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momobani · 4 months

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Groundhog Day

THE WAY I hate YOU - chapter 5 - 10.9k

&team Nicholas x fem!reader - arranged marriage AU

SERIES MASTERLIST

Sum: the one where even coffee can’t save you.

Warnings: swearing, sarcasm, a smidge of angst, mention of hospitals, implication of dysfunctional families, mention of wanting/not wanting kids, mention of food and alcohol, very suggestive stuff (smut separate chapter), mention of sex

Soundtrack rec: Close - Nick Jonas, Tove Lo

Taglist: @nichoswag @seokka0o @sseastar-main @hyuckslvr @ssshasssh @wtfisgoingright

A/N: please excuse the months of radio silence, sorry this took an age but i had to let this one cook properly, also life won’t leave me alone lol, it’s been hard lately, but hopefully this will get back on track at least a little <3

okayyy so there’s a bit of a formatting situation that needs explaining: basically the smut will be in a separate post linked within the chapter so that minors can just not interact with it and also the chapter doesn’t become 30k or some shit

You should have expected it really, at this point.

You should have known you would be running late. Well, not you specifically, but your husband.

“I told you to be ready by 2pm so we could leave.” you remind him as he runs around frantically, shirt still unbuttoned while he does his belt, toothbrush in mouth as he searches for a tie.

You lean on the doorway and roll your eyes when he waves a hand dismissively in your direction.

You decide you need to intervene.

“Go back to the bathroom, I’ll get you a tie.” you usher him away from his closet. He hums something that sounds like a protest but obliges and disappears.

You puff out your cheeks in thought, scanning the options Nicholas had laid out in the drawer of his closet.

If you were your fashion diva husband, what would you do?

He was wearing a light blue button up and black slacks, which were very simple, so the tie should bring something to the outfit. Your hand hovers over a silver tie with a tiny squares but settles over a dark blue paisley one instead.

It would look better with his suit jacket, you think as you pluck your selection from its little cubby hole.

You find Nicholas in the bathroom, toothbrush put back neatly in the little boba cup you used for both yours and his. He’s buttoned up the bottom three buttons but started focusing on his hair as if he just couldn’t settle on one thing to fix at a time.

“Step back.” you say, squeezing in between the sink and Nicholas so he can keep doing his hair while you work on his shirt. He glances at you as if questioning if you really wanted to do this but you ignore him.

You finish his buttons first, fingers nimbly popping the buttons through the holes while still holding the tie in one hand. Next, you reach up and pop Nicholas’ collar, threading the tie around his neck and bringing one end down the opposite side.

Your hands move without effort, looping the tie into a knot and tugging it tighter so it goes into place. You notice Nicholas hasn’t put on cologne yet because he smells neutrally clean like the soap in your shower. You also notice that he’s finished doing his hair and is just looking at you as you work his tie. You stare determinedly at the tie and not up at him but you feel his eyes burning a hole through you.

Nosy, you think.

You leave the last bit for him to adjust and step away.

“Thanks.” he says, tightening it accordingly. “How do you know how to tie a tie?” he asks, genuinely curious.

You were about to walk out of the bathroom after inspecting your lipstick in the mirror but his question catches your attention. You look at him for a moment.

“Who do you think did Maki’s until he learned to do it himself?” you say before walking out.

The thought sends you back suddenly. You remembered when you were a teenager and Maki was starting middle school, he had a uniform with a tie. Instead of going to your parents or the nanny that would sometimes take you to and from school, your tiny bean of a brother came to you, holding out his tie with a pout.

So of course you looked up how to tie a tie on the computer that sat in the living room, following the instructions on a Sunday afternoon as the sun set behind you. You practiced a million times, trying to get it perfect so Maki wouldn’t get laughed at by the other kids, that you were sure you could tie a tie in your sleep even to this day.

You just hadn’t done it in years, but being married to Nicholas meant doing all sorts of things.

Like running amber lights.

You’re driving instead of him toward the charity event your companies were participating in, and you just want to make it on time. Your parents had already started asking if you were there yet, your mother especially blowing up your phone. You tell Nicholas to turn it on silent, discarding it to the depths of your bag. He obeys, popping it in swiftly.

You’re almost there, mostly because you did run a couple of amber lights, and also took a shortcut through some small streets.

“We should be careful when we get there, a lot of people will be looking at us.” you say. You’d been thinking about how to bring it up, the fact that due to the nature of a public event like that, you needed to be on your best ‘married’ behaviour.

“Okay, Code Vermin it is.” Nicholas agrees. “Though, I doubt anyone will care about us, it’s a big event.”

“Regardless, I don’t want to give my parents any reason to lecture me.”

“Got it.”

When you arrive, you hand over your car to a valet (a charity event with valet parking? lifestyles of the rich and famous much? you could never reconcile the way that rich people did charity work while flaunting off their own wealth, but it didn’t matter since you were one of those rich people and you had to participate in the lunacy; leaving it would mean blowing up your entire life if you were honest) and make your way in, your arm casually draped around Nicholas’ own.

As you walk into the venue, the parade of familiar faces begins. You switch into polite greeting mode and walk by, smiling and nodding and making small talk with whoever stopped you.

The cause of today’s charity event was funding and equipping the new children’s hospital in your city. Since your companies largely dealt with pharmaceuticals and medical equipment, you were key figures in the very fabric of the event.

Your mother spots you from fifty feet away and laser beams you in the back of the head until you feel something irking you and finally turn around to see her practically glaring at you and Nicholas.

You automatically tug on his arm slightly to get his attention as he finishes chatting with some senior director of the hosting charity itself. You excuse yourselves and you steer Nicholas in the direction of your mother.

“Get ready; the wolves are hungry today.” you mutter, smiling at some people you passed by.

“About time, YN!” your mother hisses immediately when you’re within earshot. She switches her demeanour when she turns to greet Nicholas, smiling fondly at him. “Hello, Nicholas. Lovely to see you again.”

“Nice to see you too, Mrs L/N.” Nicholas says smoothly, extending his best son-in-law greeting smile.

“I was just wondering, when are your parents coming?” she continues as if you’re just an ornament or part of his outfit. You had to admit, you were a little grateful she liked him more because it meant he would take most of the heat today, although it made you feel guilty toward him too.

“They should be here soon, I can call to check if they’re okay?” Nicholas offers politely. Your mother shakes her head gently.

“Don’t worry about it at all, dear, no need to bother them. I’m sure they’ll be here soon.” the response gives you whiplash but there’s truly no space in your heart for surprise because of course she wouldn’t mind your in-laws being late; everyone else got a free pass, but you, you were the bane of that woman’s existence as far as you were concerned. “Well, I’ll let you two go, the auction will be starting soon, so get some good seats if you can.” your mother says.

“Auction?” you ask. This was the first time you’re hearing about an auction, though it was probably because you’d filtered everything you knew about this event out of your mind in order to stay focused on your work load.

“Yes, YN, there’s an auction of art pieces, which will be one of the sources of donation. Please pay attention, hmm?” she smiles tightly at you and you feel a smile spread across your own face. It was ironic but it came naturally, the bitterness just about disguised in its artificiality.

“Yes, Mom. We’ll get good seats.” you say. “Enjoy the event.”

It was the automatic good-daughter-response that had been pre-programmed into your microchip since the matrix decided you had to be born into this family out of all the other families.

Your mother seems satisfied and steps away to make conversation with someone else while you and Nicholas slowly make your way through the large hall and find the seating area set up for the auction.

“You need me to oil your hinges, Ex-Machina?” Nicholas asks sarcastically, leaning his mouth closer to your ear, as you register into the auction and are handed a numbered paddle by the clerk.

“No, that’s quite alright, dear.” you raise your eyebrow for emphasis. Nicholas rolls his eyes.

“Pardon my mistake; that was clearly Stepford Wives but make it ‘daughter’.” he says but still holds out his arm and you stroll to your seats in a manner that cannot be described otherwise than ‘nicely’.

“And you married into the dysfunctionality.” you remind him. “Godspeed.” you add.

In a few minutes, the event begins, most people finding their seats but a few stragglers sitting down just as the auctioneer stepped up to the podium.

“Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to today’s main event.” the man begins. He’s wearing a clearly uncomfortable tux and a pair of those Mickey Mouse type of white gloves, even though clearly he’s not the one handling any of the pieces. “If I may introduce the first piece we shall be showing today…” and that’s when your brain hits the snooze button and you tune the world out.

You sit silently and listen to the numbers that are being called out as each painting, photograph print or sculpture is bought out. It’s mostly modern art from somewhat local artists but the calibre is higher than you expected. It all goes by very quickly, you think. You stare blankly, in a somewhat dissociative state until one of the final pieces is brought out.

It’s a photographic print of the silhouettes of what looks like two parents and a child between them, holding each of their hands as they walk away somewhere, presumably into the proverbial sunset. You hadn’t raised your paddle once yet since there was nothing you really wanted but something about the photo makes you reconsider.

You think how ridiculous it would be bid on it since you had nowhere to put it at your apartment, so you don’t react.

“I like this one.” Nicholas whispers to your left. You’re snapped back to reality. You’d almost forgotten he was sitting there since you’d both been so quiet the whole time. “We should get it, it’s cute.” he continues.

“Is it?” you ask.

“Yeah,” he turns to you briefly. “it reminds me of my parents and I. Whenever we spent time together, I mean. Which wasn’t much, but still.” he shrugs.

You let his words sink in.

The auctioneer is done explaining the origin of the photo by way of introducing the photographer. The photograph is named ‘Another Place’ and you suddenly understand what you were feeling.

Just as the auctioneer starts the bidding, you feel Nicholas wrap his hand around yours and raise it as you hold on to the paddle. You’re a tiny bit startled since you weren’t thinking about the object in your hand at all and you didn’t actually think that Nicholas would bid on anything. You look at him momentarily but he keeps facing forward, focused.

It’s strange.

You don’t think to remove your hand from the paddle and just hand it to Nicholas. Instead he holds on to your hand while you let the echo of the voices in the hall fill the cavities of your head.

The photograph wasn’t cute. At least not to you.

In your eyes, there was something inherently melancholic about it.

As if the photographer was missing something.

The name confirmed it for you more than anything. You could interpret it as homage to the happier times spent with loved ones like your parents, like Nicholas thought, but you could equally interpret it as wanting to go back to or imagining what could have been in another place or time.

It makes a small part of you ache a little.

The bidding doesn’t skyrocket so Nicholas keeps on raising your hand until the other bidders fall flat. They don’t seem to want the photo as much as your husband does.

“Going once, going twice…and sold, to the young gentleman over there. Number 88.” the auctioneer makes a note of your paddle before they switch to the next item.

“Sorry, did you just buy that print?” you blink rapidly, feeling as if you missed the whole thing.

“Yeah, but if you really hate it, I’ll keep it in my office.” Nicholas promises. You shake your head, still unsure of what transpired. You didn’t have space at home but you’d probably make some if you tried.

“It’s fine. We’ll keep it.” you say.

The rest of the auction passes by in a blur, and then you’re going to find the photograph so you could claim it.

You stand to one side while Nicholas handles all the paper work and signs the check. Meanwhile, you look at the photograph some more, noticing that the child’s silhouette seems to be standing closer to the father but has its head angled toward its mother, as if looking up at her.

You wonder if that could be you one day.

It seemed unlikely, since you didn’t necessarily feel like it was your calling.

That and you were married to Nicholas currently.

Then it occurs to you that you have no idea what he wants in life. What if you get stuck together for a long time? Then what happens? Do you try to make each other happy and what does that even mean? Could you give him what he wanted if he ever did want anything? Would you be enough for him? Would he be enough for you?

“Ready to go home?” his voice breaks through to you with the clarity of shattering ice.

“Yeah, let’s go.” you nod, doing your best to look like you weren’t just living through an existential crisis for five minutes straight.

You find yourself reaching for Nicholas’ arm on your own, holding on with both hands because you weren’t sure you could make it out of the hall without stumbling or stuttering otherwise. You needed stability just in case your legs decided to give out from the burden of your thoughts.

Nicholas gives you a soft smile when he catches your eye and it feels like the most natural thing to return it, even if deep down you were still shaken.

But just for a moment, it was okay.

You didn’t have the answers but it was okay.

It’s a Wednesday morning, just before noon, and you have no intention of picking up your phone when it rings on your desk as you wrestle with a box of paperwork except, you glance at your phone and read the caller ID.

