#There's also something kind of fun about how Best Day Ever was used as a beginning in volume 2

[almea]

[s0dium]

Tattoos 

Tattoo artist!Geto x Reader��

A/n: Idk ive been pretty depressed thinking about sad Gojo and Shoko since their best friend left so I wanted to make this as ‘fluffy/crack like’ in the beginning because I love their friendship. Also with so much tattoo artist geto out there I decided to make a fic! It was mainly inspired by this beautiful piece of work right I found but I forgot the account name 😭

Warning: College AU, tattoos, oral (fem receiving), public sex, fingering, squirting, begging, pet names

Synopsis: In which your friends convince you to get a tattoo.

Word count: 4.1k

“Come onnnn y/n get a tattoo with us”

Haibara pleads where incessant, even moving forward to clasp your hand in both of his and looking at you with wide eyes. 

“Yeah it will be fun, your only young for a bit anyways, might as well do something impulsive” Said Shoko, shrugging as she took a swig of beer from one of the many bottles scattered across the floor you were all sitting on. 

“I cant believe you out of all people are for this idea” You said as you looked at your room mate Shoko in disbelief. 

“Well she's gonna die from lung cancer soon anyways, viva la vida.” Chuckled Gojo earning a potato chip to be thrown at him. 

You weren't exactly the impulsive kind, and even though a decent amount of alcohol was pumping through your veins, the voice of reason in your head was still strong. You look down at your hand which was still in-between Haibara’s and pulled it away, shaking your head. 

“Nope, no way.”

All three of your friends groan in unison. 

“Aw come on y/n cant you squeeze out the stick up your ass just for a day?” Gojo whines and your about to go off on the man before Shoko speaks up

“Geto’s gonna be doing the tattoos, he said he’ll give us a discount.”

You pursed your lips and shot a death glare to your room mate. Damn, she knew your weak point all to well. Everyone and their fucking moms knew about your massive crush on a specific raven hair man in your friend group. And it wasn't like your affection was completely unreciprocated. Like how he’d give you his coat when you were cold, stay behind to talk to you while the rest of the group walked ahead, or even wink at you from across the room. But it never went pass that, teetering on the edge of something else but never quite making it. 

The room was envolped in a silence as everyone intently stared at you, waiting for your response. 

You let out a sigh and threw up your hands.

“For fucks sake, FINE! I’ll do it.”

“Lets gooooo!” Yelled Gojo, high-fiving haibara like they just fond the cure for cancer. 

“But to make it clear, im not doing this because Getos gonna be there.” 

“Oh yeah sureeeeee and Gojo opens up his ass cheeks to let the water in when he takes a shower.” Shoko rolls her eyes and leans over to grab a pack of cigarettes laying on the floor. 

“The fuck does that mean? My ass is spanking clean for your information.” 

“Not true, when ever you bend over I can smell the fumes wafting in my nose, I thought I was going to die once when you bent over to pick up a pencil.” Haibara pinches his nose and waves his hand, making Gojo lunge at him. You and Shoko were hunched over in laughter, desperately trying to catch your breath.

“LIES, IVE HAD MANY WOMEN TELL ME I HAVE A LOVLEY ASS”

~

The night air is cool against your skin, not so cold that its biting into you but instead immersing your warm body in refreshing waves. Despite it being night the cityscape was a constellation of LED lights and signs; lighting up the streets of Tokyo in a colorful array of hues. 

“I bet Gojo will tap out first, right y/n?”

Your brought back to reality when Shoko links her arm up with yours and pulls you close while the four of you walk to the tattoo shop.

“Oh please im a god, im like the second coming of Jesus Christ for fucks sake I DONT FEEL MORTAL PAINNNNNNN!”Gojo yelled on the top of his voice into the night sky. Though there was few, the people walking past gave strange looks making you roll your eyes at Gojos intoxicated state.

“OH YEAH? Then take a poop in front of us!” Haribara demanded with just as much vigor to match Gojo’s proclamation.

“And turn that poop into wine!” You added through a loud grin.

“TURN THAT POOP INTO WINE TURN THAT POOP INTO WINE” You and Haribara chant on repeat, making Gojo flip the two of you off. Your so into it that you don’t even realize your at the shop and Haribara had stopped chanting.

“TURN THAT POOP INTO-……..oh.” Your face flushed a deep red when you felt all eyes on you and you harshly bit your lip.

“Yikes that’s embarrassing, for you.” Gojo snickered and you elbowed him in the side making him bend over dramatically in pain.

“Damn y’all dont know how to be quiet do you?”

