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onlyrosyjohnny · 1 year

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rosy day [one shot]

-fluff/comfort

-Pediatrician!Johnny x Surgeon!OC

Word count: 6k

Summary: You spend your day-off by watching a movie with your daughter and your boyfriend. It's their first meeting, well after he made her cry in the clinic for a vaccine shot.

Warnings: foods and act of eating is mentioned, also if there are any errors in spelling or grammar that I missed, I’m sorry in advance. English is not my first language.

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. I do not own any of the people, characters, names, or concepts mentioned above. Please do not post my work in other platforms without my permission. Reblog, like, or any comment is gladly appreciated.

Coming to your apartment was the best part of the day. Especially after a 12 hour surgery, you definitely deserved a warm bath, a glass of wine and a good sleep tonight. Thankfully, tomorrow is your day off and you plan to enjoy your rest day to the fullest. You fetch the keys to your unit while thinking of the many hugs and kisses you'll get from your little one.

“Mommy’s here!”, a small voice can be heard as you insert your key to the door and unlock it.

“Rosy dear, don’t run towards the door, you don’t want to get a booboo on the knee don’t you?”, you heard Mrs. Bell’s voice as she reminds your five-year-old to be careful. She lives just across your unit and she’s been fond of your child ever since you moved into the building.

It was the best choice to have someone look after her that she already knows and sees on a daily basis. On your usual schedule, you would drop her off at kindergarten and your parents would pick her up and bring her to their house. After work you would pick her up in their house and also have your dinner there. But today, your parents were not available since they flew out of the country to visit your sibling.

You opened the door and what welcomed you was a warm smile and a big hug from your daughter. You give her a big smooch on the cheeks as you carry her and feel the love from your baby girl.

"Mommy, did you save lives today? How many?", she excitedly asked you.

"We did save a life today! That's why mommy got home late tonight, I'm sorry we didn't get to have dinner together tonight.", when you finish work early on Fridays, both of you usually stroll around the park when you pick her up and then have dinner while watching a movie she picked.

"It's okay, auntie ate with me and we watched Kung Fu Panda! Mommy, I wanna learn karate!" Last week, she wanted to be a surfer because of a Babrbie movie she saw and the week before that she wanted to become a chef.

"I hope you were a good kid for Mrs. Bell’s today, or did you give her a hard time?”, you jokingly said to your daughter while laughing with your neighbor. Of course you had an idea how she behaved today, she’s always a good kid but has good chances of being too ecstatic during playtime.

“Of course she was a wonderful kid, very smart and energetic,” Mrs. Bell says with a motherly smile on her face. You know your kid can be a handful at times since she has a lot of energy and there are times that even you can’t keep up with it. Along with her adventurous side she’s also a very smart kid, always curious with her environment and you are very much willing to nurture her in every way. As cliche as everyone says it, but your little Rosy is the center of your life, she never fails to put a smile on your face and remind you what love is.

You bid your goodbyes to your neighbor and generously thanked her for being with your little one for today. You put your kid down on the couch in the living room while she was babbling about the happy things that happened on her day. From how she enjoyed the snacks that you prepared for her, what she learned from kindergarten today etc.

“Sweetheart, I have good news for you! I have the day off tomorrow! We can finally go to the cinemas and watch Despicable Me!”, you excitedly told her.

“Really!I will sleep early tonight so I can wake up early tomorrow and we can go to the cinemas early and play a lot!”, she exclaimed.

“And not just that, we’ll have a special guest tomorrow, we’ll watch the movie with my friend!”

“Who's your friend?” she asked.

“Remember the very tall doctor you met in Mommy’s office last week. When you visited me with gran-gran and pop-pop?” you try to paint the picture of what happened last week when she first met Johnny.

“The giant doctor?”

That made you laugh a little, and you’re not gonna deny it because he is really tall.

“Yes my love, that giant doctor. He will join us for a fun weekend tomorrow!”, you try to make it more exciting because you know how she is with new people.

“That’s the doctor that gave me an ouchie!”, she remembered her vaccine shot last week. With her shocked face as she remembers her encounter with the ‘giant’ doctor, you are starting to get nervous if she will still want to go to the cinemas with him.

“Well baby, he needed to give you that ouchie because it will help you get stronger so you won’t get sick”, you patiently explained.

“But why him? Why not Auntie doctor?”, she’s referring to your other colleague, the one she met several months back and eventually became comfortable with.

“Because he's a very close friend of mine and he really wants to meet you. He’s a pedia, my love. A kid’s doctor! He’s got stickers of the movies you like, you'll like him.”

Now you’re trying your best to make sure that your daughter will not have any second thoughts on your weekend fun day as you’ve planned this since last month, aligning it to Johnny’s day off and yours. And most importantly, you just want your daughter to finally meet your boyfriend of almost 2 months.

Yes, you and Johnny have been dating for a few months now. He just moved to town four months ago and got a job as a pediatrician in the same hospital as yours. You met each other when you both worked on a case for a surgery on one of his patients. From then on, everything just fell into place. And now, Johnny has been requesting this fun day with you and your daughter for weeks. You understand that he just wants to be more knowledgeable about your life outside of work and when he met Rosy for the first time, he made it a mission to himself to at least be closer to her after she cried loudly after he gave her vaccine shot.

“Does he have My Little Pony stickers?”, she asked while crossing her arms.

“Yes! He has all of your favorite stickers!”, you really aren’t sure. You just wish Johnny is prepared to meet your daughter since you’ve told him quite a few things about your daughter on your first few dates.

“But what if he gives me a new ouchie?”, you can really see the worry in her eyes.

“He won’t do that my love, he actually wants to play with you”.

“But-”, your daughter was cut short by your phone ringing. You told her to get ready for bed and instructed her to brush her teeth and change into her jammies.

You got your phone from your bag and saw your lover’s contact name.

Joh-giya ♥️ is calling…..

“Hi, I just got home”, you sweetly said.

“Hi babe, I just got home too. Walking up to my unit actually. So, we’re good for tomorrow right? You told her that we’ll see the movies?” excitement was spilling out of his voice.

“Well, you know how she is with new people and apparently she still remembers the vaccine shot you gave her in the past” you slowly and carefully told him.

“Oh no.”

“But I assure you she’s excited to meet you and see the movie, I also told her you have a lot of My Little Pony stickers you know how she loves those.” you are really trying to lift his mood up and make it seem that he has nothing to worry about meeting Rosy tomorrow.

For a few seconds you hear nothing on Johnny’s end. Is he contemplating whether to go with your plan for tomorrow or does he want to back out? Maybe this is the part that he realizes that dating someone with a kid is not as easy as he thought, maybe this is the part where he calls-

“If you want you can back-”

“I’ll just do my very best to be close to her and make her see me in a different light, no? Not the giant doctor that gave her an ouchie anymore” he chuckled as he said it.

“Yeah, I think so”

He really knows what to say to you at any moment. He knows what you need to hear at the moment to ease your worries. Johnny is a great person, not just a great in his profession but as a person he does his all for the people he loves. Maybe luck is on your side this time around. After so many attempts in finding partners in the past years, it's hard to let new people in your life. But him, he’s different. You never met someone that is willing to know you more and the people that you love. He wants to get to know the entire you, not just the doctor part of you or just the single mom part of you. He wants you as a whole, with everything that you have and everything that you are willing to share.

“Okay, see you tomorrow at 11 AM, I’ll pick you up? Let’s get lunch before we watch the movies.”

“Yeah, 11 AM is good for us.”

“Got it, you better get ready for bed too, I know you had a long surgery today. Good job today Doctor, I’m very proud of you.”

“Thank you Johnny, that means a lot.”, a warm feeling crept in your heart sending butterflies to your stomach and a smile on your face.

You both bid goodbyes and ‘i love you’s’ before ending the call. As you entered your daughter’s room, you saw her already finished putting on her pajamas. You went to her small book shelf and looked at the selection of fairy tales that you’ll read for her tonight.

“Mommy, can I sleep on your bed tonight?” she asks sweetly while holding her whale plushie.

“Yes of course my love. What storybook do you want to read before we sleep?”

“I want to read about Rapunzel tonight.”

You got the book and led her to your room. Hand in hand you help her get on the bed and you lay beside her finding a good spot for the both of you as you start to read the book. This is how your usual nights go by. You read a story book to her as sleep pulls her and and you gently untangle yourself from your daughter, to freshen up and change in your sleeping clothes.

As you lay down again beside your daughter, several thoughts are now firing up in your mind. Not quite sure whether you are excited or just fully anxious on how your daughter will behave tomorrow. She can be a handful at times since she’s just a kid she’s still developing and there are things that are beyond her understanding. Since it has been just the two of you since she was born, she can’t help it to feel jealous when your full attention is not on her. There are also times that your parents would just appear in the hospital looking for you because your daughter has been crying for a while and just wants to be with you. It scares you how she will react when she finally understands that Johnny is just more than a friend, although she might not really understand what a boyfriend is at first. And with those concerns about Rosy reacting badly to Johnny tomorrow, you also worry that if things don’t go as planned tomorrow this is the end for the both of you. You can’t handle a heartbreak right now, not from Johnny. The feelings that you have for this man are just different from the others. It’s sincere. Pure.

You hug your daughter closer trying to calm yourself, she moves a bit and softly says ‘mommy’ while trying to hug you with her small arm. Placing a soft kiss on her head you slowly close your eyes and drift to sleep.

-The next morning-

You woke up around 8 o’ clock, and started the day by checking your phone for any emails or important messages from work. Untangling yourself carefully from your daughter, you do a little stretch before going to the kitchen. You started brewing a nice warm tea, no coffee for today since you want to cut off your coffee intake as you always have coffee in your workplace. You cleaned up the apartment a bit before cooking breakfast for the both of you.

After finishing up in the kitchen, you enter your room to wake up Rosy. Gently kissing her forehead and softly saying her name, she opens her eyes and does a little stretch.

“Good morning my love, it’s time for breakfast”.

You both eat a fulfilling meal. As you clean up the table and wash the dishes your daughter is watching the television while playing with her dolls. After a while you then tell her that she needs to take a bath now since Johnny or the giant doctor is going to come here soon.

She may be unpredictable at times but what is noteworthy about your daughter is that she follows your instructions most of the time and seldomly gives you any tantrums or cries when things don't go her way.

After the both of you have taken a bath and have arranged your bags, Johnny sent a message that he’s already in the parking area of your building. You tried your best to limit the things to bring for your activities today and don’t want to have too much stuff in your bag.

“Rosy, baby get your bag ready, we'll be leaving in a few, Doctor Johnny is just downstairs and about to come up here.”

She did as she was told too and not long after you heard a knock on your front door. Trying to hide your excitement and nervousness, you take a deep breath before opening the door.

“Hi babe”, Johnny said with a big smile on his face while holding a small bouquet of pink tulips and a medium-sized paper bag on both hands.

“Hi, how was your drive?” The hint of happiness and excitement in your voice drowned the worries in your head on how this day will go. You gently put your arms around his neck to welcome him with a warm hug and a soft kiss on his cheek.

“Mommy! Did you see my pink butterfly clip? And my purple ribbon?” your daughter asks loudly from her room and as you turn around you see her running to the corridor and halt when she sees the man in the front door. She just stood there, with curiosity in her eyes. Leaning on the floor she gave the most adorable eyes ever not knowing how to react to his presence.

“Rosy, Johnny is here, come say hi!” She slowly came near you and put her short arms around your legs, trying to hide herself from the giant man in front of her.

“Hello Mister Johnny, I’m Rosy” she said, introducing herself just as you two practiced. Johnny slowly crouched and gave his brightest smile to her. It was warm, endearing, and welcoming. It's like a ray of sunshine.

“Hello Rosy, I’m glad to meet you. Your mom says you like My Little Pony?” He extended his hand to make a little handshake with her. She accepts his hand and shakes it ever so lightly while nodding her head, answering his question.

“Well I think I brought a friend that you would like to meet” he gave her the paper bag.

When she opened the bag, she did the cutest gasp ever. She quickly grabbed whatever it was in the bag and gladly showed it to you. “Mommy it's Twilight Sparkle!” It was a stuffed doll from her favorite characters and this particular one was what she requested for her upcoming birthday.

“It is! So don’t you have anything to say to Mister Johnny?”

“Thank you, Mister Johnny” she cutely said while hugging her new toy.

You instructed Rosy to finish up preparing her bag and you now fully invited your lover into your humble home offering him something to drink. Not long after, Rosy came running with her pink backpack announcing that she is ready to leave. You do a quick check on both of your bags justo to make sure you’ve brought enough incase you needed anything for your daughter. After all is set the three of you leave your unit and go down to the parking lot looking for Johnny’s car.

Upon entering you noticed that his car smells different. It used to have a clean minty smell but now it smelled like a fresh garden of flowers.

“Mommy it smells like lavender in here”

“Yes it does-”, you were cut short.

“Well, your mommy told me that you liked the scent of flowers and you love the car freshener she uses,” Johnny explained.

You are quite embarrassed to admit, but when you two go on dates you can’t help but to share some stories about your daughter and Johnny made it very clear that he doesn’t mind it at all. He could listen to you all day sharing the fun things you and Rosy have done in the past. His interest in your life led up to your decision of asking him to join you mommy-daughter day.

All three of you arrived at the cinemas about thirty minutes before the next show. There was a line at the ticket booth but it was not that long and you were sure that you’ll still make it to the next screening.

“I’ll just buy us tickets, would you mind if you take Rosy to the snack bar? Here’s some money get any snack you want too” you spoke as you fetched your wallet in your bag.

“Actually, I already bought the tickets last night online. I was worried we could be stuck in line for the tickets and eventually miss the movie” he said with a small smile.

You were touched by his thoughtful gesture. He wants nothing but good things to happen today.

“You didn’t have to, but thank you. I guess let’s just go straight to the snack bar.”

Johnny insisted on buying the snacks for the three of you but you did not let him, arguing that he already paid for the movie tickets so it was your turn to buy the snacks. Eventually, he did let you.

While in line for popcorn, you told your daughter to wait for you on the benches with Johnny. At first she did not like your suggestion because it will be the first of today that she’ll be alone with him even for just a few minutes. But after a little more convincing she did what she was told.

She sat quietly beside her not until Johnny spoke to her. You saw that she gave a little nod and shook her head as short responses to him. You didn’t notice that Johnny looked at you and can’t help but to think if you’re waiting to see any interaction between the two of them.

Johnny is naturally a charming person. He is often described as warm, comfortable and welcoming by your colleagues so it was something for you to ponder why your daughter hasn’t been interacting with him that much given that he was going the extra mile to make your daughter comfortable.

From seeing your so what worried expression, Johnny was determined to make extra efforts to get you daughter on his good side.

As you received everything you ordered from the counter, you turned and started to walk in your boyfriend and daughter’s direction. You were a little bit shocked to see that they were now playing with your daughter’s toys. She already took out two of the small dolls you permitted her to bring and the doll Johnny gave her. From where you are you can hear the faint giggles your daughter made as Johnny held her dolls on his face and made an animated voice.

He waves the hands of the purple bear, “Hello Princess Rosy! My name is Purple the Bear, can we be friends?”.

Walking slowly as you savor the loving scene in front of you. They were having fun conversations and Johnny had to stand up to do these actions that made your daughter burst out her adorable laugh. He really has that charm with kids no? Well, he is a pediatrician after all. He must really find kids fascinating. When you asked him on one of your dates why he chose his specialization.

“Seeing their adoring eyes whenever they’re in my clinic, I just see so much innocence and boundless potential. Plus, kids have this amazing imagination and they remind me to have hope on several things and to appreciate the little things around me. Given the pacing of our work, we tend to miss out what’s happening around us and have a little fun once in a while”.

He sees children more than they are unlike other people.

As you approach them your daughter stood up from her chair and got her small packet of gummies from you. Rosy packed her toys in her bag as Johnny takes the big popcorn tub and the cup holder for your drinks.

The three of you entered the cinema house and found your seats. The cinema was not completely empty or cramped, a handful of people were also here. You led them to your seats in the aisle end of the middle row. Once everyone was seated, Rosy immediately opened her snacks and began munching on her gummy bear. You reminded her that if she finished her snack when the movie starts she won’t be getting another. Of course, you also want to watch Despicable Me. She tapped you gently at your arm as she offered to share her snacks with you. She was mumbling something but with the loud sound in the theater, you can’t really understand her.

“What was that again love?”

“I said, can we switch seats please?”

The seating arrangement was your daughter benign the nearest to the aisle seated next to you and Johnny was at your right side.

“Oh why? Does being near the aisle bother you?”

“No, I just want to seat next to the giant doctor”

That was surprising, well maybe they bonded well when you were buying the snacks.

“Of course, my love”

You gently turned to Johnny and he was already looking at you.

“Well the boss baby wants to seat next to you”

You swore to the heavens that you saw his eyes sparkle as a loving smile crept into his face. The movie began as the three of you sat in your chairs. Once in a while, Johnny would be giving comments about the movie to your daughter that would make her giggle.

“I want a unicorn doll like that too! Mommy, can you buy me one?”, your daughter exclaimed.

“But you just got a new doll today my love”

She was about to make a sad face but then turned to Johnny on her right, “Mister Johnny can you buy me that unicorn doll please”.

It was embarrassing for you to see your daughter ask your boyfriend for a new toy when he just gave her a present earlier and on their first official meeting.

“We can drop by the-”

“Rosy, I said no.”, cutting him off with your hushed voice. Johnny looked like a scolded puppy after.

“Okay, sorry mommy.”, she may be a handful at times but your daughter knows when she crossed the line and sees when you’re already upset with her.

That little situation did not break the great mood of the three of you. You all still managed to proceed with watching the movie and enjoyed it especially with your daughter.

After the movie, you went to a kid’s playhouse at the next mall. All three of you went inside and played with your daughter. It’s been a while since you laughed so hard that you ended up crying. You tried the slide, the ball pit, and even played cafe with your daughter as the waiter. And Johnny? Everytime you looked at him to check if he was also enjoying, all you could see were his dimples and his big smile. He was making these exaggerated expressions just to show your daughter how delicious the plastic cupcake was.

After a while, everyone was hungry from all the activities you did in the playhouse and decided that it was time to get dinner. You opted for fast food since it was quicke and you can’t handle your hunger. Also, it’s your day-off and junk food is definitely a must. You and your daughter sat down as you found a table and Johnny insisted that he’ll order. While waiting for him, you grabbed your daughter’s backpack and checked if all of her things were complete, you don’t want a crying kid in the middle of the night because a certain doll was missing. Fortunately, everything was already in her bag.

“Did you enjoy today sweetheart? What do you think of the movie?”

“I love the movie! I really want that unicorn doll mommy, but I won’t ask for it now maybe next time”

“How about Mister Johnny, did you enjoy his company today?”

“Well, Mister Johnny is very-”

Rosy was cut off by Johnny and one of the staff as they put down the trays of your orders. All of you instantly got your hands on each of your orders, munching them down happily as they fill your stomachs. Rosy didn’t get to finish what she was supposed to say because the kid was famished after exerting all of her energy in the playroom.You didn’t mind because food was the only thing in your mind as soon as you saw your orders. Both you and Johnny also enjoyed the food as much as you can. It was a good feeling just to fill up your stomachs and sit for a while after what you did in the playhouse. It was hard for two adults to chase after an energy filled kid in the ball pit.

While you were eating your dessert, you noticed that your daughter was trying to fight her sleepiness. She had her little spoon on her right hand and her sundae cup and she had her head leaning from to back and her eyes closing bit by bit as she refused to let sleep have her.

Eventually, she concedes and gives you her sundae for you to finish. And as always, she wants to sit on your lap, lean her body to yours and make you soldiers her pillow. This has always been her comfortable position whenever she sleeps. Even at home when she has a nightmare or something, she’ll go to your room and ask to be held like this.

Johnny was just staring, admiring rather, the situation in front of him. He really doesn’t have any explanation as to why he is smiling ear to ear when all you did was to have your daughter sleep on you. It was cute, he can say that. From how Rosy was fighting her sleepiness to eventually reaching out for you so she can sleep. Maybe, it was the fact that he can really see your relationship and bond with your child. It was admirable. Just how much a mother can love their child. He makes a mental note to talk to his mom one of these days.

“Why are you smiling?” you asked with a chuckle. “Do I have chocolate syrup on my face?”

“No, you’re fine. Sorry I was staring. She just looks very cute trying to finish her sundae but now she’s totally knocked out in your arms.” he explained.

“Well that playhouse really did its job on exhausting my hyper active kid” you said.

He agreed with a suppressed laugh.

“Johnny,” you paused for a second.

“Yes?”

“Thank you for being with us today. I’m sincerely grateful. I know you had a lot of patients yesterday, and instead of just resting at your home for today, you still chose to be with us.”

“Y/n, I wanted to be with you today. And being with the two of you today made me the happiest I’ve ever been in for some time now.”

He said those as he reached for your hand across the table and held it with so much love. All you could do was to give a nod and a smile because what he just said was sincere, and full of love. He said all of those while looking straight into your eyes making sure that you see and feel all of the sincerity that he has.

After a few minutes of staying at your table, you told him that it’s probably time to go because both of you are already tired and your daughter would definitely have a more comfortable sleep in her bed.

You placed Rosy in the back seat of his car before seating on the passenger’s seat. He also made sure your daughter was comfortable while on the way to your home by giving the small neck pillow he has. It was somehow a long drive so you both had small conversations of the day you just had.

“I think she really enjoyed today and especially the playhouse. I was very happy to see her run around while laughing.” you shared.

“Us chasing her in the ball pit could replace my cardio workout for the whole week.” he laughed as he said it. It may sound like a joke but you think it’s true given that you also experienced how tiring it was at the playhouse.

When he heard your small yawn he urged you to also take a nap and he’ll ust wake you up when you all arrive at your house. You said no because you still want to talk to him and know what he thinks about the festivities of the day. You want to know whether today changes anything for your relationship. In the past when you let the people you date to see all of you, as a doctor, a woman and as a mom, you can see them thinking twice about playing a role in your daughter’s life. Not that it means that you planned to marry all of your exes in the past when you were still together, but of course you needed to see how they are with your child. You don’t expect all of them to be instantly a father figure to Rosy, rather someone you see that can form a bond with her. This day was supposed to be a way to know if he’ll really be someone you’ll have by your side for a long time. You wanted to know how he sees your daughter and how he sees you, not just a colleague he eventually dated. You are already very sure about him, you just wanted to know if he is too.

He was already in front of your house and parking his car. It’s now or never. You should get answers to your questions.

With all of these thoughts you decided to ask him.

“So, what do you think of today? I mean, spending time with us, with Rosy specifically?” you said it gently.

He turns the car engine first before turning to you.

“As I’ve said, being with the two of you today made me very happy.” he says as he reaches for your hand to hold it.

“I’m both happy and grateful that I was able to meet her and see you in a different light. You know, not in scrubs and not stressed out in the hospital. I know that you don’t let a lot of people see the different sides of you, and I’m thankful and honored that you gave me the chance.”

Everything that he was saying was like a warm comforting hug to your soul.

“I hope this is not the last time I can spend time with both of you. I hope we can see another movie, bring Rosy to a play house. I hope we get to see Despicable Me 2, if there will be any in the future, all together.“

Emotions were flooding your brain. You were beyond happiness knowing that he wants to be in your life. You gently cup his face and kiss him lovingly. He kisses you back and every move of his lips feels like he’s letting you know how much you mean to him.

A few seconds after you broke the kiss since you heard your daughter call for you. It looks like she woke up a bit and looked for you and then went back to sleep.

You two got out of the car and Johnny insisted on carrying Rosy to her bed. You carried all of your things as he waited in the front door for you to open it. You entered first and settled your bag and your daughter’s things on the sofa. Johnny went straight to Rosy’s room to place him on the bed. You follow them to the bedroom and Johnny has already placed her down. You were debating on your mind whether to change her clothes while she’s asleep but you decided not to because you're afraid she’ll wake up and then have trouble going back to sleep.

Johnny bids goodbye to you since he doesn’t want to bother you anymore and let you rest. You walk him to your door and you give him a bear hug and a kiss as you remind him to drive safely and message you when he arrives home.

As you see his car leaving your driveway, you close and lock your door. You passed by your daughter’s room as you were going to the living area to get your bag.

“Mommy…” Rosy softly calls for you.

You check on her and see her eyes opening slightly to look for you.

“Yes baby? Do you need anything?”

“Will there be another Despicable Me movie?”

You stifle a laugh because you think she was just dreaming about the movie and still thinks she’s dreaming while talking to you.

“Well, there could be. We’ll watch it together I promise.”

“With Johnny?”

That was unexpected.

“If you want, he can come too.”

“I like watching movies with him. I always want to watch movies with him.” your daughter said those words in a mumbling way as she went back to sleep.

You place a kiss on her forehead as she sleeps.

Maybe movie days are going to be for the three of you from now on.

Author's note:

Hi everyone! At last, I finished this piece and posted it. I started writing this on October but I just finished it this week. I had to focus on my studies for a while when October was coming to an end. I needed to finish everything because I am on my last semester for my undergraduate degree. Happy to share that I am finished with my degree and I'm just waiting for graduation day!

I hope you enjoy this work, and I was able to convey how warm and loving Johnny is from my point of view. I used Rosy for the kid's name because I like the name itself, and it's the name of a woman I truly admire and she makes my day better and brighter. Also, try searching the other meanings of the word 'rosy' I hope that will make sense why it's the title. Hint: its synonymous to optimistic and promising.

I'll try to write more I'm inspired by a dating/romantic TV show now so maybe I'll write about that and of course him being at the NYFW, I'll do something with that.

much love,

dreamer

#nct fluff #johnny fluff #johnny x reader #nct x reader #nct angst #nct smut #nct oneshot #nct fanfic #nct au #nct johnny #nct 127 #nct #nct fic #nctzen #nct imagine #nct 127 imagines #nct fanfiction #nct aus

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leatherbelt1295 · 11 months

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Your Daily Smile #2617

@ehan281

This should have been posted yesterday, but I didn't really get a chance to. I spent the previous 2.5 days with EHAN irl, and man they were just so wonderful... I'm so grateful we got to hang out again and do more than we did last time. Went during this time for a multitude of reasons since things lined up perfectly, but most importantly it was like a birthday present to him (5/29) and myself (6/3). We haven't seen each other since October 2017, so naturally I really missed him so much. ;w; That's way too long!!