Maki’s name is on display and you drop the stack of papers back into the box, hand flying to the device.

Your little brother rarely called you out of nowhere, especially not when he’s supposed to be in school.

“Hey, Maks, is everything okay?” you say hurriedly. You feel your stress levels rising as you wait for him to answer.

“Hey, will you come pick me up from school?” he asks on the other side of the line. The request strikes you as very odd. He sounds okay but you obviously couldn’t be sure over the phone.

“Why? What’s wrong?” you press.

“Just come pick me up.” he says. “Please? And don’t tell mom and dad.”

You shake your head in disbelief. “Yes, I’m coming. Stay there.”

You were about to have a meltdown. You were so worried about what on earth could have possibly happened for him to call you in the middle of the day and ask you to come pick him up. Could he be feeling sick and didn’t want to tell you? What could it be?

You grab your jacket and bag and make your way out of the office, letting one of your colleagues know you were stepping out for an emergency. Well, you didn’t know it was an emergency but you just said whatever would get you out of that office quicker.

You have to look up Maki’s school’s address since you basically had never been there and then drive in a way that would put the main characters of Fast and the Furious to shame.

You throw your car in the nearest visitor parking spot and leg it to the reception of the main building. The school looks like a typical high school, except this is where all the smart, rich kids went and your brother was no exception. The kids all had crisp and perfect uniforms, the teachers looked impeccable too, and the buildings themselves were all but shining when you entered.

You talk to the receptionist lady and explain that your brother had called you and she lets you into the foyer where there’s a seating area and several offices nearby.

You knock on the door that the receptionist lady told you to and enter.

“Hello?” you poke your head in. You spot Maki sitting in one of the chairs around the table and open the door further, relieved to see he looked alright.

“Are you Maki’s guardian?” the teacher sitting across the room says.

“Yes, I’m his sister. Hello.” you say politely.

“Hello. Please come in.” the lady says, gesturing with her hand. She doesn’t seem so stern but you feel like you’re in trouble for some reason. You slip into the chair next to your brother.

“Is everything okay?” you ask, unable to take the tension any longer. The whole drive here, you felt like you were going to faint.

“Yes, everything is fine. I just needed to call a parent or guardian in since Maki fell asleep in class this morning. It’s not the sort of thing we take lightly around here.” she informs you.

You blink, thinking your ears failed you. Fell asleep in class? You swivel your head toward your little brother, who has subconsciously shrunk a smidge, which isn’t really possible since he’s not exactly a tiny child any more.

“You fell asleep in class?” you repeat, addressing Maki. He nods quietly. “And you couldn’t tell me this over the phone?” you sigh. You ignore the teacher is there for a second. “Do you know how worried I was?” you demand. For a moment, you think you sound like your parents so you tell yourself to cool off and take a step back.

The teacher clears her throat gently. “You see, miss, it’s not really a problem per se, we just needed to let you know and see if there’s anything going on at home that might have been the cause.” she clarifies. “We also think it’s best to send students home when they are not in their top form.”

“Right, I see.” you hum. “There’s nothing I’m aware of that could be the reason.” you say. You cannot discern the mix of relief and annoyance with the situation. What could he have been doing instead of sleeping and how could it have made him so tired that he fell asleep in class? At least it wasn’t worse, you said to yourself.

“If students are unable to pay attention, then we find it best to give them some time to step away and come back when they can. Maki hasn’t done this before, so we won’t make a big deal out of it, it’s purely procedural that you were needed here today.” the teacher reassures you.

“Yes, thank you. I’m sorry about that.” you apologise on Maki’s behalf. “It won’t happen again, right, Maki?” you question him.

He nods, staying very quiet and very obedient. It was a world away from the vibrant, loud and mischievous Maki you knew. He must be really tired then, you decide.

“Right, well, thanks, Miss. I think we’ll get going now.” you say, standing up and grabbing a hold of Maki’s backpack, which he was wearing the whole time he was sitting down. You pull him up by the bag, the way a mother cat carries around her kittens by the scruff of the neck, except when you pull him up to stand, he kind of towers over you a little since he’s growing up into a giant.

The two of you leave the office but Maki informs you he needs to get some stuff from his locker, so you follow him through the corridors to find it. You try your best not to have horrible war flashbacks to your own time in high school as you walk further in. By the time you reach it, the bell rings signalling what you assumed was the lunch break. The noise feels like a punch in the gut.

Suddenly the hallways are flooded with students, teenage boys running around and milling about like tiny ants in a colony, except most of them are like a head taller than you, which makes it doubly terrifying. You feel awfully out of place and old if you were being honest, even if they were not that much younger than you.

Maki rummages around his locker for a moment before you find two boys coming towards you. You think you’re blocking their lockers so you think to stand over on Maki’s other side but he notices and waves them over.

“Hey, you guys, did we have math homework?” he asks them. You stand awkwardly to one side but nod politely at the kids.

Your brother’s question gets ignored as the two boys fixate on you and one of them particularly stares at you in awe. You should have just waited for him outside. It makes you feel even more awkward and you clear your throat, directing the noise at Maki so he does something. He gets the hint and introduces them as his friends Taki and Harua.

“Hi, aunty, you’re so pretty!” the one introduced as Harua, who was staring at you, gushes. The corners of Taki’s mouth droop down and he smacks Harua on the back of the head, dubious.

Maki stops short and gives Harua a stank face. “Dude, bro, that’s my older sister!” he corrects.

But it’s too late.

The word ‘aunty’ echoes through your mind. It sends you reeling, mouth agape. You imagine your head unscrewing from your body like a lightbulb or one of those lego men and floating into outer space all while explosions and bombs go off in the background, very much in a poorly made, greenscreened fashion, all accompanied by a full orchestral and choral rendition of Verdi’s Dies Irae. You choke on spit just a little but purse your lips in order not to cough like crazy.

Harua pales impossibly and you think he starts quaking like a newborn Chihuahua.

“It’s okay, kiddo.” you reassure him. “I suppose I am on my way to becoming a fossil.” you mutter to yourself, only half-sarcastically.

“S-sorry aun- I mean noona, I- noona, sorry.” Harua stutters out and lowers his head a little, and you worry he might just burst into tears.

“Don’t worry about it.” you try your best to seem friendly but you’re not sure it works. Instead you try to make Maki move faster. “I have to get back to the office, sweetie, hurry up.” you tell him.

It seems to do the trick because Maki grabs one last textbook and shuts his locker. Harua seems completely mortified so he barely looks up at you as he and Taki bid the two of you goodbye and you leave.

Once you’re sat in the safety of your car, you exhale laboriously.

“Quit it, will you?” Maki asks. “Harua didn’t mean it, he just got confused. You don’t look like an aunty at all.”

“Gee, thanks.” you deadpan. “I didn’t even say anything, you didn’t have to go there.” you mumble as you start the engine.

“Noona, c’mon, doesn’t Nicholas tell you you’re beautiful all the time? Don’t you know it by now?” Maki shakes his head in disbelief but you know it’s directed at you, not Nicholas. You wanted to tell him, as a matter of fact, no, Nicholas did not say such things nor did he need to.

“‘Kay, first of all,” you pause. “I know my worth isn’t tied to my appearance and I don’t necessarily need to hear it from other people, although compliments can be nice. Secondly, insecurity still happens, regardless of what anyone says. Alright?” you explain. “The two states can co-exist. I know I don’t look like an aunty, but it was still shocking.”

“Okay, got it.” Maki raises his hands in defeat.

You’re driving but you realise that you don’t know where you’re going.

“Wait a sec, where am I taking you?” you question Maki.

“Please don’t tell Mom and Dad.” he begs, giving you puppy eyes from your passenger seat. You hadn’t thought about that yet but you don’t say that. “Just drop me off somewhere. I won’t do it again, just this once, just don’t tell them.”

You think for a moment. “Tell me why you fell asleep and I’ll consider it.”

“I stayed up all night studying.” he says. You scoff loudly.

“As if, lil bro, you think I was born yesterday?” you say, making a turn without thinking.

“I’m serious! I did stay up all night studying since we had a test…” he exclaims.

“A test?” you prompt him to keep going.

“A test I didn’t study for.” he finishes, talking in tiny. It finally clicks and you nod.

“Right.” you say. “Did you at least take the test?”

“Well yeah, but-”

“Good, just don’t do that ever again.” you warn. Maki nods enthusiastically. “Fine,” you concede. “you can stay in my apartment until it’s time for you to actually go home.”

“Yes!” Maki cheers. “Thanks, noona, you’re the best!”

You get home and while you’re in the elevator, it occurs to you that this was the first time Maki had actually visited you here. You just hoped that there was nothing weird there that might make him think something was off about you and Nicholas.

You had been pretty successful in quashing his suspicions, not that you thought he had any since he hadn’t expressed anything in a while, so you really needed to keep up the facade. It might be hard considering he was going to stay in the apartment for a few hours.

You make a mental note not to let him see your separate bedrooms; that would be hard to explain.

You punch in the code to your door and open it, ushering your little brother in before following.

“Here’s some slippers.” you bring a spare pair out of the shoe rack and plop them in front of Maki.

You rush into the living room to make sure that it was at least somewhat clean but you’re startled by a wild Nicholas that’s standing with his back to you in the kitchen area. He’s cooking something at the stove, a pair of massive headphones on and you swear under your breath.

You skirt around the edge of the couch and make a bee line toward your husband. He seems to notice you in his peripheral vision as you practically run at him, making him jump out of his skin and drop the pair of chopsticks in his hand with a clang against the surface of the stove.

“Shh!” you hiss at him, putting a finger in front of your lips, glancing back at the foyer. Nicholas slides the headphones off his head, letting them hang around his neck. He looks more confused than you’ve ever seen him before. “Maki’s here!” you whisper.

“What? Why? What’s going on?” he whispers back, alarmed at the new information. You shake your head dismissively. No time to tell the whole tale.

“I’ll tell you later, but he’s here so act normal!” you conclude just as Maki makes his way through the door.

“Oh hey, Nicholas hyung!” Maki’s face lights up when he sees your husband and you feel a little strange - your brother never greeted you like that.

“Hey, buddy, how are you?” Nicholas switches up immediately, seamlessly, as if the shock of your arrival had never happened. He meets your eye for a second before properly looking at Maki, who deposits his backpack on the couch and comes to sit at the counter.

“Y’know, normal.” Maki shrugs. You narrow your eyes at your little brother.

“Not normal, you don’t normally get kicked out of school.” you scold him slightly.

“You what?” Nicholas does a double take. Maki seems annoyed at you, as if you said the wrong thing. Well, you weren’t about to lie to your husband about something petty like that.

“Eh, noona makes it seems worse than it is. I swear, I didn’t do anything bad.” he pouts.

“He fell asleep in class.” you tell Nicholas, as if he had any authority in the situation. Nicholas visibly relaxes.

“Oh, the way you were talking, I thought it was something serious. I used to fall asl-” Nicholas starts to say but the way you glare at him changes his mind. “I mean I never did that, that’s really, yeah, that’s not good.” he trails off, bringing a hand to massage the back of his neck.

“Anyways, I’ve decided to let Maki stay here until he needs to go back home.” you say. “Is that okay? I didn’t think you’d be home actually.”

“Yeah, stay, it’s cool. I got home because my meeting was cancelled.” Nicholas replies, but is looking at you without blinking and you know something’s up by the way he keeps glancing at the hallway.

“Okay, great.” you pick up the hint and turn to Maki. “We don’t have a lot to do here, Maks, but you can just watch TV for a while, right?” and you all but lift him out of his seat and steer him toward the couch.

“Yeah, I like TV-”

“Awesome, knock yourself out.” you seat him at the couch and turn back to Nicholas, walking back across the room.

With the background noise of the TV, you don’t think Maki will hear you if you whisper.

“What?” you all but mouth when you’re close enough. Nicholas’ eyebrows raise so high they might ascend to the heavens above (your ceiling).

“Don’t you think he’s going to get suspicious?” he whispers back. “What if I say something dumb and he realises this is a sham?”

You knew it was a real risk to let them hang out unsupervised for a long period of time but without you there for damage control, Nicholas was just going to have to deal with it.

“I’m sorry, I promised him he can stay. You can figure it out. Just don’t talk about me or us.” you instruct. Nicholas nods, realising there’s no alternative.

“Fine, just hurry back.” he pleads.