You sucked in your breath when your eyes met the owner of the voice who stepped out from a curtain, and you couldn’t help but take in his appearance. Getos raven hair was tied in a messy bun, a singular lock of bangs falling over his eye brow piercing. He was wearing a black wife beater and black sweatpants, showing the multitude of traditional Japanese tattoos that covered his arms in a uniform sleeve. You could see how people mistook him for yakuza, his massive muscular body that towered over anyone with the added addition of tattoos made him look very menacing depending on how you took him.

He must’ve caught you staring because a shit eating grin spreads across his face.

“Hey y/n.”

“oh... hey?” You wave your hand at Geto, a stupid girlish grin on your face and in that moment you wanted to fucking punch your self from how absolutely dumb you sounded.

Getos attentions diverted to his side where two girls open the curtain and walked out. They were dressed in tight clothing, fabric hugging their curves and an intense amount of cleavage on display. It made you slightly concious of what you were wearing; a large grey sweatshirt and a short black skirt with black leggings. A pang of jealously courses through you but you quickly remind you self that they were obviously just clients.

“You two ladies are done, thank you for coming here.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to take a break and come drink with us? It’s too late to be working any way.” One of the girl pouts and touches his forearm, but geto quickly steps away and responds with a bright smile.

“Sorry ladies but I got new clients at more door step, duty calls.”

The girls huff and walk away, the door ringing as they leave the store.

“God damn maybe I should become a tattoo artist.” Gojo mumbles just loud enough so you could all hear and you roll your eyes.

“Don’t you get enough chicks?” Shoke moved to reach into her pocket to light the cigarette that dangled in between her lips.

“Nope. Never enough bitches.”

“Man whore” Haribara says in between a loud cough.

While the three of them shot remarks at each other you took the time to fully take in the studio. It was relatively big, with different parts along the side being sectioned off by curtains. The walls were plastered with rock posters and tattoo designs ranging from eccentric skulls too beutiful realism of geishas. The room smelled of intense cigarette smoke and weed, and loud music played from a speaker located somewhere.

A lamenated binder that sat on top of the glass counter caught your eye and you walk toward it, flipping through the content which were numerous amounts of tattoo designs.

“You see any you like?”

You slightly jump at Getos voice and look up to see he was leaning over the counter, face inches away from yours.

“I-uh, I don’t know, I want something simple probably, I’m no good with pain.” You stutter out.

“How about this then.” Geto points to something in the book and your eyes follow your his finger. It’s a small cherry blossom branch, the flowers are colored in a pastel pink and the lines are relatively thin.

“Oh wow yeah” you nod “that’s perfect.”

“Great, where do you want it?”

“Where’s the least painful place?”

“The ass” Geto deadpans and you choke.

“Seriously?”

“Nah I’m fucking with you, as much fun as that would be for me though.” Getos lazy grin has your brain running laps and you genuinely don’t know if he is joking or not about the last part. “In all seriousness I recommend the thigh, it’s easy to cover and all the fat surrounding the muscle makes it relatively painless.”

You nod, taking a second to contimplate before responding. “Ok then, thigh it is.”

Getos grin widens and you think you catch something glimmer in his black fox eyes, like he just caught you in a trap or something.

“Great, come with me.” Geto walks out of the counter and beckons you to follow him into the curtained room, but before you do a voice stops you both.

“Hey what about us?” Gojo yells while holding a struggling Haribara in a head lock.

“Sukuna and todou can take care of you guys, they should be almost done.” Geto gestures to the other curtains.

“You mean the Yujis brother with the face tats? Oh HELL NO he hates me! He keeps challenging me to a fight!”

“I’d be happy to do Satorus tattoo.” Says a deep voice that emerged from the curtains. You had seen Sukuna a couple times, and of course heard Gojo complain about him too. He was a big guy, similar build to Geto with interesting black tattoos along his forehead jawline and face. There where rumors that they weren’t actually tattoos but instead birth marks and you didn’t doubt that, something about them seemed too natural.

“Great, come on y/n” Geto hovers his hand over the small of your back, slightly pushing you past the curtains and into the room.

In front of you was a long black tattoo chair with enough room to put up your legs and a smaller chair on the side which was surly were the tattoo artist sat. Next to that chair was a small table which held the tattoo gun and an array of ink bottles.

“You can strip for me angel.” Geto said non chalantly.

“W-What?” You whipped around to face him, face engulfed in a flush red at the suggestion.

“You know, take off your leggings, can’t do the tattoo over clothes. I’m gonna print out the stencil while you do that, give you some privacy.”

Your mouth formed to shape a silent “oh” and you nodded, your embarrassment somehow doubled now.

“I’ll be back in a sec lemme just print out the stencil. I’ll give you some privacy”

You nod and as you watch him open the curtain to leave your ears perk up when you hear Geto mumble something barley loud enough for you to hear.

“Dirty girl.”

It takes a couple seconds to register what you just heard or if you even heard right, and before you could say something Getos already gone, leaving you completely speechless. 

