it as you focused instead on how wonderful it would feel to kick your shoes off, slip off your bra and slide into bed.  What you didn’t anticipate when you unlocked your dorm room’s door was to find Andy sitting on your bed as he waited for you.  You shut the door quickly so none of the girls mulling about the hall would see him.

He looked so out of place in your dorm.  He was so… adult, and yes, everyone there was an adult, but he was a whole new level of adulthood compared to the other residents of the honors dorm.

“You shouldn’t be here,” you reminded him.

“Why shouldn’t I be?” he questioned casually.

“Because your son is on the other side of the hall,” you explained, unamused.  “What if he sees you here?  What if he sees your car in the garage?”

“You worry too much.  I don’t give a fuck if my son lives nearby, if I wanna visit my girlfriend then I’m gonna do it.”

He’d never used that word for you before— or at least, not in front of you.  It made you feel nervous, glancing to the floor as he stepped closer towards you.  "I think I'm too young to be your girlfriend,” you decided.

"Perfect age for a mistress, though."

You stammered as you tried to balance the way that word made you feel sick with the way it made you feel aroused.  He lifted your chin with a finger, his other hand pulling you closer at the waist.  "Are you trying to act innocent, honey?” he smirked.  “Do you think I didn't realize that it turns you on?"

"Wh-what turns me on?"

"The sneaking around.  The secrets, the lies; the fact that it's wrong, forbidden, taboo.  It's why you haven't broken up with my son yet and it's why you stare at my ring all the time— yes, I noticed."

You frowned, crossing your arms impatiently.  “I haven’t broken up with Jacob because my relationship with him makes a great cover for my relationship with you… I’m doing that for us.  And do you think I like the ring?  I hate that stupid chunk of silver, seeing it on your hand makes me so livid because it just reminds me that I don’t have you all to myself and—”

“Baby, you know I’m all yours,” he purred, kissing down your neck as your back began to arch.  “Meanwhile, I have to share you with him.”

You were amazed that he could refer to his own son with such disdain, but then again, you knew how jealous he could get.  

“If you’re mine then take the ring off,” you suggested between panting breaths.

“If you’re mine then take it off for me,” he countered.  His left hand was travelling up your neck and you grabbed it by the wrist.  He pulled back to look at you as you brought his fingers to your mouth, kissing the tips of them before sucking on his ring finger, deeper and deeper, until it was poking down your throat and the ring was at your lips.  Lubricating it with your spit and spinning it with your tongue, you used your teeth to pull the ring slowly off of his finger.  He gasped a little as you opened your mouth and displayed it for him on your tongue, before spitting it out and across the room; it made a tiny little clinking noise as it hit your floor.

“Fuck,” he growled, the sound deep in his throat and dripping with desperation.

It felt like his hand never left your neck that night, like he was trying to claim you in every way he could all at once.  He was so possessive over you, ironically.  It was hard not to feel like your whole life was waiting.  Waiting for the semester to end so the next one could begin.  Waiting to graduate and get a job and finally begin your real adult life.  Waiting for the marks Andy left on your skin to fade so you didn’t have to wear a turtleneck in June.

Waiting for Jacob to find out, like he inevitably would.

Waiting for Andy to leave Laurie, or at least do something to make it seem like this was going somewhere.  

The thing about Andy was that he had this magical ability to make you stop worrying, in a way nobody and nothing else could.  When you were apart, reality would set in again and you’d decide you needed to confront him the next time you saw him.  It wasn’t even that you needed him to commit to you, specifically, you just needed to know what was going on— because how could he stay married through all this?  He needed to leave her, not for you but for himself.  You would get yourself all worked up and then he’d show up and soothe you until you forgot what you wanted to say in the first place.  When you were together, the future didn’t matter anymore, and neither did everything that was wrong about what you were doing.

It was like living in a dream, a really strange dream.  You were drowning in him, just like you’d known you would, but you didn’t want to stop.  You didn’t want to stop the secret dates when you gave your friends and boyfriend some excuse about having to study, the rendezvous in the back of his car, the midnight phone calls where he was whispering so his wife wouldn’t hear.

You figured that after all this time of being a good girl— the perfect daughter, the perfect student, the perfect girlfriend, the kind of girl you’d take home to mom— you deserved to let go.  You deserved to have fun.

[amazingphanisnotonfire-imagines]

Sweet Pea//the other one (part 2)

hey! no prompts tonight because i have been super busy today and just haven’t had the time to write them, however i will be working on them again from tomorrow so yay! anyway, to say sorry, here’s the second part of ‘the other one’. this is the first part! i know it ended on a bit of a cliffhanger so hopefully this makes up for it! enjoy! 

“Sweet Pea!” You squeal when you feel a pair of arms wrap around your waist. Your feet kick against the dusty ground as he lifts you up, but when he chuckles in your ear and his hot breath fans over your cheeks, you soon still in his arms, now trying to focus on settling your heartbeat. 

He smells like sunscreen and vanilla ice cream and you feel yourself become dizzy, now suddenly extremely thankful that he’s still holding you. You look around at the rest of your friends, none of them paying attention to the two of you, they’re all two busy either sun bathing or jumping into the water that fills the quarry. 

Despite the warnings from your mom about swimming in the water, you have already been in. The rest of her warnings have proven useless, ‘don’t hang out with serpents’ and ‘be nice to your sister’ are the two main ones she’s told you for as long as you can remember, and they’re both stupid. 