You definitely weren’t sure you wanted to leave the two of them alone. Would the house burn down if you did? Could they handle it? This was inevitable, really, it was going to happen at some point.

“Right, if he starts to get annoying, just threaten to tell my parents.” you forgo the whispering, moving toward the hallway.

“Oh? Kay?” Nicholas frowns, not quite understanding.

Maki senses you’re about to exit and turns around to listen.

Shit, he’s watching.

You turn back to face Nicholas and he almost runs into you. You give him a slight smile. “Call me if there’s any problems.” you say sweetly, as if you’re not risking shattering the fabricated relationship you were thrown into. “Now, lean down.” you mutter.

Nicholas lowers his head innocently and you lean in, planting a swift kiss to his cheek, making up the charade. If he’s surprised, Nicholas doesn’t show it because he straightens up and acts like it’s the most natural thing in the world.

You don’t dwell on it and turn to Maki next.

“Listen to Nicholas, okay?” you warn. “Be good.” you say, directing it to the both of them.

“Yes, Mom.” Maki drawls sarcastically. Your mouth drops open at the tone, then again, you didn’t have to wonder where exactly he picked it up from (you, most likely). You stick your tongue out at him as you walk away, Maki mirroring you almost instantly.

You glance at Nicholas, who’s kind of standing still in shock at the display of sibling affection, not quite sure what to do with himself.

“This house better be intact when I come back.” you call behind you as you walk out of the door. You really hoped everything would be okay.

The entire time you were at work, you were anything but focused. You had minutes of good concentration before your mind wandered to how your husband and your brother were getting along. There was a few times where you even picked up your phone with half the mind to call and check but you realised how maniacal that really was so you put the device down on the other side of your office while you worked so you wouldn’t be tempted to slide into control freak mode.

As soon as the working day finished, you rushed out of there, ignoring the sound of your coworkers still tapping away on keyboards, clipping and filing papers together, or the wistful sighs of those stuck doing overtime.

You willed yourself to still follow road safety, in a carefully executed exercise of self-control, instead of mimicking your earlier attempts at cosplaying Vin Diesel behind the wheel.

The familiar sound of the password unlocking the front door finally came as you yanked open the handle and swished through the corridor quickly, kicking off your shoes haphazardly in the process and padding across the floor barefoot.

There was noise coming from your living room which you’d heard about a half-way through the hallway and you’re fascinated when you enter and find the boys sitting on the couch, controllers in hand and still oblivious to your arrival.

They were playing video games.

You breathe a sigh of relief. That’s pretty neutral and doesn’t require any intellectual conversation.

“Yaaa, where you going, lil dude? That was never a short cut!” Nicholas chuckles, eyes still glued to the screen.

“It is too!” Maki argues. “Just ‘cause you’ve never heard of it, hyung.” you can hear the cheekiness behind his provocation.

“Hey, I don’t need to know stuff to be good at this.” Nicholas insists.

You look closer at the screen and finally put two and two together; they’re playing Mario Kart.

You can’t believe it - you’d been worried about nothing. And as a bonus, your husband now had a video game buddy, as it seemed. You decide to clear your throat and enter the room.

“Hey, I’m back.” you say. “What did you guys get up to?” you quiz nonchalantly. They both greet you, almost a little surprised since clearly they weren’t paying attention to you coming in.

Great, a thief could have walked in and out and nobody would have heard a damn thing.

“We just hung out. Nicholas hyung made lunch then we played video games and well, that’s it.” Maki says, lifting the controller in his hand as evidence. You nod.

“Great, good, awesome.” so you were hyperactively checking your watch for no reason. You were glad to know it was a great use of your time (not).

“Maki’s really good at this game, YN. Why didn’t you tell me? I would have invited him over sooner so we could play.” Nicholas comments.

“Well, if it’s about video games, Maki, you can always come around.” you say, only slightly strained at his forgetfulness - it was only a few hours ago that you were freaking out about your brother possibly figuring out he’d been lied to. Well, not lied to exactly, just … left in the dark about the nature of your marriage.

“Really?” Maki seems really excited to hear he’s got a free-for-all to your house at any time. “That’s great, I’ll come on weekends so we can play, hyung!” he says and for a moment you feel a swell of emotion overcome you; you hadn’t seen Maki this happy and excited for a long time. And he certainly didn’t get this animated when he was hanging out with you. It made you feel like marrying Nicholas wasn’t so bad after all; it had its silver lining.

“You guys hungry?” you change the subject. “I’ll make dinner.” you say, leaving your bag on the couch.

“I can make it, if you want.” Nicholas offers over his shoulder.

“No, no, you made lunch, it’s okay, keep playing.” you reassure him. You just needed a minute to yourself so cooking would suffice.

“Alright,” Nicholas agrees but he keeps looking at you, as if he noticed the look on your face. You meet his eye and turn away quickly. You didn’t want him to think you were feeling weird about stuff since you weren’t. Much.

“Maki, call home to let them know you’re here.” you call over the noise of the video game. It was getting late, about the time he’d go home from school.

“Okay,” he groans quietly but does as you said obediently. You felt like you were nagging all of a sudden.

You wondered if you’d been replaced as the favourite sibling now that Nicholas was in the picture. Were you jealous of your husband? What a dumb thought.

You shrug to yourself and wash your hands.

Sometimes you did wonder why you bothered waking up at all on your days off.

It was more of an instinctual thing; it was your body clock waking up for you, telling you that you just had to keep doing that thing where you opened your eyes and then dragged your body out of bed, regardless of whether you had work that day or not.

So you do, you get up, and your natural routine of getting coffee first thing takes you to the kitchen where you spot Nicholas already at the machine, brewing the first lot of the day. He’s still in his pyjama pants but has not been bothered to put on a shirt yet, his hair all tousled and fluffy from sleep.

“Morning.” you say. You pick out a mug from the cupboard and situate yourself next to the machine, to wait for the coffee to be ready.

“Hey,” Nicholas responds. It’s surprising since it’s morning and you usually tend to get communication via strange noises from him at this time of day. You glance at him for a moment, trying to discern if something’s different but you just watch his back muscles as he reaches for the milk from the fridge. It’s harder than you’d like to admit to take your eyes away and focus on whether the coffee is done yet.

The machine does its usual whirring and whatnot but you can’t figure out why it seems to be taking an age. You stand with the empty cup but tense up when Nicholas materialises behind you, reaching over your head to get the box of cereal in the cupboard above you. His bare skin comes into contact with yours and makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.

His body is warm against yours and it’s overwhelming.

You realise you’re holding in a breath you didn’t know you’d sucked in, only letting it out when he stepped away. You purse your lips and try your best not to mind that, whatever it was.

But you do mind. So much.

Your eyes wander back over to Nicholas as he fixes up his bowl of breakfast. He’s not doing much but you just watch him, mesmerised for some reason. It’s weird for sure; it’s not the first time you’d seen him without a shirt, so what on Earth was going on?

You tear your eyes away but you’re incredibly aware of his every move. He glances at you, as if he can feel your nervous energy permeating the air in the kitchen, but doesn’t say anything.

You forgot you were waiting for that damn coffee machine, you fingers tapping against the counter, eyes shifting around. You look at the numbers on your digital clock - had they changed at all since you came in? Was your mind playing tricks on you? Maybe it was just too early in the morning.

“YN?” you hear behind you and you whip around, almost too fast, only to be shocked at how much closer Nicholas was than you thought he would be. He doesn’t say anything else, but assess you, trying to read you. “Are you okay?” he asks, looking at you with concern.

“Yeah.” you breathe out, inaudibly.

Except it’s a lie.

It’s not okay. You can’t seem to focus on anything but Nicholas and the tension between you, thick and intoxicating, a fog that you could cut through with a knife. You hate it; it’s too hot and stuffy all of a sudden and you feel your chest rising and falling with every breath.

Nicholas takes a slow step toward you, and then another and you attempt to step backwards but are blocked by the edge of the counter against your back. And then you’re standing too close, closer than explainable, close enough to see the colour of his irises in detail or the soft skin of his cheeks or the slight parting of his lips.

You weren’t proud of it but for a moment, you considered closing the space between you and kissing him. It was completely primal, this urge that came from nowhere in particular, an impulsive thought that could be converted into action if you just lost control for a split second.

But you didn’t decide to lose control.

Nicholas did.

And you followed, falling into him like a domino.

You think it seems almost natural, reasonable even, when Nicholas leans down and smashes his lips against yours. So natural that your arms curl around his shoulders immediately, grabbing hold to keep you locked together as you kiss intensely, mouths moving in sync as if you’d rehearsed this exact scene a million times.

There’s a vague beeping noise somewhere in the background, and if you were paying attention, you would have spared a thought that it was your stupid coffee finally ready, but nothing could permeate the bubble the two of you were in.

Nicholas swipes a paw to your left at the empty mug, his own abandoned next to it, and sends them flying off the counter. You don’t even hear the crash of ceramic against the tile floor because his hands are wrapping around the back of your thighs and he’s lifting you up to perch you on the counter, his mouth never leaving yours.

You shuffle to accommodate him standing between your legs, wrapping them gently around his waist, keeping him flush against you. Your nighty rides up your thighs, revealing your underwear underneath and Nicholas’ hands make the most of it by running up the sides of your legs, gathering the material and slipping under to hold your bare hips.

There’s not a single comprehensible thought in your head while you make out with your husband, except for maybe you liked having his tongue down your throat a little too much. That and your awareness of what you were feeling between your legs, exacerbated by the way your hips moved against Nicholas’. He was only wearing pyjamas and you could definitely feel something there.

You can’t keep your hands still, your fingertips eager to touch every inch of his broad shoulders, reaching to his back and then finding purchase in his hair as Nicholas detaches from your mouth only to skim over your cheek and jaw on his way to your neck. You’re breathless while he pays special respect to sensitive skin of your neck, kissing it hotly and biting down gently, the intent of leaving a mark clear in his actions.

You all but melt at how good it feels, relaxing in his arms. A low moan escapes your mouth while he’s busy finding your sweet spots. Then another.

“N-nico…” you can’t help the breathy stutter that your throat produces. It seems to catch his attention because he hums against you, acknowledging your reactions.

Without a word, you kiss him again, guiding his mouth back to yours with one hand. He catches your wrist with one of his hands and holds it there while the other reaches down between you. You’re just about aware enough to know that he’s pulling at the strings on his pyjama bottoms. You shimmy further to the edge of the counter in response, reaching down too, fingers clumsy toward your underwear but before you can do anything-

Everything disappears.

You startle awake, half-jumping out of your skin with clarity that you’d been dreaming this whole time.

You straighten up, lifting your head up from your desk, recognising the familiar decor of your office. You feel almost dizzy and completely dazed from your sleep. Moreover, there’s an uncomfortable heat radiating from your skin, as if you’ve spent too long in a sauna or taken a shower that was far too hot for far too long.

You swallow thickly and sigh, shaking your head.

You had to calm down, it was just a dream. Nothing to worry about. None of that happened, everything was okay.

Everything was-

“Are you okay?”

You all but scream when you hear Nicholas’ voice behind you.

“Wh-when did you get here?” you stammer, turning around to glare at him. You watch as he picks up a folder off your shelf, opens it and deposits a stack of papers inside.

“I was here? The whole time?” he informs you looking back at you, scepticism on his face. “We’ve been working for hours, you must be really tired.”

“Oh,” you try to calm down. “right.”

“Right.” Nicholas says. “So how was your nap? I didn’t wake you, did I? You seem surprised.”

“I, uh,” you pause to think. “had a scary dream.” you finish and get up. Scary might be an understatement; those kind of thoughts? About Nicholas? Definitely terrifying.

The safest thing your brain could think of doing right now, was getting a cup of coffee. That should wake you right up, and you hopefully you can put this whole thing behind you.

“I’m sorry, that sucks.” he hums sympathetically, picking out another folder from the shelf. You glance back at him while you start making your coffee. It’s really strange seeing him in your office - he tended to stay at his own at Wang Enterprises. But what’s stranger is that no matter how much you wrack your brain, you cannot remember what it is that you were working on right now.

What kind of nap made you forget hours of past events?

You’re lost in thought as you pour the coffee, staring into space.

“Woah! Hey!” Nicholas exclaims. “Watch it!”

You snap out of it just in time to lift the jug before the cup overflowed. Your heart is racing from the sudden scare and you put it down quickly.