~

“You ready y/n? Can I come in?”

Your bit your lip before responding, fiddling with the edge of your black skirt. There was a reason why you wore leggings under your skirt, what made you regret choosing the tattoo on your thigh. Because your skirt was short, really short. It barley covered the pastel pink panties you were wearing and if you looked from behind you could just see the crease from where the fat of your ass hung over your thigh. 

“Yeah you can come in Geto.”

You watched as the curtain parted and Geto walked in, holding a piece of transfer paper with your design. He glances at you, quickly looking up and down before situating him self on the stool next to the tattoo chair. 

“You can sit down.” Geto gestures to the seat.

There's a slight pang in your heart from how he barley pays any mind to you, like your panties weren't basically on display. But you quickly dismiss it.

Right he probably sees stuff like this everyday. He’s a professional, not someone who’d drool over you.

You scurry over to the chair, sitting so half of your body is laying flat while your upper body sat up right, head resting against the cushion. You let out a small squeal when you felt a cold cotton ball of alcohol run over your skin, and you watched as Geto laid the stencil on your upper thigh, peeling it off to reveal the design. The next couple moments of him preparing the tattoo gun pass by in a blur and you can feel your chest tighten up from the barrels of adrenaline that were currently building up through your body with every passing moment. 

“You ready y/n?”

You feel a gloved hand on your thigh and you look up to see Geto staring at you intently, waiting for your answer. 

You gulp and nod. “Yeah just... dont fuck this up, or I'll kill you.” A strangled chuckle escapes your lips to mask your shaking nerves. 

“Dont worry sweet heart” A reassuring grin spreads across Getos lips  “im quite good at my job.”

Your stupid ‘Geto-obsessed’ brain is too hung up on the pet name he just called you to register the buzz of the tattoo machine until you feel a slightly painful prickling sensation on your thigh. 

“Oh, shi-” You immediately bite your lip to contain your squeal making Geto chuckle, his eyes continuing to stay trained on your skin. 

“Not good with pain are we?”

“Depends on the situation.” You quickly retort, mind reeling when you realize the implications of what you just said.

“Oh? Is that so. Well dont worry, if it hurts too much after, I’ll kiss it better.” A smirk spreads across Getos features and his thumb on the hand that's holding your thigh starts to stroke your skin, making something sickly sweet pool in your stomach. 

Oh no.

Your mind immediately goes blank when you feel something warm excrete from your pussy. 

Were you getting off too this?

With the way your skirt was hiked up, you were praying that Geto couldnt see the small damp spot on your underwear, especially since the position he was in would make it extremely easy too. 

“Almost done, just have to do the color. Hang in there ok?”

You nod, your brain trying to find something to distract you from the feeling in your core and the tiny bee stings on your thigh. 

Your eyes land on the person in front of you, and its then you choose to take in Geto, like really take in geto. How his thin eye brows furrow from concentration or the way his fox like eyes remain trained on you, even to his black hair which was tied in a loose bun. Its then you realize just how utterly handsome Geto is. Sure you’ve been around handsome men before, as much you hate to admit it Gojo is a prime example. But there is something different about Geto that sets him apart from men like Gojo, like how his sharp features gives an air of mystery around him. Something that you cant quite put your finger on but what Geto exudes. 

“I can feel you staring you know.”

Your eyes immediately go wide and you quickly look away, your face flushed from embarrassment.

“Ah sorry.” You mumble. Maybe you should keep a count of how many time you could embarrass your self in one day, that would be fun.

“Nah, dont be.”

There's a silence, the buzz of the tattoo gun emanating through the room before Geto speaks up again.

“So what did you think?”

“Of what?”

“Me.”

You check Getos features to see if there is any hint of a joke or playfulness but his face remains concentrated on your skin.

“Oh well uh,” You clear your throat, racking your brain for what would be the best answer to satisfy the man in front of you. “Well your very.... pretty.”

Geto lets out a sudden laugh “Really? I though I was the handsome one and Gojo was the pretty one. Besides that's what im supposed to say to you pretty girl.” 

“You treat all your costumers like this?” You say with hesitance, apprehensive to what the answer might be.

“Nah, only the ones I find cute.”

Your mouth is moving too fast for your brain at this point.

“And are there a lot of those?”

Geto grins, sets the tattoo gun down and finally looks up at you, making your heart practically stop.

“Just you right now pretty girl. And im done by the way.”

There's a silence, just the two of you looking at each other, waiting for the others next move. 

Screw it.

“It hurts too much.” 

“Oh? It does?” His voice is dripping with playfulness and he sits up, taking his black rubber gloves off but not once breaking eye contact with you. 