We got to eat yummy food each day, got to meet his adorable doggy Sparky, met his folks, go through a mirror maze, played a laser busting game?, watch him do little runs of SpongeBob Battle for Bikini Bottom, watch the new Spidey on opening night with his brother, and went to a convention together and even cosplayed which was super fun! I went as Peppino Spaghetti from Pizza Tower (so if by chance you were there on Friday and saw Peppino, it might've been me!) and he was an excellent Cameron from Ferris Bueller Day Off. It was cool how often we were recognized, heheh. Really nice to see people's faces light up like that. Of course, we saw a lot of great cosplays too! Here's a few I saw myself that I got pics of, really nice stuff!

We got to play my favorite beat-em-up The Simpsons by Konami, and I'm glad EHAN and his brother really enjoyed it too! Really cool stuff all around, found plenty of gifts for my folks at home but also a couple things for me. Oh and Petra stuff and even comm'd a Petra for EHAN. :]

I haven't been to a con in 7 years, so being back at such a fun one was something I absolutely needed and appreciate immensely. Good times all around! I'm happy he and his brother enjoyed themselves too.

Here's my loot, though only the Jolteon and black shirt are for me.

We headed to Red Robin later on, and that was nice too! At least for me and his brother. :)

I went with the intention of recreating a certain Bocchi the Rock comic to EHAN. :))

And it worked. :)))

And the waitress didn't believe him when he said it was my birthday too. :))))

Ended the night with some 3 player Mario Party 2 on Pirate Land. We lost to the CPU DK because of usually MP shenanigans lol. Still fun!

And followed that up with me and EHAN rewatching Space Patrol Luluco as we do every June 5th, but a little early this time so it could be irl. A wonderful time as it is every year, but made more special being together and having fun irl! I'll be taking about that more on tomorrow's YDS though. :)

Wrapped up the visit with another good breakfast and visiting a lovely park, I really enjoyed that too.

Again, overall, I totally needed this trip and I'm eternally grateful for being able to do so. I really miss him though. ;w;

And I suppose I should mention a bit how my birthday was yesterday aside about half the day being with EHAN. I received gift art from friends through the day, including right at midnight and even today... Y'all really didn't have to... ;; But thank you so much... And to those who I know may read this and wanted to draw me something or whatever the case may be, but couldn't for any reason, just know it's more than okay and the fact that you even thought of me in the first place means a lot to me already. Wishing me hbd means a lot too... 🥺 So thank you guys too!

Even had a big surprise on the flight back home before departure. Someone close to me with connections actually informed the crew on board that it was my birthday, and if they could deliver a message to me for them, which they absolutely did... Even gave me free snacks and water, and invited me to sit in the pilot's seat which was !!!!!?? It was so cool what the heck... I'm grateful for that... 😭

Nice time spent at home with family, always nice to see them. It ain't a birthday without being with em, I'd say. Nice lil gifts too, they shouldn't have... ;; I do wanna show this Hank Hill in particular, gave me a good laugh and I love it, heheh. The Bocchi doodle too!

But yeah, I just wanted to dedicate this YDS to thanking @ehan281 and his brother for a wonderful time and express my gratitude of a happy birthday too. Hoping the next time we meet won't be so long! ^^

#EHAN #toskihero #your daily smile

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alesyira · 1 year

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ShinDeku: Day 28: sunrise, neighbor

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an: is it fate that this prompt is what it is? eh, maybe :)

Izuku awakens sometime later in a haze of mostly encompassing warmth. His toes are bare and there's some kind of draft along his bare skin, but he's warm. He thinks he must have kicked the blankets off at some point over night.

Their limbs are tangled, and Izuku thinks his brow might be smooshed against Hitoshi’s chest.

Before he even opens his eyes, he is certain of three things. Hitoshi’s thigh is tucked up against his groin again, there’s a hand firmly gripping his rear end, and he is not the only one awake.

“Hello there,” Hitoshi rumbles into his hair.

Izuku gasps a little when Hitoshi’s hand squeezes and tugs him closer. “H-hi,” he murmurs in response.

Hitoshi rolls them over and makes himself comfortable between Izuku’s thighs, tucking his face into his neck with a pleased sigh. (Neither make any mention of obvious morning issues, but it’s impossible for Izuku to ignore.)

His boyfriend nuzzles his neck with a soft chuckle, and an answering shiver rolls down Izuku’s back. He cracks open an eye to see the room bathed in the pale pink of sunrise. It feels just a bit too early to be awake yet.

He heaves a relaxed sigh and winds his arms around Hitoshi's shoulders, his eyes slipping closed once more.

Hitoshi presses a long kiss to his throat, then props his head up on a palm. Izuku peeks up at him to see a soft smile on his face and a sleepy stare. His pale purple eyes look almost silvery pink in the early morning light. "I can't imagine how different this would be if you hadn’t pestered your mysterious neighbor for that sugar."

Izuku blinks, suddenly wide awake. Never meeting Hitoshi is a rather horrible thought, but bugging his neighbor for sugar wouldn't have been their only chance.

There were so many other opportunities for them to meet up...

At the elevator.

In the cafe.

On his evening runs.

(Even if Hitoshi had never moved in, they'd have likely met within the next few months, considering his new job. But that's a story for another day.)

Fate. It's written in the stars (and in the author's notes) that they'd be together, no matter what happens.

"I think it would end up mostly the same," Izuku murmurs, brushing his fingertips along Hitoshi's cheek as he leans close. "Maybe a little sooner in life, or a little later. I'd find you and make you mine, one way or another."

Hitoshi snickers and rests his ear over Izuku's heart. "Bold of you to assume I wouldn't get you, first."

Izuku rolls his eyes and threads his fingers into those luscious purple locks. "You aren't the type to make friends on a whim. I'd have to lure you in with my beguiling charm."

Hitoshi's fingers trail down his sides, dangerously close to tickling. "Well, you've lured me in. Tell me what happens next."

Izuku bites back a giggle. "I can think of a few things..."

the end (?)

an: look if you were hoping for more smut omg i am so done with you guys come back tomorrow

or just, here, have a fun omake:

Izuku: Also, you should know that I do not regret anything we did last night.

Hitoshi: Tell me that again after you try walking to the bathroom.

Izuku: I thought you were carrying me around, now.

Hitoshi: I can, if you ask me nicely enough.

Izuku: Since you’re going to carry me around anyways, does that mean we can make sure everything’s still in working order?

Hitoshi: I think I’ve misunderstood something. You aren't asking what I think you're-

Izuku: We have enough supplies for today, right?

Hitoshi: Izuku-

Izuku: Oh, I know! We can try it the other way around this time. I’ve never done that before.

Hitoshi: Izu-

Izuku: Here’s the lube. I’ll help! Do you think Shouto’s a top or bottom?

Hitoshi: Iz- I... have no idea. Please do not ask him that.

Izuku: Okay. I’ve got you, tell me if I’m doing it right!

Hitoshi: ... Hitoshi: Oh- okay. Yes. Hitoshi: Ahh~~ okay, just a bit, hahh, um, slower-

Izuku: Did you call your mom about lunch?

Hitoshi: Holy fuck Izuku do not bring up my- oh god fuck wait do that again right there-

💜💚💜💚 ok that's it for real. thank you for reading!! 💜💚💜💚

First Post | Prev

#bnha #bnha fanfiction #mha #mha fanfiction #midoriya izuku #izuku midoriya #shinsou hitoshi #hitoshi shinsou #shindeku #shinzuku #the cute guy next door AU #shindeku month 2023 #shindeku month

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peonyblossom · 2 years

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4. empty wine bottles?

Wine Drunk

Book: Open Heart (sometime in Book 2, before the senator attack)

Pairing: Ethan Ramsey x f!MC (Sadie Oakley)

Words: 806

Rating: Teen

Warnings: Swearing (fits into PG-13 guidelines)

Summary: When Sadie goes over to Ethan's place to help work on a case after-hours, they both get a little too wine drunk to be productive.

A/N: SO sorry it took me so long to get to this anon !!! I got sick and then I had finals but I am alive and well and finally posting your fic hehe. ALSO since you didn't specify a ship, I figured I'd do my most popular first, but I also have a plan for a Thomas Hunt x f!MC (Jackie Hunt) fic that I should be posting in a couple days and will link here when it's ready! EDIT: Here is the link to the Thomas x f!MC fic💕

A/N 2: This request is from this prompt list. Feel free to send me requests from this list or any other ones I reblog!

A/N 3: Participating in @choicesmonthlychallenge May Day 16 "You're so drunk" (appears in bold).

AO3 link here

Taglist: @rookiemartin

“Okay, we aren’t getting much of anywhere right now, so I’m going to send you all home. Take a break for the night and come back tomorrow morning ready to try again.” Ethan told the team, late at night. They had gotten a new case early that morning and had already exhausted all of the most obvious tests and possibilities. June and Baz cleared out quickly, but Sadie hung around.

“What are the chances of you taking a break tonight?” She asked Ethan.

“This patient needs answers.” Ethan packed up his stuff, including all of the information they had on the patient in question.

“And you need sleep,” Sadie argued. Ethan didn’t respond, only continued gathering his things. Sadie sighed, “At least let me help.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Ethan looked Sadie in the eyes.

“Seriously? Come on, you aren’t going to figure this out by yourself.” Ethan glared at Sadie so she continued, “Oh, sorry, I forgot that men have the worst egos. I’m still right, though!”

“I’m serious, Sadie.”

“So am I! You aren’t going to diagnose this patient in one night, all by yourself. Please, let me help you.”

Ethan sighed. “Fine. But this has to stay professional.”

“No, of course. This is solely for the patient.” Sadie tried to hide her smile, looking away from Ethan as she gathered her things.

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

Hours later, they were still on the couch in Ethan’s apartment, which was now littered with pages from the patient file and two empty wine bottles. They had been drinking while bouncing ideas off of each other, paying little attention to just how much wine they consumed. Somehow, they were still trying to diagnose the patient, despite their brains not being anywhere near the doctor quality they were capable of.

“No, what if it’s– what if it’s… fuck, what is it? It’s the, um, it’s the… no, wait… no, I think we said that one already. And we ruled it out ‘cause of the thingy… the, the rash thingy!” Sadie babbled, holding her half-empty wine glass.

Ethan looked at her fondly before laughing as he said, “You’re so drunk.”

“No! No, ‘cause we drank the same amount, so if I’m drunk, you’re also drunk!” Sadie placed her glass on the coffee table.

“Not as drunk as you are.” Ethan smirked.

“That’s sexist.”

“How…” Ethan cut himself off with his laughter. “How is that sexist?”

“‘Cause you’re saying you can handle alcohol better than me ‘cause– and that’s, um, that’s ‘cause you’re a man.” Sadie gestured her now free hands around as though to help prove her point somehow.

Ethan held Sadie’s hands in his own and looked her in the eye. “I promise you, that’s not why. It’s just that I’m better… than most people.”

Sadie smiled before dissolving into giggles. “Yeah.” She continued giggling. “Yeah, you are.”

The two stared into each other’s eyes, still holding hands, before leaning forward and kissing each other. It didn’t take long for them to disconnect their lips.

“We shouldn’t–” Ethan started.

“Yeah, we’re, um, we’re both drunk.” Sadie removed her hands from Ethan’s grasp. “I should probably go–”

“You could stay–”

“Are you sure?” Sadie met Ethan’s eyes again.

“Yeah, that should be–”

“We can share the bed though, right?”

“Yeah, that’d be– that’d be fine.”

“Just ‘cause we’re both drunk, and we wanna be, like, the best we can be tomorrow.”

“Right, just, like, get a good night’s sleep,” Ethan confirmed.

“Yeah.”

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

The next morning, Sadie woke up in Ethan’s bed, her head pounding. She heard Ethan in the kitchen doing god-knows-what way too early in the morning.

“He really can handle his alcohol better than me,” Sadie mumbled to herself as she slowly got out of bed.

She made her way to the kitchen, rubbing her eyes in response to the bright lights in the room, despite the fact that it was still dark outside. In the kitchen, Ethan is making them both breakfast and a cup of hot coffee is already waiting for Sadie on the counter.

“I always forget you can cook,” Sadie mused, sitting down at the counter and grabbing her coffee.

Ethan turned around startled at her presence. “Look, about last night–”

“No, it’s– it doesn’t matter. What happened last night… happened last night, okay? It’s in the past.”

“Are you sure?” Ethan looked at Sadie quizzically.

“Yes. We were drunk. I do stupid things when I drink. It’s fine,” Sadie reassured him, causing him to smile.

Ethan turned back to the stove and plated the food, placing one plate in front of Sadie. “I only made you breakfast because I’m a good host.”

Sadie laughed. “Your ego really is the worst! But thank you.”

She bit her lip, staring down at the food, not noticing how fondly Ethan was looking at her.

#answered #request #open heart fanfic #Ethan Ramsey fanfic #Ethan Ramsey x f!mc #Ethan Ramsey x Sadie Oakley #Sadie oakley #pixelberry #ethan ramsey #open heart #play choices #choices stories you play #playchoices

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vespersposts · 2 years

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Wildchild [7]

The weekend is coming, so the update is coming too! This part is a major fluff one, so i won't post any kind of warning, it's just some good old 'hurt/confort'.

A special thanks to all the readers and a warm welcome to the new ones, as i always say "Let's bring KNB back!".

🍉 hit me with a dm, a comment or a reblog and make my day! If you want to be added to the taglist just ask away!🍉

📚Chapters Masterlist 📚

1+2, 3, 4 ,5, 6

🔖: @storyhuntress13, @aizumie, @theehcneypot

"It's ok, we saw each other as soon as she arrived in town" he told him candidly "Normal things that friends do: a coffee at the station bar, lunch at home... Stuff like that, you know?" he concluded, unusually ironic, picking up a tray with two bowls of ice cream for the girls.

"Tetsu don't be an idiot" the other called him back, but the blue-eyed man had looked at him with such animosity that it had been impossible for him to go on.

"Aomine-kun, if anyone is acting like an idiot here, it's you. She, too, has the right to do whatever she wants. If what she wants is Akashi, that's fine Akashi. It’s not up to you!" he had told him, turning his back to deliver the order.

Standing in front of the open fridge, Daiki could not make sense of those words.

''It’s not up to you!'' he repeated contemptuously, eliciting hilarity from his mother who had just arrived in the kitchen.

''Kid, take out whatever you're fighting with but close the fridge. I haven't worked all day for tomorrow's dinner to be a bust!" she said as she walked past him to set the table for breakfast the next day.

"Is something wrong?" she asked him, running a hand over his back.

"No, not really. I just had a quarrel with Testu, but already fixed" he smiles at her, enjoying his mother's closeness a little.

"Just as well" nods the woman " Shall I run you a bath?" she asks him.

"Nah, I'll take a shower and jump to bed, night mum" he tells her, leaving a kiss on her head before disappearing from her view.

He sighed at the touch of the water on his shoulders, let the hot jet of the shower massage his head, back and chest. He smiled, thinking that there probably wasn't a single gesture of his that you hadn't seen yet. He quickly rinsed off the soap and just as lazily dried himself, wrapping the towel around his waist, to retrieve the linen and throw himself, as he was, on the bed shortly afterwards.

He closed his eyes and tried to concentrate on the noises of the house in order to get some sleep, but that long day seemed to really not want to end.

Momoi, Wakamatsu and you with your damn water bottle.

Tetsu and his sharp opinion, Akashi and your life on the phone.

A meaningless song, with an endless refrain, repeated itself in his head.

He reached for his mobile phone, but told himself that Yuriko's message could wait, as she was also part of the same tune.

He inhaled deeply, tried to resist, but after all, resist against what?

He thought of your bedroom, the large window through which the sun began to filter in early even on autumn mornings, too early, so early that, after that dreadful day, the last thing he wanted to do was get up at dawn.

Having lost his chance to qualify for the Winter Cup and collapsed with it the certainty of his unbeatability, he had little to offer anyone, especially his teammates. Satsuki, however, had managed to understand what lay behind his sudden desire to return to training, and although she had been happy about it, she had also come to realise that at that moment, only solitude would silence his bad thoughts.

Walking lazily on the wide promenade that lined the main road, he had a question he had not asked Momoi, that now seemed to go with his steps. He climbed the steps of the pedestrian overpass, looked down at the stream of cars and backed up ahead, convinced he was experiencing a hallucination.

"I lost " he said, empty of all emotions.

"Not in my eyes" you had smiled at him, intertwining your fingers with his, adding "Let's go home." You had walked in silence, united by that brief contact, to the gates of your block, to the judgemental look of your neighbour standing in front of the entrance of your house, where you had recently been living alone.

"Good evening Mrs Ota and thank you for collecting the mail!" you had told her, letting the boy in, and closing the heavy door behind you as if nothing had happened.

"Tomorrow everyone will know, in no time you'll be the easiest girl in the prefecture" he had told you in a bored tone, sitting down at the kitchen table.

"Who cares?" you smiled at him, throwing the envelopes into a box and retrieving something fresh from the fridge. You sat down next to him to allow him to put his head on your shoulder, his forehead at the level of your lips, his arms casually abandoned around your small frame. You remained like that for an indefinite time, marked only by the movement of your fingers through his hair. A slow, steady, intimate flow that, combined with the warmth of your skin and your breath, had soothed the shock of the discovery of his true nature.

"I'm tired" he confessed, reluctantly pulling away from you, convinced only by the sore muscles from the match.

"I'll run you a hot bath, then we'll eat something ok ?" she had asked softly, stroking your face, smiling at you when she got a lazy nod in response.

You had followed her into her bedroom, placing the sports bag at the foot of the wardrobe after extracting a change of underwear from it. She had shown you a part of the wardrobe where, over time, some T-shirts and trousers that you thought lost had accumulated, a sign of your frequent passage through that house.

"Lava temperature, your favourite" she informed you, leading you into her pretty bathroom "Take your time, Natsume already knows you're staying out tonight. If you have any other needs, put your underwear on and shout " she had simply informed you with a smile, leaving you alone.

Too bad you didn't really want to be alone.

You could have asked her to stay in the next room, you knew she would have been happy to do so, but you chose to leave her free to go back to the kitchen to read Akashi's letter, which she had withdrawn from the hands of that gossipy Mrs Ota earlier.

He'd have done better to learn to distance himself from you, if in future he had not wanted to be the one to be excluded from your life, in favour of the Rakuzan captain.

After all, what could he have offered you that Seijuro didn't already have?

He couldn't have said, not now that even his only reason for being valuable had collapsed.

He dressed quickly, descending the large wooden staircase and smiled as he found you perplexedly holding a pot which, after a quick check on your mobile phone, ended up on the cooker. He felt tenderness at how seriously you were studying the recipe, as if having to fly a rocket to Mars. One could expect nothing less from the cold and detached perfectionist that anyone who had known you briefly would have described you, but for him it was different.

You are the one person with whom he would have crossed all boundaries.

You are his sidekick, his trigger, his enhancer, his wildchild.

"Go on, and I'll kill you with this wok!" she had threatened, still with her back to you, when she had felt your warm hands grab her waist, in an instant she had turned around and was now studying your expression with a puzzled look on her face.

"If you feel like fooling around, maybe that means it gets a little better, right?" she had asked, making room for you, so you could help her by opening the eggs for the oyakodon.

"I'm just worried that you're going to poison me, that would be the perfect end to this day!" he remarked.

"Satsuki passed me the recipe, you see, it's teamwork!" you had informed him, making you both laugh.

Sitting opposite each other, you had eaten your meal quietly, without talking much, just exchanging a few glances and remarks about dinner.

Daiki was tired and sad, a lethal combination for someone like him who had never been very familiar with his feelings. As if that wasn't enough, the situation reminded him all too much of another dark moment in his young life, when the world had crumbled down on him in middle school, and he had first started to have very mixed feelings about basketball and, deep down, about himself. That time it was not you who took him to that big house, but your grandmother, who found him whimpering, soaking wet and lost on the main street. That time too he had taken a bath and filled his belly, that time too he had stolen your room and your space, and, as if that were not enough, the attention of your grandmother who stayed with him chatting about his feelings until he, exhausted, passed out in a dreamless sleep.

"I'll go upstairs for a moment to change, so you can get into bed as soon as you want" you had told him, not objecting to the fact that he had followed you to your room and was sitting on your bed, his gaze fixed on your huge wall piano.

"Why don't you play a little while I take a shower? I'm sure you still remember some songs” you told him, passing a hand over his shoulder, a tender, almost motherly gesture, before disappearing through the door to the other bathroom in another room of the house.

He inhaled, took a few steps towards the instrument but then preferred to head for the desk, where the envelope with his former captain's neat handwriting still lay sealed.

Letters, time alone, common interests. Everything suggested that you two were kindred spirits. Momoi would never have acknowledged it, but she had thought so, a couple of years before, when she had seen the two of you together at the summer festival, at the shoji pavilion.

"She told me she couldn't come" had escaped her lips, with a hint of disappointment.

Daiki crinkled his eyes and when he opened them again he found you smiling in the doorway of the room, your hair loose on your shoulders, your bare feet on the wooden floor, dressed in a long, simply cut nightgown that nevertheless made you look like an angel in his eyes.

'I was thinking of leaving you an extra blanket, it might rain and I think you'd be cold without proper pj's. Ah, there's another pillow in here in case you need it" she informed, as she headed towards the wardrobe, placing the recovered blanket at the end of the bed.

"For everything else, same rule as before: shout, I'll do my best to wake up!" she smiled as she walked a couple of steps closer, so that you were joined by her good scent that immediately reminded you of your childhood runs in the flower-filled fields in spring.

Desperate, that's how he felt, as you were about to turn your back on him and disappear through the door.

But you had never been like all the others.

"Don't be so sad, Daichan, because even though everything seems wrong today, you won" she said, once again seeking contact, which you refused her, sitting back down on the bed. She smiled at you, as if waiting for nothing else to come closer.

She leaned over you, resting her hands on your thighs so that your gaze could no longer escape her.

'You defeated the monster, isn't that amazing? No more loneliness, no more need to hide or stifle your talent. You are free, and I can't wait to see the great things you will do" she tells you, her lips moving a few inches from yours, her eyes glued to yours, her small hands leaving their position with a caress to take away your warm tears, then touching your temples, your shoulders and bringing you close to hold you to her heart, as your hands reach the hips of that angel, whom you make sit on your lap.

"I'm weak" you admit.

"If I can't even do that anymore, what's left of me?" you ask her, unable to stop the tears raining down on the thin fabric of her nightgown.

She remains silent, still looking at you with an unreadable expression.

You close your eyes as she wipes away your tears with the sleeve of her dress, then you lower your head, because you don't really know how you could look at her face without revealing how much you would like to be comforted, which she, still in her silence, is probably telling you she doesn't want to.

"Daiki" she calls you softly, lifting your head with a caress "Dai-chan" she repeats, shaking her head slightly without losing her smile "How little you know yourself, Daiki. If only I could show you how beloved you are, you'd see how key you are, even without basketball. Natsume, Shinichi, Satsuki, Tetsu and Kise. All the girls who dream of having a boyfriend like you, all the kohai who wish they could be cool like you. All the people who don't have the guts to show themselves as they are, and would like an ounce of your courage and talent. Are all these people wrong? I don't think so. These cannot be signs of either weakness or defeat. It is just the opposite Daichan'' she concludes, noticing your gaze becoming wary.

"And you? What about you?"

That question had come out of your mouth, without even going through reason.

"I adore you Daiki, even though sometimes I want to kill you" she had told you simply, placing her cool hands on yours, still firm on her hips, as request to loosen contact to slide off your legs, as if suddenly aware of the awkwardness of that proximity.

"Now try to rest though, we'll finish this talk later!" she tells you, turning her back on you, as if she can't wait to run away. You already know that if you made her take even one step, you would lose everything from that moment. You get up from the bed, and when she turns to say goodnight, you open your arms and see her nod, before her little body is enveloped by yours. You feel her shiver imperceptibly because of your temperature gap. She is so pleasant to have in your arms, so satisfying to caress, so fit to hold you that you wonder how you couldn't have realised it earlier.

"Sleep with me" you whisper to her, hiding your face at the base of her neck, partly out of shame, partly because you are afraid of her rejection, which, however, does not come.

In the semi-darkness of the room, lit only by the dim reading light, she smiles at you, wishing you goodnight. Her face turned to yours, a hand bringing her hair down on the pillow, leaving her neck free allowing you a glimpse of the white skin stretched over her collarbones. With the lights off, your body feels the lack of contact and would like to seek it out, fighting against tiredness which it easily manages to overcome, however, by putting you to sleep.

#aomine #aomine x you #aomine daiki x reader #aomine x reader #aomine+daiki #aomine daiki fluff #knb #kuroko no basket #knb x reader #akashi seijuro #akashi x you #akashi x reader #vesperwrites #vesperdreams #vesperfairytales #aomine daiki #the basketball which kuroko plays

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camaro-and-smokes · 1 year

Text

Lazy Day - Is She for Real PT 14

Rating: Explicit Warnings: No warnings Category: M/M Relationship: Billy Hargrove/Steve Harrington Characters: Billy Hargrove, Steve Harrington, Original Female Character Tags for this chapter: Domestic fluff

Summary: Steve starts at his new job soon, so he wants one last free day with his little girl.

Chapter index for tumblr posts >>

Read on AO3 >>

::::::::::

Steve woke up early, but Billy's side of the bed was already empty. He tried to listen to any sounds or voices, but the house was quiet. He got up and peeked into Emma's room, but it was empty. He went downstairs, and saw Billy laying on the couch in the living room, Emma laying on his chest, held there by Billy's arms. Steve walked to the couch and squatted next to Billy. ”Don't worry, I'm not sleeping,” Billy whispered opening his eyes and smiling before Steve could say anything. ”This was just the only way I could get her to calm down.” ”Restless night?” ”Yeah.”

”What if...I make coffee and something to eat? And then I take Emma and you take a nap? If you've been up most of the night, that is. And then maybe, I don't know, you could go catch some waves? The weather is supposed to be perfect for it today." Billy squinted. ”Are you planning something again and need me out of the house?” Steve chuckled. ”No. I just thought that maybe you want to take a day off from mothering because you've been doing it non-stop ever since we got Emma. Every newborn's mother needs a day off here and there,” he said winking. ”Even though I mother I'm not a mother,” Billy said poking Steve in the arm, making him wince and chuckle. "But not gonna lie, I could take a breather." ”Good. Because I want to have some one on one time with our daughter while I have the chance.” ”Ah, right," Billy groaned, "work tomorrow. How does it feel now that it’s really starting?"