“What the hell is going on with you, YN?” Nicholas asks, already by your side, taking your hands away from the counter and inspecting them in case you burned yourself. You look at him blankly and shrug.

“I must have overslept.” you say lamely. He rolls his eyes, seemingly annoyed but you can tell he was just worried. When had you started to read him so well?

“I’ll say.” he mutters, letting your hands go then scanning the table to check for any spillages. You were in an office after all; coffee spillages were the most common hazard. “Do you need a wake up call, Mrs Wang?” he quizzes, leaning closer to inspect your face.

“This feels like a trick question.” you blurt out loud. He was still up close, not making a shift away even when he chuckles at your response.

“Gosh, YN, you’re such an over-thinker.” he says. “We should work on that.” he hums, still looking at you intently.

“How?” you mumble, still drowsy.

“Like this…” he trails off, stepping closer to you. You’re starting to feel a sense of deja vu and it’s because his face is literal inches from yours. Maybe it was because of your dream, but somehow you were desensitised to him being in that proximity and didn’t try to create any distance between you.

You almost start panicking, but it’s more of a dull afterthought. “Don’t think.” he whispers, lips hovering over yours.

It’s too late to think, you note.

You move, catching his mouth with yours, reaching up to hold his cheek for balance.

And then you’re stumbling back, Nicholas guiding you toward your desk, lifting you to sit on the edge, papers flying as you swipe a hand back to make space.

Was it sleep deprivation? Was it complete and utter lack of self-control? You had no idea, but you didn’t need to be told twice about not thinking; all you could comprehend right now was how badly you wanted to keep kissing Nicholas. Nothing else mattered in that moment.

He seemed to share that thought because he made no effort to de-escalate the situation despite you two being in your office, in broad daylight, with presumably all your co-workers outside.

If you were using your brain, you’d worry what they would think if they found the two of you - the daughter of the chairman and her husband from the merging company - behaving like a couple of crazy teenagers during office hours.

But you weren’t using your brain.

You were using your hands, pulling at Nicholas’ tie to undo the loop and throw it to the side. Your fingers found the buttons of his shirt easily, popping each one from top to bottom, then sliding the garment off his shoulders. One of his hands had made itself comfortable squeezing your thigh, shoving your skirt up to expose your leg.

Your hands wander up and down his torso, trying to memorise to feeling of every inch of skin, as if it was the most important thing in your life. His hands rest in your bunched up skirt, thumbs playing with the skin just covered by your underwear and you just want him to get rid of it already.

But he doesn’t; instead he keeps teasing the skin around it, fingers meandering over your thighs and hips. You whine into his mouth in protest, hoping he gets the message.

And you wonder if he might have if it wasn’t for the distant beeping sound that gradually became louder and louder.

You open your eyes with gasp when you finally wake up.

The beeping sound is loud and clear and coming from your nightstand. You smack your phone to snooze the alarm and sigh.

This time you’re in your bed, the ceiling of your room above you, and early morning sunlight streaming in through your window.

You’re panting, chest rising and falling rapidly, way too hot and sweaty under the covers. You thrash around wildly, as if fighting your blankets until you’re sure that this is definitely reality and you’re 100% awake now.

So all of that…all of it, was a dream?

You clamp a hand over your mouth to muffle the panicked squeak that almost escapes you. You have to sit up and attempt to calm down.

It wasn’t real, none of it was, thankfully, none of that had occurred in real life, you tell yourself. It was all in your imagination.

“It’s not real.” you whisper out loud.

So why did it feel so real, if it wasn’t?

There’s real heat radiating off your skin, a slight sheen of sweat over it and your covers are a mess and there’s a very real ache in your core, one that you wish you couldn’t feel right now. You reach down and find your fears confirmed with the slick that you find drenching your underwear.

For a hazy moment, your brain jumps to the image of Nicholas smirking at you, amused at your circumstances if he found out.

He’d never let you breathe if he knew.

Then your brain jumps to the image of him lapping it all up with his tong-

“No!” you exclaim. “Stop thinking, just stop.” you will yourself, massaging your temples with two fingers. You hurry to get up and try to snap out of it, chugging the water you’d left on your nightstand. As you drank, you realised how parched you were - you needed to rehydrate after that horror episode.

You needed to take a shower too but you decided to make a cup of coffee first, since caffeine was the next best thing if you didn’t want to start your journey to alcoholism at 7 in the morning, though it may be justified after what you just experienced.

You glance in the mirror before leaving the room, seeing the ratty, oversized t-shirt you slept in crumpled but falling to just underneath your thighs. Now that you think about it, you should have known it was a dream because you definitely wouldn’t wear a nightdress that nice to bed.

You smooth over your bedhead a little and shrug; the faster you get coffee, the faster you can wash this whole nightmare away.

You poke your head out of the door first, listening out for any movement.

There’s quiet sounds coming from the kitchen, so Nicholas was definitely awake. Before you? He must have meetings or something. You decide to brave it and just get in and out.

You creep up the hallway and practically sneak into the kitchen in your own home since you didn’t want to alert him to your presence. He’s got those giant headphones on with his back to you as he cooks something in a pan at the stove.

You felt a bit exposed in your little t-shirt and damp panties but you knew he’d seen you in less, in fact, he’d seen you na-

Do not go there, you willed your brain. Now’s not the time to remember embarrassing shit.

You get to the kitchen and Nicholas notices your movement, turning to greet you.

“Morning.” he slides the headphones down to rest on his neck. He looks at you for a moment and you think this is it, he knows, he’s a mind reader, but then he turns back to his food without a word.

“Hey.” you find a mug and get to the coffee machine. You knew you could practically do this in thirty seconds flat, so you moved as if you were running late for a meeting (it was simply a hypothetical situation but it wouldn’t hurt to practice it like a drill).

“You want?” Nicholas asks, tipping the pan towards you to show its contents. He’s frying eggs.

“No, thanks.” you say quickly and snap the button on the machine. You can’t help but tense up as if he’s going to say something more. Could he tell what happened? Could he sense there was something wrong with you?

“‘Kay,” he says. “Can you get me a mug too?” he asks, keeping his eyes on the eggs.

“Sure.” you grab one as the machine whirrs. So far, so good. You were acting normal. Totally unsuspicious.

The machine finishes its thing and you pour the cups, putting sugar into yours by habit. Your stomach growls so you decide to get some toast too even if that means staying in the kitchen longer.

You busy yourself on the other side of the counter but look up when Nicholas moves to pick up a coffee cup. He picks it up and takes a sip. You realise it’s the one you poured for yourself with the sugar. Why didn’t he notice? He usually didn’t have sugar in his. Actually he usually had an iced Americano but that’s a whole other thing in itself.

“Something wrong?” he asks when he finds you watching him.

“That one had sugar in it.” you say.

“Oh.” he looks at it, as if he would be able to tell by looking at it. Dumbass. “Sorry, here.” he hands it back to you and you take it, putting it on the counter.

Normally you wouldn’t care about sharing mugs since you were married - like technically - but you weren’t strangers, that’s what you meant, but right now you looked at it, thinking about how his lips had been there and that yours would be too-

Your toast resurfaces and you almost keel over in relief. Time to get the fuck out of there.

You throw the bread on a plate and attempt to scat, bumping into Nicholas, who had silently moved to your other side, raiding the fridge. Luckily, you hadn’t picked up the hot coffee yet, or you would be wearing it right now.

Nicholas is just as startled to find you up in his grill, milk carton forgotten in the fridge as he lets the door fall shut.

So you stay for a split second, a Mexican standoff.

The eerie deja vu begins again and this time you’re determined to call the shots. You could not allow yourself to just fall into his arms. Not that he had any clue about all that, of course. But you did, your body did and it was starting to react as soon as Nicholas was near you.

At the risk of your own demise, you make the first move.

“Your eggs are burning.” you lie and watch as his eyes widen and he rushes back to the pan. In the meantime, you snatch the cup and plate and run.

You make it to the safety of your room and rest your back against the door, exhaling deeply.

Oh god, that’s bad. That’s very, very, truly not good.

You’re having weird thoughts about your husband, but then again, who were you really supposed to have those thoughts about? Jake from accounting? That guy Sunghoon across the hall? Heesung from your tort law class? No.

It kinda checked out that you were somehow into Nicholas - at least on a subconscious level. He was something else entirely. He’d just made your brain short circuit and you had no idea why.

Well, you did. He was Nicholas. He was your husband.

And you could totally have sex with him, since that’s what married couples did, even fake ones such as yourselves probably did. You had to think about it - could you bring this up to him? It’s not like you hadn’t talked about it before.

You’d have to establish boundaries - it’s not like you were in love with him - it would be like a friends with benefits thing at most, nothing to freak out about.

Your husband was stupid fine; a total smoke show, who could really blame you for thinking like that? It’s a miracle you held out this long, right?

It was true you’d lasted this long, but you also had your pride on the line - you weren’t the type of person to beg or to ask for anything, so how could you even consider asking him if he wanted to have sex with you?

You knew you should just forget about the whole ordeal and move on.

So why couldn’t you?

Another day, another bullshit situation waiting to happen.

Work was slow and you were more than ready to leave since you’d had enough of office noise and the never-ending pile of paperwork that seemed to arrive in your email inbox every five minutes like clockwork.

You wanted nothing more to leave but there was still some time left in the work day.

Your email pinged as if on cue, and you sighed before clicking on the icon on your computer screen.

You stopped short. This was totally unexpected.

It was from the people you were negotiating with over the contract you’d lost. They had sent you an email containing a copy of the list of things you’d lost with the meeting notes. They had also requested a meeting next week to go over the revised stuff. The most shocking part of all was perhaps that it was all serious; it was definitely not some kind of passive-aggressive attempt to humiliate you, as there sometimes was in corporate relations (you would know, your legal team was often the one who started that sort of thing, you weren’t proud of it).

You emailed them back immediately thanking them and confirming the date, then apologising profusely that you’d lacked on your end. You hesitated for a moment, but asked why the sudden reminder of the details from the first meeting.

The email wooshed away and for a while you forgot about it.

You were packing up your things to leave when the reply came.

“Dear Mrs L/N…blah blah blah…” you muttered. “…your husband got in contact and explained that there was a logistical mishap with your papers and got the edits off of us…” you sit and stare at the screen.

Your what had done what now?

You took a moment to process.

According to them, Nicholas had found their contact information and told them that there was a problem with your notes, and they just gave them to him?

What had he done? Surely no one would do that, right? Even for their wife? And why would they have allowed that? What could he have possibly said to them to make this happen?

Probably just told them his full name with a flash of that charming smile and voilà - they probably fell to their knees and begged him to take the edits. Regardless, he’d got them…for you.

You were a little winded, if you were being honest. You’d had so much anxiety over what had transpired with the contract, that you’d tried to block out most of it until you had to actually work on the matter.

But Nicholas had tried to help you behind your back. Why didn’t he tell you? Probably because he knew you’d never let him to do that for you, yet it was probably the nicest thing any person had ever done for you. Saved you more humiliation and strife so you didn’t have to endure it.

He really did that for you.

You felt like crying and screaming but like in a happy way for once.

You couldn’t wait to go home and- and what?

If you saw Nicholas right this very second, you couldn’t trust yourself - you’d probably do something dumb like hug him or kiss him. Or both.

You had to make it up to him, to thank him.

So you did the only thing you could think he would really love.

…

The warmth that wafted through your apartment was far too strong for this to become a surprise but you kept cooking, making dish after dish, still on a high over what Nicholas had done for you.

People didn’t tend to do a lot of nice things for you, at least not genuinely and with good intentions - usually it was because of your money - so when someone did, you always remembered and internalised it. It made you want to do good things too.

It hadn’t escaped your attention that between you and Nicholas, the language of gratitude and affection was food, so it wasn’t difficult to pick out your thank you gesture.

The front door beeped open and you heard the shuffle of slippered feet coming toward your kitchen.

“My god, it’s a sauna in here! What are you doing?” Nicholas exclaims when he comes through.

“I’m fulfilling our beautiful kitchen’s purpose.” you state. “Did you have dinner yet?”

“Nope, I’m starving.” he says, already eyeing the dishes on the table as he washed his hands.

“Good, sit down. I made it for you.” you say, turning back to the stove, mostly to avoid Nicholas’ inquisitive eyes.

“And to what do I owe this pleasure?” he asks, sitting down.