“A-a-and you said-” The shakiness in your voice surprises you, but Geto quickly cuts you off saving you the embarrassment of repeating his words.

“I know what I said angel.” 

“So please-” 

He's towering over you now, putting his hand under your face to slightly tilt it upward.

“On it.”

Before you can form a thought, a pair of warm lips immediately clash with yours a fit of passion. His first taste of you is hungry and messy and desperate — his tongue exploring every inch of your mouth. Little whines escape your mouth but Geto hungrily swallows them up, a hand coming behind your head to press you closer. You are so eager to abide by him, lapping at his tongue with yours and tracing over his straight teeth. 

“W-w-we should go Geto” You say in between breaths before being pulled back into a brain melting kiss. You jump when you feel two fingers tracing over your panties and your once again reminded of the sticky substance dripping out of you. 

“Not when we haven't taken care of your problem yet, cant leave you high and dry baby.” Geto smiles at how you weakly nod, knowing the exact words to say to make you puddy in his hands. Slowly he pushed you till your legs are dangling at the edge of the tattoo chair. Then he kneels on the floor, pulling down your frilly pink panties and hoisting your legs over his shoulder so he is face to face with your cunt. Getos hot breath against you makes you shiver and when you realize just exactly where you are, how just a measly curtain is preventing all of your friends from seeing you in this compromising position, you try to shimmy away, but Getos strong hands on your legs glue you in place.

“Geto I-”

“Shhhh baby ill be quick I promise, just stay quiet ok?”

And your about to respond when you feel Getos warm tongue flatten against your clit and swipe up, making you slam a hand over your mouth to muffle your moans. He eats out your pussy like a staved man, tongue licking over every crevice and suckling greedily on your clit. He sinks his thumbs into your cunt and spreads, watch your folds drip with slick and your hole tighten before his eyes before diving right back in. Two fingers easily glide knuckles deep into your hole and curling deliciously to tap against your g spot. 

You immediately clamped down around his fingers due to the sudden intrusion. Your hips trying to get away from the surge of pleasure.

"Ah ah ah. Don't run away." He whispers, a sadistic grin plaster on Getos face.”Be a good girl and take it.” A hand flies down to hold his arm but it was hardly to pull him away, no this was just you needing to feel any part of him under your fingers. Geto grins as he returns to delicately sucking your clit  and rolling the bud with his tongue while two fingers bully into you. 

Soon a new type of feeling presses down on you, completely different from all the times you’ve touched your self. It has your body tickling with tingles of ecstasy like every energy core in your body was suddenly ignited.

“Mmm f-feels weird Geto I dont-” You quietly try to warn the man in between you but a particularly harsh thrust of his fingers into you as you harshly biting your lip to quiet your moans.

“You gonna cum baby? Cum for me.”

Your feet are kicking against Getos back as you try to fight the rising tide, the deep-seated dismay that comes with the very thought of him making you cum when your friends where so close making your stomach twist.

Soon the tension pressing against your core is too much, it has your writhing against Getos tongue until you finally fall, releasing a spray of liquid all over Getos face. He continues to lap up your juices, groaning into your pussy and mumbling something about how good you taste. 

When he finally pulls away, your left panting, a silver line of drool slipping past your lips and onto the leather chair. Your too lost in the after haze of your intense orgasm to realize that Geto had started to pull down his sweat pants until your eyes catch his dick spring out.

Its large, really large, your imagination doing no justice to it at all, winning in both girth in length the word impressive barley covered it. 

“Ah n-no we cant you said...” You protest meekly but Geto quickly cuts you off by pressing the mushroom tip against your fluttering cunny.

“I know what I said angel, but you look so pretty right now, just cant help my self.” He lets out a deep groan when he slips into your tight hole down to his balls, and your whole body jumping at the feeling of being so helplessly full. 

“G-geto~!”

Every vein on his cock dragged against your velvety walls, catching on your entrance as he pulled back before thrusting back in. his thrusts were deep, the tip of his cock reaching spots you could only dream of hitting with your fingers. His eyes caught how good you take him - the fat of his head have a hard time popping out with how greedy your cunny is being

"You are really .. a piece of work." There were veins popping on his temple as his cynical grin broaden before he pinned your body on top of the long chair and thrusting into you. Its all so overwhelming, the heat of his body, how the tip of his dick presses deliciously against your cervix of his breath in your ear. It has you a moaning mess, whining loudly about how good you felt, your worries of people catching the two of you becoming fleeting thoughts. Every time you tighten a surge of pleasure courses through your body.

“f-fuck– that’s fucking good.” he says between grunts. “You’re such a good girl, Y/N, my perfect good girl,” 

“So good- don’t stop, please don’t stop!” your babbling strung out of your lips without much of a thought other than how good he was fucking you, his thick cock driving in and out of your velvet walls. It was as if you were made for each other, your cunt sucking him in with each push and shove that hit at just the right spots.