Steve didn’t say anything first. “Are you ok babe?” Billy asked concerned, and cupped Steve’s chin in his hand. Steve’s chin started quivering, and he sat down on the floor. “I don’t want to even go to work, let alone travel away from you two,” he let out a quiet sob. “Those three weeks we were together in Hawkins... I loved every single moment. It was perfect.” Billy smiled. “It was.And I don’t want you to go either. But babe, we have forever with her.” “I’ll miss so much.” Billy was trying to hold his feelings back. “I’ll make sure to document everything. It’s why you got the video camera, right?” Steve nodded, and leaned his head to his chest. “Hey,” Billy said smiling, and ran his fingers on Steve’s wet cheek. “Have today with her. Take her in the sling, and just be with her whatever you do. I’ll go surfing, and take a really good and long nap. And even after that you can take care of her the rest of the day, if you want. You can tell me when you want to be with her, you know, just take her from me when you want to. She’s yours too.” “I’ll get the sling,” Steve whispered. “Let’s try not to disturb her too much while moving her.”

Steve looked at Emma who was sleeping surprisingly contently in the ring sling against his chest. The sounds and smells of Steve cooking hadn’t seem to have any effect on her. “She’s properly sleeping on you for the first time,” Billy said between forkfuls of eggs. “Though she was awake most of the night, so she should be tired alright.” “Yeah. She’s been squirming all the time until now. I get it now why you want to keep her close like this all the time. Getting this sling was maybe your best idea ever.” “Like wanting her wasn’t the one?” Billy asked smiling. “Ok, well yeah, that’s the best by far,” Steve agreed. Billy finished his eggs, and gave Steve a peck on his cheek. “I’ll get my gear and get out of your hair.” "Going to the beach at first light used to be the only way to get you up free-willingly at six," Steve said. "Yeah. Those were the days, babe," Billy smiled. “Wouldn't change this for the world though.”

Steve was feeding Emma when Billy walked back into the kitchen wearing nothing else but his wet suit, top half hanging down on his hips. "You haven't even lost any tan in Hawkins," Steve said with a grin and feasted on every inch of Billy that was cladded in the tight neoprene suit with his eyes as Billy walked by and into the utility room. "Ha ha. I know what you’re doing. I’m not even wearing that much and you’ve already taken even that off of me in your mind,” he snorted. "I forgot that the board is in here instead of garage. It's been so long that I forgot that I left it there to dry when I last washed it. It was just before I left to Hawkins." Soon Billy came back with his white and turquoise board, and set it against the kitchen wall. He walked to Steve, and stroke Emma’s hair, and Emma turned her eyes to look back at him. "Be a good girl to daddy-S. Don't play too long set from your list of numbers, ok?" “I’ll handle it, don’t worry,” Steve said. ”But close that suit before you go outside. For modesty,” he joked. ”Yeah, yeah, I will. So that no one else gets to see this beaut that I am,” Billy laughed, and gave Steve a kiss.

When Billy was gone, and Emma had eaten, Steve sat by the kitchen table, and held Emma on his arm. “So, it's finally just me and you, firefly,” he said. “Without a safety net. Jesus.” He smiled at Emma, and got something like a small smile in return. While they'd been in Hawkins he'd always had Billy or mom home as a backup if things got out of hand – meaning Emma got so upset that he didn't know what to do. This was the first time he was totally alone with her. “At least you're content for now. I hope you're that later as well. And if not, I can handle it. Like an adult,” he added as an assurance to himself. He could've just watched Emma for forever. “God, you're so beautiful, little girl. A little miracle of ours,” he cooed at her.

And it was true. He still didn't quite believe that Emma was theirs. They'd gone through so much heartache over the last two years that it felt that it was enough for a lifetime. Suddenly he felt very emotional again, and had to take few deep breaths to settle it down. He'd had to have been so strong for Billy throughout that he hadn't really let his own feelings surface until now.

And just as they finally got Emma, he was about to start a job that took him away from home for long periods of time, away from her and Billy, and even though they needed the money, it hurt.

“Ok, Steve, no need to think about that now, stick to the moment, just like Emma,” he said to himself, and got up. “So, what do you want to do today? How about...taking a nap? Oh, oh, I know!”

He took Emma upstairs to her room, and took Winnie the Pooh -book from the bookshelf that was already half-full of children's books. “I've always loved this, so, I'm going to make sure you're going to love it too. And let's keep it as a secret between you and me so that you can then surprise daddy-B when you start talking by quoting Piglet to him.”

Steve read two chapters to her at once. It didn't matter that she fell asleep almost immediately when he sat down and started reading out loud. Or that she wouldn't understand a word for a while yet.

He was reading to his daughter.

Steve was reading a book of his own on the couch when Billy came back. When he saw Steve, he steered directly to the couch and sat next to him. “Hey! How was it?” he asked. “You smell like the sea. And you probably have sand in your hair,” Steve said. “Take a shower and we can talk.” Billy peeked into the sling. Emma was sleeping and making small snuffling noises from time to time. “That's one sad try of blackmailing. She's fine,” Billy smiled and leaned back. “God, I missed surfing!” “Hey, you still have sand in your hair,” Steve huffed, “don't spread it around.” Billy laughed and gave a kiss on Steve's cheek. “I had fun, thanks for asking, mom. I'm going to take a shower, and then hit the sack.”

Billy had his shower and walked to the bedroom drying his hair into a towel. When he was standing next to the bed, he stopped and walked back to the corridor. "Steve?" he asked standing in the upper end of the stairs. "Yeah?" "Wanna come read in bed?" "You don't want to sleep alone and in peace?" "I want to sleep with you two."

A moment later Steve appeared in the bedroom. "Hey, firecracker," he said as he sat down on the bed next to Billy, and leaned on the headboard. Billy snuggled onto Steve's side, and Steve gently stroked Billy's back with his hand back and forth while he got back to reading. "Sleep as long as you need to. We're good with Emma," Steve said, and peeked again into the sling where Emma was sleeping contently. "She's getting used to my heartbeat and voice." "You gotta have her in the sling double amount from now on whenever you're home." "Yeah. I love this. I love her,” Steve whispered. He stroked Billy’s hair. “and I love you." "Love you too," Billy said with a muffled voice. "I've missed lazy Sundays at home with you." "Me too," Steve said. "All this is missing is having sex all afternoon." "Yeah," Billy said, and snuggled a little closer to Steve, if that was even possible, wrapping his arms around Steve's thigh. "Not gonna have those afternoons for a while though. But maybe we can have a short reminder later." "I think this might actually be my new favorite thing to do on a Sunday afternoon though. All three of us in bed, just hanging out. The best thing ever." "Same, babe. Same," came Billy's sleepy reply.

#harringrove #harringrove fanfiction #billy hargrove #steve harrington #billy hargrove redemption #stranger things #stranger things fanfiction #suometar writes #is she for real

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voidselfshipp · 2 years

Text

Summer Love, Summer Tunes

Cw: n/a. Ask to tag!.

Only mutuals allowed to rb. Sorry for the long post. Im on Mobile but ill try adding a Reading more once im waking up from my nap.

Summary: Dylan falls in love with a regular camp counselor at Hacketts quarry. Soon finding out that shes more special than once originally thought.

-> nice comments are appreciated.

Taglist: @tex-treasures @malewifehenrycooldown @mercuryships @80sboyfriends

Summer. What a wonderfull season, sunshine, warmth, all in all just fun.

This summer at Hackett's Quarry wasnt going to be any different.

The first time Dylan met Nova he felt he was going to trip over his own jaw, abigail had to literally close his mouth.

--Alright everyone!-- Said Chris Hackett, owner of Hacketts Quarry-- This is Nova! Shes been a regular camp counselor for some years now! And she Will be joining you this year as well

--Hi!, im Nova! Nice to meet you-- Said a woman, Brown hair in a bun, green eyes that, now lit up by the sun, seemed like precious gemstones. She was wearing some high waisted shorts and a yellow tubetop.

--Nice to meet you too!-- Said kaytlin returning her smile.

--Well campers! Lets get this started!-- chris announced with a grin.

The first time dylan had a chance to talk to Nova was during one of the activities both of their Groups did togheter. As the campers started to look for sticks to make small birdhouses out of, dylan mustered all the courage he could and sat besides Nova, who was drawing away, imitating the lake before them.

--Hey-- He greeted her-- Nova, right?

The woman Turned to him, when her gaze meets his own he freezes for a moment-- Yep, im Nova, youre Dylan right? The guy from the announcements?

The Man nodded-- Ye-yeah thats me, glad to see my reputation proceeds me

She laughed, making his heart skip a beat-- apparently yeah, nice to meet the camp's radio host celebrity

--Radio host celebrity?-- Dylan asked with a brow raised.

--Thats how the kids at my cabin call you-- Nova explained.

--Well, if im such a celebrity in your cabin, mind if ask you to come with me to the radio shack tomorrow? I bet the kids would love some of that fun energy of yours, you Will have to wake up earlier though...

She just giggled, being taken off guard by the request-- Hah, sure. I dont see why not

The Next day at early morning, she went to the radio shack with Dylan to broadcast the announcements for the day.

--Okay-- Said the man-- We are on air in three ...two...one... now!

--Good morning campers!-- Nova said energetically yet softly-- this is Nova from cabin 9!, im here with Mr. Radio Host Celebrity aka Dylan, who was so kind to invite me here to say todays announcements! Starting off with the news that today all cabins Will hunt for frogs since yesterday night we had rain!-- And so she said the rest of the news for that day. It only took ten minutes or so-- And to close! Enjoy some tunes Dylan and me curated for today! Take care and remember! What doesnt kill you only makes you stronger!

Then the radio cut-- and we're good-- Dylan said-- nice job!, hey I know you didnt eat breakfast so I was wondering if you wanted to Grab a bite to eat?

--Heh, sure, why not..!-- Nova agreed,both going to the main cabin to get their delicious breakfast.

It didnt take long for them to hit it off, so much so that the kids of their respective Groups started singing "Dylan and Nova on a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G". It became a usual thing and though it didnt bother either of them, there was some truth to it...

Nova had her own room in the main cabin where the dinning room was, perfect for some privacy.

Her room had a loft that hosted her bed, under it was a desk, a bunch of plants and a little house for her pet mouse, Micelium.

She ruminiged through her clothes, finding the fancy avocado green dress with decorations of waves, pine trees and leaves, usually she would wear this to some fancy event or traditional druid festivities.

A druid...yeah thats what she was, a druid from the Mare clan, one of the oldest clans of druids, she smiled trailing over the embroidered decorations. A part of her wondered how the kids would react if they knew she wasnt...human.

How would Dylan react? Would he be scared? Concerned?...

She sighed shaking her head and grabbing the fawn mask the elders crafted for her, a parting gift for when she left the village to pursue her dreams.

She slipped on the dress and mask, admiring the golden details, the sun casted in gold on the masks forehead to the rings that decorated the horns.

To finish she slipped on the dark green riding hood-- Mice?-- Nova called out to her pet-- c'mon now its patroll time!

The small mouse peeked from his house made of wood, using a smaller riding hood of the same color as his owners, and a wooden mask of a fawn as well, though it had a waning crescent moon casted in silver.

The rodent zipped through the air in the shape of a flash of light, appearing on the womans shoulder.

--good to go?-- Micelium nodded-- good. Lets go

She slipped out of her room by the Window behind her bed, transforming into a beautiful barn owl, flying around the main cabin surveilling. Though...she couldnt help but perch on the Window that showed Dylan's Room.

She smiled, taking a bit of time to appreciate how peacefull his crush looked while sleeping.

Thoug her happiness was short lived as her mouse pet tugged at her feathers signaling her to get a move on.

--Yeah yeah I know..-- She muttered taking off to scout the rest of the area.

The breeze felt nice against her feathers, the way she hovered over the thick forest was gracefull and somewhat ethereal. Then again. She wasnt human...

No werewolves or dangers were seen that night so she was quick to return to her room.

She de-transformed and changed into some comfy clothes, going up the stairs to her loft to cuddle up in her bed.

Her fingers traced over a beautiful dark turquoise book, engraved with waves and plants on the covers and spine.

"Clan Mare og dens medlemmer" read the cover. It meant "Mare clan and its members" in norwegian.

Nova endulged herself in Reading the old weathered book, her digits ghosting over the family tree of her clans integrants.

There she saw the family of her friends, smiling as she observed the pictures of her Friends, wondering where could they be.

She made a pause as she reached her family tree, however. Her mother and father.

River, her mother, what a kind and caring woman, affective and funny, Her father, Oliver, was a hardworking Man, almost the same as River in personality, he loved to joke around and take care of his family.

Then she started to wonder if dylan would fit into the tree, his name meant son of the sea, he could very well be part of the Mare clan since they were stationed in the shore of Argentina.

Closing the book she left it besides her, hoping her nostalgia would wash away as she closed her eyes and cuddled further under the blankets.

The Next day arrived sooner than she expected. And soon enough she was instructing the kids on their Next activity, silently hoping she would get to see dylan soon.

Though, sadly she didnt see him until sundown, when the campers went to eat dinner.

--Heyy,theres my favorite forager-- Dylan joked sitting infront of Nova-- I took a sip of that lemonade you made today with the kids! Didnt know that we could use some of the flowers that Grow here! Where did you learn all of this?

--Hah, well my family knows. Kinda passed down through generations yknow?-- Nova answered with a smile.

-- Thats very useful, specially in camp-- the Man admitted-- hey, I was wondering if we could hang out? Maybe in your room since you dont have a roommate, its uh...no pressure tho..

--Sure, why not, everything okay?-- She asked looking at him, slightly concerned

Dylan stuttered a little, looking away-- I mean yeah...just uh...gotta tell you somethin'...

After dinner, both went to Novas bedroom, That was softly illuminated by fairy lights and some oil lamps.

--Mr. H lets you use actual oil lamps? Arent they a Fire hazard? -- Dylan inquired looking around.

--I mean yeah...but Chris trusts me enough to not set the place on Fire-- She joked-- wanna go up to the loft? Its comfier there

--U-uh yeah..I might need somewhere comfy considering what I wanna tell you-- The Man answered.

Once they sat on Novas bed, dylan took some time to start talking, then he cleared his throat after some minutes of painstaking silence.

--So...ive uhm...had feelings...for you...since you arrived-- He started-- Youre just...heh..youre just so pretty...and Smart...and insightfull, I feel like youre out of my League here but...I want to be with you...

Nova only smiled taking her crush's hand-- Thats a relief...I had feelings for you too

Dylan started smiling like a fool in love, cause he kind of was, and gave her a big hug, giggling a little as she hugged back, joining in with happy squeals.

From then on, both were inseparable, all summer long they were always togheter. Two peas in a pot.

Nova soon started to wonder when should she tell him about her druidic origin, scared he might see it as weird or disgusting....

Though, after the events of their final light at Hacketts Quarry, she soon realized that there were weirder and scarier things.

As they drove back to civilization,both sat at the back of the van, completly alone, just cuddling togheter in a bundle of blankets.

--So...now that we wont be comin back at the camp...what Will we do?-- Dylan asked, looking down at Nova, who was resting against his chest.

--...well I was hoping I could inscribe on other camps, or nature related things...you could come with while you study quantum physics..-- The woman proposed.

--Hmm...I would like that-- He agreed-- I really liked being camp counselor though..

--Agreed...

Soon they reached a motel where they would stay the night, they bunked up togheter and cuddled against a Window looking at the city.

--Yknow...I dont want to push it-- Dylan started-- you can tell me whenever you feel like it..but we need to talk about you growing plants out of thin air and being respected by literal werewolves...

Nova sighed-- Well...I was scared to tell you but after everything thats happened...I think theres worst things..., I am...a druid...I can grow plants, shapeshift into animals, speak to them..., can you pass me that book there?-- she pointed at the old dark turquoise book in her bag.

Dylan stretched over and grabbed it, handing it to her.

She opened it and showed her a map of each druid clan.

--The other druid clans here are stationed in Sanfran, Washington and New York, theres some in Florida too...my clan, the Mare clan are here...at the coast of Argentina..--She gestured to the the coast of Buenos Aires, a province from Argentina.

--Okay, thats super cool though...--dylan admitted-- what else can you tell me?

--Well.., mice was a gift from the elders of my clan, as well as my mask...-- She commented-- and heres my family tree-- she quickly flipped to the pages that had the family trees-- thats my mom, River and thats my dad, Oliver

--Hmm, thats interesting-- the Man commented-- hah that kid is you?

--Yep. Thats little old me

Dylan kissed the top of Novas head-- Dylan means son of the sea...would I fit in your clan?

--Absolutely...I thought about it yknow?...-- She stretched over to her backpack to Grab a pen, taking her lovers arm and draw some patterns on his forearm.

--What are you scribbling on there? -- he teased.

--When couples get togheter they usually paint markings like these on their skin to show that they are taken, usually combining things of their partner and them...so I thought I could put some branches, flowers...paint supplies and music for you, maybe even some equations for you ...

The Mans cheeks flush red as he looks away smiling-- Heh...Thank you baby...

He kissed her softly once she was done, holding her tight against his chest. The Next day they all went back on the road.

--What are those scribbles on your forearm? -- Abigail asked with a brow raised.

Dylan only smiled as he made himself comfortable on the back of the Van-- im taken -- he answered.

One day later they all returned to their homes, dylan was quick to visit Nova whenever he could.

Today was the day that he would be added to the family tree. He was anxious to say the least.

--So this thing updates instantly? You just have to add me?

Nova nodded, finishign writing down his name on the book-- Ive decided to add your name in a sunflower...its my favorite flower...and they mean happiness..cause youre my happiness...

The Man chuckled with a soft smile, kissing his lovers cheek-- I love you...

-- I love you too-- she answered-- wanna go cuddle?

He nodded, soon finding himself snuggling closer to his girlfriend. Every minute he spend with her was invaluable. Even the bad times they spent togheter...he wouldnt trade them for the world.

#ask to tag #gif tw eye contact #gif cw eye contact #🏖🌱summer music and sunny days|dylan🌱🏖#🌱🦌genderfluid druid (the//quarry//selfinsert)🦌🌱

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italianexotiicbeauty · 2 years

Text

PART II.

I just can't escape It's like you're here with me now But the words you say They always seem to fade out Since you been away I'm just a face in the crowd Someday, someday I know you're coming back

( Hollywood Undead, Coming Back Down. )

THREE DAYS LATER // Florida.

Becky had stayed behind with Wildfire to make sure she'd not be all by herself right now – last thing anyone should be at the news that someone they cared about HAD DIED?? Was to be alone.

Wildfire just sat like a bump on a log when they got back to the house – only telling Becky she wanted to pack one color. PURPLE, why? Not for her – obviously – but because Roman had been the tribal chief, head of the table – PURPLE was for him. PURPLE was the color that royalty wore, and therefore? Her decision to wear purple was for him. Which made a lot more sense to Becky after Wildfire had explained it – she wanted to ask where Seth was, until Becky mentioned that he was going to be there in Florida.

Becky had left him behind because she knew she would be needed here – Wildfire was going to say something about how in a situation like this he could have come with her … but she kept quiet. Why? Mostly cause she could see how this is a one person situation to deal with.

The WHOLE flight from North Carolina to Florida, she'd been quiet – not saying much of anything but it was to be expected. They arrived hours early because she had gotten a text from Nia about Roman's mom having something for her – that she didn't want to give to her during the wake. Curious, she said to no one but herself when they rolled up on his mother's house. Becky following behind her of course, they were both greeted by his mother and his sisters – Becky stayed out in the living room with his sisters while Wildfire went with his mom.

" … We were packing up his place & I came across these boxes. All with letters addressed to you." Wildfire stared at the boxes that were on the bed, how many were there? " – Seems he started writing them in 2018, up until a month ago."

Wildfire blinked a bit, looking at the older woman. " … How do you know?"

" – He put the date on the bottom of each envelope. Seems he planned to deliver them in person but never got the chance. Any idea where he got this idea from?"

Wildfire nibbled a few times on her lower lip, " – I jokingly mentioned that on an episode of One Tree Hill, Brooke had a box of letters meant for Lucas but she never mailed them. She gives him the whole box before the end of the episode, it was 82 letters. This seems like more than 82 … what was he waiting for?"

" – Perhaps the next time he could bring them to you?"

Wildfire's heart sunk again, and she called for Becky – they were going to mail the letters back to Wilmington in boxes from the Post Office so the ones they had been stored in.. didn't get destroyed.

All minus that last one, she had snuck it into her purse to try and read it before they'd fly home tomorrow.

– AT THE FUNERAL –

She sat in between Seth & Becky, save for a little purple eyeliner? She had no other makeup on, dark & red hair was up in a braided crown to keep it off her neck in the heat of Florida.

Every so often, she felt Becky wrap her arms around her & hug her – but she was unresponsive, her mind in so many places and nowhere all at once. It was like she was on autopilot, until she could fall apart all by herself.

Even at the ceremony, she sat with the others and was quiet as a mouse – just listening and her hand was wrapped around the cross at the end of her rosary.

And when at the wake back at his mother's house? She isolated – no one noticed her walk out of the house and just wandered down the street. Wanting to be alone – at least for a little bit.

#v | just a face in the crowd ( wwe’s wildfire • post retirement )#( trigger warning; death. )#( content warning; death. )

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labomi · 3 years

Text

selfish | one (18+)

Summary: You're a former coworker of Kento Nanami back when he was just an office worker. You accidentally run into him at a bakery many years later which gives you a second chance at getting to know the man who had always caught your eye.

Pairing: Kento Nanami x f!Reader

Words: 11.1k+

Warnings: Explicit sexual content, vaginal sex, vaginal fingering, oral sex, creampie, explicit language, attempted sexual assault, kidnapping, canon-typical violence, alcohol

Note: Read on ao3 here! I’ve been on tumblr on and off for about 10 years at this point (yikes), but I recently decided to start a new one as sort of a writing blog with a lot of anime gif reblogging on the side as well haha. Kind of nervous to post my first fic on tumblr for some reason, so I hope you enjoy! Thank you for reading!

Index: [Part One] [Part Two]

“Nanami? Kento Nanami? Is that you?”

You couldn’t believe your eyes. It had been years! Was that really him?

---

The night you accidentally ran into Kento Nanami started off like any other night in your life. After an exhausting day of work, you decided to treat yourself to some sweets at a nearby bakery. The small chime on the door signaled your entrance with the lone employee warmly greeting you.

“Welcome!”

There was only one other customer in the small shop. A tall man stood at the cash register.

Hmm.

There was something strangely familiar about the man’s demeanor. Curious, you drifted over to the display case next to the register to try and sneak a peek at his face. While admiring the delicious-looking pastries on the counter, you listened in on the conversation between him and the cashier.

“That will be 2000 yen,” the lady said.

“I’ll pay with card.”

You stiffened slightly, eyes widening in surprise.

That voice!

You recognized that voice!

The man shifted his face towards you as he reached to grab his wallet from his pocket. You were finally able to get a glimpse of his face.

You gasped.

“It is you!” you exclaimed in surprise. “Nanami!”

He looked as prim and proper as ever. The man still wore a suit and tie with his hair neatly parted. The only major difference in his appearance was the sunglasses that now completely shielded his eyes.

“It’s good to see you again! How have you been?” you asked eagerly.

Nanami looked at you silently, trying to recall where he had seen your familiar face before.

Then he remembered.

A flood of memories from a different life overcame him. The man hesitantly said your name, like he couldn’t quite believe your unexpected appearance before him. You nodded enthusiastically while he absentmindedly handed his credit card to the cashier.

“Oh wow,” you breathed, feeling a little giddy. “I haven’t seen you since you quit all those years ago. What are you doing now?”

Nanami seemed to pause for a second, adjusting his sunglasses. “I work at a school.”

“Oh! As a teacher?”

“No, just as staff.”

“That sounds nice. What school?”

“It’s a private religious school in the mountains. It’s not particularly well-known,” the man replied vaguely.

“Oh, I see.”

A loud beep of a cell phone interrupted the conversation. Nanami reached into his other pocket and took out his phone. He frowned, looking at the device. “I apologize, but I have to go immediately.”

“Oh, uh, ok,” you said, feeling slightly disappointed. You barely had any time to catch up with your former coworker. Nanami grabbed the bag from the counter and swiftly exited the store. You watched him walk away with a sigh. What were the chances that you would bump into him again? You pouted, upset that the circumstances hadn’t exactly worked out in your favor.

“Oh no!” the cashier suddenly cried out. “He forgot his card!” She pointed at the blue credit card on the counter.

“Lemme see if I can catch him!” you responded, already running out of the bakery. You pushed open the door and ran in the direction you saw the man leave. “Nanami!” you shouted. Other pedestrians looked at you curiously, but you couldn’t see the tall man anywhere. You walked around a bit further out, continuing to call his name but to no avail. Sighing, you headed back to the bakery.

“No luck,” you said to the cashier. “He’s gone already. I have no idea how he disappeared so quickly.” Crossing your arms against your chest, you looked at the forgotten card in frustration. “What should we do now?” If only you had his number!

“I guess I can keep it here in case he comes back,” the lady reasoned.

Hmm.

An idea popped in your head.

A selfish one.

“Wait! How about I take it and return it to him?” you asked. Then you realized that your request might come off as suspicious. “We used to work together, I promise I’m not trying to steal it or anything.”

The cashier smiled at you softly. “I trust you. You come in here quite a lot and that man did say your name, so I know you’re not lying.”

You sighed in relief.

Thank goodness.

After buying some pastries for yourself, you walked out of the bakery holding Nanami’s credit card in your hand. You carefully stored it in your bag before beginning the walk back to your apartment.

A private religious school in the mountains, huh?

It shouldn’t be too hard to find.

---

You groaned, fighting the urge to pull your hair in frustration.

How hard was it to find this damn school?!

You were sitting at your desk in the dark. The only light in the bedroom came from your laptop screen which was full of search engine results for “tokyo private religious school”. You were on page 15. Not a promising sign.

Recalling your conversation with Nanami, you remembered the man said he worked at a religious school in the mountains. However, none of the private schools you had found so far were located in the mountains. You frowned. Had Nanami been lying?

You shook your head to yourself.

No.

He’s not the type to lie. He did say it wasn’t well-known.

You scrolled further down and clicked on the next page. Quickly skimming the results, you finally found something that caught your eye.

Tokyo Metropolitan Curse Technical College.

Huh. What a strange name for a school.