Sweet Pea spins you around and the two of you laugh loudly, causing a few of the serpents to look in your direction. You end up making eye contact with Toni when he eventually stops and she sends you a knowing look that makes you quickly drop her gaze. 

“Put me down!” You giggle once you’ve recovered and he reluctantly lets go. You turn around to face him a bright smile on your face that fades when you look at him. Your jaw drops at the sight of his bare chest, Toni and Fangs cough behind you and you quickly close your mouth and look at his face instead. 

“Like what you see?” He asks and wiggles his eyebrows. You roll your eyes and shove him slightly, deciding that maybe it’s best not to face him right now. So instead you turn around and look for Sadie who’s been put in charge of the drinks. 

“No, I’m just surprised to see you without your serpent jacket, I thought it was attached.” You tease and he huffs.  

“So, where did the Mayor of Riverdale think her doting daughter is today?” 

“Shopping with Betty and Veronica.” You smile and take a sip of your drink.

“Damn.” He sighs and you frown at him. 

“What?” You ask, your tone filled with worry and your eyes scan over him, trying to find out what’s wrong. 

“It’s just. I don’t know how you’re gonna explain this.” 

“Explain wha-” You furrow your eyebrows and watch as his frown turns into a smirk, but he cuts you off by picking you up and throwing you into the water. He runs and jumps in after you and you shove him when you both come up for air. 

“I hate you so fucking much.” You say, despite the large grin on your face. 

“No you don’t.” 

Your tears rolls down the glossy paper and onto your pyjama pants and you throw the photo to the floor. It’s no longer a happy memory, a candid moment between the two of you captured by Toni, it’s a reminder of what used to be.

It reminds you of something you thought was real, when in reality it’s never been. 

Lying back on your bed, you stare up at the ceiling and count the cracks. It’s the only thing you’ve done for the past two days. You manage to convince your mom that you’ve caught something so you don’t have to go to school and she won’t let anyone in. 

Josie has tried on multiple occasions to talk to you, but anytime she even tries to, you shut her down by staring at her until she leaves. Toni had tried to catch up with you when you found out, but you practically ran all the way home and she knew better than to try to follow. 

She knows you need time. 

You need to be alone to try and figure out where this leaves you. 

You’re not entirely sure you know who you are right now. You spent so long loving Sweet Pea and wishing for a future that could be. 

You searched for clues and hints in his texts, wondered what it meant when he hugged you for what felt like longer than normal, and tried to stop yourself from smiling when he bought you random gifts ‘just because’.  

Now though, now that you’ve taken off your rose tinted glasses and seen the world for the grey bleakness that it actually is, you realize that none of those things meant anything. And all those nights spent worrying that something was wrong, was because of her. He loved her, and not you. 

You heard the hurt in his voice when she shut him down, it’s how you sound when you talk about him. You know what it looks like when you’re in love with someone who doesn’t feel the same, and now so does he. 

And it’s shit. 

After a week of moping in your bed and faking a migraine, your mom finally forces you to go to school, despite your protests of not wanting to kill anyone with your totally real flu. 

And so finally, you clutch your books close to your chest and cross the threshold of Riverdale High. 

It looks no different, nobody looks at you, nobody even acknowledges you, something they have never done. It’s like you’re the most important McCoy, why would they? And so you breath a sigh of relief as you make your way to your first class. 

You pass Josie and her lips part as if to say something, however they quickly close again and you pass her in silence. 

Your almost at your class when you hear your name being called and you curse quietly. 

What does he want? 

You want to cry. Why does he have to keep being here? Why does he have to keep forcing you to remember that he exists and that he doesn’t want you. 

“Y/n, please?” He begs, his voice cracking and you feel your heart break all over again. You take a shaky breath before forcing yourself to turn around and face the brown eyed boy who’s staring at you with so much sadness in his eyes that you think he’s gonna burst. 

“Yes?” You force out and try to smile at him, however it comes out as more of a grimace and so you just purse your lips and wait for him to answer. 

“Can we talk?” He asks and you look behind you. 

“I er- I have a class to get to.” 

“I know.” He nods. “Chemistry with Miss Click. You sit beside Neil and he throws pencils at his brother Will who sits on the other side of you. Toni sits three rows behind you and constantly passes notes to you that sometimes make you laugh so hard you snort and then have to pretend that you’re just coughing when Miss Click asks you if you’re okay. On Thursdays, Olivia is always late, and when she does turn up she always offers you the last of her gum because you help her catch up on what she’s missed.” 

“Sweet Pe-” 

“It’ll only take a minute.” He interrupts and you sigh before reluctantly nodding. 

The corridor suddenly empties and you feel yourself shrink under his gaze. 

“I know you love me.” He says and your eyes widen. 

“What?! I er- who told you?” 

“Fangs.” He says and you let out a deflated sigh. “But it’s okay, because I’m glad he did. It made me realize something. I know what classes you have and who you sit beside in each one. I know that when you’re sad you always want chocolate and when you’re angry you want tea. You cry when you see a cute cat on the street and you always pet dogs no matter what, even if they are barking at you and are literally about to rip your arm off. You don’t like dark chocolate but you’ll eat biscuits covered in dark chocolate, and you like peas but you don’t like sweetcorn because you think they try too hard to be different. I know the excuses you tell your mom and I know the ridiculously stupid lengths you go to to keep them up like bribing the chess club to pretend that you’re apart of them and even convincing the yearbook committee to publish a picture of you with the club.” 

“Why are you telling me this?” You smile sadly and he mirrors your expression. 