“Not gonna stop till I fill you up-fuck, cum for me baby I know your close”

 The heat on your stomach is unbearable, you can’t take it anymore, it’s consuming you, driving you over the edge so fast that you can’t put a stop on it. Geto muffles your screams with a kiss, your pussy tightening so hard around him that he nearly has to stop his thrusts. 

“M’want your cum p-please.” You say as you pull back from the kiss, electing a loud groan from Geto.

“Fuck s-sweet heart.”

Your words make him chase his high with with renewed vigor until he feels his own release approach on him. His thrusts became sloppy, his hips stuttering before he stilled his hips flush against your pussy. His grip tightened significantly, a loud moan of your name slipping from his lips as his own orgasm washed over him. Geto cums in you, strings and strings of hot cum filling you up as he held you in his arms. It made your body shake, his load weighing at your stomach.

“Fuck,” you pant, needily searching for his mouth with yours, letting yourself melt against his body as you kiss him lazily, your tongue sleepily twining with his. 

“HEY YOU TWO DONE BONING IN THERE? CAN WE LEAVE?” Gojos voice yells from the over side of the curtain making you and Geto groan.

A/n: Im too lazy to write an ending

[words-4u]

they don't know about us - j.'h'.s

pairing: jake 'hangman' seresin x reader

wc: 1.8k

a/n: i am so happy to see glen powell getting the recognition he deserves <333 also listen to 'they don't know about us' by 1d cause that also kinda inspired this imagine!

top gun: maverick masterlist

you've had a passion for flying ever since you were little. it came from spending time with your dad on the airbase whenever possible. seeing the glimmer in his eyes anytime he would return with a new story about flying the f-14s made you want to pursue the same thing, so you did.

the second you were able to sign up for flight school, you did. it was against your mother's wishes because she had already lost your father to the sky and didn't want to lose you too. ultimately, she knew there was no convincing you because once you had your heart set on something, that was it.

flight school was interesting, to say the least. the boys in your class didn't view you as much competition but ever since you smoked their asses on the first day, they were quick to respect you. during your time at flight school, you became super close with natasha aka phoenix as she was the only other girl present and you two got on like a house on fire.

when you found out you and pheonix were heading to top gun, you nearly threw up from the excitement. top gun was no joke. it was the elite school for the best of the best aviators and you were now one of them. it was difficult, wild and stressful but also you also had the best time of your life there. you met all kinds of new people, especially ones that you normally would never surround yourself with because they are cocky, egotistical and very full of themselves making them insufferable. so imagine your surprise when you ended up falling for said person.

jake 'hangman' seresin caught you by complete surprise. you and him didn't talk much until one day you were put together on the same team for beach volleyball as a team bonding exercise. no one knew that you were on your high school volleyball team and took them all the way to the championships so it was fun watching their faces when they realized how good you were at serving the ball.

"holy shit, y/c/s! you're pretty decent at this," hangman said dragging his eyes up and down your body. you were in a black sports bra and biker shorts, nothing too fancy yet the way his eyes lingered on you made you feel like you were dressed in the finest clothes.

"i think you mean to say she's fucking incredible!" phoenix proudly put her arm around your shoulders pulling you in and resting her head on yours. your team won 10 to 4 and it was all thanks to you.

the losing team had to buy the first round of drinks at the hard deck. fanboy and bob were not fans f that but still did it with a smile on their face. you were sat at the bar watching your team bond. one thing about you is that you liked to people watch, not in a creepy way but you liked to see people living in the moment. what you didn't realize is that hangman was observing you. he stopped playing pool with the boys and joined you at the bar.

"tell me something," he began as he pulled a seat next to you. you almost choked on your drink as you weren't expecting company. "where did you learn to serve like that? cause it looked killer,"

you smiled into your drink. "i played a little in high school."

"how did i not know that?" he scoffed.

you gazed into his eyes, slightly taken aback by how intensely he was staring back. "you never asked. in fact, you haven't spoken more than 10 words to me since we started at top gun so there wasn't ever a chance."

"well," he raised his empty glass. "it's time we change that."

you knew you shouldn't get sucked into his orbit but was too late the second you started to clench your thighs anytime he smiled at you, you were a goner.

taking your cup and clinking it against his, you grinned at him. "i guess it is."

"penny darling, another round please."

the two of you fell into a comfortable conversation. of course, hangman being hangman he flirted in the most obvious ways but you laughed it off. it was quite alarming how much you were starting to enjoy being in his presence but you brushed off those thoughts and embraced the moment. the rest of the bar fell into a blur and it was like you two were the only ones there until you two were actually the last ones there. he was a gentleman and asked to walk you back to the accommodation you shared with phoenix.