You clicked on the link. It brought you to a strange forum that looked somewhat sketchy and unreliable, but someone had at least posted an address for the school. You grabbed your phone and immediately plugged the address into the map app.

You punched the air in triumph.

“Yes!” The dot was located in the mountains by some Tokyo suburbs.

This has to be the place!

Luckily, tomorrow was Friday which meant you had no classes, and you weren’t scheduled for a shift at work. You were free to find the school and return the card to Nanami in person.

“Ok!” you said to yourself, rubbing your hands together. “Now to find out how to get there.”

---

You looked at the dot of your current location on your phone and then back at the vast empty woods in front of you.

This can’t be it!

You groaned out loud in frustration, stamping your feet in a little tantrum.

Why is it still so hard to find this damn school?!

Looking at your phone again, you double-checked the map to see that you were in fact at the exact location of the address you inputted, but nothing was here. It was just trees!

You sighed in disappointment but refused to give up right away. Maybe your phone’s GPS was off because you were so high up in the mountains and the signal was bad. You decided to follow the road that led up the mountain with the hope that you might accidentally stumble across the school. If there was a road, it had to lead somewhere! But strangely enough, you hadn’t seen any cars, buildings, or pedestrians since entering the area.

After walking around for almost an hour, you decided to take a break. Sitting in the shade of some trees by the side of the road, you took your water bottle out of your bag for a quick sip. You admired the beautiful, quiet scenery in front of you.

Maybe this was a bad idea.

You were currently lost in the mountains of Tokyo looking for a school you weren’t quite sure actually existed. And it was all because you were selfish and wanted to see Nanami again. Your old coworker.

You hadn’t been particularly close to him at work, though he didn’t seem overly friendly with anyone in the office. Nanami was the stoic and serious type. He didn’t talk much with the team, but you could tell he worked hard. He was always one of the last people to leave the office for the night, if he did leave. On many occasions, you found him dozing at his desk in the morning when you arrived early to work before everyone else with the sneaking suspicion that he had spent the entire night in the office.

Unlike most of the other employees and especially your boss, Nanami seemed to still care about the clients instead of just the company’s profits, judging from the small snippets of conversations you overheard from him. You had always wanted to get to know him better, but he didn’t particularly have an approachable demeanor. At the time, you were just a young, newly graduated woman who was afraid of everything and everyone. So you often just kept to yourself.

You sighed, looking down at the ground. Taking Nanami’s credit card hostage was a pathetic way of trying to rekindle a relationship that never existed in the first place. You made up your mind. It was time to head back home and drop off the card at the bakery so he could pick it up himself. Today’s excursion was just a giant waste of time much to your disappointment.

“Excuse me, miss. What are you doing here?”

“Huh?” A man was hovering over you. You swore he hadn’t been there a second ago.

You screamed. “P-please don’t hurt me!” You put your arms out in front of you, shielding yourself from any potential harm. “I don’t have much money, but you can have it all!”

The man burst out laughing. You slowly lowered your arms, hoping that his laughter meant he wasn’t going to attack you.

“I’m not going to hurt you, and I especially don’t want your money.”

You let out a sigh of relief. “Thank goodness.” No longer afraid, you took a closer look at the stranger. He was tall. Very tall. Wearing a black outfit and a matching blindfold that spiked up his white hair.

What a strange appearance.

“Well, I won’t hurt you as long as you tell me what you’re doing here.” You gulped, hearing the silent threat in his words.

“Umm, umm, well, you see I-I got a bit lost and w-was just taking a rest,” you stuttered nervously, fiddling with your hands. “I heard there’s a private school around here and I’m trying to find it, because I know someone who works there. His name is Kento Nanami and we used to work together many many years ago and I just happened to run into him last night at a bakery but he left his credit card there and I wanted to give it back to him in person, so I thought it was a good idea to deliver it at his workplace but this school is so hard to find I have no idea where I’m going and-and I think I’m just going to leave now actually.” You realized you were rambling, so you forcibly shut your mouth to stop yourself from looking like a complete fool in front of the stranger.

The man hummed in thought for several seconds before suddenly grinning and chuckling to himself. His demeanor no longer felt threatening.

“Kento Nanami, huh,” the man said, still smiling happily.

“Oh, you know him?” You perked up, suddenly hopeful.

Maybe they work together!

“Leave it to me!” the stranger cheered, giving you a thumbs up. “I’ll escort you to the school and make sure you hand-deliver that credit card to Nanami!”

You felt relieved, tears almost prickling your eyes. “Oh thank you so much!”

---

“Satoru.”

“Mm.”

“Can’t you tell there’s a human who has been wandering near the barrier for quite a while now? It looks like they’re trying to find a way in,” Yaga commented.

“Well, they can’t. Isn’t that the whole point of the barrier?”

“I know that!” the principal grunted angrily. “But since you’re just lounging here around doing nothing, go check it out.”

“Fine.” Gojo got off the couch and headed outside, wondering how a human accidentally wandered this close to the school so far up the mountains.

---

It only took several minutes before you and the strange man found a path leading to the school. You blinked in surprise. You felt like you had walked by this part of the road earlier but had seen nothing.

Walking alongside the man quietly, you suddenly realized you had completely forgotten your manners. Quickly bowing to your escort, you introduced yourself and thanked him for taking the time to safely bring you to the school.

“It’s no problem. Any friend of Nanami is a friend of mine. Oh, and I’m Satoru Gojo by the way. I’m the first-year teacher here.”

He was a teacher? This man wearing a blindfold in broad daylight? You swallowed nervously. You wondered what kind of school Nanami was working for exactly.

Once you finally reached the main school grounds, all of your reservations immediately melted away. “Wow!” you breathed. The campus was absolutely gorgeous with beautiful statues, shrines, and gates. You couldn’t help but stop and admire your surroundings. “This school is beautiful.”

Gojo brought you to the teacher’s lounge and gestured for you to sit down. “So, tell me again how you know our dear Nanami?”

---

Nanami had just finished a mission when his phone chimed, signaling a text. He finished wiping his blade clean before grabbing the device. The message was from Gojo.

Gojo: Come back to Jujutsu Tech. Your girlfriend is here ;)

The sorcerer stared at the message.

Nanami: I have no idea what you mean.

Gojo: ( ˘ ³˘)♥

He angrily shoved his phone back in his pocket and walked over to the car where Ijichi was waiting. He entered the back seat before closing the door behind him. “Hurry up. I need to find a certain white-haired idiot and destroy him.”

---

Nanami was walking towards the teacher’s lounge when he heard your bright laughter. He froze for a couple of seconds.

What were you doing here?

He picked up the pace, quickly entering the lounge to see you giggling on the couch next to Gojo. For some reason, it bothered him to see how close the idiot was to you and how happy you looked in his presence.

“Nanami! You’re here!” Gojo exclaimed, immediately noticing the other sorcerer’s presence.

You turned your head quickly towards the doorway with a bright grin. “Oh, Nanami! Hi again!”

Nanami observed the scene, trying to figure out what was going on, but he was drawing a blank.

First of all, you weren’t a sorcerer. How did you enter the school grounds?

Second, did you know Gojo? The two of you seemed quite friendly on the couch together.

Third, was Gojo implying that you were his girlfriend? That was absolutely ridiculous.

“What are you doing here?” Nanami asked you cautiously, adjusting his sunglasses.

“Oh!” You dug around in your bag, pulling out your wallet. You removed a blue credit card. “You left this behind at the bakery yesterday. I tried to chase after you, but you disappeared so quickly. I had the day off today, so I thought I would try to find your workplace and give your card back to you.” You got off the couch, approaching Nanami and handing him the card.

Nanami took the card from you before placing it back in his own wallet. “You didn’t have to do this. How did you even find your way here?”

“I found her wandering nearby!” Gojo jumped in, grinning at the other sorcerer. “Imagine my surprise when she said the two of you used to work together back when you were just a salaryman. I just had to invite her back here. You never mentioned you used to work with such a lovely lady.”

You visibly blushed at Gojo’s words which just bothered Nanami even more. “Thank you for returning my card, but I think it’s about time y—”

“Nanami. Nanami. Namami,” Gojo said in a singsong voice. “You’re all work and no fun. It’s been years since the two of you have seen each other, and you’re already trying to get rid of her? Don’t you want to catch up a little bit?”

You played with your hair, a little nervous. “I mean if you’re busy Nanami, I can go. But I was hoping we could talk a little bit.” You looked up at him with bright eyes. “I want to hear how you’ve been doing.”

Nanami took one look at your hopeful face and immediately gave in. “Alright.” He gestured for you to sit back down as he walked over to one of the armchairs. The sorcerer pretended like he didn’t see your little jump of excitement as you hurried back to the couch with Gojo.

Once the three of you were all seated comfortably, you brought up what you had been previously discussing with Gojo. “I didn’t know you’re teaching at the same high school you went to as a student. That’s pretty cool!”

“He was one of the few students who graduated and decided to leave the community,” Gojo pointed out. “Most of us stay here and continue working for the school.” Nanami subtly glared at the white-haired sorcerer, wondering how much he had told you about the jujutsu world.

“Why did you decide to come back then?” you asked curiously.

“I changed my mind,” Nanami simply stated. “I realized I would find my career slightly more rewarding if I worked for the school than that company.”

You nodded in agreement. “That makes sense. I’m glad we eventually both left that job.” You slightly grimaced, just thinking about your past. It didn’t go unnoticed by Nanami.

“When did you leave?” he asked.

You hummed, recalling the past. “It was probably a couple of months after you left. I, uh, messed up something really badly and I got fired.”

Nanami raised his eyebrows in surprise. You didn’t seem like the type to make big mistakes. He remembered you as quite the careful and diligent worker. He narrowed his eyes slightly, wondering if you were being deceitful.

“It’s ok though,” you continued. “I worked a couple of odd jobs afterward to keep up with the bills until I decided I wanted to become a nurse! So I’m actually back in school now and working part-time to help pay tuition.”

“A nurse, huh,” Gojo remarked. “What a noble career choice.”

“Ahh, I wouldn’t say I’m noble or anything. I just think I would find my life more fulfilling if I was actively helping people,” you explained. “Probably similar to how you felt when you switched careers, Nanami.”

He nodded at your words.

uThe three of you chatted amicably the rest of the day. Gojo and you mostly carried the conversation, but Nanami would be lying if he said he didn’t enjoy listening to your voice. After he ran into you at the bakery last night, he couldn’t stop thinking about you. It was the first time he was confronted with his old life after deciding to become a sorcerer again. Part of Nanami wanted to never look back on that phase of his life again, but perhaps it wasn’t all bad. Sure, he hadn't particularly liked anyone from that office, but he didn’t mind you. You had always been quiet, polite, and hardworking.

Nanami still remembered his last day at the office. You had organized a surprise farewell party just for him with a cake, balloons, and everything. After everyone had their fill of free food and left the conference room, you had shyly wished him luck in the future and said you would miss seeing him in the office. All those memories came rushing back after encountering you in that bakery.

The sun started to set when you finally noticed the time.

“Ah! I should probably go,” you announced, checking your phone. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to overstay my welcome.”

“No, no,” Gojo assured. “You are very much welcome here. Like I said earlier, any friend of Nanami is a friend of mine and all my friends are welcome here!”

“How do you plan on getting home?” Nanami asked, mildly concerned.

“Don’t worry!” Gojo said. “I got it handled. Ijichi will drive her back.”

“Huh? No, it’s fine,” you tried to argue. “I can get back by myself. It’s not a problem.”

“What kind of gentlemen would we be if we didn’t ensure you got home safely? Ijichi is our finest chauffeur,” the blindfolded man insisted. “He will take care of you.”

You looked at Nanami who simply nodded at you, encouraging you to accept Gojo’s offer. Sighing, you crossed your arms over your chest with a pout. “Alright. Thank you.”

The two men waved goodbye as you left in Ijichi’s car to head back home.

“Was it really wise to have her on the school grounds?” Nanami asked.

Gojo hummed. “It’s fine.”

“No, it’s not. Normal humans aren’t allowed here for a reason.”

The blindfolded sorcerer didn’t reply. Instead, he took out his phone and started tapping on the screen. Nanami’s phone chimed. It was a text from Gojo. Opening it, he saw it was a string of numbers.

A phone number.

“You should call her sometime,” Gojo said. “She likes you.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Yes, I do. What kind of woman travels to the mountains on her day off to try and find a publically non-existent school to return a credit card to someone she doesn’t like?”

Nanami remained silent.

“Just because we’re adults and jujutsu sorcerers doesn’t mean we aren’t allowed to have some normal fun. It’s alright to be selfish every once in a while.”

How badly Nanami wanted to believe Gojo’s words.

---

You heard the door open and close.

“Hello! How many I help y—Gojo?”

You blinked in surprise, not expecting to see the teacher at your workplace. While taking classes to become a nurse, you worked part-time at a small boba tea shop. You had just finished serving the flurry of college students who needed a midday pick-me-up when Gojo appeared. Several of the seated patrons whispered and pointed at him, wondering why he was wearing a blindfold and how he could see.

“Thought I would drop by and say hi,” he said with an easy grin.

You returned his smile. “Is Nanami with you too?” you asked, trying to sound casual.

“No, not today, unfortunately,” he replied. You tried to ignore the flash of disappointment you felt. “I’ll bring him next time.”

You perked up at Gojo’s promise, nodding eagerly. “Sounds good. So, would you like something to drink?”

The man ordered a large brown sugar milk tea with extra sugar. You looked at him, mildly concerned. “You sure you want 120% sugar? It’s pretty sweet to begin with. Trust me.”

Gojo nodded. “Yup!”

“Alright,” you said with a shrug. You did try to warn him.

You finished preparing Gojo’s drink and handed it to him along with a straw.

“Hey, do you mind if I borrow your phone for a second?” the teacher asked.

“Oh, sure,” you said, grabbing your phone from your back pocket.

Gojo took the device and opened the camera app. “Smile!” That was the only warning you got. He had taken a selfie of the two of you together. You weren’t even smiling in the photo, completely caught off guard. But Gojo was at least prepared, grinning happily and showing off his milk tea in one hand. You watched as the man repeatedly tapped on your phone screen.

“What are you doing?” you asked hesitantly.

“Here!” Gojo handed the phone back to you. Looking at the screen, you saw that he had sent the selfie of the two of you to a random number with a text that said “Having fun without you!”

“Um. Who did you send this to Gojo?”

“Nanami, of course!”

“Oh,” you said quietly, feeling butterflies in your stomach.

Nanami’s number!

You finally had it!

Gojo chuckled to himself as he saw the way your eyes lit up.

“Oh, by the way,” you said, looking up from the phone. “It’s my birthday next weekend. I’m going out with a couple of friends on Saturday at 8pm at the bar around the corner, and I was wondering if you and Nanami would like to join? You should bring Ijichi too and anyone else from the school! Only if you want though. It’s ok if you don’t want to come or you’re worried about being awkward with my other friends even though they’re super cool and encouraged me to invite you guys and I promise I won’t be upset if you can’t make it because this is kind of last minute and I—”

“Sounds great!” Gojo interrupted your rambling. “I’ll be sure to pass along the information. We'll be there.”

“Really?” You grinned at the teacher. “Awesome! I guess I’ll see you then!”

Gojo waved at you goodbye as you tried to compose yourself before the next wave of customers arrived.

---

“Ahh!! You guys actually came!” you squealed as a group of individuals approached your table in the bar. You stumbled out of the large booth where your other friends were seated, already several shots in for the night. You clumsily hugged Gojo without thinking. Releasing him, you took in his new appearance.

“You look so different!” you commented. “But not in a bad way!” The man had traded in his signature blindfold for a pair of sunglasses that still hid his eye. His hair was lying down flat instead of its usual spiked-up look.

Behind Gojo, you saw Ijichi with a woman you didn’t recognize.

“That’s Shoko Ieiri,” Gojo said, following your gaze. “She’s the doctor at our school.”

You happily greeted both of them, thanking them for coming.

And finally, you saw the person you were looking forward to seeing the most. Nanami looked good as always. He was dressed a little more casually for the night without his signature jacket, tie, and sunglasses. Instead, he wore a crisp, blue button-up shirt with the top few buttons undone. You tried not to stare too much at his revealed skin.

As you approached Nanami, you reached out to hug him but you managed to stop yourself in time. You were worried about coming on too strong and opted for a small wave instead.

“Thanks for coming, Nanami! I’m so glad you came!”

Sitting at the table altogether, your other friends immediately fawned over Gojo. One of them grabbed you and whispered in your ear.

“What the hell? You didn’t tell me one of your friends was incredibly hot?”

You shrugged and ordered another round of shots for the whole table. Gojo ended up passing because he didn’t drink, so you took it upon yourself to finish it for him.

Nanami quietly nursed a beer as he observed the scene. He didn’t typically like crowded, loud bars like this, but he would make an exception for you. Gojo had also been extremely intent on making sure everyone from the school attended your little celebration. He managed to get Ijichi to come along only after getting Shoko to agree by bribing her with free alcohol.

Nanami was currently sitting across the booth from you, watching as you chatted with your friends. You were wearing a dark red dress that perfectly showed off your curves. The left strap of your dress was a little loose and it kept falling down the entire night despite you constantly readjusting it, not that Nanami had noticed.

You looked so carefree and lively in this atmosphere. Every once in a while, you caught Nanami’s gaze and beamed at him happily.

At some point during the night, you left the table to go to the bathroom. It was only once you tried walking back to everyone that you realized how drunk you were. Stumbling a bit in your high heels, you leaned against the wall by the bathrooms for stability.

“Excuse me miss, are you alright?”

A man approached you, but you instantly waved him off. “Mmm, I’m good,” you replied. “Thanks though.” You were determined to make it back to your friends on your own, but as soon as you took a step away from the wall, you tripped. The man caught you before you could hit the ground. He had a tight grip on your waist.

“You don’t seem good,” he chuckled softly. “How about I help you?” You could feel his hands starting to go lower, and you quickly latched onto them and tried to pry them off you.

“I said no,” you said firmly, but the man ignored you and pressed you against the wall. “Get off!” You struggled against him but to no avail.

Suddenly, the weight of the man was lifted and you felt like you could breathe again.

“Are you alright?” a smooth voice asked.

You looked up to see Nanami in front of you. You nodded silently and admired his strong jawline and sharp eyes in the bar’s dark lighting.

“Can you walk?”

You nodded again. Taking a step away from the wall, you immediately staggered again much to your embarrassment. Nanami grabbed your arm and lifted you up until you were half leaning on him for support. Inhibitions suddenly gone from all the alcohol in your system, you wrapped your arms around his broad shoulders and gave him a hug. The man tried to ignore the shiver that went up his spine when he felt your warm, soft body pressed up against him. He didn’t want to admit it, but he was quite jealous that you had hugged Gojo when they first arrived. What was so special about that idiot anyway? Nanami slowly wrapped his arms around you, indulging himself for once and returning the hug.

“I’m so glad you came,” you mumbled against his chest. “I was so happy that I ran into you at the bakery that one night. But I was afraid I would never see you again.” You paused. “I really wanted to see you again.”

Nanami didn’t know how to respond to your words, so he gently rubbed your back instead. You leaned into his touch happily.

“Let’s get back to the others,” he said gently. You sighed and reluctantly removed yourself from the embrace. Nanami half-carried you back to the table and carefully deposited you next to your friends. To your disappointment, he didn’t sit down next to you and instead headed towards the front doors.

“Nanami? Where are you going?” Gojo asked, eyebrows raised.

“I’ll be back.”

When Nanami exited the bar, he was greeted by several couples who were taking a smoke break. He walked a bit further away, so he could be alone. The sorcerer leaned against a random building, taking a deep breath and trying to calm himself down.

Nanami felt quite ashamed of himself. Acting like a hormonal teenage boy just because he briefly held you while you were wearing that damn dress. He tried to ignore the way his cock was straining in his pants. Gritting his teeth, he willed his body to relax. Nanami refused to let you see him so worked like this. He especially couldn’t let Gojo see. He could only imagine the endless teasing he would endure from the blindfolded idiot.

Inside the bar, you watched sadly as Nanami left. You wondered if it was something you did to scare him away.

Gojo sat next to you and handed you a glass of water. “Drink,” he commanded.

You did as you were told, keeping an eye on the doors to see if Nanami had come back in yet. “Does Nanami not like me?” you asked Gojo quietly with a pout.

The man chuckled. “I assure you that’s not the case.”

You turned to look at him. “How do you know?”

Gojo lowered his sunglasses slightly, and you were able to get a glimpse of his gorgeous blue eyes for the first time. “Trust me. I have good eyes.”

---

Nanami ended the call with Ijichi. He leaned against the wall of the bathroom with a grimace. He was still applying pressure to the wound he had received from Mahito. The sorcerer scrolled through the contacts list on his phone. He found himself hovering over your name.

Yes, he did save your number from Gojo’s text. Why wouldn’t he? It would be frivolous to ignore that kind of contact information.

Nanami grabbed another wad of paper towel to replace the one that was already drenched in blood. He grunted in pain.

A nurse, huh.

He wondered what you would do if you saw him right now. If you fuss over him and take care of his injuries yourself. Nanami sighed. He wouldn’t mind that. Would you carefully unbutton his shirt to get a better look at the wound? He could almost imagine the way your fingers would ghost over his stomach.

With a groan, Nanami banged his head against the wall. He couldn’t believe he was fantasizing about you while profusely bleeding in a public restroom.

The sorcerer cleaned up his blood all over the sink and threw out the dirty wads of paper towels. He went outside to wait for Ijichi to bring him back to school for proper treatment.

---

“I’m going to take my break!” you announced to your coworkers as you exited the bubble tea shop. You decided to go outside for a quick breather because it was such a nice, sunny day. Avoiding the crowds, you headed over to the alleyways near the shop to scroll through Twitter in peace.

You were so engrossed by your phone that you didn’t notice the presence of someone next to you. It was only when you heard them clear their throat that you looked next to you to see a man wearing sunglasses and a hat.

“Oh, sorry. Am I in your way? I can move.”

In the blink of an eye, he held a knife to your neck. You felt the cool blade lightly press into your skin. You held your breath, afraid to react in any way.

“Don’t scream. Don’t move,” he hissed.

Your eyes widened in shock.

That voice.

You recognized that voice.

The man grabbed you by the back of the neck and pulled you in the opposite direction of the busy street where unaware pedestrians were still walking by. He pressed the knife against your side now, digging it into the thin t-shirt you had to wear for work.

“Walk.”

He led you to an abandoned building several minutes away. Once you were inside and the door closed shut, he roughly shoved you to the ground.

You landed in a heap, groaning in pain. Turning around, you finally faced your captor.

“It’s you, isn’t you,” you said evenly. “Boss.”

The man chuckled, removing the hat and sunglasses. It was your former boss from the company where you and Nanami had once worked together. You dug your nails in the palms of your hands. If he was here, you knew you were in trouble.

“You called the cops, didn’t you!” he yelled at you, pointing the knife at you menacingly.

Cops? What was he talking about?

“No, I didn’t,” you replied honestly.

“You BITCH! Don’t lie to me.” He waved the knife closer at you.

“I promise! I didn’t tell anyone!”

With a shout, the man grabbed your hair and held the knife to your neck again. You squeezed your eyes shut and couldn’t help but let a small whimper leave your lips.

The truth was you weren't just fired from your job. You were threatened. When numbers weren’t adding up, you realized that your boss was embezzling money and had been doing so for a long time. He found out that you knew the truth and protected himself by forcibly ousting you from the company. As a young professional, you knew better than to fight against a big shot financial executive. When he warned you to stay quiet or face his wrath, you were wise enough to shut your mouth, clean your desk, and leave the building immediately. True to your word, you had never mentioned your boss’s crimes to anyone. You thought you were safe to move on with the rest of your life but apparently, that was not the case.

The man spat at you before roughly kicking you away. He started pacing as you wiped his spit off your cheek with a disgusted groan.

“This can’t be happening. This can’t be happening. I’m about to lose everything. EVERYTHING!”

As he muttered to himself, you tried to survey your surroundings and determine if there was a way you could safely escape. Before you could figure anything out, your old boss approached you again, knife still in hand. He seemed to have made up his mind about what he was going to do.

“You’re going to fix this. Yea. This is your fault. I’ll pin it all on you. You’ll go down for this, not me!”

As the man ranted and raved at you, something appeared in the shadows behind him. There was some movement. You blinked your eyes, wondering if it was just a trick of your imagination. But to your horror, a green creature grew larger and larger in the background. It had three heads, each with multiple eyes and giant drooling mouths with huge teeth. The monster raised its multiple arms, hovering over your boss with all eyes fixed on him like he was a piece of prey.

“Scared, aren’t you?” the man commented with a chuckle. He was misinterpreting the horrified look on your face. “This is what you get for messing with the wrong man.”

You shook your head slowly and lifted a shaky finger to point behind him.

He turned around, dropping the knife in shock.

The weapon clattered to the ground.

Your boss screamed. He immediately tried to run away, but one of the monster’s arms snatched him in a tight grip. The three heads fought with each other as if deciding which one of them would get to swallow the prize. You took that as a cue to start running.

The monster was blocking the way you entered, so you ran towards the only other door you saw, which led to a stairwell. You ran up a couple of floors before hiding in a small closet you found. It was cramped and dusty but you hoped it was enough to hide you from that creature.

Sitting on the ground, you took out your phone shakily and called the police.

“Hello, what is your emergency?”

“I’m trapped in an abandoned building, and there’s a monster here.” You realized it sounded ridiculous, but you didn’t know what else to say in the moment.

The dispatcher groaned. “This is the last time! You kids have to stop with the prank calls. This line is for emergencies only!”

They hung up on you.

You stared at your cell phone in disbelief.

Shit.

Instinctively, you scrolled through your contacts list until you found who you were looking for. You pressed the call button.

Please pick up. Please pick up.

It went to voicemail.

You cursed to yourself again.

“Nanami,” you whispered quietly, voice quivering. “I don’t know when you’ll listen to this, but you have to believe me. I’m in an abandoned building near my job, and I swear there’s a monster here. I-I think it might have killed our old boss. I don’t know what to do, I tri—”

There was a loud bang. You quickly hung up and pressed the phone into your chest while you covered your mouth and nose with your other hand to quiet your harsh breathing. The sounds got closer and closer until it sounded like it was right outside the closet door. Your heart was beating so loudly you were worried the monster would hear it. But luckily, the noises started to become fainter. Eventually, you heard nothing even after a long time of terrified waiting.