“Because, I know you. I know how much you love all of us and I know how hard you fought for all of us. I know that you always buy Fangs Twizzlers whenever you’re at a shop, and you buy me Twinkies and Toni Milk Duds because they make us happy. I know all of these useless facts about you, and I know so much more. And I know nothing about Josie, other than what everybody else knows. I know her as a McCoy, but I know you as Y/n. And-and, I love you Y/n.” 

“What?” Your jaw drops and he bites his lip anxiously. 

“I am so, so sorry. I should have told you it’s just Josie didn’t want anybody to know and I wanted to make her happy. But I made you and everybody else worry and I ended up making you miserable. I have been an idiot. I thought I liked Josie but I think I was just pretending that I didn’t love you because I didn’t want to ruin what he had if you didn’t feel the same way. 

“Sweet Pea.” You laugh nervously, not really sure what else to do. He reaches out and grabs your hands, pulling you close to him. 

“You’re not the other one Y/n, you’re the right one.” 

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[diegos-butt]

Electricity chapter 4

Summary: For the first time in her life, Melody Williams is moving out of her hometown to Minnesota where she got a job as a crime journalist for the Minnesota Daily. But this city does not only have a new job for her to offer. What will happen when she crosses paths with detective Walter Marshall? Heads up, a little electricity is involved ✨

Walter Marshall x Melody Williams (Curvy OFC)

Warnings: mention of murder, a bit of fighting

Wordcount: 3.9k

A/N: don’t do anything reckless y’all. Let me know what you think of this chapter. 😘

Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3

•••

Somehow the universe was on my side for once. Once I got home, I noticed I had a new text message. I was surprised to see that it was from Walter. He asked if I got home safe. What a gentleman.

I figured he just wanted to make sure I got home safe, I didn’t think too much of it. If anything, I didn’t think we would end up texting each other for three days in a row. Did I wish that would happen? Yes. Did I actually believe it could happen? Definitely no. I wasn’t the only one who couldn’t believe it.

“Have you been texting with him again last night?” Gia asked when she saw me yawn and stretch my arms out above me. We were having a slow morning at work, and this was the third time she showed up at my desk.

“Maybe,” I smirked. Even though it started a little awkward, we were still texting. After I had texted him back that I got home safe, and he send a thumbs up emoji, it was silent for a moment. I had thought about what I could possibly text him next. I grabbed my phone to compose a text when a new message already popped up.

Walter: Still sure you want to live here?

A smile had formed on my face. He thinks he is funny huh. I was wondering what I could text back, and I thought to myself: what would I tell my friends to text back in a situation like this? Normally, I would never listen to my own flirting advice, but at that moment, I did.

Melody: Might stick around. Heard the detectives in town are quite something.

Since then, we had been texting constantly. Alright, maybe not constantly, we were both busy during the day, but we spend a good amount of the late evening texting. We got to know each other a little better. I told him about my family, and I shared a few awkward stories. For example, I told him about the time I was too stubborn to put on sunscreen during the summer, and I got sunburned to bad, I would never forget to apply it ever again. I still apply it every day, even in the winter.

In return he told me all about the shenanigans he pulled as a kid, and that he had a kid himself, Faye. At first, I was a little bit surprised, but then I figured we would have a babysitter once we would get children. Mel, get it together. You are not even dating him, you don’t even know if he likes you and you are already thinking about having children with him?! Our kids would look damn cute though..

“Earth to Mel! Stop daydreaming for once, and get some work done.” Carmen laughed and threw a pen at me, which I skilfully dodged, but it did wake me up from my little daydream.

“There is nothing to do! No development in the murder case and that’s all I am covering right now,” I said and spun around in my chair. “I am so bored right now, I don’t even know what to do.”

“Text your man, see if he has any new information?” Gia suggested.

“Hmm, he avoided talking about the case. Maybe they are having trouble getting a match with the murderer on that dating app.” I had told them about what happened the other day at the police station. I might have a hearing problem now because they had screamed so loud, I’m convinced the entire building heard them. It’s safe to say, they were very excited and convinced he liked me.

“Besides, he’s not my man!” I said while throwing the pen I picked up back at Carmen. “I mean, I wish, but he is so out of my league.”

“No one is out of your league, and I swear he’s into you. I saw the way he looked at you at the bar and at the crime scene. I have an eye for these things, trust me,” Carmen said and dodged the pen as well.

“Whatever,” I sighed. I spun around in my chair a few more times before an idea popped up in my head. “Guys, what if we set up an account on that dating app?”

“And then what? Meet with a creep? No thank you,” Gia said with a disgusting look on her face.

“I’m not a fan of that plan either. Please don’t do something like that Mel. Don’t do anything stupid. That could be very dangerous, and you know it,” Carmen agreed.

“It’s not like I’m actually going to meet him. I just want to see if I can figure out what profile he is using this time.” I stood up and looked out of the window. I oversaw the city, the sky was grey, and it was slightly raining. “Alright, fine. Can one of you give me something to do in that case? Otherwise I will make a dating profile.”

Later that day I laid in bed, trying to sleep. It was 1am and I had been trying to sleep for two hours, but I was still wide awake. I felt restless and didn’t know what I could do to fall asleep. I had tried to drink some tea, didn’t help. I watched an episode of The Office, didn’t help either. It also didn’t help Walter hadn’t texted me back for hours now. I wondered if he was already getting tired of me.

You know, I could, maybe, possible, just make an account on that dating app and swipe for a while. Maybe I would come across someone that matches the profile that the murderer would use. Gia and Carmen will probably kill me though.