"this is me," you said walking up the steps to your door. you turned around and found him on the step below you so were at eye level.

"thanks for today. i had fun."

"name the time and place and i can always show you a good time," he smirked.

"okay hangman. good night," you started to turn around but his hand caught your arm.

"wait, y/n," you looked back and your heart softened a bit. you've never seen jake 'hangman' seresin so nervous before.

"do you-can i see you again?"

"yeah, i'm gonna see you tomorrow for class." you joked. you knew what hewas really asking but you wanted to make sweat a bit.

"yeah i guess you are," he said chuckling, scratching the back of his neck. "what i'm trying to say is i liked your company a lot tonight and i'd like to do it again in a more... intimate setting?"

you couldn't help but let out a giggle. "jake seresin, are you asking me out on a date?"

"only if you say yes"

you pretended to deliberate for a few seconds before putting him out of his misery. "i'd love to."

you had no idea then but those three words changed your life. you fully intended that date with hangman to be a one-off, but it turned onto second and third and with each passing day you fell more and more.

hangman and you wanted to keep things professional at school but off-hours, you were all over each other. because he couldn't touch you in front of your peers in private, his hands were always on you. while you two studied? his hand on your legs while it was on your lap. sleeping together? his hand will always find yours in the middle of the night. walking on the beach at night as you are right now? you guessed it, his hand was holding yours.

hangman was a confident man, to say the least, but he came undone when it came to you. it terrified him at first but it quickly became a strength of his because you made him want to be a better man. he loved you and he knew you loved him and in your shared world things moved so fast but he wanted one thing to remain constant and that was you.

you stopped at random and took in a deep breath. "i don't think i will ever get over the ocean breeze at night. it's incredible."

hangman's eyes were on you. "yeah, it is."

you looked back and smiled but it feel a little when you saw his look of unease. "hey, what's wrong?"

"n-nothing." he grabbed your hands and kissed your knuckles "it's all good."

"i know you too well to know it's not, so spill."

"i love you," he began. "like a lot. with everything that flight school or life could have prepared me for there was no way, i could have prepared for you. for the longest time, i thought that flying was my first love but i've never been more wrong. it's you y/n and i want to spend the rest of my life with you. only you."

your eyes were burning with unshed tears. "jake," you whispered.

he got down on one knee and opened a small black velvet box travelling a stunning ring. "there are many ways to be happy in this life but all i really need is you. so y/n 'y/c/s' y/l/n will you marry me?"

you got down on both knees not caring if the water was soaking your silk skirt. "yes! yes! a million times yes!"

he slid the ring on the appropriate finger before you took his face and kissed him as hard as you could. it took a second before hangman took full control of the kiss, running his hand through your hair.

you pulled away and brushed his nose with yours. "hi future husband."

"hi future wife," he kissed your forehead before lifting you back into a standing position with him.

you two couldn't wait months to plan a whole elaborate wedding to be married so on a random day you two had off, you went straight to the california city hall and got your papers.

you guys kept it very lowkey around others much like when you were dating but to the outside world, it looked a budding friendship. for the rest of your time at top gun, you guys pushed each other to be the best always trying to one-up each other. the competitiveness usually ended up with you two having hot sex later on but no one knew that. it wasn't until graduation day that the cat was out of the bag.

you had decided to hyphenate your last name and your husbands name and you wanted to be said like that when your name was called. "lieutenant y/n 'y/c/s' y/l/n-seresin."

whispers broke out among your peers but you stood up proudly and saluted your commanding officer before sitting back down. pheonix tried to catch your eye but you stared straight ahead not wanting to have a much-needed conversation non-verbally.

the second graduation was over you went over to the refreshments table. "i knew i'd find you here,"

the comforting voice slid his hands around your body and kisses your head. "i'm proud of you, baby"

"never in a million years did i ever think i'd see hangman so cuddly!" a voice called out behind you two.

you guys turned around and there was rooster, coyote, phoenix, fanboy and payback.

"someone quickly explain because i am so lost,” rooster said.

"surprise?" you nervously chuckled holding up your hand and hangman did the same showing off his wedding band.

"what? how? when?" fanboy asked.

hangman went on to tell the story and as you stood there watching him, surrounded by your friends, you were the happiest you had ever been. you and hangman went through tough times together and made it out the other side stronger. there is truly no other person you'd want to spend the rest of your life with.