Once you were reasonably convinced the coast was clear, you quietly opened the closet door and peeked out. The hallway was empty. Maybe this was your chance to finally escape the building.

You carefully climbed to your feet and tiptoed your way back to the stairwell.

Your phone loudly chimed. The noise echoed throughout the empty building. It was a text message from your coworker asking where you went. You had forgotten to turn your phone on silent.

Almost instantaneously, the monster started roaring from the floor beneath you. You barely caught a glimpse of it before running up the stairs again until you reached the top floor. Exiting the stairway, you ran through the hallways until you reached a dead end.

Back pressed up against the wall, you watched in horror as the monster let out a sharp laugh as it approached you. There was blood dripping out of the mouths of all three heads. You didn’t want to think about where it came from. With no other options left, you weakly held your arms up in front of your face and squeezed your eyes shut with a whimper.

Suddenly, there was an angry shout and a loud splat.

You felt some sort of liquid splash all over you. Lowering your arms, an unexpected sight greeted you. It was the body of the monster all chopped up into pieces. You realized you were covered in its blood.

Behind the monster’s corpse stood Nanami. He had a covered blade in his hand that was also stained with the creature’s purple blood.

“N-Nanami?” you whispered hoarsely.

You couldn’t believe your eyes. Did he take down that monster? With a sword?

Nanami wiped the blood off his weapon, putting it away in its holster. He approached you as you shuddered violently, still in shock.

“Are you hurt?” he asked gently.

You shook your head no, wrapping your arms around yourself.

He kneeled down in front of you, taking out a handkerchief from his pocket and wiping the droplets of blood from your face.

“What was that thing?” you whispered.

Nanami sighed, twisting the handkerchief in his hands once your face was relatively clean.

“A curse.”

You gave him a confused look.

“It’s a long explanation.”

“Yo!”

You flinched as Gojo suddenly appeared out of nowhere in the hallway. You instinctively grabbed onto Nanami’s arm in fear. He glared at the blindfolded sorcerer in anger for startling you.

“Oh, you’re already done here? I thought I’d check up on you two to make sure everything’s okay.”

First, your boss had threatened you with a knife. Then, a giant monster, no, curse appeared and attacked both of you. Nanami killed said curse. And now Gojo had appeared out of thin air. Your brain was officially broken. You just wanted to go to sleep. Surely this had to be a dream. You would wake up and everything would be normal again.

“We should probably bring her to Shoko just to make sure she’s fine and clean her up,” Gojo said, observing how your eyes were starting to glaze over.

Nanami nodded in agreement. He lightly touched your shoulder, but you hardly reacted. He said your name quietly. Blinking slowly, you finally turned to acknowledge him. “I’m tired,” you mumbled.

“I know,” Nanami said gently. He picked you up in his arms. “You can go to sleep. I’ll keep you safe.” With a sigh of relief, you closed your eyes and surrendered to the darkness.

You woke up in a small room, tucked under the covers in a warm bed. Nanami was silently sitting in a chair next to you. You let out a deep breath and turned towards the man. The rustling of the covers alerted him that you were finally awake.

“Why was the boss with you?” Nanami asked suddenly.

So it wasn't a dream.

“Oh. He was trying to threaten me,” you explained. “I didn’t lose my job because I made a mistake. I found out he was embezzling money. He said the cops were starting to question him, so he accused me of reporting him.”

Nanami clenched his fists in anger. That bastard.

“Is he alive?” you asked.

“No.”

“I figured.”

You quietly observed Nanami. He had taken off his sunglasses and blazer. You admired his wide shoulders and the way his tie was slightly loosened.

“Nanami. What do you actually do?”

He shook his head. “I don’t want to tell you.”

You gripped the covers. “Why not?”

“Because,” Nanami sighed. “It’s a dangerous profession. You don’t need to be dragged into this world for no good reason.”

“What do you mean?” You didn’t understand what he was saying. “I do have a reason. It’s you.”

The man didn’t respond.

You sat up in bed suddenly. “If you won’t tell me, I’ll ask Gojo.” You started to climb out of bed, but Nanami stopped you.

“Fine. Fine. I’ll tell you. Sit back down.” He let out of a deep breath, rubbing his face.

You silently listened as Nanami discussed the existence of curses, the theories behind cursed energy, and the role of jujutsu sorcerers. He explained how the school’s true purpose was to train the next generation of sorcerers and act as the main headquarters for all jujutsu-related activities.

You only asked one question. “Why was I able to see that curse?”

“Regular humans can see them in life or death situations.”

“I see.”

Nanami was surprised at your reaction to learning about cursed spirits thus far. He expected you to ask more questions, to be more doubtful, to laugh and call him an idiot, or to scream and accuse him of being crazy. But you did none of those things. You just listened quietly and accepted everything he said as true.

In your heart, you knew there was no reason to doubt Nanami. You were trying to wrap your brain around the existence of curses you couldn’t see, but you didn’t consider that the sorcerer was lying to you for a single second. He wasn’t that kind of person.

Nanami abruptly stood up. “Ijichi will drive you back home.” He started to walk away from you, but you quickly grabbed his wrist.

“Wait, don’t go,” you pleaded, eyes wide. “I haven’t thanked you for saving me yet. Thank you, Nanami.” You didn't want him to leave you. Not yet. You didn't want to be alone.

The sorcerer refused to look at you. “I think it’s best if you kept your distance from Gojo, me, and this school.”

“What?” you breathed. “What are you saying? I-I won’t tell anyone about curses or that you’re a sorcerer if that’s what you’re worried about. I promise.”

“That’s not it. I already told you. This world is dangerous. You should stay away.” He paused. “Stay away from me.”

You flinched, releasing Nanami’s wrist. The sorcerer walked out of the room without another word. You didn’t call out after him.

As Nanami walked away, he knew he made the right decision. There was no reason for you to get involved with the jujutsu world. He wanted you to live a normal life, not one plagued by constant death and despair. He was doing this for you. For your future and your safety.

“It’s alright to be selfish every once in a while.”

Gojo’s words echoed in his mind.

No. This wasn’t about him. It was about you. It wasn’t right for him to drag you into his world. He should be happy. Happy that you would eventually move on and live a long, successful life.

But why did he feel so sad instead?

---

Numerous opened textbooks and notebooks were scattered around you on your bed. You had an upcoming exam at the end of next week and were in the midst of cramming a semester’s worth of information in your head.

There was a knock on the door.

You frowned, carefully getting off the bed and walking over to the door. You weren’t expecting any visitors or a delivery today. Looking through the peephole, you gasped. You clutched your hands against your chest, trying to calm your frantically beating heart.

What was he doing here?

You hadn’t talked to or seen Nanami since your last conversation with him at Jujutsu Tech. And that hadn't ended well. You respected his request to stay away from him and Gojo, making no attempts to contact either of the two sorcerers. Instead, you had thrown yourself into your schoolwork and picked up some extra shifts at the boba shop. The less free time you had to think about your emotions, the better.

But now the man who still weighed heavily on your heart was at your doorstep. You wondered whether or not to pretend you weren’t home, but you couldn’t bring yourself to turn him away. He had clearly come here for a good reason and you wanted to know why, especially because he was the one that told you to keep your distance from him.

You unlocked the door and opened it slightly.

“Nanami.”

He said your name quietly.

The two of you looked at each other in complete silence. You waited for him to say something, but the man just continued to stand there without a word.

“Umm, well, I have an exam I need to study for, so if you have nothing to say I’m just going to g—”

Nanami suddenly pushed the door open wider, shoving you into your apartment. You stood there in shock as the door slammed shut behind the sorcerer. His unusually aggressive behavior had you baffled.

“What’s wrong with you?” you asked sharply. The man told you to leave him alone but then showed up at your apartment and invited himself inside without a word. You couldn’t help but feel a little irritated. “What are you do— mmph!”

Nanami had pushed you against the wall and kissed you.

You froze in surprise for a second before immediately kissing him back fervently.

One of his hands had settled on your waist while the other was pressed against the wall by your head. You wrapped your arms around his neck and pressed him closer to you, unable to get enough of this man. Nanami eventually left your lips, causing you to groan in frustration before he attacked your neck with wet kisses. You panted heavily, brain suddenly fuzzy as you tried to process that this was actually happening.

“W-what happened to staying away?” you breathed as Nanami sucked on a particularly sensitive spot that left you weak.

“I changed my mind,” he muttered against your skin before continuing to attack your neck.

After Itadori had saved him from Mahito’s domain, Nanami realized he had been given a second chance. He didn’t want to live a life without regret, especially as a sorcerer. So he decided to heed Gojo’s advice for once.

He wanted to be a little selfish.

He wanted you.

Nanami pressed his forehead against yours as he rubbed his hands up and down your soft curves. You breathed heavily, trying to catch your breath as you got lost in his dark gaze.

“Bedroom,” you whispered. Nanami nodded and quickly released you, so you could guide him to your room.

As soon as you entered the bedroom, you inwardly cursed. In the heat of the moment, you had completely forgotten what you had been doing before Nanami arrived. “Uh, sorry, let me clean up real quick.”

What a way to kill the mood!

Nanami didn’t seem to mind. He looked fairly amused as you swiftly closed all the books on your bed and haphazardly tossed them on the ground. Once the bed was finally cleared, you turned around to face Nanami, but he was already one step ahead of you. He gently pushed you on the bed, so you landed on your back as he hovered over you. Your breath caught in your throat as you admired the man in front of you. He was absolutely perfect.

Nanami played with the hem of your shirt. Taking the hint, you sat up a little and swiftly removed your shirt and bra, throwing them in the corner of your room. Nanami let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding as you took in your body. You fought the urge to cover yourself, feeling slightly embarrassed at how intensely the man was looking at you.

“You’re beautiful,” he breathed as you flushed in response. He reached out with both his hands to start kneading your breasts. You moaned as he began playing with your nipples that were already hard from excitement. Nanami removed his hand from your left breast and replaced it with his mouth. You squirmed underneath him in pleasure as he lapped and sucked on your nipple. Once he was satisfied with his work, the sorcerer switched to your other breast to give it the same treatment. With every flick of his tongue, you could feel electricity run through your body. You only craved his touch more and more.

Nanami started kissing down the valley of your breasts to your stomach. He eventually reached the hem of your shorts. “May I?” he asked.

You nodded, unable to trust your voice at the moment.

As he started tugging down your shorts, you lifted your hips to assist him. The garment was carelessly tossed to the ground. Immediately, Nanami could see how soaked your underwear was with your own arousal. His dick twitched in his pants. The sight of you so wet and eager from his touch alone only heightened his lust for you.

You practically sighed in relief when Nanami removed your underwear, fully exposing yourself to him. The heat from your core was overwhelming. You needed him to touch you and relieve some of that pressure before you lost your mind. A single finger stroked your folds, already slick with arousal. You gasped while Nanami groaned, enjoying how wet you already were for him.

“I’ve barely touched you and you’re like this already,” Nanami teased. You panted, trying to grind yourself on his hand for more friction, more pressure, more anything. He chuckled seeing how desperate you were for his touch. The sorcerer finally reached your swollen nub and rubbed it leisurely. You immediately cried out, arching your hips into man’s touch.

“Fuck,” you cursed as pleasure surged throughout your veins. Your eyes were squeezed tight as Nanami continued to play with your clit. You were so distracted by his fingers that you barely registered the hot breath near your entrance. It was only when a wet tongue began to prod into you that you realized what was happening.

With a gasp, your eyes flew upon to see Nanami’s head comfortably settled between your legs as he licked at your cunt without restraint. The sight of him eating you out only stoked the raging fire inside you. You buried one of your hands in Nanami’s hair as he worked diligently to get you off. The way he lapped at your fluids and sucked at your entrance had you moaning and quivering uncontrollably.

“You taste so good,” he groaned against your folds as you barely registered his words.

A familiar pressure was building in your body. As it got stronger and stronger, you couldn’t stop your legs from thrashing about. With a growl, Nanami locked his arms around your legs to keep them as still. It only took a gentle suck to your swollen clit for the tension in your body to finally snap. Mouth opened wide in a silent scream, you writhed around on the bed as you finally reached your peak.

Your mind was completely emptied while white-hot pleasure overtook your entire body. You swore you could see stars behind your eyes. As you rode out the last waves of your orgasm, Nanami eagerly slurped up your release, refusing to let a single drop go to waste.

Once you came down from your high, you released Nanami’s hair and laid back on the bed with a sigh. He removed himself from between your legs. Your fluids still covered his face, and his normally styled hair was a complete mess from your grip. Just the sight of him was enough to cause another spark of desire to flare between your legs. This man was going to be the death of you.

“Holy fuck, Nanami,” you breathed.

“Kento,” he replied, wiping his mouth clean on his sleeve. “Call me Kento.”

You flushed. Saying his first name felt incredibly intimate.

“Kento.”

He grunted with approval and then began to unbutton his shirt. You licked your lips as his broad shoulders and wide chest were finally revealed to you. He was incredibly well-built with defined muscles and abs, but a number of scars littered his body. Some looked quite fresh while others were old and almost completely faded.

This was the body of a jujutsu sorcerer.

You now understood why Nanami warned you that the jujutsu world was unsafe. You couldn’t imagine the suffering behind all those wounds. Perhaps one day he would be willing to share his pain with you, so you could understand his world.

You wanted to rub your hands up and down Nanami’s bare chest, but he moved out of your reach to start fiddling with his belt. Eyes lowering, you swallowed nervously as you stared at the large bulge that greeted you. Nanami slid down his pants and underwear in one go, erect cock finally released from its confines and bobbing in the air slightly.

The sight of him was both mouthwatering and intimidating. You admired the bulging veins and the bits of pre-cum that were already leaking out from the tip. He wasn’t excessively long, but he was incredibly thick. You nervously wondered if you would be able to handle his impressive girth.

You wanted to touch and taste him, but Nanami wasn’t interested. He gently pushed away your eager hands and instead spread open your legs once again. At the moment, he was more concerned about prepping you than chasing after his own pleasure.

He pressed one finger into your entrance, groaning as your walls greedily sucked him inside. You gasped, clenching around him. With how easily you were able to take one finger, Nanami slipped a second into you. It didn’t hurt, but you could feel your cunt stretching around them as they thrust in and out of you. Nanami’s fingers were so thick and long that you already felt so full.

“You’re so tight,” Nanami hissed as you got lost in pleasure once again. He pushed those two fingers in and out of you, occasionally scissoring them to loosen you up. You could hear how wet you were as he continued prepping you to take his cock. Nanami moved his fingers at just the right angle to hit a spot that had you instantly moaning and clenching around him. But he suddenly removed himself from you which had you whining at the sudden loss of contact, feeling empty. However, you stopped complaining as you watched Nanami stroke his dick, spreading your fluids and his pre-cum all over himself.

“Are you on birth control or do I need a con—”

“I’m on birth control,” you cut him off impatiently. “Hurry up. I want you inside me.”

Nanami didn’t keep you waiting much longer. He lined himself at your entrance and slowly began to push in. It wasn’t painful, but you still gasped as your walls stretched to accommodate his girth. The sorcerer immediately cursed when his tip entered you. You were so hot and tight around his cock that it took all his self-restraint not to immediately ram his full length into you. With slow, shallow strokes, you were able to accommodate more and more until his entire cock was buried inside you.

You felt so incredibly full. Your hand gripped the blanket on your bed to anchor yourself as you tried to get used to the sensation of being stuffed with Nanami’s dick. He tried to remain still above you, waiting for your signal. Eventually, you met his gaze and gave a little nod. He sweetly kissed you on the lips before he started to move.

Nanami started at a slow pace afraid to hurt you at first, but he eventually settled into a rhythm that had you moaning his name over and over again. You were so wet that he slid in and out of you effortlessly, rubbing against your walls in a way that had you seeing stars again. You had wrapped your legs against his waist, allowing him to enter you even deeper.

You were almost babbling nonsense at this point, unaware of exactly what you were saying as your mind was just consumed by pleasure. “Fuck. Kento. You’re so big,” you whined. “Faster. Harder. D-don’t stop. Please don’t stop.”

Nanami adjusted the angle of his thrusts until he finally found the spot that had you gasping and clenching down on him again. He groaned, making sure to continue hitting the same exact spot with strong, fast thrusts at just the right tempo. “You’re so perfect. Looking at you, taking my cock so well,” he growled.

The pressure was building again. Everything was so overwhelming. The lewd, wet noises of your bodies moving together. The way Nanami growled praises of you in your ear. The muscles on his back rippling with exertion underneath your wandering hands. You just needed that one final push.

One of your hands sneaked down to rub your clit, but Nanami pushed it away and pressed his thumb against your swollen nub instead. Just a couple of strokes had you reaching your peak again. You clenched down so hard around Nanami that his hips stuttered, groaning loudly in your ear. You were completely consumed by wave after wave of pleasure. You couldn’t think. You couldn’t hear. You couldn’t see. All you could register was the pure bliss that racked your entire body, leaving you gasping and shuddering.

Nanami continued to fuck you through your orgasm, ramming his cock into you over and over again. His thrusts had become more frantic and uneven, chasing his own climax after you started to come down from yours.

“Where should I cum?” he groaned with gritted teeth.

You wrapped his arms around his neck and pulled him down closer to you.

“Cum inside me,” you panted against his ear.

He groaned. You were perfect. Absolutely perfect.

With a couple of more thrusts, Nanami completely buried himself inside you when he flooded your cunt with his cum. He remained inside for several more moments to catch his breath before finally removing himself from you. You slightly winced as his cock brushed past your sensitive walls. Nanami couldn’t help but admire the way his cum slowly dribbled out of you.

He laid down next to you as you both began to calm down. No words were needed between the two of you. The silence was comfortable as you cuddled against his chest. Nanami rubbed your back absentmindedly as you hummed in delight.

Eventually, the two of you got out of bed and cleaned up. The textbooks and notebooks haphazardly thrown on your floor were ignored for the rest of the day. You thought you deserved a break anyways. The two of you ate dinner together, cuddled on the couch while watching a movie, and went at it again for another round before settling down to go to sleep.

You were passed out next to Nanami, completely worn out from the day’s activities and normal sleep deprivation you had as a student. Your heavy breathing was the only sound in the tiny apartment. It strangely calmed Nanami just listening to you. He turned towards you and stroked your hair affectionately.

A part of Nanami still worried if he had made the right choice with you. He was still concerned about your safety and well-being. Would he only bring you more grief if you constantly agonized over his dangerous missions as a jujutsu sorcerer?

He let out a quiet sigh. He knew he would have regretted it if he continued to push you away. And if he was going to be a sorcerer, he wanted to be a sorcerer with no regrets.

Nanami only hoped that he would never cause you any pain and anguish because of his profession. It was rare for sorcerers and non-sorcerers to find happiness as a couple. But perhaps the two of you would be an exception.

He prayed the two of you would be an exception.

---

“Welcome! How may I help y—oh!” You blinked in surprise as three individuals walked into the small boba shop.

Gojo waved at you with an easy grin. Nanami stood next to him as handsome and stoic as ever, but there was a new face behind them. He looked like a high schooler.

The blindfolded teacher wrapped his arms around the boy’s shoulder and pointed at him. “Meet Yuji Itadori! One of our first-year students!”

“Oh, it’s nice to meet you,” you said introducing yourself.

The boy tilted his head, looking at you curiously. “How do you know Gojo-sensei and Nanamin?”

Nanamin?

You chuckled at the cute nickname.

“I told you to stop calling me that, Itadori,” Nanami replied, clearly bothered.

“Well, I’m…” you hesitated. You didn’t know what to say. A friend? An ex-coworker? A normal person who couldn't see curses but knew about their existence?

“She’s Nanami’s girlfriend!” Gojo exclaimed to your horror. You immediately flushed and looked to Nanami for him to clarify, but he didn’t react. He glared at the blindfolded sorcerer as per usual but didn’t refute the statement. Your eyes widened in realization.

“Uh, y-yeah,” you stammered. “I guess I am.”

“Nanamin has a girlfriend!?” Itadori gasped. He had even more respect for his mentor now.

“Don’t sound so surprised,” Nanami growled much to your amusement.

You took their orders and began to prepare the drinks. Nanami and Idatori were talking in the corner while Gojo hung out at the counter near you. You had just finished sealing the drinks when the teacher explained something to you.

“Oh, by the way, Yuji is supposed to be dead so be sure to not mention his existence to anyone else.”

You almost dropped the drink you were holding. “Um, okay.” You thought it was better not to ask questions.

Gojo thanked you as he took his drink from your hand and grabbed a straw for himself. “Yo! Nanami! Yuji! Grab your drinks and let’s head out!”

Itadori followed Gojo out the door once he had his milk tea, but Nanami stayed behind.

“I meant it.”

“Huh?” you asked, cleaning the counter with a rag.

“I want you to be my girlfriend.”

You blinked, processing his words. A bright smile grew on your face. “Well, according to Gojo, I’m already your girlfriend.”

Nanami let out a rare chuckle and flashed you a small smile. “I’ll see you tonight.”

“Goodbye!” You waved as he left the shop.

Your coworker came out of the back room, looking at you suspiciously. “Why are you so smiley?” She looked around the empty shop. “There’s no one here.”

“Oh, no reason," you replied with a hum.

#nanami x reader #kento nanami x reader #nanami smut #kento nanami smut #jujutsu kaisen fanfic #jjk fanfic #jujutsu kaisen x reader #jjk x reader #jjk smut #jujutsu kaisen smut #mine #n/sfw

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alreadyblondenow · 3 years

Text

I loved you first, but you’re not the last

“....You’re special so it requires extra effort. Happy Valentines and happy first day of being a couple,”

Pairing: Mark Lee x female!reader

Genre: Angst, SMUT, fluff, childhood best friends to lovers

WC: 4,588k

Warnings: Fake dating, break up,swearing, mentions or other idol, reader x Taeyong in the end, Taeyong as Mark’s brother, unprotected sex, virginity loss, a lot of making out, mentions of making out, touching, a small amount of dirty talking, oral sex (female receiving), overstimulation

A/N: NOT PROOFREAD. I’ll fix it once I get my internet connection back. Gosh I hope this posts. Part of Request Party

It was in the middle of the night when you received a call that did not just woke you up, but also woke your whole being. Body, mind and soul.

“You’re back?” crankily you sat up from bed, scratching your heavy eyes and about to get out of bed because the person on the other line is right outside your house, waiting for you.

He has been away and gone for too long because of college... and you should be excited as you go downstairs to meet him, but you know why he’s here and it’s no good news. Let’s face it, this night will not end nice.

“Here goes nothing,” you murmured. Wrapping yourself with your thick jacket before you finally step outside.

And the moment you opened the door, snow was falling and you didn’t miss how the snow landed peacefully on Mark’s eyelashes. Eyes looking straight to you, those sad eyes that can’t hide the pain that he’s holding. A pain that you caused.

You wanted to finally reunite first with a hug, but he got ahead of you and took your chance to show him how much you missed him.

“How could you?” he started, eyes still locked on yours. “I thought we were going to wait and do it right- how could you date my brother while I was away?”

Even you find it cruel. What you did to Mark was cruel, selfish, and unforgivable. And truth be told, you don’t have the right words now. You wanted to explain of course, but you’re scared it might break him even more. “I love your brother,” you said softly. Not even brave enough to look him in the eye because you feel bad.

“You loved me first,” he bite back. And you can’t help but be weak in front of him and cry. Usually whenever you cry, he will walk towards you and remind you how much you mean to him. But you guess not tonight, maybe you don’t deserve love tonight.

“You left me, remember?” you dried your tears and tried being brave even just for a short period. Just until you have the guts to walk away.

“Whatever. It’s not yet too late. Choose me. Marry me. Let me make you happy,”

He finally said his true purpose tonight. This was his last chance and the only to win you back. But even though he has never been more honest in his whole life except tonight, he feels like not even telling you his feelings can bring you back to him. Mark was so frustrated that he has tears in his eyes already that you wanted to dry so bad. But if you really want him to respect the relationship you have with his brother, then this is the perfect time.

“I may have loved you first, but your brother is the last man I’ll love. I’m sorry Mark,”

And just as you finish saying those hurtful words, you finally have the bravery to turn your back on him and ignore his shouting that you’re sure your parents and neighbors heard. This is you throwing a decade of good friendship because of unrequited love.

FOUR YEARS AGO

The day before Valentines day, you don’t know what’s up with your mood or with you in general, because you’ve been so envy with the people around you, couples to be exact. As you admire happy couples in school who celebrates Valentines as early as now, you can’t help but to imagine someone.... someone that will give you flowers, chocolates... kisses, or whatever you’ll accept in whole heartedly.

Valentines is like Christmas, it’s a day of giving and receiving. But that only applies if you have someone special whom you can spend the day with and exchange shiny, glittery, and sparkling Valentine cards with.

“I can be your fake boyfriend, come on it will be fun,” he raises his seagull eyebrows and smirked. Come to think of it, it’s not a bad idea. You’ve been best friends even before kindergarten, you watch each other grow and went through puberty together until the next thing you know, you’re printing college applications together in your room because his printer broke down.

“Let’s not go to college without having the experience of high school love... you know, let’s have fun before we graduate with flying colors. Let’s go to parties, participate in Valentine-gram tomorrow, go to prom together. What do you say?” he added.

“But everything’s fake? What’s the point of fake dating if we already look like were dating ever since we started being friends?” You whine and flop on your bed, Mark did the same thing.

“Don’t think about it too much, just say yes,” for a moment you both just stared at the ceiling, wondering what could go wrong if you started fake dating. “Anyway, you don’t have a choice. I need to get home and answer these- Bye, you’re my girlfriend now!”

“W-what? Mark-“

And just before you could reason out with him, he’s gone with his college applications and you’re left with your thoughts and excitement. You don’t know why but Mark’s crazy idea made your heart jump, it’s like a good electricity that made you look for your art materials and spend the whole evening making your fake boyfriend a blue shiny, glittery, and sparkling Valentine card.

Even if the motive was fake, the effort was real and it felt good and right at that very moment.

But little did you know that his idea of fake dating was only his way to not shock you when he finally confess his feelings to you.

That’s right, your best friend is in love with you.

If she wears blue tomorrow I will confess to her. He tells himself as he stares in his ceiling, feeling the same excitement and electricity in his heart. Trying so hard to sleep but he kept on thinking about you and can’t help but feel the excitement for tomorrow again.

“You and Y/n started dating? Since when?” Mark’s mother exclaimed happily while driving. Looking at his son admire the roses he got you from the flower shop downtown.