You turn and look at him. For a moment you think about how to phrase it, your tongue poking out your cheek.

“Thank you for getting the contract back.” you say earnestly. You watch as recollection appears on his handsome face, and he nods modestly.

“It’s alright; it’s the least I could do.” he replies. You smile fondly at him.

“What did you end up telling them? I really am dying to know because I know you definitely didn’t tell them the truth.” you chuckle. Then you hesitate. “You didn’t, right?” you start to sound panicked.

“No, of course not.” Nicholas reassures you. “I just told them our dog ate the contract.” he gives you small shrug. You think you misheard him. He must read into your reaction because he rushed to correct himself. “I’m joking! I just told them it blew away through an open window. It’s totally plausible, airing out offices and such.”

You sigh in relief. “Alright, even I could believe that. Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it.” Nicholas hums. “Now, tell me all about this feast.”

CHAPTER 5A - ADDICTED (smut MINORS DNI)

also memes!!!!!

a/n: thanks for reading, feedback is always appreciated <3 welp things are finally getting real for YN lol, hope that helps. also fun tmi - i looked at a photo of nico and went ‘hey husband’, then the next one of euijoo and went ‘hey husband’s husband’ lol, might explore this dynamic more tbh

#&team #andteam #&team nicholas #wang yixiang #nicholas x reader #&team x reader #&team fics #&team imagines #&team scenarios #momobani.writes

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mikotyzini · 6 years

Text

Red Carpet Romance - Ch. 34

Here at last, the next chapter! And it's a long one (~10k)...

I actually set this up as a goal for my p/atreon page and they met it, so I finished this up as soon as possible! This story still holds a really special place in my heart, and I totally started working on the next chapters before getting caught up in Bumblebee and White Rose weeks (check those out soon! @bmblbweek and @white-rose-week).

I appreciate everyone's patience with this story, and I hope it continues to make you smile/laugh/get those nice, warm fuzzies. I know it still does that for me :)

Morning routines were easy to develop. Wake up, follow a second mini routine in the bathroom, pick out an outfit, and head out for whatever the day might bring. There might be several twists and turns along the way, but that morning routine almost always stayed the same.

Which was why waking up and knowing that the routine had already been thrown off course was discombobulating - and not in a pleasant way.

Normally the bed beside her was warm, but today it was as cold as if she’d spent the night alone. Blinking her eyes open, Blake confirmed that the bed was empty - the sheets throw aside when someone left them far too early. Stifling a yawn, she covered her mouth with one hand and sat up right as Yang walked out of the bathroom.

“God.” Stopping in her tracks, Yang playfully rubbed her eyes before shooting Blake a wide grin. “I should get up early every day if it means seeing the most beautiful girl in the world wake up. Like - wow. You’re a dream come true.”

Blake’s response to the exceptionally early compliment was a blush deepening on her cheeks - which only grew deeper when Yang walked over to the bed and kissed her good morning.

“How long have you been up?” Blake asked only after Yang’s lips left hers, leaving behind a warm, tingling sensation.

“Like half an hour. I wanted to get ready for breakfast!”

Glancing at the clock on the nightstand, Blake laughed.

“Don’t pancakes take about fifteen minutes to make?”

“Yeah, but I need to run to the store first. We don’t have everything.”

“Flour, eggs, milk, butter,” Blake said out loud while mentally confirming that those items were currently in their kitchen. “What else could you possibly need?”

“Clearly you’ve never seen Ruby eat pancakes,” Yang responded with a light laugh. “We need about a gazillion toppings. Plus, I wanna get a whole bunch of different juices that she can choose from! I don’t know which one’s her favorite right now - it switches every couple months or so.”

When Yang spoke about Ruby’s juice preferences, her expression filled with good cheer and an ever-present smile that was different from any Blake had seen before. This entire side of Yang was different from anything Blake had seen before - and she was greedy to learn more.

Watching Yang and Ruby interact was like watching two baby pandas roll around playing together - and Blake could probably never get tired of it….which was why she’d suggested that Ruby come over for breakfast. Little had she known that the invitation would mean that their regular routine would be completely broken and they’d be trekking out to the grocery store first thing in the morning.

“I’ll come with you?” Blake offered, swinging her legs out of bed and resting them on the soft carpet. Yawning again, she raised both arms above her head and stretched her back until feeling that slight tension that felt oh so good. Dropping her arms to her sides, she blushed when she caught the way Yang’s eyes were lingering on her stomach - where her shirt must have just ridden up.

Tugging at the bottom of her shirt, she stood and pressed a quick kiss to Yang’s cheek.

“You’ll wait for me, right?” she asked before heading to the bathroom, already knowing what the answer would be.

“Absolutely!” Following Blake to the bathroom, Yang leaned against the doorframe while watching her get ready for the day. “I mean, you know how long it takes me to get ready - but you get ready super fast! So I just figured, ya know, I’d get a head start on things so we can leave soon.”

Glancing at Yang in the mirror before closing her eyes to wash her face, Blake wasn’t convinced that Yang was being entirely honest. For one thing, the way she was shifting back and forth between her feet suggested that she was more impatient than she was currently letting on. But she must also realize that it was still several hours before Ruby would arrive, so there was no need to rush.

“Oh! I know what’ll help. I’ll go incognito.”

Curious, but mostly amused, Blake carried on with her routine while Yang disappeared from the doorway and rummaged around in the bedroom.

They tried to stick to a routine when at all possible, but - between both of their somewhat chaotic lives - the day was normally thrown into disarray at some point. Today, the unexpectedness had merely begun a little earlier than usual. By now, Blake had learned to adapt and be pleasantly surprised when the unexpected developments turned into a moment they never would’ve shared if not for the disruption.

“Ok, ok - how do I look?”

Putting her toothbrush back in the drawer and closing it, Blake grinned into the mirror and spun around to take a good look at Yang. Dressing ‘incognito’ apparently meant wearing a hat and pair of dark sunglasses.

“You look like Yang Xiao Long in sunglasses,” Blake answered with a laugh, reaching up to remove the sunglasses so she could see the lilac eyes she adored so much. “Honestly Yang, you’re way too beautiful to hide behind some glasses. You’ll need to wear a full Halloween costume or something.”

Yang’s only response to the comment was to give Blake that dopey smile that made her blush and turn away. Yang must be called beautiful a hundred times every day, but it was only when Blake said it that Yang smiled like that - and that smile always released a kaleidoscope of butterflies in Blake’s chest.

“If you’re worried about people recognizing you, how about I run out and pick up everything we need?” Blake offered, meeting Yang’s gaze once again.

“Are you kidding me??” Smile gone, Yang waved both hands in front of her while simultaneously shaking her head. “You’ll have all the boys swarming you in a heartbeat. I’m not letting you go out there without me being around to beat them back!”

Blake smiled while stepping past Yang to find an outfit to wear. Yang followed, of course - just like Blake wanted her to.

“You’re still upset about that boy from last night?” she asked, picking out a warm-purple, long-sleeved shirt and dark, dark pair of jeans that she knew Yang loved.

“Pfft…yeah right. What guy from last night? I don’t remember anyone other than you. And you were amazing, as usual. Oh, and there was this really annoying mosquito or something at one point, but I swatted him away and he didn’t come back.”

“You only remember me from last night?” Blake teased while quickly getting dressed - making sure to avoid Yang’s greedy eyes so they could sidestep any delays. “What about Weiss? It was her birthday. Or Pyrrha. Or, I don’t know, maybe your sister finally came back after being away for what sounds like was forever.”

“Okayyy so there were other people there, but definitely not any guys worth mentioning!”

“Admit it -” Blake finally said, turning around and giving Yang a small pout. “You were jealous.”

“I was so jealous, Blake,” Yang admitted with a far more serious expression than Blake had intended to illicit. “I don’t like the idea that anyone else could...could be with you - other than me.”

Touched by the honest sentiment, Blake stood on her tiptoes and kissed Yang on the lips.

“I don’t like that idea either,” Blake said, meeting Yang’s eyes and tucking several loose strands of blonde hair behind her ear. “So let’s not even think about it. Because it doesn’t matter who might be interested in me - I’m the one who gets to decide who I love. And I’ve already chosen you.”

Blake watched the smile grow - first in Yang’s eyes before landing on her lips - and smiled in return.

“Yeah?” Yang asked, sneaking her hands onto Blake’s hips and tugging them closer together. “So you don’t even care if it’s a bizarro male version of me?”

Laughing, Blake leaned into Yang’s embrace before playfully pulling away. “I thought there weren’t any boys at the party last night - especially not bizarro male versions of you.”

“Right. You’re right,” Yang replied with a pleased nod before swooping in and stealing another kiss. “But we should get going! Ruby’s gonna be here in like...three hours and we’re not ready!”

By now used to the rapid changes in subject, Blake accepted Yang’s hand and was pulled willingly out of their room and into the living room. While Yang hurriedly slipped on the first pair of shoes her hands fell upon, Blake decided to have a little fun of her own.

Yang was normally a pretty patient person. In fact, she was normally the one who was late or causing them to be late by dragging her feet. Now that the tables were turned, wasn’t it only fair that Blake take her own sweet time? There was no way of knowing whether or not a moment like this would ever present itself again, after all...

Walking over to the closet, Blake held the door with one hand and stared thoughtfully at the shoes paired up inside. Being that she had little interest in fashion, she already knew exactly which pair she was going to wear...but Yang didn’t know that.

“Hmm…” Blake breathed out while studying her options. Feeling Yang’s intent stare, she tried not to smile - that would only give away what she was doing.

Reaching into the closet, she picked up one pair and stood up...only to put them back and pick up another potential candidate. Yang shifted her feet, but managed to remain quiet. Impressive! Maybe she was even more patient than Blake was giving her credit for.

Putting the second pair back in place and retrieving the shoes she actually intended on wearing, Blake calmly sat down on the sofa and slowly slipped them on. All the while, Yang watched and fidgeted nearly nonstop. And, as soon as Blake stood up, she bolted for the front door.

“Ok, let’s go!” she said, practically out in the hall already.

“Oh, hold on!” Blake called out, turning around and walking towards the kitchen table. “I forgot my bag.”

“Blakeeee!” Yang finally whined, having reached her limit of patience. Blake couldn’t help laughing at the adorable sound while quickly grabbing her bag and meeting Yang by the door - with Yang slowly figuring out what was going on by the way Blake playfully shook her head.

“You’re just messing with me?” Yang asked, grinning when Blake nodded. “Well could you mess with me on the way to the store instead??”

“I suppose that'll do…” Blake joked, accepting Yang’s hand and heading towards the elevator that would take them down to the lobby. “Although it’ll be harder to do when you’re getting what you want…”

“Oh?”

Blake didn’t need to look at Yang to know exactly what expression went with that single word question. And she probably shouldn’t look at Yang right now, because the elevator ride down to the lobby was short and other people were often waiting right outside the doors when they got there. That wasn’t enough time to do anything that Yang might want to do…

“You know what I mean,” Blake replied, blushing regardless as her own mind considered the possibilities. Hearing Yang laugh as they stepped out into the lobby, Blake smiled as they made their way out into the early morning sunshine.

“I wanted to thank you, by the way.”

Blake glanced over at Yang, surprised by the unexpected gratitude.

“For what?”

“For being absolutely incredible!” Yang answered with a big grin. “But also for how much you helped with Weiss’ party. And by helped, I mean basically set the entire thing up yourself.”

“No need to thank me. I was happy to help.”

“Yeah, but you didn’t have to and did anyway.” Yang squeezed Blake’s hand to express even more appreciation before carrying on. “Do you think she had a good time?”

For the answer to that question, Blake thought back on the second half of the party - the part after Ruby arrived and Weiss came down from her tower.

“I think she did.”

“Good,” Yang answered with a nod. “I hope she did. I just get the feeling that she’s used to people...using her.”

“But that’s not you.”

“No way! I just want to be her friend! And use her to get all the free concert tickets I want!”

Laughing at the joke, Blake lightly squeezed Yang’s hand as they continued their early morning stroll. For the day having started off the way it did, it was actually a nice surprise to take a walk with Yang when there were fewer people than usual around. Sure, the store wasn’t far, but that didn’t mean Blake wouldn’t enjoy their temporary privacy while it lasted.

“It’s nice out,” she said - commenting more on the company than on the weather.

“It is. Although I’d walk out into a blizzard as long as I got to walk with you.”