I grabbed my phone. I hesitated for a second, but I downloaded the dating app. After I made an account and uploaded some cute selfies, I finally got to do some swiping. The most guys that came up were pretty basic. They didn’t spike my interest at all. They were the typical white boy, all with the same haircut and they looked like they did not only skip legday, also arm- and chestday. Half of them also posed proudly with a fish they had caught. As if that’s something girls like. Too bad none of these men look a little like Walter.

I also came across a few good looking, decent guys. I knew that was not what the police were looking for, so I swiped them to the left. The next profile was of a guy who was way too good looking. He also only had one picture. It was obviously that this picture was stolen from a model. The bio creeped me out a little. He said he liked to hike in nature, and he enjoyed the silence. You enjoy the silence? Are you trying to creep me out on purpose or what? I swiped him to the right. It was weird but I felt like this could be the one the police were looking for.

I swiped for a little while longer. Swiping a few sketchy looking profiles to the right until I felt my eyelids drop. Yawning, I put my phone aside and finally fell asleep.

The next morning my alarm woke me up. I stretched out after I turned the alarm off and grabbed my phone. There were a few messages, one of them was from Walter, but what spiked my interest was that I had a few matches on the dating app. I wanted to check it out, but I noticed I had to get out of bed and take a shower if I wanted to be at work on time.

After I had showered and got dressed, I grabbed my phone. The first message I opened was from Walter. He had texted me at 3am.

Walter: We were working late today, no breakthrough in the case. Missed texting with you, can I make it up by calling you tonight?

My heart skipped a few beats. He wanted to call? With me?! I stared at the message for a few seconds while I felt some butterflies flying around in my stomach. Okay, no need to freak out. He just wants to call, he is not proposing. Yet….

Melody: I missed texting with you too. And of course, you can call me tonight. I look forward to it.

Before I could overanalyse my response, I hit send. Take a deep breath Mel. No need to read into this too much. I checked my other messages and texted my mom and Gia back. My mom wanted to know how I was doing, and Gia needed an approval of her outfit of the day.

I walked to the kitchen and grabbed some milk and cereal. While I was eating my breakfast, I noticed the notifications from the dating app. There were a few new matches, and one of them had send a message. It was from the guy with the creepy profile. His name was John. Millions of people are named John, you could’ve at least been a bit more creative while choosing a name.

John: What do you say good looking? Let’s skip the talking stage and just meet up?

I shivered at the thought of meeting up with this guy, but he could be the one they’re looking for, right? I decided to just go to work and deal with it later.

The workday was slow and boring. I finished a few articles but spend most of my time gossiping with Gia about our favourite celebrities which annoyed Carmen at first, because she wanted to get some work done, but eventually she joined us. I also told them about Walter’s text from that morning. If I weren’t sure I already had a hearing problem from their screams before, I sure as hell would have one now. Those girls made sounds so high, I’m surprised the windows didn’t crack.

The rest day went by slow, and before I knew it the clock showed me it was 3pm. I had decided to not tell Gia and Carmen about the fact I downloaded the dating app and was considering meeting with ‘John’. I mean, I would inform Walter about it. I wasn’t a complete idiot. No need to stress those girls out. Why would I?

My phone buzzed and I picked it up. Another message from ‘John’.

John: What’s it going to be beautiful?

I thought about it, and what could go wrong? I would inform the police, aka Walter. Besides that, I can put up a fight. It’s not like I am a damsel in distress. Plus, the upside of being a little bigger; I’m harder to kidnap, you got to be pretty strong to even lift me up. I shrugged my shoulders and texted him back.

Melody: Sure.

Short, but clear. I looked around the office, Gia and Carmen both sat at their desks typing on their computers. They had no idea what I was doing. They would probably kill me, right here right now. Before I could change my mind about not telling them, my phone buzzed again.

John: Tonight, 7pm? A new bar just opened up, we could get a drink there.

The rest of the message contained the address of the place. I googled it before I answered. The website of the place popped up, and as I suspected, it was clearly a fake website. Bingo. I texted him back, saying I agreed with his plan.

The rest of the hours I had to spend at the office went by surprisingly quick. Soon people were starting to leave, and so were Gia, Carmen and me. We parted ways in the entrance hall, and I drove home. Once I was home, I looked in the fridge, and I came to the conclusion I had forgotten to do groceries. Again.

I wasn’t in the mood to order take out, so I quickly drove to the supermarket. Unfortunately, unlike last time, I didn’t ran into Walter. Shit, I still have to text him about my meeting with ‘John’. I’ll do it once I get back home.

I drove back home and started making dinner. After I ate dinner, and did the dishes, I looked at the clock. It was already 6.30pm and I had to leave soon. Glaring down at my outfit, I decided I wanted to wear something more comfortable. I went to my bedroom and stood in front of my closet. I grabbed an old pair of jeans and a simple long-sleeved black tee. No way I’m going to dress pretty for this guy. Wait, what if he actually is the guy from the picture? Nah, not gonna happen. Shit, I still need to text Walter.

I needed to hurry up and put the tee on. While putting on the jeans, I suddenly heard a sound I didn’t like to hear. I look down and saw the jeans have ripped in the area between my thighs. Thick thighs save lives? They sure as hell don’t save jeans. I thought while throwing them across the room. Quickly I grabbed another, old, pair of jeans and put it on. I put my shoes on and fixed my hair.

I ran into the living room again and grabbed my jacket. With my car keys and phone in one hand, I locked the door behind me with the other one and made my way to my car. 6.45pm, right on time. I started the car and drove off.