“We’re just starting mom. Thanks for helping me pick these up by the way,”

“Oh there she is! Wearing blue! Oh I never realized how you two grew such good looking kids until now,”

Mark breathed in and let it out with a smile, thankful that you wore his favorite color, because he can’t continue to hide his feelings for you. Maybe you and him are really bound to happen.

As you wave goodbye to Mrs. Lee with a bright smile, there you see Mark carrying a unique bouquet of roses and your eyes immediately went big and sparkled because. Not to mention your heart beats so hard and fast because he looked so handsome even in his casual clothes.

“Wow- I’m speechless, these are beautiful. Where did you get these?” you accept the bouquet as he hands it to you with a smile. Engraving the look of your face in his mind and heart, swearing to himself that from now on he will make you happy like this everyday.

“It’s a secret. You’re special so it requires extra effort. Happy Valentines and happy first day of being a couple,” he said and planted a kiss on your forehead. Something so natural for you and him, but today is different. Nonetheless, you believe that today will be a beautiful and eventful day.

In the see of people wearing red and white in your school’s hallway, you and Mark are happy wearing blue. Such a sad color but you wearing it makes him the happiest guy today. Everywhere you look has a dash of red and pink, hearts are hanged here and there and almost everyone has red roses on their hand... except you.

Because you’re holding a bouquet of rainbow roses.

This year’s Valentines wasn’t like any other Valentine’s you usually have. Today you have Mark.

You have Mark to hold your hand while you walk on the school’s hallway. You have Mark to look at you so lovingly that your heart melts whenever you catch him looking. You have Mark to take you out on a date after school and take cute photos in a photo booth. You have Mark to share a big drink with two straws.

And most especially, you have Mark to kiss you under the dark sky full of stars in front of your house.

His lips were soft as expected. And the way his tongue swipes on your lip in the most subtle way just makes you want him to kiss more. He smiled in between kissing when you pulled him closer and kiss him more when he was about to pull away. And oh! You did not miss the way he softly moans, such music to your ears but sad to say you can only hear them tonight.

“Did you liked my Valentine card? I left it in your locker,”

You finally pulled away and surprised him. Wiping away the spit from your mouth, you wiped Mark’s as well. He only smiled to you and you wish he would stop doing it because you’re growing a little crush on him already.

“It’s full of glitters, it’s blue and it has watermelons. Of course I love it” he said then did it again, melted your heart with that damn handsome smile.

“Good,” you said softly, fixing his hoodie and finally giving him a bear hug that he deserves. “I don’t want this night to end,” you finally admitted it.

“Then let’s not end it,”

“Wait, you’re not faking anymore aren’t you-“

And just like that Mark cut you off with a deep kiss. Nothing like how he kissed you earlier. This time he was holding you tight that you’re almost out if breath and you feel like he’s about to crush you anytime. But the way he kissed you... it’s his way of confessing his love to you.

On the following days, everything changed between you and Mark. Though it’s clear that what you feel for him is only just a crush now and he knows it, still the guy is hopeful that you will love him like how he loves you.

Mark is the perfect definition of consistent. He showed you how he feels for you each day, and each day he became better than the day before, sweeter and bolder. He was putting everything on the line for you, showering you the love he has always kept in him. That’s why, in a matter of months you finally made it official with him and you can’t wait what the future has in store for the both of you.

“What do you love about me?” you asked out of nowhere while he was in the middle of playing his guitar. It wasn’t a hard question, but it made him stop and think for a second.

“I love how you give me constant reasons to love you even more each day,” the first line was enough, but Mark has more to say. “The way you kiss my cheek in the most friendly way but it always meant something to me, how you accepted me to be your friend and now boyfriend. I love how you love me, because being loved back by you is something so special that only us can understand”

What he said moved you of course. You didn’t know that he loves you deeply even before you started the fake dating thing. And knowing that Mark is just crazy and madly in love with you, you can’t help but wish that you are too. For now all you can do is accept his love, and give back however you can. You love him of course, but you can’t keep up with his love yet.

Days passed by and your relationship grew sweeter. More sweet words were exchanged and more kisses were given. Way more. Until you find yourselves making out whenever you two are alone.

“Aw!” you express your pain when Mark accidentally bit your lip. Something so sexy but it hurt and it made you both stop what you’re doing.

“Oops. Sorry, I got carried away” he says and took a look at your lips. “You’re fine right?”

“Mhmm” You answered, but just before he was about to start kissing you again, you stopped him by pulling away. “And it’s getting late, I think you should go home,”

“But I want to stay for more,” he said with a sly smile. Caressing your shoulders and soothing your back. If course you did not miss what he was talking about for more. You and Mark are young, and being new to this relationship thing just makes you both want to explore and feed each other’s curiosity.

“When I’m ready. I promise it will be worth the wait, for now it’s getting late and you need to go home... And work with some homework,” you gave him a final kiss and thankfully he did not pry.

The relationship you have with Mark was nothing like the friendship you used to have. The friendship was still there, of course, but friends don’t kiss your neck while you’re busy reading a book or slam you to the nearest wall and kiss you wildly. Friends don’t taste your favorite ice cream flavor through your tongue in the middle of a Netflix movie, and friends don’t get affected when they see you in your thin shirt and panties only whenever they give you a surprise visit.

“It’s the weekend, why are you here?” You whine as you try to go back to sleep. Clinging to your pillow and thick blanket but your boyfriend is currently losing his mind. Nonetheless, he remained a gentleman and covered your exposed leg and butt, covering you completely and keeping you warm. “Come to bed with me. Cuddle with me instead”

The young man’s eyes brightened and quickly joined you in bed. Swinging his arm around your waist from behind and nuzzling your neck to tickle you.

“I got into my dream college,” he whispered excitedly beside your ears which made you quickly turn to him and hug him.

“That’s why you’re here! Oh, I’m sorry I didn’t realized” you planted kisses on his cheek the ones he loved receiving other than your slow and deep ones. “You used to talk about this ever since we were just kids. Ugh, I’m so proud of you”

“Promise to support me no matter what?” This time it’s him who went closer and planted kisses on your face. Of course you said yes, it has been his dream, but now that you knew you’ll miss him everyday and you know that the image of him walking away from you at the airport will truly hurt you, so you can’t help but fake it.

You rolled on top of him and his eyes immediately went big, wondering why and how are you like this. You have never been this bold and confident even in your wildest times, it’s like he’s seeing a totally different side of you and he loves it.

“Want to claim your early graduation gift?” you completely surprised him and started kissing his neck, while Mark is actually enjoying the moment by caressing your ass cheeks and teasing you by tugging your panties. You wish you have the same level of confidence with Mark, because you well know that between the two of you he is the one experienced with sexual activities, so now you try your best.

“Mmm” a loud pop surrounds your room as Mark sucks your nipples through your thin shirt. Taking turns with your left boob and right boob until your shirt is partly wet because of him and he can finally see your nipples. The sight of it gave him the feeling like no other. Of course this is not his first time seeing boobs, but this is different because it’s you.

The mere sight of your boobs just made him lose his mind and not to mention hard in no time. You watch him roll his head back while you slowly grind of top of him with a ruined shirt, looking so hot than ever so he quickly switched places with you. Putting you underneath him, looking down on you with hungry and lustful eyes.

“Do you wanna touch my boobs?” You asked him so innocently,reaching for his hand that’s placed on your waist. You put your hand and his hand inside your shirt, slowly lifting the wet shirt just above your chest to expose your boobs to him.

“I wish you were my first,” he said and immediately kissing your right boob while his hand kneads the other, pinching you or teasing you, or whatever he just wanted to hear something from you. And when he stopped making your nipples swollen, Mark just kept on kissing you softly and saying ‘i love yous’ over and over again. making you smile through his lips and soft touches, it is as if he’s taking away all your shyness and making you comfortable with the situation. The situation where your boobs are expose to him, your legs spread wide and Mark is in between your legs, grinding his clothed cock on your ruined and wet panties.

You were just kissing passionately but now you felt his hands hooked on your panties and the next thing you know he’s pulling it down without breaking the kiss until it reaches your thigh and eventually remove it but the shyness crept in again, making you close your legs and bite your lips in hesitation.

“Can I? Open your legs?” He asks, kissing your neck and calming you through the way he kisses you and touch you. And when he felt that you’re ready, he tried opening your legs again and this time you let him. Letting him place his body in between your legs, smiling through the kiss as if he’s telling you ‘good job’.

Mark spread kisses around your body, kissing every inch of your being, earning a giggle from you and with that he’s happy you’re not nervous anymore.

And when Mark pull away to discard his clothes, and release his cock, you were speechless when you saw it that you removed your own ruined shirt just to be fair ask him to get back in between your legs this instant.

“Lets do this right,” he said and immediately placed a finger on your wet slit that took your breath away. Up and down, you feel his finger nothing else, and when the moment comes and Mark put a finger in, your hand reached for his hand and tried to stop him because the pleasure was too much. But your handsome boyfriend was just smiling at you, smirking because you looked so ruined right now all you can do is smile back at him. And when he insert two fingers, he kissed you deeply and caught every moan you let out, every cry of his name, every groan, or whine.

And the next thing you know you’re closing your legs as you shiver and curl your body. Trying to get away from Mark because you’re sensitive already but your boyfriend is not stopping.

“First of many,” he says and stopped to pull out his fingers. But he is not yet done. He only gave you a few seconds to catch your breath and went back kneeling in between your legs again.

“Are you going to fuck me now?” you asked with ragged breaths and tired expression.

Mark did not answer you verbally, but he did physically. Licking your pussy juices and spreading your pussy lips while his eyes are completely locked on yours.

You said ‘no’, but you didn’t mean it and the moment his tongue swipes on your cunt you grabbed hold on your headboard and hold on for your dear life. Clenching and unclenching as Mark eats you out, trying so hard to close your legs but you can’t until your second orgasm drowned you quickly and all you can do is breathe in and out heavily.

“I hate you” you said but you’re clinging to Mark and sharing your warmth to him.

“I love you,” he said and intertwined his fingers with his, kissing your knuckles before he place both your hands above your head. You voluntarily spread your legs wider for him, and with his free hand he lines his cock finally.

“I didn’t know you’re big,”

What you said made him smirk and proved your discovery even more by pulling out entirely and slamming his cock back in your wet hole. “Now you know,” he said small grunts and went in deeper. He knew what he’s doing to you is too much pleasure because it’s your first time and also he can tell by the way you hold on to his hand.

“Planning to crush my hand?” he let out a cut giggle like he isn’t fucking you deep right now. How can he do that? Be insanely cute while doing something filthy to you.

“Y/n, I’m close can I go faster?” and you can only nod.

Fucking you faster and harder than earlier, you watch Mark become someone sinful when he started focusing on his own release, kissing your boobs while he fucks you, give your ass a tight squeeze, lick your neck like you’re a fucking ice cream and whisper dirty words or word that make you shy that you didn’t know you would love hearing. Like,

“Let me fuck you again,”

“You like it deep huh?”

“Y/n, you’re worth wait, you’re mine forever”

“This is the last pussy I’ll fuck,”

And in the end he pulled out and jerked in front of you, letting his cum fall on your lower abdomen and watch his cum drip to your sheets. It’s a shame that he can’t cum inside you, it would have felt great.

“Fucking shit- that sex was great,”

He rests his head on top of your boobs, but went back to kissing you again on the lips. Apologizing for his mess, aplogizing for his words and saying ‘i love you’ over and over again.

That morning, you stayed naked with Mark in bed for a few hours just talking and laughing, flirting and kissing. It felt great having a huge progress with your relationship, especially that it’s Mark who took your virginity.

“Hey, you okay?” he was talking about your pussy because even though he didn’t went hard earlier, he did fucked you a little bit harder knowing that it’s your first time. “I meant what I said earlier. Please be my last, I don’t want to give my love to anyone but you. It’s too early to talk about marriage but, I know it’s you. I’ll love you better each day, I promise”

Comfort, warmth and safety. That’s what you felt hearing those beautiful words from him that you became speechless and crashed your lips to him.

His promise was kept every day until you both finished high school together, enjoy the summer before he leaves and make unforgettable memories as many as you can.

But knowing that he’s going away to follow his dreams and fulfil his goals, Mark worried too much about long distance relationship and how it never worked.

“Are we really together now? I’m not dreaming right?”

Your sleep was disturbed when Mark called you in the middle of the night. Today, you taught him how to bake and had a couple of rounds during Netflix and chill, so to be honest you’re really exhausted and tired.

“Mark, we kiss, we date, we have sex almost everyday. Yes baby, we’re together for almost four months already. Now can we please go back to sleep-“

“Go down open your door. I’m outside”

And the moment you opened the door for him, you gave him a ‘shh’ sign, telling him that your parents are already asleep. You came closer to him for a kiss, and told him, “it’s real. I’m real. Can you please promise me to stop overthinking, you’re making me worry,”

He didn’t answer you but lowered his head. You knew he’s sorry and he’s just doing this for you,

“I love you, Mark. I’m yours forever,” you said and kissed him again. Deeply this time, to the point that it put you both in the mood and the next thing you know Mark is fucking you while he’s covering your mouth with his hand.

When Mark left you for college your relationship went downhill and you’re both getting hurt already. Fighting is part of the relationship, yes, but the fight you have with Mark almost everyday was becoming the reason why you want to distance yourself from him. You feel caged with how he love you, you feel like he’s strangling you with all these rules you need to follow to maintain trust in your relationship but nothing is working.

Until he finally realized what he’s doing to you.

So during his vacation, he visited you and you were so excited to the core that you welcomed him with a tight hug and the biggest smile. Only to find out that he wanted to break up.

But

“It’s just until we finish college. Let’s wait and do it right. I don’t want to fight for you while hurting you at the same time. Please understand. I’m not breaking up because I don’t love you. This time off will heal us both,”

The breakup did you no good. You were sad every day and to be honest you would rather want him to nag you than miss him like this and you can believe that between the two of you, he’s the one doing great in life. It makes you want to believe that he doesn’t love you anymore. Like the man you fell in love to, wasn’t there anymore.

“Still crazy about my stupid brother huh? Come here and help feed my fishes,”

His brother, Lee Taeyong, disturbed you and your ugly thoughts while you finish the drink their mom gave you during one of your visits.

“Well, college was good to you. I see you’re back and finally opening a bakeshop downtown” he hands you the fish food as you wait for him to talk and feed the fishes generously.

“I’m very much excited to open my bakery. Want to make cookies later instead of being broken hearted?”

And as days, weeks, and months pass by, not only Lee Taeyong making you forget about Mark, he also healed your heart and won it fair and square.

It started how he makes your heart flutter whenever he holds your hand while teaching you how to bake, how praises you and tell you that you look beautiful everyday, how he makes his kitchen your own little world during closing time and you’re sitting on the kitchen counter with Taeyong in between your legs and taking your breath away with a heated kiss.

When you and taeyong started dating, you experienced true love. You didn’t want to hurt Mark but what you have with Taeyong is real and you had to hide this from him for years and years and years, until you finally graduated in college.

And Tayong proposed to you. It was the only time you couldn’t hide your relationship from Mark anymore because Taeyong was the one who confessed to him.

*this is the part where you read the first part again JEJEHEH

#nct-writers #neosmutcollective #cznnet #neowritingsnet #kpopscape #nct smut #mark lee smut #mark lee #nct mark #nct imagines #nct scenarios #nct fluff #mark lee smut x reader #smut mark lee #nct mark lee x reader #nct mark lee fluff #mark lee x reader #nct mark lee smut #mark lee angst

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jaeminlore · 3 years

Text

Landslide | Mark Lee

summary: time makes you bolder. even children get older, and i’m getting older too.

words: 7.1k+

category: teacher!mark, single parent!reader, fem!presenting!reader, graham is the sweetest kid, mark is that teacher that lets kids pick earthworms during recess, friends to lovers, mark’s apartment is flooded so now he has to live in domestic bliss with his secret crush oh nooooo

warnings: talk of absent fathers

author note: it’s my birthday tomorrow so i wanted to give u all a present for supporting me for so long!! here’s to you <3 (cross-posted on /honklore)

Mark helps one of his kids press their palms onto the wall. When they release their palm, pink paint remains, making a sort of leaf to the tree branches painted onto the wall.

“Now write your name,” Mark advises another kid, whose orange paint had already dried.

“G-R-A-H-A-M,” the boy writes out with a large permanent marker. “Can I take a picture? For my mom?”

All the rest of the children begin to shout their agreements, also wanting to bring home a picture for their parents. Mark grabs his yellow Polaroid camera and takes a picture of each handprint.

He keeps all of the pictures in the chest pocket of his denim jacket. “Okay, guys— to the sink! Whoever has the cleanest hands gets to help me pass out snacks!”

“Why are we having snack time so early?” It’s Graham that asks, the little one always eager to be around Mark.

Mark ignores the boy’s paint covered hands poking at his clean jacket, and answers him as politely as he can. “Mr. Lee forgot his lesson plans today, so we’re going to watch a movie instead.”

“A movie?” Graham’s eyes widen.

“Yep,” Mark giggles. He crouches down to Graham’s level and whispers, “You wanna pick it?”

“Nature Nut!” Graham cheers almost immediately, causing Mark to wince.

Ah, yes, the wonderful little DVDs of a lonesome man teaching the watcher about bugs and weird types of slugs. Mark actually has the entire collection, and Graham happens to adore them just as much as Mark did when he was a kid.

“Alright, go wash your hands and I’ll get it started.”

It’s a little girl named Hana who cleans her hands the best, so she passes out organic fruit gummies to everyone while Mark puts in the DVD.

While they watch the video, Mark checks his text messages.

There’s one from Taeyong: “I’ve already got Haechan on the couch. Sorry, man. You can have the floor, but it’s not gonna be comfy :(“

Right. Mark forgot that Haechan lives in the same complex as him. His apartment is probably just as flooded as Mark’s is. Now if the landlord would just answer his calls and help him... maybe this situation wouldn’t be so stressful.

Mark didn’t forget his lesson plans; they’re just submerged in his bedroom with everything else Mark has left lying on his carpet. And maybe it’s his fault for not buying more storage bins, but a studio apartment can only hold so much stuff.

Serves Mark right for doing his lesson plans at home instead of at the school like most of his fellow kindergarten teachers.

He lets out a quiet sigh, careful not to disturb the children. He only has a short list of friends left to ask, and while he doesn’t think they’ll mind him asking, he really hates to put anyone in that position.

Besides, most of his friends have roommates or significant others and Mark doesn’t want to ruin their routine. He’d hate to intrude. And he could always sleep in his car for a few days, but the amount of stuff he had to pack because of the flooding has barred any chance of a good night’s sleep.

The video ends, and Mark gets the kids seated with coloring pages until their parents arrive.

One by one, he I.Ds the parents and tells the kids goodbye, helping them put on their coats and take home whatever library book they picked out earlier.

Finally, there’s only one kid left, and Mark is a bit embarrassed of his hyper-awareness to Graham. It’s not even his fault, really. Graham just has a beautiful mom, who happens to be Mark’s beautiful friend, and sometimes Mark gets eager to see you during pickup time.

Whatever. It’s no big deal.

The kindergartener already has his coat on. His curly brown hair is almost unruly as he continues to work on his coloring sheet.

Mark pulls at the hem of his sage sweater sleeves and wonders if his hair looks okay. Maybe he should invest in a little desk mirror; or maybe that’s vain.

“Hey, Mark! Sorry I’m late!” You rush in, holding on to your leather messenger bag. You fix your glasses before they fall off the bridge of your nose, and Mark is so focused on the movement that he almost forgets about your child.

Until said child is scolding his mother. “Mom! You have to call him Mr. Lee! It’s rude to call him Mark!”

“Your mom is an adult,” Mark reminds Graham (as soon as he finds his voice.) “Since she isn’t a student, it’s okay for her to call me Mark.”

Graham pinches his lips together, and then shrugs. “Fine. Mom, we watched Nature Nut today.” He runs up to you and wraps his arm around your middle. “Can we go to the park and look for slugs?”

“Sure,” you giggle. “But we need to get home soon, okay, Bud? I have to make dinner and then we have to clean up the mess we made last night.”

Graham turns to Mark and smiles naughtily, like the trickster he often is. “Mom said I could tear up her papers last night. She said it’s There-pee.”

“Ther-a-py,” you emphasize for the five-year-old.

Mark studies your face, and he can tell that you seem a little more stressed than usual. “Therapy, huh?”

You smile sheepishly. “Well, when your son catches you tearing up old love notes, you have to let him in on the fun, right?”

“You are a team,” Mark acknowledges. He wants to ask more; wants to dig into your heart and extract whatever is hurting you, but your son is standing between the two of you, waiting for him to say goodbye. Mark clears his throat and picks at his sweater again. “Anyways, uh, text me tonight? Let me know you two got home safe. And, I’ll see you both tomorrow.”

“Yeah,” you breathe. You smile at him and then take Graham’s hand. “Thanks, Mark. I’ll text you.”

Mark spends the night at a motel down the road. He texts a few of his friends and hopes for good news in the morning, or at least a confirmation from his landlord.

When you text him, a little selfie of you and Graham, holding up what looks like microwaved s’mores, his heart grows fond, and he forgets about his own problems for a moment.

Life has never been very easy for you. From the get-go, you have always been destined to fail, growing up with an absent father and an overworked mother. With a dead-end dream like yours (writing, of all things), it’s no wonder you clung to what little breaths of freedom you had.

He was handsome and bold, with a carefree smile and brown eyes that mirrored the sun. The lead singer of a band, with a voice like chimes. And you fell just as hard as one of your many protagonists. Perhaps the mistake always lay in the fact that you put too much fantasy into reality. You have always romanticized the littlest things, and that comes back to bite you more often than not.

You never expected one: to get pregnant your senior year of high school, and two: have to go through it alone.

Of course, most people you come to love leave eventually. It’s something you have always remembered; something that sticks in the back of your brain like gum to the bottom of your child’s Spider-man skechers.

Graham is the only constant in your life. Though you’ve been blessed with a decent job editing for a webazine company, and you can work from home more often than not, Graham is the real thing that keeps you alive.

He’s the most precious boy, with brown curls and big brown eyes. He favors his father, and though that should deter you, it reminds you of innocent days, and it gives a new meaning to brown eyes. Graham is not his father, and he never was.

Graham certainly got his love of learning from you. Though he likes science more than writing, you adore how eager he is to always get to school. It helps that Mark is his teacher.

Mark’s been your friend since freshman year of highschool, when the two of you both took the same creative writing class the local university offered. Though the two of you had differing end goals, you often studied together and encouraged each other. He was there when you found out you were pregnant, and he was there when you found out you’d be raising your child alone.

Now life comes full circle, and you see him twice a day. You could go out on a limb and say he brightens up most mornings, but you would still give that slot to your son.

Mark is standing at the doorway now, greeting all of his students and helping them take off their book bags and coats. He’s wearing monochrome today: red pants, a red sweater, and red shoes.

Graham lights up almost immediately, and you are thankful today that you decided to dress Graham in his red t-shirt. “Mom! We match!”

“I know,” you grin, squeezing his hand.

Mark glances at Graham, and then you. His cheeks showcase that same pink hue they always do, and while it should clash with his red garments, it doesn’t. “Hey, Mark.”

“Hey,” he grins, cheeks full at the sight of you two.

Graham spreads his arms and waits for Mark to help him take off his jacket. “Do you see that we match, Mr. Lee?”

“Yo, that’s awesome, Little Man!” Mark gives Graham a fist bump that seems to appease him, and you wait for Graham to run to his friends before addressing Mark.

“How have you been?”

Mark sighs. He brushes his hair away from his eyes. “Okay. My- uh- my studio apartment flooded so I’m staying at a motel until my landlord can get me estimates on when I can come back home.”

“That sucks,” you frown. “You know, if you need a place to stay, I have a pullout couch in my office. And obviously, Graham wouldn’t mind.”

Mark pales. “Are you serious? I didn’t mean to suggest anything, Like I know you work from home and you need your office.”

“And you’ll be at school until three,” you say. “I’ll work then. C’mon, Mark. I don’t like knowing one of my friends has no place to stay.”

Mark bites his bottom lip and scratches the back of his neck. “Yeah. Okay. I’ll drive over after I check out of the motel.”

“Great!” You smile. “I’ll order pizza.”

"Graham, clean your room," you say, struggling to push your desk against your office wall. "We're going to have a guest for a few weeks."

"Mom," Graham whines, "They aren't going to look in my room."

You begin to take the cushions out of the spare couch to start setting up the pull-out bed. "Mr. Lee is coming over, Graham. Don't you want to show him your collections?"

Graham's brown eyes grow wide. "Mr. Lee? You didn't tell me he was coming!"

"He's going to be staying with us for a little bit, okay? So I need you to be on your best behavior."

“Can I show him my worms?” Graham asks, alluding to the compost bin in the small backyard of your townhouse.

“Yes,” you say, thankful that he isn’t putting up much of a fight toward cleaning. You’re also thankful he isn’t asking any questions, as Graham always seems to have a few at the top of his tongue.

Graham cleans up his room quickly. You know for a fact that he’s just shoved all of his toys under his bed, but it’s enough until the weekend, when you’ll have more time to help him organize.

The little guy hoards rocks like no one’s business. You curse the day Mark decided to teach the kids about geodes.

“Wanna help me make up Mr. Lee’s room?” You half-yell, while grabbing spare bedding out of your linen closet.

Graham’s little footsteps are heard before he answers, and soon he’s at your hip with a quick, “He can have my Frozen pillowcase!”

You hesitate to tell Graham that his Frozen pillowcase is currently on one of your pillows, and you can’t give your guest a dirty pillowcase. “That one is in the wash, Buddy. Why don’t we give him your Spider-Man one?”

“So he matches my pajamas!” Graham is easily pleased, and he even takes one of his stuffed bears to add to Mark’s made-up bed. (“So he doesn’t get scared at night.”)

By the time the pizza arrives, Mark is just behind, so you keep Graham busy with a slice of cheese and a glass of diet pepsi (only half of a can, and only because it’s a special occasion) while the two of you bring in Mark’s stuff.

He surprisingly didn’t bring much, and when you ask about it, he grimaces. “My studio is pretty small so a lot of my stuff was on the ground and got mildewed. Other stuff was in bins so I just left it there. I only need clothes and my lesson plans, anyway.”