Chuckling at the line, Blake squeezed Yang’s hand and pulled them towards the small, neighborhood store that would surely have everything they needed. Fortunately, the store opened even earlier than either of them normally woke up. Walking through the sliding glass doors into the fully air conditioned space beyond, Blake paused and looked to Yang for direction.

“What are we getting exactly?”

“Ok, uh...well we have flour and stuff, so we need strawberries, raspberries, vanilla and chocolate ice cream, whipped cream - the extra creamy kind, not that regular stuff - rainbow sprinkles, fudge sauce, and about five different bags of candy.”

For a few seconds, Blake merely stared at Yang in surprise at the list that had been rattled off.

“I thought we were making pancakes?” she eventually asked.

“We are!”

“But...that sounds more like an ice cream bar.” Seeing Blake’s consternation, Yang laughed and picked up one of the hand baskets to be filled with...sugar, apparently.

“Just wait, Blake. Just wait.”

“Don’t keep me waiting long,” she teased, sending Yang a wink and immediately blushing when Yang subconsciously licked her lips. Clearing her throat, Blake turned back towards the aisles in front of them and tried to wipe that thought from her mind. “What do you think - divide and conquer?”

When Yang scoffed at the suggestion, Blake looked over in surprise.

“Yeah, right!” Yang said. “We stick together. That guy over there is already making eyes at you.”

Finding the guy Yang was referring to, Blake laughed.

“Yang, he’s looking at you.”

“No, he’s totally staring at you! Oh, and now he’s coming over. Ok, try not to make him fall in love with you.”

Shaking her head while Yang tried to act nonchalant, Blake watched the young man approach them. He was around their age, decently handsome, and most definitely far more interested in Yang than in her.

“You’re Yang Xiao Long, right?” he asked, stopping a polite distance away and lifting one hand in question.

“You know, some mornings I think I am, but others I’m not so sure,” Yang answered with an easy smile that made him laugh. As usual, she found a simple response that put people at ease - breaking a bit of the ‘unapproachable celebrity’ vibe some of her coworkers had all but perfected.

That aloof persona was so far from who Yang was though - and it was just another trait that Blake adored. Yang had a smile ready for anyone and everyone, but...there were certain smiles that were only for Blake. That little caveat worked wonders in keeping the feelings of jealousy at bay.

“I hope you don’t mind,” Yang’s newest ‘favorite’ fan said, taking a step forward. “But could I get a picture with you? I’m a huge fan of your movies.”

“Sure, no problem!”

Grinning at his good fortune, the guy scrambled to pull out his phone - very nearly dropping it when it fumbled out of his pocket.

“Want me to take it?” Blake offered, slightly worried he would hurt himself trying to take the photo while being so close to Yang.

“Yeah, sure! Thanks!”

When he handed the phone over, Blake stood in front while Yang gave her a bright smile before turning to their newest acquaintance.

“That’s my girlfriend, by the way,” Yang said in a loud whisper. “Isn’t she beautiful?”

It was a trick question - with neither answer likely to make Yang happy. Thankfully, the young man was too absorbed in Yang’s presence to fully formulate a response.

“U-uh, I mean, yeah, I guess,” he sputtered, his eyes never leaving Yang as she laughed. Apparently he’d just passed the test.

Turning to Blake, they both smiled and she took a couple of photos in a row so he could choose the best one.

“Thank you so much!” he said, taking his phone from Blake before giving them both a huge smile and rushing off - most likely dying to tell all of his friends about his good fortune.

“You just made his day,” Blake said, walking back to Yang as she picked up the basket again.

“Now let’s make mine!” Yang replied, taking Blake’s hand and pulling her towards the nearest aisle. “We have pancakes to make!”

“And ice cream sundaes,” Blake added, smiling at the sound of Yang’s laughter as they whizzed through the store together.

They ended up with six different kinds of candy to go along with the fruit, ice cream, whipped cream, and three types of juices - orange, apple, and grape. Blake carried two of the bottles of juice up to the counter - one in each hand - since Yang had vastly underestimated how much food a small hand basket could carry.

“Ruby’s probably still sleeping,” Yang commented while the clerk rang up their items. “She said she’ll text me when she’s up - and she gets hungry like minutes after waking up so she’ll probably come over right away.”

“Ok.” Paying for the groceries and giving the clerk a quick ‘thank you,’ Blake grabbed one of the bags and followed Yang towards the exit. “So what you’re saying is that once she texts you, we don’t have much time to prepare.”

“That’s why we need to get ready early.”

“Well let’s get home then, slowpoke,” Blake teased, playfully bumping her bag into Yang’s side to get her moving faster.

“I’m the slowpoke?? Who’s the one that takes forever to find their shoes?”

Catching Yang’s grin, Blake shook her head. “If you didn’t have so many pairs in the closet, it’d be easier for me to find what I want to wear.”

“Ok, ok. I know better than to try to fight that battle -”

“Because you’ll lose,” Blake joked, smiling when Yang laughed and nodded.

“I’ll absolutely lose. But I always lose to you - hard to win when you’re so freaking gorgeous!”

The two things seemed uncorrelated in Blake’s mind, but the compliment warmed her heart anyway. And, as Yang held the door to their building open, Blake stopped and gave her a grateful kiss on the lips before heading inside.

“You realize someone probably got a picture of that.”

“I don’t care,” Blake replied, stepping into the elevator and trying not to smile at the huge grin Yang was wearing while practically skipping inside. “If they did, hopefully I can get a copy and keep it forever.”

“If you want more pictures of us kissing, all you need to do is say the word. And if you want more than that -”

“We’ve already had that conversation, Yang,” Blake interrupted, her cheeks heating up regardless of them being alone in the elevator as it took them back to their home.

“I just love seeing you blush,” Yang replied, far too happy with how successful she’d been yet again.

“I’m curious,” Blake added, a change of topic thankfully appearing in her mind as Yang used the keys to unlock the door to their shared home. “Where does Ruby stay when she’s in Vale?”

“She has a little apartment nearby - nothing fancy.”

“She does?” Surprised by the answer, Blake sent Yang a glance as they set their bags down on the island in the kitchen. “She keeps paying for it even though she’s not here?”

“Oh, no. Wait, I haven’t told you this before?”

“Told me what?”

“Well, uh, I pay for it,” Yang answered, giving Blake an almost apologetic smile for the reply.

“You do?”

“Yeah. I mean, it’s not expensive. She wasn’t going to keep it, but I wanted her to always have a place to come home to. I hope that’s ok?”

Blake’s surprise in this moment had everything to do with the revelation that there was still more to learn about Yang, even after all this time. Living together, she’d expected most of the mysteries and unexpected discoveries to fall by the wayside but...well, Yang found a way to keep things interesting.

“Why wouldn’t that be ok?” Blake asked, pulling the ice cream containers out of a bag and putting them in the freezer. “That’s your decision.”

“Yeah, but…” Pausing that thought, Yang shook her head and turned away, but not before Blake caught the soft blush that was growing.

“But what?” she pressed, leaving the groceries in favor of walking over to Yang. It wasn’t like Yang to be bashful - at least, not since they’d first started dating. Seeing this side of her return was a treat indeed. The shy, slightly lowered gaze, the ever-fidgeting hands, the shuffling feet...Blake loved every bit of it.

“It just...kinda feels like it should be our decision,” Yang finally answered. The implication nearly made Blake take a step backwards in surprise, but instead she stepped forward - into Yang’s space in order to take her hands and squeeze them reassuringly.

“If you’re asking me,” Blake said, her heart swelling in affection from that single statement alone. “Then yes - I’m completely ok with paying for a place for your sister to stay.”

When Yang grinned, Blake leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her lips.

“Glad you agree,” Yang said only after Blake moved away. “Maybe...maybe we can make more of those decisions together? Or like, all of them?”

Up until this moment, they’d kept their finances separately - neither of them hurting for money, but neither of them feeling the need to have a major discussion about it either. Blake felt that maybe Yang wanted to wait and see how things turned out, but...maybe Yang had been waiting for Blake instead.

“I’d love that,” Blake answered, giving Yang’s hands a little shake of happiness. “You’re very sweet, you know that?”

“I hope you still feel that way after you see how much I spend on shoes…”

Laughing at the joke, Blake looped both arms around Yang’s neck and pulled her down for a kiss. Blake loved kissing Yang in the morning. Or the afternoon. Anytime, really, but morning kisses seemed more satisfying for some reason. Maybe it was because they weren’t able to kiss for the entire night while they were sleeping, and this was what it felt like to make up for lost time.

Either way, she enjoyed morning kisses immensely. With nowhere to be and nothing to do for several hours, they were free to savor it in full - which Blake could feel Yang doing as their lips locked together and she slid her hands down Blake’s sides. Gently, Yang pressed Blake up against the island, and those wandering hands started fiddling with the hem of Blake’s shirt.

Feeling a surge of passion course through her, Blake dropped one arm from Yang’s neck, but felt her elbow knock into something on the way down.

The sound of metal hitting granite shocked them both apart, before Yang stretched to one side and caught the bottle of whipped cream before it rolled off the counter.

When Yang held up the whipped cream, Blake fought a furious blush that she’d been the one to ruin that moment so handily. Clearing her throat, she tried to find a set of words that might save her from her current embarrassment.

“So, uh…” she said, before shaking her head and giving up.

“If you wanted to get a little more frisky, you could’ve just said so.” When Yang grinned like a fool and shook the can, Blake playfully shoved her shoulder.

“Don’t we have breakfast to make?”

“Yeah, yeah - but after!” Yang gave Blake a questioning look, but Blake pretended not to see it in favor of taking their myriad of fruits to the sink to be washed.

“I’m totally taking that as a ‘yes,’” Yang said, laughing while putting the can back on the island - this time further from the edge. “Ok, how about I start the pancakes, and you wash the fruits and cut them into pancake-friendly pieces?”

“You mean what I was already going to do?” Blake asked, raising one brow and gesturing towards the fruit in front of her.

“Ok, it’s really hard to think of things before you do! Take it easy on the poor dumb blonde, won’t you?”

“Never.” Turning on the faucet, Blake shot Yang a teasing smirk. “That’s not why you’re dating me.”

“That’s the truth. I’m dating you because you’re unbelievably smart, incredibly sexy, super fine -”

Chuckling at the list, Blake washed the strawberries and raspberries - and Yang was cut off by a buzzing sound. Looking over her shoulder, Blake watched curiously as Yang picked up her phone and smiled at whatever she read on the screen.

“Listen to this,” Yang said before reading aloud, “‘Thank you for the wonderful party last night. I really appreciate the effort both you and Blake put into celebrating my birthday. I enjoyed spending time with you and your friends, plus having the chance to meet your sister.’”

Reaching the end of the message, Yang grinned.

“That was sweet of her,” Blake replied, feeling her own heart warm at the thought that Weiss had enjoyed her birthday.

“She had a good time!” Yang cheered, raising both hands in success before dropping them just as quickly. “Oh dang, we should’ve invited her for breakfast!”

“She has plans this morning with her family, remember?”

“Oh. That’s right.”

“But we could always invite her over another time,” Blake added, pulling out a cutting board and knife so she could cut the strawberries into smaller pieces.

“You’re right, we should do that...oh! We should invite Pyrrha though!!” As the idea occurred to her, Yang typed out a message and sent it off with a grin. “Pyrrha loves Ruby. I’m sure she’ll stop by if she’s free.”

“If she’s even awake this morning,” Blake replied with a shake of her head. “I bet she’s still sleeping.”

“Me too. But she can get here late! No pancakes for her.”

“No pancakes for anyone if you don’t start making them soon,” Blake teased.

“Relax, Blake. Pancakes take like...fifteen minutes to make,” Yang replied, flashing a grin and ducking the strawberry Blake flung her way. “Ok, ok! I’ll make ‘em,” Yang added, grabbing the stray fruit off the far counter and popping it in her mouth.

While Yang was pulling supplies out of the cabinets, her phone buzzed a second time. Leaning over, Blake checked who the message was from.

“It’s your sister.”

“What??” Walking over with a bowl in one hand, Yang tapped the screen. “She woke up early? Oh crap. I forget she’d still be on Vacuo time…”

“Well I’m almost done with my tasks…”

“Oh shush,” Yang said, laughing while quickly finding the ingredients she needed. While Yang mixed up a batter and started frying up three pancakes at a time, Blake piled all the fruits into bowls before doing the same with the candy they’d gotten. Those went onto the dining table before being joined by plates, silverware, and napkins - then glasses and the three bottles of juice. Last, but certainly not least, she pulled out both cartons of ice cream and set them down with the canister of whipped cream.