[havensins]

May I request headcanons for Dr Strange with a top cis male bf who was raised to use Dark magic. They met in battle but feel in love and now " work" together. Reader is flirty,sarcastic and touchy ( with consent) to Dr Strange

Thanks! Can I be 🐉 anon?

stephen strange x m!reader

cw . can be read as gn!reader, minor mentions of eating, is this a slight slow burn? flirty!reader, minor mention of smut (dom!reader).

note . there are no MoM spoilers so don’t worry! & yes, you can be that anon, i hope you enjoy :) also not proofread-

okay so we all know how stephen is right-

yk he’s always putting people above himself no matter what, and always tries to make the better decision

so when the both of you meet in battle, he’s taken aback for two reasons

for one, you’re probably one of the most handsome men he’s ever come across

and for two, you seemed so??? experienced??? with magic in a way that he’s never seen before and it kinda shocks him for a minute

but at the end of the battle, of course he’s victorious no matter how experienced you are

he gives you a chance yk, to work alongside him and try to get you to see the bigger picture and other ways you could use your magic

okay great

now that the backstory is over with, we can actually get into the actual headcanons-

training with stephen is fun for you and a full time job for him

he teaches you safer ways to use your magic

well, tries

you’re mostly too busy staring at him while he’s focused to actually retain any information

“… what are you even staring at?” he grumbles, fighting the urge to roll his eyes

“you.”

he literally just goes ????? and gets all red as much as he tries to keep the blush down

you make him so flustered and shy whenever you flirt with him

if you’re just sitting down and going over spells and such and notice his hands, you’ll grab them and hold them

the first time you did it he was in a state of shock almost bc it’s been so long since he’s been treated to such kindness he doesn’t know how to react

he loves your hugs but would never admit it, he’ll just say “move…” but make no effort to actually get out of your embrace

it took a minute for him to get used to your sarcasm and slight witty remarks though

you’d say something in reply to him with a shit-eating grin on your face and he’d just narrow his eyes at you

wong gets so so tired seeing you be so flirty and stephen pretend like he doesn’t like it

the blush stephen has when you say certain things is hidden so poorly, its cute

wong feels like he’s watching a romance soap opera unfold right in front of his eyes

strange doesn’t know when exactly he fell in love with you, but the moment he realized, it hit him hard

when you’re not around him, he finds himself wondering if you’ve eaten that day, or if you drank your water

he wonders if you’re rested and even finds himself missing your sarcasm and the way you’d flirt with im

and what really put the icing on the cake was the fact he missed your touch

the way you’d hold his hands or wrap yourself around him in your embrace

the thought of being in love scares him honestly. but he wasn’t one to hide his feelings

so when he saw you and felt his heart go “!” the moment you opened your mouth the greet him, he decided it would be best to tell you

and so, while you were telling him about your most recent adventure, rambling away to him while tracing along his hands, he just… blurts it out

“i think i love you,” cue the song page by got7

and you’re a little in shock, because it was just so?? random??

and you’re silent for a moment while he searches your eyes for any hint that you even feel the same way about him

“i think i love you too,” you smile, and he lets out a breath he didn’t even know he was holding

“you make me feel a way i never thought i’d be able to feel again, and it scares me but i don’t think i want it to stop,” he murmurs

and you don’t know how the both of you got so physically close to the point where his lips are brushing against yours

the gap between you two is closed and your lips meet

and stephen swears his heart sings as your lips are moving in tune with his

you pull away from him and give him a smile that makes his heart leap once more

and from then on, stephen is more happy around the sanctum, and your affection has gotten more obvious

bold flirting, longer touches, kisses when you’re both alone

wong catches you both sharing a kiss and just- gets so happy that he doesn’t have to deal with your endless pining anymore

but he does have to deal with hearing the loud creaking of the bed nearly every night and the loud moans from stephen

idk man, i don’t really have much to add now, you’re the one stephen wants to be with for the rest of his life, even if the outcome of your meeting was unexpected.

[sunderlust]

this is me trying ii (rooster x reader)

masterlist part 1 | part 2 | part 3 pairing: bradley 'rooster' bradshaw x reader synopsis: bradley bradshaw is the bane of your existence on north island - you finally got a chance to tell him off for giving you a hard time, but the guilt is weighing down on you and making it harder for you to deal with your ongoing existential crisis. maybe all it takes is a volleyball game and a heart to heart to make you see clearly... (read p1 first i'm begging you) warnings: explicit language, mentions of alcohol consumption, later explicit sexual activity, lots of existential dread, volleyball shenanigans, hiking, hangman no use of y/n, one small mention of suicidal thoughts near the very end note: seasonsbloom and gretagerwigsmuse - i love u both forever i dedicate everything to you both. also full disclaimer I don't know anything about volleyball or the sunset cliffs hiking trail lol. wc: 9k (holy fucking shit sorry y'all I just may'd)

The first thing you feel Thursday night is relief - ever since you moved to this stupid city, the weight of holding back all your anger and annoyance with Bradley had returned in full force. After your fight with him, you feel a fifty-ton weight lift from your shoulders; you can breathe for the first time in two weeks. 