“Well, here’s the desk and bed. It’s not much, but there’s a lock on the door in case Graham ever gets too inquisitive — bless him — and curtains so the stupidly bright sun won’t wake you too early.”

“Those both sound like personal experiences, Y/n,” Mark teases. He takes off his jacket and throws it on the bed. “Yo! Spider-Man?”

“Graham picked it out,” you say. “He also relinquished one of his bears to keep you safe in the middle of the night. His words, not mine.”

“He’s so cute,” Mark mentions offhandedly. The fondness in his tone takes you back a bit. Not because the phrase isn’t true, it’s just that most people find your son annoying before they find him endearing. The change of tone is nice.

“He is,” you say. “And he’s dying to show you his room after we eat dinner.”

Mark gives you that same lopsided smile he often had in high school. Part of your brain shifts to his personal life, and you wonder why Mark himself isn’t in a romantic relationship. Not that he has to be, but the both of you are getting older, and Mark has always been one to express a fondness for having his own family one day. Maybe he just hasn’t found the right person.

It isn’t until Graham is peacefully in bed — after a very chaotic reading of Goodnight Moon by yours truly, and an argument that Mr. Lee cannot, in fact, sleep in the same room as him — that you actually have a chance to show Mark around the house.

“Here’s the guest bathroom. Graham almost always uses the bathroom in my room because he likes looking at the big tub. He will beg you to play with him, but if you’re busy don’t feel guilty telling him no. He knows what no means and he’s good about playing by himself.”

Mark giggles. “Okay. I don’t mind playing with him, though.“

You show him around the kitchen, where you left little spaces for him in the pantry. You show him the garbage bags and the T.V. settings and the list of compostable ingredients. “And also, please come and go as you please. Like, I completely understand that you’re here temporarily and you aren’t a babysitter or anything like that. I don’t expect you to be in charge of Graham any time outside of school.”

Mark blinks. “But if you ever need time away, you can ask me. I don’t mind babysitting.”

“I know,” you smile. “But Graham is my kid. I don’t need time away from him.”

You’re lying. Mark knows it. You’ve been in this single parenting thing for five years and you aren’t about to reach out for help now.

“Anyways, if you have any questions just ring me or ask me,” you say. “I’ve got to get to bed. Goodnight.”

“Thanks, Y/n.”

Mark thinks it’s sweet the way Graham insists on making his own breakfast.

You’re already up when Mark gets out of his (temporary) bedroom with his clothes tucked under his arm. You’re busy arguing with Graham. “You can’t fry your own omelette for the last time.”

Mark quirks an eyebrow at your exasperated face. You look stressed beyond belief, even though the day has just begun.

Mark tosses his clothes back in his room and walks into the kitchen. “Hey, Graham! Do you want to show me your rock collection?”

Graham spins on his sock-clad heels, eyes bright at the thought of seeing his teacher. “Mr. Lee! Yes! Let’s go!”

He grabs Mark’s hand with ease, leaving you room to finish making breakfast.

Graham’s room is fairly simple. The small wooden bed is covered in a green quilt, and beneath that, frozen-printed sheets that certainly don’t match. He has a tub of stuffed animals shoved against a small dresser.

Mark gets distracted by the framed picture on top of the dresser. It’s a picture of you and Graham’s father, a few months before you got pregnant. He’s smiling, and you’re holding up a peace sign. It makes Mark feel a bit sad, knowing that Graham’s dad never stayed around to see how wonderful he turned out to be. Then again, a lot of people in your life left as soon as they found out. In high school, no one wants to be friends with a teenage mother.

Mark reckons that if he had a family like this, he’d never take them for granted.

Graham pulls out a gemstone. It’s a murky green one that Mark has let him take home from class. “Do you remember this, Mr. Lee?”

Mark grins. “Yeah, bud. Thanks for keeping it so safe for me.”

Graham beams. He grabs Mark’s hand and pulls him towards his dresser. “Can we match? I want to look like you.”

Mark feels his heart swell. He wants to smother the young boy in affection, but he doesn’t want to cross a line. He’s your friend, sure, but he’s also Graham’s teacher. He can’t coddle Graham more than the other children. He already has a godchild to coddle. “I’m wearing yellow today. Do you have any yellow clothes?”

“Let’s look!” Graham yanks open one of the drawers and begins pulling out the articles of clothing one by one. “No, no, no... Here!” He finds a pair of yellow overalls, folded amongst the mess he made. “I’ll wear these!”

“Let’s clean up first, okay?” Mark grabs the overalls. “So it’s clean when you come home from school.”

Graham, looking like the last thing he’d ever want to do is disappoint Mark, begins to pick up each shirt with obvious intent. He tries to fold them, and does a somewhat decent job, so much so that Mark leaves it, thinking you’ll find it endearing rather than annoying.

He really loves that about you. He likes your patience with Graham. You’re so young, and in reality, he squashed so many early dreams of yours. No matter your lot in life, you never blamed your child. Mark thinks that’s why Graham is so open, so adaptable, so endearing.

He helps Graham get dressed and leaves him in his room so that he, himself, can get ready.

When he emerges from his shower, hair wet and clothed in yellow, he smells something amazing.

He doesn’t want to intrude on your morning with Graham. He already feels too indebted to you already.

“Have an omelet,” you say. Wisps of hair cover your face. You place a plate down in front of him.

Graham is already eating his omelet, slowly, while flipping through a picture book. He sounds out words he recognizes, but stays silent the rest of the time.

Mark takes out his phone and scrolls through his instagram feed just as your own phone begins to ring.

“Shit,” you curse, and then immediately apologize to Graham. You press the red button and tap anxiously on the tabletop.

“Everything okay?” Mark asks.

You run your hands over your hair and let them rest on the back of your neck. “Yeah is just—“

The phone rings again, and this time you pick it up. “What do you want? ... Why would you tell me that? ... Why should I care? ... Please stop contacting me, okay? Goodbye.”

You slam the phone down and leave the room. Mark watches you disappear down the hallway, sniffling.

“Mommy is upset,” Graham says. He looks at Mark, lip quivering. “At me?”

“No, Buddy! Of course not!” Mark reaches over the table to ruffle Graham’s curls. “Never at you.”

“When we tore up paper, she was crying.” Graham fiddles with his book page.

Mark wonders why your ex’s actions are being brought up five years later. Last he heard, you had fully healed from the breakup long before Graham’s first birthday. But now he’s about to be six, and you're suddenly upset?

He’ll have to ask you about it soon.

“Are you ready to go to school, Buddy?”

“Yeah!”

You cradle your face in your hands and try to ease the tears back in. You’ll never get this article proofread and sent if you can’t see the keys.

The door opens, and Graham runs in just in time for you to finish wiping your eyes. “Hey, kiddo! How was school?”

“Mr. Lee let us finger paint!” Graham holds up his palm, covered in dried paint, and grins brightly. “Can I have gogurt?”

“Yeah bud. Why don’t you put something on the T.V.? You can have your snack in the living room today.”

“Yes!” Graham takes blueberry gogurt out of the fridge and — after getting you to tear it open — runs into the living room. Sneakers and backpack still on.

Mark trails behind, clutching a messenger bag to his chest. “What’s going on?”

You sigh and close the laptop. The manuscript will have to wait. “Ben called. About a week ago. His girlfriend is pregnant. Called me to tell me he wasn’t going to leave her— like that would heal what he did to me. Then he called this morning to tell me they’re engaged.” You burst into tears then, and you feel so pathetic for doing this in front of your old schoolmate, that you hide your face behind your palms and allow your shoulders to shake. “Why weren’t we enough? Why wasn’t I enough?”

Mark scoots one of the chairs in front of you and sits, leaning his elbows on his knees. “Hey. Look at me.” With gentle hands, he grabs your wrists and pulls them away from your face. “It is not your fault he left.”

“But it has to be me in some way,” you retort. “He must not have loved me. Something, because now he’s going to raise her child after he left mine. Graham deserves a dad.”

Mark places his forehead against yours. The two of you used to do it all the time in school, mostly with immature giggles in the spaces between, but now it’s heavy with intention. “Graham has not felt even a little bit unloved in your care. You are all he needs, okay? You’re amazing.”

You nod, head still pressed to Mark’s. “Yeah. Okay. Sorry for getting too emotional, there.”

“Be as emotional as you want,” Mark says. “I’ll be here to balance you out.”

Your heart stutters at the words, like maybe they mean something more than he’s letting on. Of course it’s stupid to think Mark Lee would ever even consider you, but just the knowledge that he cares makes your soul feel a little lighter.

“I’m a mess,” you stutter, bringing your fist up to wipe at your nose.

“Nah,” Mark grins. He runs the pad of his thumb across your cheek and grins. “You’re alright.”

“It’s snowing!” Graham wakes Mark up by jumping on his chest.

Mark sucks in a breath, winded at the sudden weight, and grabs the boy, lifting him off of his chest and onto the mattress. “Hey, Buddy. Let’s not jump on sleeping people, okay?”

“Okay,” Graham says. He’s already lost interest in Mark, now crawling off of the bed to open the blinds. “Come look at the snow!”

“I see!” Mark rubs his tired eyes and checks his watch. “We might have a snow day, Graham.”

“Yes!” Graham pumps his fist into the air. “Let’s go tell mom!”

You’re sitting on your bed, chewing on a red licorice rope and flipping through a fashion magazine. You look up when Mark and Graham enter.

Mark likes seeing you like this: the domesticity of you in the morning, lazy and true. His chest sparks when he thinks this may be one of the only moments he can capture you like this, so he intends to commit the sight to memory.

“Did I hear snow day?” You grin at Mark, childlike wit in your own eyes — the same as your son’s.

“Looks like it.” Mark rolls up the sleeves of the sweater he slept in. “You want pancakes? I make some mean chocolate chip pancakes.”

You shift your gaze away from his arms and clear your throat. “Uh, yeah. Just let me get dressed and I’ll help—“

“No need,” Mark insists. “Enjoy your quiet time. Graham and I will make the most delicious pancakes you’ve ever tasted.”

“With lots of chocolate chips!” Graham shouts.

You give him a pointed look. “But not too many.”

Graham huffs. “But not too many,” he repeats.

Momentary splashes sound from your bathroom, followed by Graham screaming “It’s a dragon! Run for cover!”

Mark giggles from his place on the couch. He’s got mushroom-patterned socks on, and he’s tucked up into the cushions, nursing a can of Monster. “How does he still have so much energy?”

You sigh and pull your beanie down over your forehead. “You’d think a snow day would tire him out. Thanks for constantly carrying him up the hill, by the way. I know you’re a teacher, but sometimes I forget how good you are with kids.”

“I do have a godson,” Mark reminds you.

“But Mikey is a baby,” you say. You only know the baby’s name because of Mark’s constant snap stories about him.

“Most babies and kids want the same thing. Affection and attention.” Mark scoots over to the edge of the couch and pats the cushion.

You sit next to him. “I guess that’s true. You’re really good with Graham. He’s not this open to other adults.”

Mark is clearly blushing now; you can see his pink cheeks even in the light of the television. “He’s great in class, always helping the other kids.”

“He wants to impress you,” you say. You pop open a can of orange soda and take a sip. “He thinks you’re just the coolest guy.”

Mark laughs and shakes his head. “Didn’t you hear, Y/n? I’m handsome and cool.”

“Oh, of course,” you nudge his shin with our own sock-clad foot. “How could I forget? Mr. Ladies Man in high school.”

This makes Mark blush even harder, because he most certainly was not a ladies man in high school. In fact, he was a nerd in all senses of the word, part of the debate club with a few other boys. He had a few dates here and there, but nothing ever stuck.

“Shut up,” he mumbles. “My time is gonna come.”

“Hasn’t it already?” you ask before you can really process your own words. But of course he knows that he’s grown into his face, right?

Mark is positively handsome, eyes bright and lashes long. He’s so warm and comforting to you. He must be just as comforting to everyone else.

“What do you mean?”

“You’re handsome, Mark,” you say plainly.

“You mean that?”

“Of course I do,” you say. “Why would I lie?”

Mark opens his mouth, perhaps to call you out. To tell you you’ve been too honest, but he’s interrupted by your son.

“Mom! I’m ready to get out now!”

“I should go,” you say, still looking at his eyes.

“Yeah,” he says. His sweater has small spots on the shoulders where snow has fallen and since melted. He shivers.

“You should take a shower. You’ll catch a cold.”

“Okay,” he whispers. “Yeah, I’ll do that.”

Haechan comes over the following Saturday night to hang out with Mark, and you’re surprised at how much he truly hasn’t changed since high school.

He’s still got infamously perfect eyebrows, and his voice is still high despite its blunt sarcasm. “Nice place.” He raises his brows as he looks around.

“Who are you?” Graham is sitting at the kitchen table, watching Minecraft playthroughs (kid-friendly ones you’ve watched through yourself) on your phone to entertain himself while you clean.

“I’m Haechan, Mark’s friend.”

“This is Mr. Lee’s friend from school,” you say, detailing your words so they’re easier for your son to digest.

Graham stares at him for a moment, not quite judging but not quite accepting either. “Okay. Do you want to see my rock collection?”

Haechan looks genuinely excited, and accepts before you can come up with an excuse for him. Graham tells Haechan to stay in the kitchen while he grabs all of his rocks.

“How have you been?” you ask the taller man. “Like, with the flooding and everything?”

“Well, I’m on a couch at Taeyong’s, which is good since he doesn’t charge rent. But that means I’m near Mikey, and that baby has some lungs.”

You laugh. “I remember when Graham was a baby. I was so young, and my mom told me it was my responsibility to wake up and take care of him whenever he cried in the middle of the night. I was so pissed at her for making me do that, but those were some of the best nights to bond with him.” You realize you’re rambling and shake your head. “Whatever. Baby screams are loud as hell.”

“You can say that again. I’ve been talking to my friend Johnny about taking his spare room and paying rent. I dunno how many more sleepless nights I can take.”

“Why would you need to pay rent if you’re just crashing?” You wipe down the kitchen table to keep yourself busy.

“Didn’t Mark tell you? Our landlord is in heaps of trouble because the pipes weren’t up to code and that’s why they busted. The damage is basically too expensive to fix, so we’ve got to find new places.”

You stop cleaning. “Mark didn’t tell me that.”

“Oh.” Haechan scratches his brow. “He probably didn’t want to worry you. He feels really bad that he’s stayed with you this long.”

“It’s only been a month or so,” you counter. “Besides, Mark’s a great housemate. He cleans and keeps Graham occupied. Plus, now I have someone to watch corny game shows with.”

Haechan grins. “Oh. Okay, I get it.”

“Get what?” Mark, finally out of the shower, steps into the kitchen and immediately tackles Haechan in an energized hug.

“Nothing!” Haechan’s voice cracks

You shoot Haechan a weird look, and change the subject. “Where are you guys going?”

“To play video games at Johnny’s.” Mark says, and the thrill in his voice makes you think of high school. Of the debate team bus rounding the corner. Of you standing there, waiting to congratulate him with a big hug and a frosty from Wendy’s.

You miss it. “Have fun, okay? I’m probably going to tuck in as soon as Graham does, so just let yourself in.”

“You’re leaving?” Graham comes in, and his arms are filled with smooth and rough stones and gems he’s both found by himself and bought at random general stores while traveling.

“Not before I see your rocks!” Haechan says with so much enthusiasm, you think he’s telling the truth.

Graham giggles and drops the rocks onto the ground. Of course, he wants your guest to sit on the floor and count rocks. You’re almost embarrassed.

“ ‘ Okay, Y/n?” Mark laughs at your expression. Then he places his arm on your shoulder, thumbs the skin of your upper arm.

And once again, it’s high school. It’s senior year graduation and Mark is the only one who congratulates you. It’s his comforting touch, him coming over in the middle of the night after you texted him a picture of your first sonogram. It’s that same comforting touch. That little “I’m here,” and it melts you on the inside, leaves you in the shell of an eighteen girl again. Scared, and worried, and a little less alone.

“Yeah,” you manage. “I’m okay.”

The television plays Cartoon Network reruns on a low hum. Mark is curled up in a blanket, nursing a bottle of water and thinking over Haechan’s words.

You’ve liked her since high school, dude.

Which is a complete lie. Seriously, Mark didn’t have a crush on you in high school. He would know if he had a crush on his best friend. You’ve been his friend since freshman year, and that’s all you’ve ever been.

Now in college, it was different. In college, Mark was alone in a dorm with Taeyong, and you were one of the only people from high school he stayed in contact with. In college, he would bring you your favorite snacks and drinks, and other things you would forget to buy because you were a part-time student and a full-time mom. In college, you would pull all-nighters with him, working on your exams while Graham was asleep, then using energy drinks to get through the next day.

Mark even remembers the time your mom caught the three of you fast asleep on your rug, with unopened monster cans and an empty milk bottle beside you.

Throughout your entire pregnancy he was warned not to stay friends with the pregnant girl — it’d be too much for him, he wouldn’t want to become the new father, and all kinds of other stuff people would mumble to him when you weren’t around.

But you never expected him to be anything other than your friend. You never asked him for the help he gave — though you thanked him always — and you never once assumed he’d take the role of Graham’s dad.

And now… now he finds himself wishing you would.

“Mr. Lee?” Graham creeps up without him even realizing.

Mark jumps, sets his water — and thoughts — aside. “Hey, Bud. It’s really late. What are you doing up?”

Graham sniffs, and Mark realizes that the boy is crying. “I had a nightmare.”

Mark holds out his arms before he can think, and lets the five-year-old crawl into his lap. He wraps them both in his blanket and turns the television up just a little more. “Was it scary?”

“You left.” Graham says, voice less watery, like he doesn’t know the weight of his words. He’s focused on the rerun of Adventure Time that’s playing. He’s not even remotely interested in his nightmare now, with his tears dried up, and his eyes drooping back towards slumber.

“I’m going to leave one day,” Mark says, because he thinks it’s important that Graham knows.

“You should stay with me and Mom,” Graham says. He yawns. “We like you so much!”

Mark’s heart stutters. He tries not to think about it.

When Graham’s bed is empty the next morning, you freak out. He’s always in his room in the morning. Even if he wakes up before you, he stays in and plays with his toys.

You’ve already got your phone out, and your mother’s number called, when you walk into the living room.

Relief floods your system. Mark and Graham are asleep on the couch, snuggled up serenely like they didn’t just cause you to have a premature heart attack.

You hang up before the call to your mom can go through and stand there, watching the two boys sleep. Graham has both his arms wrapped around Mark’s forearm. It’s such a sweet picture that you take out your phone and snap one.

The flash is on.

Mark scrunches his nose and winces. “What the–”

“Sorry!” You whisper. “You both looked so cute, I couldn’t help it.”

Mark smiles, still sleepy, and finally opens his eyes. He peers at you, copper brown under fluttering lashes and you’re almost intimidated into looking away. “He had a nightmare.”

“Oh?”

“About me leaving.”

“Oh.” You frown. “I’m really sorry about that. I keep telling him that you’re moving out soon, but I don’t think he fully understands.”

Graham stirs. You reach down and pick him up. Your knuckles brush across Mark’s warm, sweater-clad chest and you suddenly wish you could cuddle with him, too. You shake the thoughts away and focus on your drowsy son. “You’re staying at Grandma's for a few days, remember?”

Graham rubs his eyes and perks up. “And I’ll see her cat?”

“Yes,” you confirm. “But we’ve got to get you dressed because she’s coming in a few minutes.”

“Mark Lee!” Your mom’s voice embarrassingly rings through the apartment, and you realize Mark has taken it upon himself to open the door. “Y/n told me she had a temporary roommate but I never thought she would finally ask you!”

“Oh my gosh…” you mumble, buckling Graham’s overalls and hauling him up into your arms. “Mom! His apartment flooded so he’s staying here. Don’t be weird about it.”

“But he’s so handsome,” your mom coos. You’re concerned she might reach forward and pinch Mark’s already ruddy cheeks.

“Thanks,” Mark laughs. “But she’s right, I’m just squatting until I can find a new place.”

Your mom harrumphs. “Well, I don’t see why you can’t stay here forever. Y/n doesn’t even use that office room. And even if she did, the two of you could just share a room.”

“Mom!” You plunk Graham into her hands and grab his overnight bag. “You have to leave.”

“Did I say something wrong?” She sounds worried, but there’s an undisclosed mirth in her eyes that makes you think of your freshman year, when you did have a crush on Mark.

“You said everything wrong,” you say, kindly pushing her out. “Have a good time, Graham. I love you! As always, Mom, call if you need me to come get him.”

“Yeah, right!” She yells over her shoulder. Graham is already giggling, so you close the door with confidence.

You turn back to your roommate. “I’m sorry about that, Mark.”

“It’s fine.” He smiles, but it’s reserved. “But speaking of me finding a place… I know Haechan told you that I can’t go back to my own apartment. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner.”

“It’s okay,” you say. You want to say “You can stay here as long as you want, and long as you’ll let me keep you,” but that would reveal too much, and you don’t want to lose the one good friend you have.

“And I was thinking I should move out soon anyway.” Mark pulls his sweater sleeves until they cover his hands. He’s hiding. He’s shielding himself the same way he did in junior year, when he got turned down by his crush to go to the prom. “I don’t think it’s good for Graham to get this attached to me if I’m just going to leave.”

“Oh,” Your sleeves are too short, but you want to shield yourself too. “Yeah, that’s… that’s probably a good idea.”

Mark stands there for a beat, like he’s waiting for you to say something more. Like he hasn’t just taken your heart and pushed it aside. Like this hurts a lot less than it actually does.

But any word out of your mouth would be tearful. It would be honest. It would ruin everything. “I’m going to go on a run.”

There’s a cricket outside that won’t stop chirping against your window. You blame it for your insomnia, choosing to ignore the anxiety of eventually losing Mark. It feels so horribly childish, since you’ll see him when you drop Graham off at school. And you’ll see him whenever the two of you go out for coffee on weekends.

But you won’t see him in the kitchen, reaching for the pancake mix so his shirt rises up and you can see the dimples in his back. You won’t see him humming along to the radio while he works on his lesson plans. You won’t feel his warmth when the two of you stay awake, nursing spiked lemonade and giggling at the commentary videos you find on YouTube.

He’ll just be Mark again. He won’t be home anymore.

Startled by the realization, you get out of your covers and rush to your door.

It opens before you can even reach for the doorknob, and there’s Mark in his pajamas, biting his lip and avoiding your eyes.

“I don’t want you to leave,” you say.

Mark confesses, “I love you.”

You open your arms and he dives in, face pressed into the space where your neck meets your shoulder. Warmth envelopes you and the scent of pine fills your nose.

Mark is timeless. Youthful glory and childish pride. He’s a pinch on the side and a push on the swings. Like a rock that actually skips on the first try. Like shoes that you can slip on when they’re still tied. And he’s here, in your arms, squeezing you like you’re something valuable enough to lose. He’s confessing love like you aren’t the worst possible candidate for his heart.

“I can’t offer you much,” you start, but Mark bumps his forehead against yours, boyish and playful — football fields and bright red lockers and secret notes on bathroom walls.

“I’ve known you for years, Y/n,” Mark’s voice is a low rumble. Copper eyes blinking at you like you’re something to second glance at. “I know what I’m getting into. I want you. I want Graham. I want everything this is, and everything we’ve been for the past month. I don’t want this to end.”

You close your eyes, because his are too honest. He’s open and vulnerable and gentle — a child on the first day of school, ready to make friends. You take a deep breath, try to remember what you were like on your first day. Rosy cheeks and shy glances. Knobby knees and a trusting heart. You reach out for whoever you once were — the Y/n with a heart open and willing to be loved. “I don’t want this to end either. I’m in love with you, Mark.”

His grin lights up your world in its entirety. Gold flecks in onyx black disappear as he smiles, too thrilled to keep his eyes open. And when he kisses you, warm lips against cold ones, you feel like a puzzle has just slotted into place.

It would only make sense that you would grow to love the boy you grew up with.

#Nct fluff #nct fanfiction #Nct angst #Nct scenarios #mark lee fluff #mark lee imagines #mark lee angst #mark lee fanfic #mark lee scenarios #mark lee x reader #nct x reader #destwrites

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hobbitsnapes · 3 years

Text

YOU GUYS ARE DATING

Corpse x MGK!sister reader

(Found this image on Pinterest so all credit goes to artist, if you know who it is please comment below so I can credit them)

A/N: this was requested by @heyitssab

Tree is tall of sex in this, but it’s more in a joking matter, plus corpse has stated he doesn’t mind as long as you are not a minor or send or tag him. I’m literally 2 years younger than him, and have no intentions of ever tagging him or sending him any of my work XD

Summary: how many idiots does it take to tell the brother and friend they’re dating? Apparently takes 2 very forgetful people, who kept their relationship secret without knowing it.

It had just been by chance, a small chance that he had been scrolling through his tags. liking and reposting art, when he saw a tag from someone he followed. He wrecked his brain for when he had followed her, coming up empty. She was cute, no denying the beauty she had as she laughed in the video. It was a clip from a stream that he didn’t know she had, as he couldn’t even remember her name, wearing his merch as it fit her snug. It fit her perfectly in fact, the large hood covering her face, hiding the flush to her face from her rather large chuckles that left her body. He couldn’t help but like the photo, and he couldn’t help but to press message either.

It was first only small likes to posts, an Occasional message, and a view on their livestreams, but that all changed when he spoke of the song he was working on with her older brother.

It all started that night, when both lay in their beds as they talked, laughed, and felt their hearts flutter each time they heard one another speak.

Her phone rang violently in her bag, nearly making her drop the to go bag all over the ground as she walked. “Hello?” She asked, as she held both bags with her hands as her shoulder gripped the phone as if it’d fall down a cliff. “Hey bug!” He exclaimed, making her chuckle as she heard the booming sound of his voice. She had always detested the nickname, as he gave it to her as kids due to her horrendous fear of the creatures. But, it brought more joy to her, as it reminded her of their youth. Having been adults for years, it was fun to hear such a childish name that’s stuck.

“Hey mopey.” She chuckled, as that was the name she gave him when he was in his emo phase that he never outgrew.

Both talked as she walked towards the elevator, mainly about how his day had gone as she silently listened.

She had always been this way, always the shyer of the two, the one to listen to others first before she said a word. He had teased her for it most of their childhood and teen life, but he had grown to love it, as he could let loose or rant to her about anything, and he knew she’d be there just to listen to him.

“So what’re you doing right now?” He asked, as she got into the elevator. “Just grabbed some dinner a few minutes before you called and nearly made me shit.” A smile painted on her face at his boisterous laughter.