While I stood in front of a red light, I remembered I hadn’t texted Walter. Shit. Contemplating what to do, I decided to call him. He didn’t answer. Shit. I left a voicemail instead. The red light turned green and I continued driving. Once I had to stop in front of another red light, I decided to text him as well. I noticed how the streets around me became emptier and emptier.

The street where I was supposed to meet ‘John’ was dark and pretty empty. The sun was settling down, making it even darker. I parked my car at a parking lot and checked my phone. No response from Walter. Not yet at least. I was alone in the parking lot and decided to wait for a few minutes.

Alright, maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. Maybe this was pretty dumb. And why did I forgot to text Walter. Why couldn’t I have done that sooner?! You know what, I’m just gonna go. This was dumb. And reckless.

But before I could start my car, someone opened my door. A man stood there, he was tall but not very muscular and he did not look like the profile picture at all. He looked at me with a creepy grin that made me regret doing this.

“Hello there, nice to meet you. I’m John and you must be Melody. Why don’t you step out of the car?” he said. I didn’t knew what to say, so I nodded and wanted to step out, but he spoke again. “Why don’t you leave that phone of yours here, we don’t need it do we?”

I knew I had to play by his rules. So, I left my phone and stepped out. He took the keys out of my hands and locked my car. I tried to keep thinking straight. Walter should be here soon, right?

John kept talking to me in the meanwhile. He kept telling me how pretty I was and how glad he was to meet with me. I stopped listening when I heard my phone go off in the car. Walter. If that is not him but my mom, I will do something to her.

“Come on, let’s get away from that car, shall we? The bar is right around the corner,” he spoke. We were the only people in the parking lot. I noticed he had parked his car a few feet away from me. Something was definitely not right.

“You know, I’m actually good here. Could you give me my car keys back though?” I asked. I knew he wouldn’t, but I had to stall. I really hoped the police would show up anytime now.

“Ah please? Just one drink?” He took a step closer to me and grabbed my wrist. I quickly twisted my wrist, releasing it from his grip. He looked at me with an unpleased look, and I suddenly felt a presence behind me. Never sneak up on me you dumbass. I thought as I felt the presence got closer.

Once I felt someone was right behind me, I didn’t waste another second. I took a step to the right and shoved my elbow straight into the guy’s nose with full force. He grunted in pain and when I looked behind me, I saw he grabbed his bloody nose with both his hands.

“Creepy Greg from finance?!” I say surprised. “Could have seen that one coming.”

“You bitch!” the guy in front of me yelled. He raised his fist and threw it at my face. Well, he attempted it. I dodged it and slammed my fist into his face instead.

“Sorry, that might leave a mark,” I smiled.

Creepy Greg from finance was still standing behind me, crying, and telling me I broke his nose and that I would pay for it. Make me.

I looked back at the other guy, and he swung his arms at me again, trying to hit me. I ducked to the side a few times, avoiding being hit. Sadly, I couldn’t escape all his attempts to hit me. His fist met the left side of my face. I felt my blood boiling from anger. I took a deep breath and raised my fists. While I was about to throw a punch, I heard loud noises. Cars. Thank God, they’re here.

Before I could comprehend what was going on, policemen were already running towards us. One tackled creepy Greg and a familiar figure tackled the other guy and threw a hard punch in his face. This is not supposed to turn me on. At all.

Walter got up and handed the guy over to another cop. The guy looked at me in disgust, but I didn’t see it. My eyes were focussed on Walter. He closed the gap between us by taking two passes.

“First of all, that was insanely stupid and dangerous and very dumb. This was reckless behaviour! But we will discuss this later,” he said vigorously.

“Yeah, I figured,” I said. I opened my mouth to continue speaking, but he spoke first.

“Are you alright? Are you hurt?” he said with a concerned look in his blue eyes, and his hand caressed the cheek that had been hit. As his rough, calloused fingers touched my skin I felt a spark of electricity going down my spine. His other hand found its way to my waist, and he pulled me a little closer to him. His body radiated a welcoming warmth, and I smelled his familiar musky cologne.

“I’m fine, just got hit once. You should see creepy Greg’s nose,” I snickered.

“I did, and you sure know how to throw a punch,” he smiled. “I’m glad you’re okay. And I’m glad you called and texted me. I’m sorry I missed the call. If I hadn’t missed it none of this would have happened.”

“No, don’t be sorry. This was a pretty stupid, reckless plan and I should have called sooner,” I quickly answered.

“It was indeed reckless and stupid,” he sighed. “Look, we need to take your statement. Why don’t I take you home after?”

“I’d like that, but my car is here,” I said while pointing at it. His hand left my cheek, but his other hand remained on my waist. He was so close to me, and I felt so comfortable despite what happened a few minutes prior.

“We’ll take care of that, don’t worry.” He grabbed my hand, interlaced his fingers with mine and guided me to one of his colleagues. My heart was racing and skipped a few beats at the same time. His hand felt warm and comforting. I never wanted to let go.

We reached his colleague and he started asking me questions and he squeezed my hand before letting go. He walked away to speak to some of his other colleagues and I immediately missed his hand, it felt like mine had fitted perfectly in his.

I told his colleague what happened, and I could see he thought it was really reckless, but I also saw in his eyes he was kind of impressed. He complimented me on how I stayed calm, but he did tell me to never do anything like this again.

Once he dismissed me, I looked around for Walter. I noticed him already walking towards me, and he offered me a little smile.