Honestly, it looked far more like an ice cream bar than a breakfast table...

“Oh, syrup!” Blake exclaimed, suddenly realizing they’d forgotten the most quintessential pancake topping during their quest to get everything else. “We don’t have any syrup, do we?”

“Naw, don’t worry about it. She uses the ice cream instead.”

“What are we supposed to use then?” Blake asked. Turning away from the pan for a few seconds, Yang shrugged her shoulders and laughed.

“Whipped cream, maybe? Or do what Ruby does and put candy in between pancakes so it melts into a gooey, chocolatey mess.”

Seeing Blake’s expression of disbelief, Yang nodded and flipped a few more pancakes out of the pan.

“You’ll see…”

A fast, double knock hit the door - making Yang spin around with a huge smile in place.

“That’s gotta be her!”

“I’ll get it,” Blake replied while walking over to the door, unwittingly smiling at how happy Yang looked.

Admittedly, Blake was moderately nervous about seeing Ruby again. When they’d met last night, there were plenty of other people around - many of whom knew Ruby and were excited for the chance to speak with her. There hadn’t been much opportunity for Blake and Ruby to spend time getting to know one another. And...Ruby was very important to Yang, so it was important that Blake earn Ruby’s blessing.

Unlocking the door and pulling it open, Blake was immediately greeted by a wave of energy.

“You need to see -!” Ruby immediately said before her eyes widened upon seeing Blake. “Oh, hi Blake! You’re already here!”

The word choice made Blake tilt her head in confusion.

“Ruby!” Yang called out from the kitchen. “Get over here, shortstack!”

Sending Blake a blinding grin, Ruby skipped inside to say ‘hello’ to her sister with a huge hug.

“Already here?” Blake repeated while following Ruby to the kitchen, trying to figure out why the comment didn’t make sense to her.

“Yeah! I mean, I thought I’d get here first, but I guess I woke up kinda late so…” Words trailing off, Ruby shrugged and chuckled at wherever that thought had ended up. Glancing around the apartment, she grinned at Yang. “Did you redecorate? Looks awesome! When’d you get so many books?”

When Ruby waved towards the bookcase in the living room (which was filled with Blake’s books), Yang glanced that way before her eyes widened in shock.

“Ohhh my god,” she said, shooting Blake a look before turning back to Ruby. “I never told you that Blake moved in!”

Ah - that’s why the phrase seemed off kilter.

“You moved in together??” Ruby asked, the shock quickly wearing off as she hit her sister in the shoulder. “How could you forget to tell me that??”

“I don’t know, how could you forget to tell me you’d be back in Vale last night?” Yang responded, playfully smacking Ruby’s hand away from the plate of finished pancakes.

“Guess we both have terrible memories.” Shrugging, Ruby waited until Yang’s gaze returned to the stove before snatching a pancake and shoving the whole thing in her mouth. “Tha-sh aw-shom tho-”

Yang shot her sister a suspicious glare before nodding towards something Ruby was holding in her hands.

“Whatcha got there?” Yang asked, flipping another set of finished pancakes onto the platter filling with them.

“This? Oh, uh, it’s nothing.”

“‘Nothing?’ Since when do you carry around ‘nothing?’”

“Since forever!” Ruby said, holding what appeared to be a magazine behind her back and sending Blake a worried glance. “It’s no big deal, Yang. I can show you later -”

“Come on, hand it over.”

Watching in curiosity, Blake could read the emotions flitting through Ruby’s eyes - an openness of emotion similar to Yang’s own expressive eyes.

“Fine,” Ruby finally agreed, handing the magazine over to Yang. Taking it and giving Ruby a teasing slap on the shoulder, Yang flipped it around to read the front page - and let her jaw fall slightly in surprise.

“Oh.”

“Yeah,” Ruby replied. “I saw it on my way over and wanted to warn you!”

Now fully curious, Blake looked between Ruby and Yang before walking over to see what was causing such a stir.

“What is it?” she asked, reading the cover over Yang’s shoulder.

As it turned out, it was one of the tabloid magazines Blake religiously stayed away from. On the cover was a huge photo of Yang and Pyrrha - the two of them were eating lunch together, but the picture caught them at a moment when Yang was leaning across the table. From the camera angle, it almost looked like Yang was leaning in for a kiss...and the headline certainly didn’t help.

‘Writing’s on the Wall? Yang Xiao Long spotted being more than friendly with Pyrrha Nikos.’

To add insult to injury, they’d included a photo of Blake - only to add a graphic that made it appear as if she was being torn off of the page.

Taking the magazine from Yang’s hands, Blake shook her head while looking at it.

“You’re cheating on me again, Yang?” she said, adding a few ‘tsks’ before holding the magazine up so Yang would look at it. “And with Pyrrha this time? What am I going to do with you?”

First Yang read Blake’s eyes, searching for any hint that Blake was truly bothered by the photo. Finding none, Yang laughed and shook her head.

“You know me - can’t keep me caged for too long. Sooner or later, you’ve gotta let me fly! Or, you know, go out to lunch with other people.”

Chuckling, Blake shared a smile with Yang before noticing the way Ruby was looking back and forth between them, completely floored by the interaction.

“You aren’t mad?” she asked.

“Of course not,” Blake replied. “It’s not true.”

“Well yeah, I figured that. But like...I was worried you’d be nervous or something.”

Shaking her head, Blake casually tossed the magazine facedown on the countertop.

“I’ll only be nervous when someone can make her blush like I can,” she answered. To prove her point, she leaned over and gave Yang a quick peck on the cheek - causing her to turn bright red in the process.

Ruby stared at them, but with this goofy smile on her face. And then she started laughing - this infectious giggle that made Yang chuckle while turning off the stove.

“You’re really cool!” Ruby added, nodding enthusiastically. “Cinder flipped out about that stuff, remember?”

“Ugh, don’t remind me,” Yang replied. Picking up the plate of pancakes, she gave Blake a warm smile while nodding towards the table. “Now come on, let’s eat!”

Following Yang and Ruby to the table, Blake took the seat across from Ruby and waited for Ruby and Yang to serve themselves first.

If someone was looking for a reason to be upset, that photograph would certainly do it. But if Blake looked for reasons to be upset, there’d be no feasible way for the two of them to stay together. With Yang’s visibility and popularity, photos like this were bound to happen - catching her in just the wrong position at just the wrong time.

It wouldn’t be fair to punish Yang for something she had little-to-no control over. Plus, Blake knew - in the way Yang looked at her, spoke to her, touched her, kissed her - she knew in every ‘I love you’ that Yang would be careful with her heart.

And she knew that, if she ever felt the tiniest bit insecure, she could talk to Yang about it - and that she’d be reassured in droves.

That was one of the most wonderful parts of their relationship...that it took no effort at all to trust one another, regardless of what the world threw their way.

Reaching over, Blake gave Yang’s hand a loving squeeze before watching in fascination as Ruby spread a handful of candy between each layer of the pancake tower she’d built before piling ice cream on top and using the whipped cream to cover the sides. Basically...Ruby added sugar until the actual food was no longer visible.

Deciding to try out a little bit of the ice cream with fruit on top, Blake created a far more subdued breakfast while Ruby began demolishing hers.

“Mmm these are so good!” Cutting off another forkful, Ruby sent her sister a grin. “I’ve missed your cooking so much!”

“I’ve missed you so much,” Yang replied, not at all embarrassed to admit such a thing. “You’re sticking around for a while, right?”

“Yeah! I mean, I don’t have any plans to leave right now.”

The response was noncommittal, but Yang still looked thrilled while she finished a bite of her own breakfast. “Cool!” she said after. “Want me to get you some parts?”

“Oh yeah! Can you? That’d be fun!” Before Blake could even ask what they were talking about, Ruby turned towards her. “Yang gets me parts as an extra at the studio! It’s really awesome.”

“Ruby’s actually been in way more movies than me,” Yang added, giving her sister a proud grin for that accomplishment.

“I have!”

“That sounds like fun,” Blake said, watching Ruby devour another pancake in between breaths. “What have they asked you to do - as an extra, I mean?”

“Lots of stuff! I’ve gotten to run from zombies, and run from explosions, and run across a bridge that was about to fall…”

“So, you run from things, basically?”

Ruby beamed and nodded. “Yup! Although they didn’t actually have zombies chasing us. That was a bummer…”

Sensing the genuine disappointment behind those words, Blake couldn’t help but to chuckle. Ruby really was a unique, endearing soul...

“What was your favorite part?” Blake asked, both curious and seeking to keep the conversation going.

“Oh! Well, this one time there was an explosion in a building and everyone had to run down the street away from it. But Yang was standing outside saying, ‘That way, that way - keep going!’ and waving people in the right direction. When I ran past her, she rustled my hair!”

When Yang laughed at the cute memory, Blake decided that Ruby might just be the most adorable person she’d ever met.

“They kept that shot in the final cut too,” Yang said, her eyes positively sparkling as she looked at Blake. “You can just barely see it with how the camera angles worked out. I can show you later.”

“Please do.”

“I wanna watch too!”

“Ruby, you’ve seen that movie like a hundred times.”

“So? It’s awesome!” Reaching for another pancake, Ruby grinned across the table at Blake. “Yang’s movies are my favorites. I love watching her be the hero! Except I always cry when she gets stabbed…”

“One time I got stabbed - and I’m completely fine!”

“Now you are!” Shaking her head, Ruby pulled the ice cream container over to her. “I skip that part.”

“I remember that scene,” Blake said, sending a glance Yang’s way. “You sold it too well.”

“You guys are simultaneously complimenting me and making me feel horrible for doing my job!” Yang whined. “At least choose one or the other!”

Smiling, Blake reached over and patted Yang’s hand.

“You’re fantastic at what you do,” she said, watching Yang’s eyes light up in delight at the compliment. “Sometimes it’s just a little painful for the people who love you.”

“Aww...you guys are so cute!”

Yang smiled while Blake felt the hint of a blush dust her cheeks. Ruby seemed to say whatever popped in her mind, or was unafraid to say things others might normally hold at bay. It was a refreshing, if not mildly embarrassing, trait.

“Yang said you’re the best writer in the whole world!” Ruby said between bites.

“Did she?” Blake sent Yang an appreciative smile for the exaggeration. Even if it wasn’t true, it was nice that Yang believed in her so fully.

“Yeah! ‘The most talented writer ever,’ was what she said. I think.” Ruby paused for a second and tried to remember before shaking her head. “But I’m excited! Have you written anything I might’ve read? I totally wanna read your stuff!”

“You hardly read, Ruby,” Yang teased.

“I read sometimes! Like billboards or, I dunno, menus? Texts from Yang when I have a phone or service?”

Chuckling at the answer, Yang popped a raspberry in her mouth.

“What’s the last book you read?” Blake asked.

“Uhhh…I think it was like...something about how the number seven kills people.”

“Unlucky Seven?”

“Yeah! That was it. Oh man, I remember being super paranoid about the number for the longest time.”

“It was a good read,” Blake agreed. “But if that’s the type of book you’re looking for, I don’t know that I’ve written anything remotely close.”

“Oh, I don’t mind - I’ll read anything! Besides, you’re practically family now, so I should read all your books. Just like I watch all of Yang’s movies!”

The kind words were far more than Blake expected at this point in time, but Ruby sent a genuine smile across the table to go with her acceptance.

If Blake had been worried about winning Ruby’s approval...well, she was a little less worried now.

“I’ll get you copies of everything,” she said, smiling back to Ruby. “But please don’t feel like you have to read any of them.”

When Ruby made a happy noise and finished off her plate of pancakes, Blake turned to find Yang looking between the two of them with a huge smile in place.

“Has Yang read all of them?” Ruby asked after her breakfast was done.

“You bet I have!” Yang answered with a proud smile. “Just a warning though - there are a lot.” Pausing for a second, Yang laughed when a thought occurred to her. “When we first started dating, I stayed up basically all night for a week straight reading them. I didn’t want to look dumb, but instead I think I came off like an exhausted, crazy stalker.”

Blake laughed at the memory.

“Just a bit,” she joked. “I wasn’t expecting you to have read any of them, so when you started quoting passages I was...well, shocked, to say the least.”