“Are you at home?” He asked, as he heard the sound of the elevator beeping in the background. “No, I’m spending the night with my boyfriend.”

She had mentioned about a month prior that she was seeing someone, the joy it brought him to hear the excitement and joy in her tone as she gushed about their first date.

If this was 7 or 8 years prior, he would be bombarding her with questions about the man, who he was, where he lived, where he could meet him to find his intentions with his baby sister. But, in the last few years, he found himself feeling calmer whenever she’d mentioned her love life. He knew she was smart, and would never date a man who treated her poorly. The few breakups she had, they always ended amicably, her head still high as she told him. So, he never asked her any questions about the man, as he could tell from the few times she mentioned him, he could feel the love this man had for her, and Vice versa.

The strong barreling of her phone alerted them awake, both groaning out as she reached for her phone without lifting her head from his shoulder. “Hello?” She mumbled, voice slurred as the saliva was thick in her mouth, barely awake as she fought to listen in on who dares to wake them up.

“Hey!” He exclaimed, making her equally exhausted lover groan. She shifted off of him, laying on her back as he turned away from her, as to hopefully shut his eyes and fall back asleep. She was used to her brother's large voice, as it hardly phased her after growing up with him. “Colson, why are you calling me this ungodly hour?” “Oh come on, it’s not that early.” “Col its-“ She pulled her phone from her ear, eyes shutting violently as the bright light blinded her “5 o’clock in the morning. So again, I’m going to ask you, why did you call me at the asscrack of dawn?” “You don’t remember?” He asked, making her irritation grow. “No, that’s why I’m asking.” She says, as she rubbed her sleep crusted eyes. “You were coming up today to hang out with casie, remember?” Her hand stopped rubbing her face, as she felt her heart stop momentarily. “Wait, you mean today? I thought I was coming Friday?” “No, both of you settled on today, remember I told you that’s perfect because I have a day off?” She felt her heart pain as she heard the sadness in his tone, knowing he’s expecting her to bail. “Yeah sorry, I thought you meant Friday so I mixed it up, let me get ready and I’ll be out the door okay? Love you” she said, as she hung up the line.

Before she could even move, she felt his arm wrap around her body. A tired groan leaving his lips. “Nooo stayyyy.” He groaned, pulling her body to his. She smiled as she looked down at him, wrapping her arm on his chest and the other behind his neck. “I wish I could live, but I can’t.” Planting a soft kiss against his lips. “Stay in bed for a few more hours, please?” Her heart pulled at his tone, hearing just how tired he was. “I can’t, casies wanted me to come up for weeks now. And it takes a good 3 hours to get there. I wanna spend as much time as I can with them before it gets dark so I can get back safely.” He groaned at this, wrapping his arms around her. “Yeah but it’s only 5, it wouldn’t be safe to drive since we went to bed like, 2 hours ago.” “Yeah, and whos fault was that mister?” She teased, “hmm, sorry but I just couldn’t keep my hands to myself after not seeing you for a few days.” He mused, pulling her body closer to his, planting his lips against hers. A small hum left her lips as he pulled her thigh over his, grabbing the flesh harshly as their lips cascaded together. “Mm, no no no, you’re not gonna convince me to stay here just to go another round.” She said, as she got off from his warm body, throwing his large hoodie over her bare body. “Oh come on babe, are you sure about that?” He said, making her turn around to him. A small gasp left her lips as her eyes took in his milky white complexion. His honey brown eyes looking back at her with a small smile etched onto his face. His hair a tousled mess that resembled a bird's nest, some pieces falling onto his face. “Honey, I’ve been wanting to see my family for weeks now, I see you almost everyday and practically live here. I’ll be back tomorrow so I can grab more clothes from my place okay?” She placed a kiss to his lips, both holding one another in their arms. “I don’t know why you don’t just say fuck that place and just move in.” He mumbled, making her chuckle and heart warm. “Don't you think it’s a little soon though? I mean we’ve only been together a few months love.” “Yeah, but you’ve practically lived here since we got together, you literally just go there to get more clothes that you end up leaving here.” She looked into his eyes as she thought about his words. “Hm, I’ll think about it today okay?” She mused, planting a kiss to his lips. A soft okay leaving him as she got up.

“And babe, remember if you live here, we can have all the sex we want and not have to worry about driving to get one another.” He exclaimed, laughing at the loud honey she screamed from the bathroom.

She couldn’t help but laugh out as she watched, as her niece tried her hardest to braid her fathers grown out hair. It was near impossible not to, as pieces would fall out, resulting in her pulling them harsher, nearly pulling his eyelids back due to the tension from his temples. “Okay okay you’re gonna fuckin scalp me.” He chuckled , as all three bursted out in large laughter.

“So how’s school going this year?” She asked her, as she delicately painted her nails. Both of the girls had found themselves on the floor in front of the nice coffee table, as colson sat and chatted with them. “It’s going really well.” “Oh yeah? Make any new friends?” She teased. “I mean, kinda.” She couldn’t help but hear the wavering in her tone, spotting the faint blush dusting her skin. “Ohh, so there’s a someone eh?” She teased to her, making the preteen hide her face as to conceal the flush. “His names Garrett, and we both take social studies together. He always sits next to me at lunch, and we’ll draw on my notebook.” She gushed, making her smile. “Soo, do you think he likes you?” “I mean, that’s what everyone keeps saying.” “Yeah well don’t worry about it to much cas, you’re not dating anyone for many more years. You’re still a kid.” Her das said, making the young girls face fall.

Y/N knew he was only saying this to protect her, as he said the same thing to her growing up. “Hey, don’t be bummed out about it. He is right, you both are only 12 and should focus on school. But don’t worry, he’ll come around. He was just like that with me up until my current boyfriend.” She whispered, making the young girl chuckle.

“Speaking of which, how are you guys doing?” He asked, as she hadn’t mentioned hun to her in a while. He didn’t think it’d hurt to ask. “Great actually, we’re thinking of moving in together actually.” “That’s great! I’m really happy that y’all met.” “Yeah, I am too.” She hummed, a flush dusting her cheeks.

Both men laughed as they chatted on the phone, talking about anything that would come to mind. What was once only a collaboration for a song, turned into an amazing friendship that caused both of them to call at late hours just to shoot the shit.

A yawn left his lips, as he listened to colson ramble on about another song he was making. “Woah, you tired man?” Colson asked, shocked to hear the sound. “Yeah sorry, was up most of the night last night.” He mumbled, rubbing his eyes. “Were you feeling alright?” He asked, worry laced in his tone. He knew all about his friends illnesses, even once being on the other end of the phone during a bad spell one day.” “Oh yeah yeah yeah, was just, up with the misses last night.” He chuckled, a flush blooming on his cheeks. “Ohhh yeah? And how was it?” This shocked him, nearly feeling his heart stop. Like, does he usually know about his sisters sex life? He didn’t think much of it, as he knew just how close both were. “It was absolutely fucking amazing. Like I thought we’d be done for the night, fully tapped out but after like 5 minutes she’d be right back on me for another round.” He chuckled, his flush even worse than before. “Ayyyeee good for you corpse, glad to hear that puss is bussin.” He laughed at this, throwing his head back. “Yeah, it’s bussin bussin.”

Both men talk as they read from their phones, eyes wide in absolute awe of the love they received from the song. They had just dropped it a few days prior, not expecting the cry of joy from both fan bases.

He didn’t even look up from it when she walked in, until she bent down to plant a kiss to his forehead. “Sorry I had completely forgot about the tea I made you an hour ago, but I put it back on the stove to heat it up so if it’s twisting funky just tell me okay?” Before he could even thank her, both their heads whipped towards the loudness from the other line. “Y/N? Is that you? What in the hell are you doing there with corpse!” He didn’t sound angry, more shocked than anything, both of them looking at the phone in confusion. “I, I love here? Remember I told you like a month ago I was moving in with him?” “WHAT!” Both jumped at the loud scream. “Wait so you guys are dating!?” Both we’re even more perplexed, until it dawned on both of them. Their eyes wide as they turned their heads to one another slowly. “Wait you didn’t tell him?” “No? He’s one of your best friends so I thought you did!” “He’s your brother! So I thought you did!” Both whisper, until all three lay silent. That was until, the large cry of laughter that leaves the two, leaving colson even more confused. He wasn’t mad, not at all actually. More shocked and confused than anything. Until he started thinking, it does make sense, all the times they spoke about one another without him knowing, all the times they mentioned-“OH GOD!” He yelled, gagging violently, making them stop their laughing fit. “What's wrong? Why are you yelling?” She asks “like a month ago corpse was talking about how he was tired cause he was up all night having sex AND I HAD NO IDEA HE WAS TALKING ABOUT YOU! OH GOD WAS THAT WHY YOU WERE LIMPING THAT DAY WITH CAS AND I!” Both laugh even harder, as they listen to his ever growing gags.

“So yeah,. That’s literally how we had no idea we were keeping the relationship secret from her brother.” He laughed, as he red the comments and listened to his friends' laughter. She sat beside him, head laying on his shoulder as he told the story. She couldn’t help but to look back up into his eyes, as he glanced down at her, planting a soft kiss to her lips. “Keep it pg guys.” Colson said from the other line, making them chuckle.

#corpse husband imagine #corpse #corpse husband fanfic #corpse x reader #corpse imagine #corpse fic #corpse x you #corpse husband x reader #corpse husband

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snelbz · 3 years

Text

Tempting the Fates {Chapter 9}

Summary: It’s the final semester of Aelin Galathynius’ collegiate career and she is so beyond ready to be done. Her schedule is packed full of nursing classes and labs designed to test her knowledge and hone her skills for the real world and her “big girl” job. However, she needs one last elective to graduate, so she decides to study a subject she’s always been fascinated by: Mythology. Who would have thought that a class about gods and goddesses living complicated lives would end up complicating her own in such an unexpected way?

A @snelbz X @theladyofdeath collaboration.

Word Count: 3378

Chapters will be posted every Wednesday.

Tempting the Fates Masterlist

Shelby’s Masterlist

Tara’s Masterlist

***Announcement! *** After the completion of I’ll be Seeing You and Tempting the Fates, all of Tara and I’s joint fanfiction will be posted on a separate blog that we run together > @snacmc. Be sure to follow the new blog as we will start posting on there soon!

Hestia

– Goddess of the hearth, home and family

Mondays and Wednesdays always seemed to drag.

Thanks to her lack of Rowan in class, Aelin’s classes were boring and she found herself thinking of other things, rather than the notes she was supposed to be taking. Like the way Rowan’s eyes had been on her as she went down on him in the shower earlier than morning.

At his insistence, she’d begun using his shower for more than just sex purposes, as she’d so eloquently explained to him the week before. She was regularly staying over, getting ready for her own classes in the morning, just as he was. But whenever one of them followed the other into the tiled shower, it was used for practical reasons.

As well as sexual ones.

Suppressing a whine as she thought of the way Rowan had pinned her up against the cool tiles that morning, Aelin crossed her legs and checked her watch. Only another twenty minutes and then she had her break between classes. She wasn’t hungry, thanks to the protein bar she’d eaten just before this class started, and she was close to the gen ed building, so she decided she would drop by her mythology professor’s office. She had a few questions about the homework he’d assigned yesterday and face-to-face was always better to her than an email.

Once her anatomy professor was wrapping up, Aelin was tossing her books into a bag and hauling ass across campus. Rowan’s last class was wrapping up, too, and she didn’t want to miss him before he hurried off to do whatever else.

She could’ve texted him to stay put, but she didn’t want to ruin the surprise.

She made it to his building and dodged by those who were hurrying off to their other classes or their beds, and stopped at Rowan’s office door before giving it a halting knock.

It took him a second to answer, but when he did, he was handsome as ever.

His shirt sleeves were rolled up, the button down tucked into his trousers. When he saw it was Aelin at his office door, a silver brow lifted.

“Aelin,” he began, clearing his throat. “How may I help you?”

“I have some questions about the homework,” she began, voice low, even though no one else was around. “Can I come in for a second?”

Rowan moved aside before she had finished her question. With one last glance down the hall he shared with a few other first-year professors, he shut the door, sealing them into his office. The blinds were open, but on the third floor, it wasn’t like anyone could see the private meeting he and his student were about to have.

Even if he didn’t know what kind of meeting it was about to be.

“Are you on your lunch break?” She asked, leaning back against his desk.

He nodded. “Didn’t plan on taking lunch, but I’ve got a couple hours before my next class. Was going to work on some grading. Why?”

He had stepped closer, pausing beside one of the chairs he kept in front of the desk for students to sit in.

Aelin clearly had other ideas of where to sit though. With a smirk, she reached out and lightly gripped his shirt, pulling him towards her.

“You had questions about the homework,” he breathed, leaning away as she tried to kiss him.

It wasn’t that he wouldn’t kiss her. He just wanted to see her squirm.

And squirm, she did. “You know very well that I turned in the homework yesterday afternoon.”

She tried to kiss him again, but he fell away, even though his arms were around her waist.

“I don’t recall that,” he taunted. “Maybe you could remind me.”

“I turned it in just before I did this,” she crooned, and her lips found his.

Aelin kissed him, slowly, her arms snaking around his neck. She swore she would never tire of the feeling of his mouth on hers.

“Oh yeah,” Rowan muttered, against her lips. “Now I remember.”

It only took him a second to grab her hips and set her on top of his desk.

There was a clattering of something tipping over, probably a cup of pens or paper clips from the sound of it, but neither of them cared. Not as he gripped the outside of her thigh where her legs were wrapped around him, or her hand found its way into his hair. He was both frustrated and very glad she’d worn leggings today. While he wished she was wearing something with a bit easier access, it was probably a blessing in disguise that he couldn’t get his hand between her legs.

Or his mouth.

Or any other body parts.

That wasn’t stopping Aelin from rubbing against him, looking for friction, as their tongues battled and teeth occasionally clashed. She let out a quiet moan and he tugged on her hair, pulling her lips from his.

“We’re not fucking in my office,” he breathed, looking her in the eyes. “It is way too dangerous.”

She nodded, knowing and accepting the fact, but it didn’t mean she was done kissing him.

“Was this morning not enough?” He smirked, trailing his lips down her throat instead of returning to hers.

“It’s never enough,” she gasped. “Every time I’m away from you…”

Her words trailed off as their lips met. It was true. It was never enough. She was so fulfilled with Rowan, and the second he was gone, she longed for him.

“Come over tonight,” Aelin begged. “Stay with me tonight.”

Rowan groaned as his tongue slipped between her lips.

They stayed at Rowan’s nearly every night. The only times Aelin stayed at her own apartment was when she had an exam or homework she had to work on, without Rowan distracting her. Lysandra and Aedion had met Rowan over dinner a few nights before, though Aelin had insisted take out was much more her friends’ speed than a fully home cooked meal. However, Aelin had a lab due the following morning, so after dinner, Rowan had gone back home.

Alone.

“We have class tomorrow,” he replied, lips still on hers.

“So we’ll make sure we get up early.” Dragging her teeth across his jaw, she gripped his shoulders. “Bring over everything you’ll need to come straight to class.”

Rowan hesitated. “I don’t know.”

“We don’t live on campus,” Aelin said, quietly. “It’s not like I live somewhere surrounded by students.”

Rowan pulled back and met her gaze. “It’s important to you?”

Aelin nodded, arms still wrapped around the back of his neck. “I love being cooped up in your apartment. I really do. But, sometimes I wanna be cooped up somewhere else, too.”

Rowan huffed a laugh. “Alright.”

“Yeah?” Aelin asked, a soft smile painted across her light pink lips.

Rowan couldn’t help his own smile forming as he leaned forward and pulled Aelin closer to him as he kissed her, softly. They went on like that, dwelling in those slow, prolonged kisses. There was something personal, something exceptional about a long, slow kiss. Something sensual that made Aelin’s stomach feel like it was going to explode, even though it lacked that animalistic passion they had come to find within one another.

A quick knock at the door had them jumping apart, Rowan dragging a quick hand through his hair, not having a chance to reply before the door opened.

“Hey, Rowan, I was hoping you could— Oh.”

The pretty woman froze in the doorway, taking in the scene in front of her.

It was innocent enough, though Aelin’s lips were swollen from their kisses. That could easily be explained away, especially as her teeth found the bottom lip and gnawed on it.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t realize you had an appointment,” she said, eyeing Aelin, who had thankfully gotten off the desk before she’d entered.

“It wasn’t officially booked,” he explained, slightly stepping in front of Aelin to keep her shielded. “Miss Galathynius had a few questions about the homework I assigned in class and about an upcoming project. She stopped by during her lunch break, since her schedule is so busy.”

Silence built in the office, and after a second, Rowan cleared his throat. “Did you need something, Remelle?”

“Maeve sent out an email about a mandatory department meeting for Thursday night,” she said, slowly, still looking at them both suspiciously. “A couple of us in the building were going to get drinks after, wanted to know if you wanted to come.”

Rowan cleared his throat. “Uh, yeah. Sure. I’ll plan on it.”

“Good,” Remelle said, a little too quickly. “And check your mailbox in the office. It’s full.”

With another look at Aelin, then at Rowan, Remelle left and the door fell shut behind her.

Silence enveloped the room.

Rowan slowly turned around to look at Aelin, whose face was pale.

“You couldn’t have locked the door?” she whispered.

Rowan scoffed. “Yeah, because that wouldn’t have been suspicious, being locked in here with a student.”

For some reason, the word student felt like a jab coming from him in that moment. Aelin’s back straightened. “I wasn’t aware that the receptionist randomly barges into your office. If a student found it locked, they probably wouldn’t think it was weird, at all. Offices around here are locked all the damn time.”

Rowan sighed and nodded. He stepped towards her and ran his hands up and down her arms, pressing a soft kiss to Aelin’s forehead. “You should go. There’s only so much we can talk about homework.”

Nodding, Aelin wrapped her arms around his waist, and he wrapped her up in his own. “I’ll see you after class?”

“I’ll run by my place to grab some things and pick up dinner on the way,” he promised, tilting her chin up to look at him. “I’ll see you later.”

She nodded and rose up on her toes to press a kiss to his lips. Grabbing her bag from the chair, she adjusted her messy bun, which was only a little messier than it had been before and slipped out the office door.

Leaning back on the spot Aelin had just been sitting in, Rowan took a quick moment to breathe before setting his desk to rights and heading down to check his community mailbox. It wasn’t full as Remelle had implied, but there were a few things in it, mostly department memos and notes from other professors. He ignored her suspicious look as he made his way back up the stairs to his office and settled behind his desk to work on the grading he’d planned to do during his lunch.

He was halfway through an essay from one of his upperclassmen when his email dinged on his laptop. It had gone off a few times since Aelin had left, but he’d ignored them, assuming they were automatic replies to Maeve’s email about the meeting.

Tapping on the track pad of his laptop to wake it up, he kept reading over the essay as his email came to life, but he waited until he was done to look over at the most recent notifications.

Freezing, Rowan’s eyes flashed over the subject of the email from Maeve three times before he actually had the nerve to open it.

Meeting in my office after your final class of the evening.

We need to have a talk.

Aelin felt as if she had been holding her breath for hours.

Which was exactly how long it had been since she had received her text from Rowan.

As someone who was not nervous or paranoid by nature, she hated the feeling of being so freaked out that she was nearly about to vomit. She had already cleaned her apartment once, and was pouring herself a glass of wine as she was deciding what she could clean next. Maybe she would clean out the fridge.

After downing her glass of wine, she did just that, throwing open the refrigerator door and emptying out what had been in there for over a week.

She didn’t even hear the front door open, nor did she hear her roommate and cousin walk into the kitchen.

“Ace?”

Aelin yelped, jumped, and spun around, nearly knocking over her glass of wine on the counter nearby. “What the hell?” she yelled. “You can’t just sneak up on people like that! Doesn’t anyone realize how fucking rude it is to just barge in?!”

Aedion’s brows shot up as Lysandra stepped forward. “Uh, everything okay?”

Aelin’s face fell into her hands as she leaned against the countertop. “Does it look like everything is okay?” she asked, words muffled.

“What happened?” Lysandra asked, gently prying Aelin’s hands from her face.

Her eyes were still shut, as if she could shut out the world. Taking a deep breath, she released it, answering in one, quick burst. “I think Rowan and I got caught.”

She heard something hit the floor, clearly dropped by Aedion, but Lysandra’s hands went slack on her wrist. “What do you mean?”

Letting her head fall to the countertop, she groaned once before standing up straight and looking at them. Aedion had indeed dropped the bag of pretzels he’d pulled from the cabinet.

“We both had long breaks today, so I stopped by his office to see him for a minute. I didn’t mean for anything to happen. I mean… Yeah, I kinda did. I kissed him first.”

“I don’t need to hear about this. Lys can fill me in,” Aedion muttered, scooping the bag of pretzels off the floor and heading for Lysandra’s bedroom.

“We didn’t fuck or anything,” Aelin sighed after he left. “But we did make out on his desk a bit. It was barely even PG-13.”

“So what happened?” Lysandra asked, getting another glass down and refilling Aelin’s glassed wine and filling one for herself. “How did you get caught?”

“The secretary walked in,” Aelin said, staring at a spot on the hardwood. “She didn’t see anything, we broke apart before the door opened, but… I don’t know. She sounded suspicious, looked suspicious.” Aelin took a sip from her glass. “I mean, seriously, who knocks but doesn’t wait for a come in before they open the damn door? It’s rude as hell.”

“I don’t wait before coming into your room,” Lysandra said.

“That’s different, we live together,” Aelin said, unable to control her chuckle.

Lysandra smiled, but it faded as she shook her head. “That man needs to learn how to lock his office.”

“That’s what I said!” Aelin agreed, and topped off her glass before it was even halfway empty.

“So, what?” Lysandra went on. “She came in but didn’t see anything. Maybe she just always looks suspicious. I’m sure nothing will come out of it.”

Without another word, Aelin took her phone out of her pocket and slid it across the counter. Lysandra slowly picked it up and read Rowan’s text.

Got an email from Maeve. I have to go to her office tonight. Says she needs to talk to me. Sounded urgent.

Aelin had texted back. Did she say what it was about?

No, Rowan had replied. But it doesn’t sound good.

“Have you heard from him since he sent these?” Lysandra asked, setting the phone down.

“No, but we’ve both been in class.” Aelin let her head fall to the countertop again. “He’s supposed to come over after he gets out. But now I’m wondering if that’s such a good idea. What if someone sees him getting here?”

“It’s not all students, and we’re not exactly social butterflies. We don’t know any of our neighbors,” Lysandra said, clearly trying to soothe her.

Aelin just shook her head. “I like him, Lys. A lot. I can see a future with this guy, but… What if this is all too much? It’s too dangerous. We’re jeopardizing our futures.”

Lysandra’s eyes softened. “The secretive part of your relationship is only temporary. Besides, he’s head over heels for you, too. Would it really be worth it to give that up?”

“What if Rowan is about to lose his job?” Aelin shot back. “Lys, I would never be able to forgive myself. I have to do something.”

“Always the hero,” Lysandra muttered. “Look, the best thing you can do right now is stay here, drink wine, and let it all play out. Rowan is a big boy. He can handle himself.” Aelin said nothing, so Lysandra went on. “I just want to see you happy. Does he make you happy?”

“Beyond. Happier than I’ve been in a long time,” she sighed, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning against the counter. “I know it’s only been a few weeks, but… I care about him.”

“And it’s pretty damn clear that he cares about you, so sitting and waiting sucks, but that’s what you’ll have to do.” Lysandra crossed the kitchen and wrapped her best friend up in a hug. Aelin’s forehead fell to her shoulder. “I can send Aedion to get more wine if you want.”

Aelin nodded.

Lysandra chuckled and said, “Then that’s what we’ll do. Why don’t you—?”

A knock on the front door had Aelin’s head snapping up and she hurried from the kitchen. Throwing open the door, she found Rowan standing on the other side. Before he could say anything, she pulled him inside and wrapped her arms around his waist, burying her face in his chest. “Gods, I’ve been so fucking worried.”

To her surprise, he laughed quietly, and it only caused Aelin to lean back, eyes wide. “What could possibly be funny right now?”

“I’m not I’m trouble,” he whispered, arms going around her waist. “We’re safe, we’re fine.”

Aelin blinked, all anxiety fading from her body only to be replaced with confusion. “Why did Maeve call you into her office, then?”

“She just wanted to check how things were going.” He shrugged. “Being new, and her nephew, she just wanted to check in.”

“Gods, Rowan!” She shoved his chest, lightly. “You couldn’t have texted me that? I’ve been a nervous mess!”

“She’s not exaggerating,” Lysandra mumbled from behind them. “Hi, Professor.”

Rowan rolled his eyes. “Hi, Lysandra.”

As Lysandra headed towards her room, he looked down to where Aelin was staring at his chest. He tilted her chin up until she was forced to look at him. His brow furrowed and he was surprised to see silver lining her eyes. “Everything is okay, baby. Why are you crying?”

She shook her head and blinked, but wasn’t able to stop the single tear that spilled over. He wiped it away with his thumb. “I thought we got caught, that I had ruined your life.”

His heart nearly broke. “Aelin…” He wrapped her up in his arms again, holding her as tightly as he dared, as if he could keep her from falling apart. After a second, he leaned back so he could look at her, but didn’t let her go. “Being together isn’t a decision that just one of us has made. We both went into this relationship knowing the consequences. If something were to happen, if someone finds out, you aren’t ruining my life.”

Aelin snorted, and framed his face in her hands. “So we’d both be ruining your life?”

“No one’s life will be ruined,” Rowan promised. “I’m going to be with you, Aelin. Now, and when you graduate, we can have a normal relationship, whatever the hell that means. If you’ll have me, I’m not going anywhere.”

“That’s a big promise to make so early in our relationship,” Aelin breathed, running her thumbs across his cheeks.

“I have a good feeling about us,” Rowan followed, melting into her touch.

Leaning down, he pressed his lips to hers, but pulled back and smirked. “But maybe I’ll start locking my office, just in case you decide to make another unexpected visit.”

Aelin threw her head back and laughed, wrapping her arms around his neck as she rose up on her toes to kiss him again.

The day had stressed them both out, but throughout it all, there was only one thing Rowan could think about: he didn’t know what his future held, but there was one thing for sure.

He wanted Aelin in it.

#rowaelin ttf #snacmc ttf #tempting the fates #throne of glass #aelin x rowan #rowan whitethorn #aelin galythinius #snacmc collabs

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