“So, Liam is going to take your car down to the station and I will drive you home, alright?”

“Thank you,” I smiled at him. “Can I get something from my car? My phone and keys are still in there.”

After we got my stuff out of the car, he pointed at a big truck. We walked towards it in silence, and he placed his hand on my lower back. Oh god, please keep that hand there forever. Okay, I might be incredibly touch starved.

Unfortunately, we reached the car too soon and his hand left my back to open the door for me. I climbed in and he closed it. He walked around the truck, took place behind the drivers’ wheel, and started the car. While he drove into the street he asked for my address.

We sat in silence next to each other, the radio softly hummed a rock song. I looked out of the window, it was dark and suddenly I realized that what I had done tonight, could have ended badly. Really badly.

“Hey, are you okay?” Walter put his hand on my thigh but when I looked at him, his hand shot up to my cheek to wipe a falling tear away.

“Yeah, yeah. Just realizing that this maybe wasn’t a smart thing to do,” I offered him a small smile. His hand left my cheek and found its way back to my thigh. The warmth coming from it spread throughout my entire body and I didn’t think twice and placed my hand on top of his. He turned his hand around and interlaced his fingers with mine for the second time that night.

He smiled at me and focussed on the road again. We were near my home, but I did not want to be alone now. Heck, I wanted to be near him. I didn’t want him to go. It felt so good to just be around him. I have never felt so comfortable around someone so quickly.

He parked the truck in front of my apartment building, not letting go of my hand.

“So, we’re here,” I mumbled. He grunted in response. We sat in the truck in silence for a few more minutes until it started to rain. I knew it was now or never, he was not going to offer going inside with me. Not after what happened. Perhaps he thought I wanted to be alone.

I felt anxious, but I decided to just ask it.

“Could you stay with me for a while?” I avoided looking at him, but he squeezed my hand and his other hand gently grabbed my chin, making me look into his eyes.

“Sure thing doll.”

•••

> chapter five

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[x-childish-x]

2 and 16 with Padawan Anakin ❤️

Rushed Rescue

Pairing: Padawan Anakin Skywalker x fem!Senator!reader

Fandom: Star Wars

Warnings: reader is kidnapped, mention to being tortured, cuts, blood, angst?, dark!anakin

Word Count: 736

A/N: Thank you for the request and I hope you enjoy. I’m sorry this is a bit on the shorter side but I really liked this idea and felt it was best to leave it shorter than go super in depth. 

Summary: You are captured instead of Anakin’s mom by the Tusken Raiders and Anakin rushes to save you.

(gif not mine!)

"You have to stay here Padme."

"No, Ani, she is one of my best friends. I need to help."

Anakin turned to the older girl, a sinister look on his face, a look that almost frightened Padme, "No. Its too dangerous. These are good people.. please stay here. I won't be long."

"You better not," Padme tried to joke, "Please bring (y/n) back home safe."

Anakin didn't waste any time in getting onto the swoop bike and lurching off. He needed to save you, and he had no clue what he would do if he couldn't save you, or if he was too late. He needed you in his life. After the same "dream" occurring to him twice in a row, Anakin was convinced the Tusken Raiders had taken you somehow. He was convinced you were being tortured by them, for reasons that were unknown to him.

The thought of losing you alone was enough to make Anakin feel absolutely feral. He had woke up in gut-wrenching sobs the past two nights from the nightmares that involved you. It didn't help him that you were "away" on some trip for the senate of Naboo. When Padme had come to his apartment today announcing that nobody could get through to your commlink, Anakin immediately set off to Tatooine.

The ride took all too long for Anakin. He spoke to a Tusken Raider, getting information about where you were located, and was forced to wait until night to go after you. He moved silently and quickly throughout the camp, desperate to save you somehow. Of course, as most things go for Anakin, one of the Tusken Raiders spotted him, only furthering the challenge to get to you.

Your head rose from its drooped position at the sound of screams and a lightsaber. You closed your eyes to silently pray to the stars that it was your love, Anakin. The screaming seemed to last for far too long, and you almost let out a scream yourself as a figure burst into the tent you were in.

"Anakin?" You croaked out upon seeing the stressed boy.

"(Y/n)!" Anakin cried out as he rushed to your side, quickly trying to undo the bindings on your wrists. Upon freeing your hands you collapsed into his arms, "Oh.. princess.. you're okay now, you're safe. I've got you."

"Ani, what'd you do?"

You gazed up at the boy while he looked over the various cuts on your body. He hated seeing you this way. Battered and bruised, blood dried on your skin and staining your clothes. It seemed as if his nightmares had been him seeing things through your eyes. You were no better or worse than the condition he'd seen you in, in his dreams last night.

You decided to speak up, taking his focus off of your injuries, "If you broke the code I swear.."

"It was worth it to ensure your safety... Senator," Anakin spoke making you shake your head at the formality, "I just... I killed all these filthy raiders. They won't be able to ever do something like this again."

"Anakin what were you thinking! Obi-Wan will kill you now! Anakin, they'll punish you, maybe even suspend you! I love you and thank you for saving me but that was so stupid!"

Anakin glared down at you, cradling your weak body in his arms, "I saved you, I don't care what punishment I get. It might have been stupid... but.. and also kinda cool, right?"

You shook your head, "No.. just stupid."

Anakin huffed at you before standing up, lifting you with him. He carried you out of the tent before deciding to speak up, noticing how you deliberately focused only on his face, "I was scared (y/n). I was having these dreams about what they were doing to you and it terrified me. I thought I was going to lose you..."