“Shocked enough that you fell in love with me!”

“Absolutely. I knew you were a keeper if you were willing to do that.”

The two of them shared a smile, fondly remembering that period of their relationship before Yang turned back to Ruby.

“You’re gonna love ‘em though. They’re so freaking good. Love, betrayal, action, adventure, basically all the good stuff. And did I mention love? Because man there’s some great romance.”

A small blush heated Blake’s cheeks from the endless compliments, which Yang never seemed to run out of. To make matters even more humbling, Ruby was nodding enthusiastically at her sister’s words.

“I can’t wait to read them - I could use some more love in my life!”

“Good thing you’re back then!” Yang replied, reaching over and lovingly tussling Ruby’s short hair.

“Yangggg!”

“What? I haven’t gotten to do that in forever!”

“That doesn’t mean you need to do it now!”

While they playfully bickered, Blake sat back and watched.

Pandas. Adorable, adorable baby pandas.

When Yang finished giving her sister a hard time, she let out a happy sigh and gestured at Ruby’s empty plate.

“Are you done eating?”

“Yup! I’m stuffed!” Immediately after the reply, Ruby hopped to her feet and grabbed her plate. “I’ll clean up.”

“Naw, leave it for now - I want to hear about your trip!”

While Yang swiveled in her seat, Ruby walked into the kitchen and set her plate in the sink.

“At least let me clear off the table first!” she said, coming back to the table and grabbing the cartons of ice cream while Yang stared in surprise.

“Since when do you volunteer to clean up??”

“Since the time I didn’t and some crazy old guy told me I’d die a horrible death!” When Yang’s jaw dropped in surprise, Ruby solemnly nodded and said, “True story,” before heading to the freezer.

Catching Yang’s stunned expression, Blake smiled and stood to help clear the rest of the table. While dumping the bowls of candy back into their respective bags, she watched with interest as Ruby put the bottles of juice into the fridge before finding a small container to put the leftover fruit in.

It was strange to realize that Ruby had been in this apartment far before Blake was ever in the picture. It showed in the way Ruby knew her way around the kitchen, and in how comfortable she was opening and closing cupboards that weren’t her own. Of course, why wouldn’t she be? This was her sister’s home - she was probably over here all the time whenever she was in Vale.

Which meant that she’d be over all the time for the foreseeable future. Surprisingly, the idea didn’t bother Blake in the slightest. They’d known each other for only a little while, but Ruby was a joy to spend time with. Her general aura was...uplifting.

“So how’d you like the party last night?” Yang asked, gently bumping Ruby’s elbow as they put some of the dishes in the sink. “Have fun?”

“It was awesome! So fun!”

“Yeah? And you got to meet Weiss! Did you like her?”

“Oh - yeah! I mean, she was...really, really cool. I didn’t expect her to be so pretty.”

Blake’s attention perked up at the word, but when Yang chuckled she decided that Ruby didn’t mean anything by it.

“She is pretty, huh,” Yang replied before looking around to see if they were done. Finding everything off the table, she clapped her hands and said, “Ok, story time!”

Ushering everyone into the living room, she motioned for Blake to sit on the sofa while Ruby paced the room.

“I really like all the changes!” Ruby remarked, her eyes scanning the shelves full of Blake’s books before moving on to the lavender window curtains Blake had picked out. “It feels a lot more...cozy.”

While Ruby stood by the coffee table, Yang sat down next to Blake and gently squeezed her knee.

“I think so too,” Yang said, leaning over and pressing a kiss to Blake’s cheek. “But tell us - what’ve you been up to?”

“Right! Oh man, I saw so much cool stuff - you wouldn’t believe it!”

Beaming at Ruby’s enthusiastic introduction to her trip, Yang bumped Blake’s shoulder.

“This is one of my favorite parts of Ruby coming home,” she explained. “Well, besides having Ruby at home again.”

“And it’s one of my favorite parts of coming back!” Ruby replied. “Well, besides getting to see Yang again.”

“You two are so cute,” Blake finally said out loud, shaking her head in utter disbelief at their adorableness. After they shared a smile, Ruby did a little hop for joy.

“Ok, story time! So I went to Mistral first because...why not?” she explained, her voice speeding up in excitement. “And I think I was only there for a couple days when I met this guy -”

“Hold the phone.” Yang raised her hand and paused Ruby’s story. “This guy isn’t a romantic interest, is he?”

Ruby giggled at the question - pretty much all the answer anyone needed before she said, “No, Yang - he was in his forties or something.”

After giving Blake a relieved smile, Yang leaned back and waved her hand. “Ok, then continue.”

“Alright, so I met this guy - the non-romantic guy - and he tells me about this treasure chest buried in the middle of the city!”

“Like beneath the streets or something?” Yang asked. “How would they do that??”

“Or maybe it was in a park?” Blake suggested, and Ruby nodded vigorously.

“In the middle of a park - he had a map and everything! But there were a bunch of rules, like you had to dig at exactly the right spot at exactly the right time otherwise you wouldn’t find it. He asked me to help him because he needed someone to hold the watch and make sure he started digging at the right second.”

“And I’m guessing you agreed to help him?” Yang asked.

“Of course! It was a lot of fun, too. We had to walk around the park, backwards as some parts, and then tap a few special trees. When we finally got to the right spot, he dug a deep hole. I wasn’t expecting to find anything, but we totally did!”

“Really?” Yang asked in surprise that Blake silently felt. “What was it??”

“An old watch. It was broken, too.” Chuckling to herself, Ruby shook her head. “He was kinda disappointed, but it was a fun treasure hunt while it lasted! Anyway, while I was leaving the park, I realized I still had his map stuck in my pocket. When I pulled it out, my phone went flying and landed in the middle of the street! Then it got run over by a couple cars before I could get it...and that’s how my first phone died.”

Blake stared in shock at the tragic turn of events, but Yang laughed in delight. And, before Ruby could continue her tale, there was a soft knock at the door.

“Oh, that’s probably Pyrrha,” Yang whispered, standing up to answer it. “You stay there,” she directed Ruby. “I’ve got a surprise for you.”

Ruby watched intently as Yang walked over to the door and pulled it open. When she stepped out of the way, Pyrrha walked inside and found Ruby with an affectionate smile.

“Ruby,” Pyrrha barely managed to get out before Ruby let out a small squeal of excitement.

“Pyrrha!” she said before running over and launching herself into Pyrrha’s arms. Pyrrha managed to catch her - letting out an “oomph” while taking a step backward to cushion the unexpected force.

“At least you caught her this time,” Yang teased Pyrrha as she and Ruby separated.

“Oh, I’m really sorry I knocked you over last night!” Ruby quickly apologized.

“That’s ok,” Pyrrha replied, setting one hand reassuringly on Ruby’s shoulder. “I just wasn’t prepared then.”

“Had nothing to do with the gallon of champagne you drank,” Yang whispered loudly before yelping in surprise when Pyrrha landed an elbow in her side.

“Good morning, Blake,” Pyrrha said, nodding politely Blake’s way while Ruby looked between the two of them.

“Did you know they moved in together??”

The question made Pyrrha laugh and shake her head.

“That’s a good question seeing as how your sister hardly tells me anything. But yes, I did know they moved in together - mostly because Yang made me help clean the day before.”

When Blake shot her a curious look, Yang chuckled and ran a hand through her hair.

“I would’ve gladly helped, you know,” Blake said.

“Yeah, I know. But I wanted it to be perfect when you got here without you having to lift a finger.”

Flashing a modest grin, Yang only succeeded in making Blake’s heart melt a bit more.

“That’s very sweet of you,” she said, smiling and reaching over to squeeze Yang’s hand in appreciation.

“Yes, so I had to help instead,” Pyrrha added.

“But I’m sure you did a great job!” Ruby cut in. “Cuz you’re the best at everything!”

“Hey!” Yang shouted while Pyrrha smiled widely. “I thought I was the best at everything!”

“Oh I have missed you, Ruby,” Pyrrha said, giving Ruby a loving hug. When she pulled away, she sent Yang a triumphant smile before turning her attention back to Ruby. “Let’s get lunch sometime. Just the two of us - we don’t need her anyway.”

“That sounds like fun!”

When Pyrrha sat down in an oversized chair, Yang all but collapsed onto the sofa beside Blake, grumbling under her breath all the while. Meanwhile Ruby stood in front of them, and Blake could see why - Ruby really liked to walk and gesture while talking.

“You haven’t moved in with anyone while I was away, have you?” Ruby asked, narrowing her eyes at Pyrrha as if trying to read her mind. Opening her mouth, Pyrrha thought about the question for a second before smiling and shaking her head.

“No, I haven’t.”

“Wait -”

Blake grinned as soon as the word left Yang’s mouth. People might have many assumptions about Yang based upon her appearance and profession, but she was one of the most emotionally observant people Blake had ever met...especially when it related to opportunities to tease a friend.

“Did you catch that, Blake?” Yang asked, giving Blake a look that begged confirmation.

“I did.”

“What?? What did you see?” Ruby asked excitedly.

“Pyrrha! Is there something you’d like to tell me?” Yang asked. For her part, Pyrrha looked down at the arm of the chair before meeting Yang’s gaze with an innocent expression.

“What are you talking about?”

“Oh nonono, you’re not getting off that easy.”

“You paused, Pyrrha,” Blake added, earning Yang’s vigorous nod of approval.

“You paused!” Yang repeated. “You have something you’re hiding from us!”

“Ok, fine.” Caving, Pyrrha leaned forward and motioned calmly with her hands. “Jaune and I might have talked about potentially moving in together, but it’s no big -”

“It’s a huge deal!” Yang interrupted. “I’m so happy for you two!”

“Nothing has been decided yet -”

“But the fact that you’re even thinking about it is awesome.”

When Pyrrha looked around the room and found nothing but cheerful smiles, she finally smiled - a bright, genuine smile that expressed a bit of her own inner happiness.

“Then you’ll help me clean if he decides to move in?” she teased.

“Woah, woah. Dunno if I’d go that far -”

“I’ll help!” Ruby offered. “I’ll help move furniture or paint or whatever you need me to do!”

“I’ll help too,” Blake added, giving Yang a sweet smile in response to her look of dismay.

“Ok, now you’re both just making me look bad.”

Laughing, Pyrrha leaned away and waved one hand to dismiss the topic. “We haven’t decided anything yet, but I appreciate your offers. But enough about me...I’m sorry that I’m a bit late. I didn’t miss much of the story, did I?”

“Nope! Not much!”

“We just heard the demise of phone number one,” Yang added, one of her hands now playing with Blake’s hair.

“Run over by a car after a treasure hunt,” Blake explained as Ruby bounced back to her spot standing in front of them.

“That’s a common one - the car part, at least. It’s actually surprising that you’ve never been hit by a car, Ruby,” Pyrrha commented with a light laugh. Her laugh slowly trickled off when Ruby scrapped one toe across the floor, scratching her head and laughing nervously.

“Uh...heh heh...that brings me to my next story…”

“What?!” Yang sat straight forward and gestured with her hands. “Who was it? I need their name and address.”

Blake laughed at the reply and patted Yang’s back.

“And what are you going to do with that information?”

“I’m gonna pay this guy a visit, that’s what I’m gonna do!”

When Blake and Pyrrha both laughed at the response, Ruby waved her hands to get everyone’s attention once more.

“One, it wasn’t even a guy!” she said. “Two, it was kind of completely my fault.”

Sitting back and leaning into Blake’s shoulder, Yang let out a loud sigh.

“Were you running across the street again?”

“No! Well, maybe. But it wasn’t my fault! I mean, running into the street wasn’t.”

As Ruby launched into another story, Blake alternately listened while shooting glances at Yang and Pyrrha. Each time she did so, she was greeted by a smile or a laugh bubbling to existence from Ruby’s antics. Pyrrha’s eyes sparkled in happiness watching Ruby gesture widely while going through her stories. And Yang...Yang’s eyes followed Ruby with such adoration that Blake felt her own heart glow with love.

It felt like her family had grown again - first to include Yang, then Pyrrha, then Weiss, and now Ruby. Sure, Ruby seemed like the type of person who would perpetually break routines, but Blake would willingly sacrifice any routine she had if only to see Yang this happy.

#RWBY #Bumblebee #Blake Belladonna #Yang Xiao Long #Red Carpet Romance

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