You snorted, "You didn’t think you’d be able to get rid of me just yet did you?”

"I wasn't planning to."

As Anakin set you down on the swoop bike you sighed, seeing how he truly didn't see the damage he'd done. He would do absolutely anything when it came to your safety, "Ani... I... thank you for saving me. I appreciate it."

"Always," Anakin whispered as he leaned forward and kissed your forehead.

"And Ani?"

"Yes?

"Do you have any water?"

"Right here."

"Thank you."

"Always."

[maxwell-grant]

One last one for the moment; top five superheroes who definitely AREN'T Pulp Heroes, but could be with a little tweaking?

Oof, that's a hard one. It's a hard one because, again, there ultimately isn't that much separation between the two to the point there's enough of a hard line in there to work with, but I guess the cat's out of the bag now that I've staked claims on there being differences between them.

Okay so, not counting superheroes who are deliberately modeled after actual pulp heroes, so no Tom Strong or Night Raven here. I'm sticking mainly with comic book superheroes (barring one oddball exception) since the medium separation is important), who I think could become pulp heroes with some tweaking.

5: Captain America

Sort of cheating because I already covered it here, but I definitely have to include Captain America in here, especially in the stories they actively go for a "pulp" vibe as well as the earliest ones.

Fun fact about Marvel: As Timely, they actually began life as pulp publishers. Not just pulp publishers, but specializing in some of the sleaziest, ghastliest magazines of the era, and you can bet this carried over to their superheroes. Where as DC's superheroes took inspiration from the big pulp heroes such as The Shadow and Doc Savage, Timely's superheroes seemed instead much more inspired by Weird Tales stories and Poverty Row horror films, and even in the 60s, Marvel never really abandoned their horror roots, the trick was just using them as a baseline to create superheroes. In DC, the world's first contact with superheroes begins with the world looking in wonder at a friendly strongman. In Marvel, it began with the world looking in panicked horror at a flaming monster rampaging through the streets desperately trying to not burn everything it touches. It should come to little surprise then that the majority of characters I'm including in this list are Marvel characters.

People think Captain America's first comics largely consisted of him fighting Nazis left and right, but they were actually much more often based around him encountering monsters and creatures of horror, like the above panel where it looks like Cap's staring down the beginning of Berserk's Eclipse (RIP Miura).

The early Captain America comics pretty much consisted of Kirby dipping his toe into the monster comics he'd make in the 50s which would later bleed into the 60s Marvel entourage. They even tried repackaging Captain America into a horror anthology in the 50s titled "Captain America's Weird Tales", just imagine how different the character would be today if that somehow stuck.

Imagine a world where Steve Rogers never became leader of The Avengers, never got to become the shining beacon of heroism of an entire universe, and instead, when he was unfrosted, he woke up to find a world running rampant with crawling nightmares and Nazi tyranny, and he has no idea what's become of his former sidekick. That definitely sounds like the start of a promising pulp adventure.

4: Namor

Another Timely creation. In Namor's case, he didn't so much encounter horrors from beyond imagination, as much as HE was the terrifying thing beyond us ready to rampage upon mankind, whose first on-screen act consists of the calculated slaughter of a ship full of innocents. The first true villain protagonist of comic books. Not just an anti-hero, a villain intent on wiping out the human race.

And not just a cardboard supervillain, but the beautiful prince of a race of ugly fish monsters, a momma's boy who's doing what he thinks is right by warring with surface dwellers. While Namor's become largely defined by his gargantuan arrogance, here, he's almost childlike, despite being much more brutal and villainous here, spurred on by the whims of his mother, who even acknowledges that Namor had no real reason to kill the divers but did so anyway, and now encourages him to genocide. His mom even tells him "Go now, to the land of white people!", and the very last panel of the story even states he's on a "crusade against white men".

The massacre of explorers at the hands of something beyond their understanding. A monster born of an interracial coupling. A race of fish monsters with bulging eyes, antagonistic towards humanity but are shown to have positive traits just the same. A dash of racism. There is no mistaking The Sub-Mariner's pulp horror influence.

A non-white superhuman warrior born from a Lovecraftian horror story, who gradually moves away from his villainous crusade into becoming more of an anti-hero, never truly putting aside his hatred for humanity, remaining a temperamental, unpredictable outcast, with a strong, palpable undercurrent of anger in his stories. I could very easily buy Namor as having crawled out of a Weird Tales story and I can't think of other superheroes whose origins are as steeped deeply in pulp horror.

3: Doctor Fate

Technically we already have a pulp hero version of Doctor Fate in Doc Fate, and I'll get to him separately, but even besides him, the earliest Doctor Fate stories in particular feel very much like he's a character steeped in the worlds of pulp and pulp horror who decided to put on a superhero costume and show up in comic.

He's got a similar set-up to The Shadow, from the pulp Shadow in the sense that he's a mysterious, eerie crimefighter who dwells as a presence more often than an active character and who kills criminals without remorse, always watching and waiting for the right time to strike as a a wrathful old-testament force of vengeance, and from the radio Shadow due to him using superpowers to fight crime while being accompanied by a smart, fierce love interest.

Originally, Fate was not a sorcerer, but instead a scientist who discovered a way to manipulate atomic structure, of his and other things, thus making it appear that he can do magic (although we never see his face, and he's implied to be thousands of years old, before they settled on the Nabu origin). And going back to Lovecraft, a lot of it appears in the earliest Fate stories. Fate was given powers not by a sorcerer, but an alien worshipped as a god. He barely encounters traditional monsters, but instead contends with hidden races, zombie slaves, abandoned alien monoliths, and half man and half fish creatures. Fate may have actually been the very first pastiche of Lovecraft in pop culture.

And of course we can't forget the gloriousness of Doc Fate pulling an Indiana Jones on us.

2: Wolverine

I don't even think you'd have to tweak Wolverine at all. You'd just have to get him out of the costume and Avengers/X-Men associations (although the X-Men have a substantial background in pulp sci-fi stories like Slan and Odd John, so they aren't really at odds here), maybe tone down his powers a bit and, that's it. Logan's already the kind of character who has such a varied sandbox history, whose powers can lead to so many different scenarios, that it's not a stretch at all to picture Wolverine in the usual pulp hero scenarios.

You can have half-naked Wolverine running around in the jungle with animals Tarzan-style, take him to Savage Land if you wanna throw dinosaurs in there. He's already Marvel's foremost "wandering samurai/cowboy" character which was one of the stock and trade types of the pulps. Western? Done. Samurai? Done. Wuxia? Just put him in China and add a couple extra fantasy elements. Wanna make a sword and sorcery story with him? He already comes with a bunch of knives and savagery and ability to survive grisly injuries. Horror? The MCU is crawling with them, or alternatively, tell a story from the perspective of someone who's being hunted down by Wolverine. Wanna tell a detective/noir/post-apocalypse story? Logan's right there.

Wanna have him crossover with pulp heroes? He's lived through the 1800s and 1900s and traveled all over the world, you could feasibly have him meet up with just about any of them. Logan may actually be the purest example of your question, because he's very much not a Pulp Hero, and yet, he definitely feels like a character who could have been one, at just about any point in the history of pulp magazines. He's perfect for it.

1: Wario

WAAA-okay, look, bear with me for a second here, I'm not just picking Wario because I love oddball choices and he's one of my favorite characters, I got some logic to this.

Okay so, the first question here: is Mario a superhero? While I'm usually adverse to calling characters prominent outside of comic books superheroes (hence why I'm definitely not interested in debating whether Harry Potter or Goku or Link or Frodo are superheroes), I do think it's a pretty shut case that, yes, Mario is a superhero. Superheroes don't just come in the form of skintight crimefighters, right from the start comic books have had varied types of superheroes appearing in comics and comic strips. For example, the "funny animal" superheroes are a type older than superhero comics, and they were arguably not only the most successful type of superhero of the 40s-50s era, but arguably defined trends dominating nonfunny animal superheroes, traits that predated or influenced Captain Marvel as well as Otto Binder's reshaping of Superman that defined much of superhero convention as we know it. It's part of why the question of "Is Sonic a superhero" has a very clear Yes as an answer.

So upon establishing that, yes, funny cartoon characters can be and are superheroes too, is Mario one? Well, I'd say yes. He's got an iconic uniform, he's got superpowers, he goes on fantastical adventures, he is both a nebulously general do-gooder as well as having a clear mission as protector of the Mushroom Kingdom. His adventures span multiple storytelling formats, he's got catchphrases, he even dresses up in Superman's colors and has a Super prefix iconically associated with him. Not a superhero the way we usually think of, but a superhero nonetheless.

And Wario? Well, putting aside Wario-Man who's more of a running gag than anything, Wario does just about everything Mario does. He's got all the traits that define Mario as a superhero short of a Super prefix and the selfless mission (which isn't exactly a rule). He goes around and gets into crazy adventures, he picks up items, beats bad guys, conquers the odds, and gets some kind of prize for it. He's got Mario's physical traits, and Mario's costume, and just about the same name short of a single letter. The caveat being, of course, that he's Wario, and so everything Mario is or does has to be exaggerated to gross extreme.

Mario is paunchy and strong, Wario's round and built like a powerlifter. Mario's got a friendly face and a fluffy mustache, Wario's got a massive horrible grin and jagged razors for a stache. Mario is a bit of an overeater, Wario can and will eat anything in front of him. Mario gets around with acrobatics and magic power-ups, Wario brute forces his way through everything and just rolls with whatever injuries he picks up along the way.

Mario gets fire powers by consuming magic flowers. Wario sets himself on fire and barrels around destroying everything in his path. Mario harnesses the elements or abilities of beings around him to clear obstacles and solve puzzles, Wario gets turned into a zombie, a vampire or a drunk to get the same things done. Mario befriends and rides dinosaurs who raised him from infancy, Wario piledrives dinosaurs and then uses their bodies to beat up more dinosaurs. Mario pals around with fellow heroes, princesses and friendly fantasy creatures, Wario pals around with aliens, witches, mad scientists, cab drivers, and lanky weirdos. Mario always ends his adventures joyfully leaping to the next one, Wario usually ends up either cackling in a pile of treasure or completely broke.

Mario races through plains to rescue princesses, Wario invades pyramids to hunt for treasure. Mario jumps through planets with baby stars guiding his path, Wario crashes into the Amazon jungle and fistfights the devil. You can see where I'm going with this.

If you were to take one of Nintendo's heroes to make them into pulp heroes, Wario, specifically the Wario Land Wario, may be the only one who really could do it, because in essence, he's the videogame equivalent of Professor Challenger. He's Bluto moonlighting as Indiana Jones, the weird brute adventurer for weird brute adventures where everything's off limits and you can trust our intrepid hero, who really shouldn't be a hero on all accounts, to deliver us a good time, give or take a couple deaths, scams, shams and oh-damns to complete said mad treasure hunts.