“I told Bradley off,” you tell Cam and Cher casually after dinner. They both share a weird look, waiting for you to elaborate. “He’s been giving me a hard time at Java. Coming in with ridiculous orders and mocking me and tipping large amounts just to make fun of me. And he thinks he can tell me it’s just teasing between friends?! Since when were we friends?”

On Friday morning, when 6:30 rolls around with Bradley being a no-show, you feel unease settle over you. It’s minuscule - it feels like you’re carrying an obese cat on your shoulders - but it’s noticeable. And as the day goes on, you start to mull over yesterday’s debacle, wondering if you were a little too harsh. 

You waste your weekend thinking about it more, replaying your words, recalling every single detail. Each time you restart the memory, your stomach sinks lower when you see Bradley’s crestfallen and shocked expression. The obese cat grows bigger, and your anxiety makes you feel smaller. 

On Sunday night, you groan and collapse on the loveseat in Cam’s living room with a languid sigh. Cher’s lounging on the L-shaped couch reading on her iPad, while Cam’s puttering around in the kitchen. 

“I don’t know how much more water I can tread, guys.” you groan and bury your face into a soft velvet throw pillow.  

“Can I be frank with you?” Cher asks, switching her tablet off and setting it aside. 

“Always,” you nod as best as you can, voice muffled by the fabric. 

“You need another outlet.” 

You lift your head from the velvet. “What kind of outlet can I find on this stupid island? No offense,” you add. “I thought I could get by doing nothing, but I finished all of the Stranger Kids show and a bunch of Academy Award winners that I’ve missed and I almost got sucked into something called Bridgerton-” 

“You need a physical outlet,” Cher interrupts, smiling comfortingly. 

You sigh again. “Years at a desk job have completely wrecked my ankles too much for me to go on long morning jogs again. Like, if I did a deep squat right now, my heels are going to lift so high I’ll tip over like a fucking cow. And I know you told me to do yoga with Cam, but I’m not sure I can bring myself to get up at 5 AM on a Saturday - I need to sleep in on the weekends.” 

Cam comes in and plops themself down in their favorite armchair facing the TV. “I wasn’t going to suggest yoga again. But my friend Natasha from class asked if I knew anyone who played volleyball, and you were the first person to come to mind. They’re playing tomorrow evening.” 

You gape at them. “I haven’t played in years. I think the last time I touched a volleyball was at a company team retreat a few years back, and I was just a spectator tossing it back to the cutie from the web team.” 

“The cutie from GUI,” Cher dreamily breathes out, laughing as she dodges the throw pillow you launch at her face.

“Come on!” Cam implores. “You were great at intramural volleyball back in undergrad! And it’s just casual, they need someone to even out the teams so no one sits out. They’ll buy you drinks afterward - guaranteed.” 

You mull over the idea in your mind. Who in their sound mind would NOT want to meet a bunch of strangers and fumble through a sport they haven’t played in years? 

Although, you would love to be able to get out of the house and into the sunshine again without feeling the overwhelming anxiety of doing things on your own. A week ago, you’d bookmarked the Sunset Cliffs Natural Park over on Point Loma, west of North Island. But hiking on your own felt too intimidating, and you hadn’t gotten around to asking Cher and Cam to join. 

Maybe this was another saving grace - another opportunity falling into your lap to do something new and push yourself out of your comfort zone. A chance to do something meaningful, to make friends outside of Cam and Cher so you could stop mooching off of them and draining their energy. Because as much as you knew they loved you and were happy to host you, there was still that small part of you that insisted they were counting down the days for you to leave. 

Worst case? You fumble the ball and never have to see these people again. Best case? Maybe you make some friends, burn some energy, and potentially google hot people on the beach, bumping and setting the ball in slow motion like they’re on Baywatch. 

Yeah, that last point is rather convincing.

“Alright,” you sigh. “If anything, I’ll spike the ball and pretend it’s Bradshaw’s face.” 

Cam and Cher share another weird look. 

-- 

At 6 PM, you pull into the parking lot for the Hard Deck and immediately spot a gaggle of tall, muscled guys setting up the sand volleyball court boundaries out on the beach. The light of the late afternoon sun glistens off their tanned skin and sends your nerves into a frenzy; you don’t know how you’ll be able to play a casual game of volleyball with the likes of these people. 

“Hey! Cam’s friend, right? It’s so great to meet you!” Natasha calls out as you approach her and her SUV. She immediately goes in for a hug, which makes you feel both giddy and incredibly shy as you return it - it feels like it’s been a while since you’ve tried to make a new friend. 

“Hi, Natasha, it’s so nice to meet you! Thanks for inviting me, it’s so nice to do something other than Netflix and chill with myself in the evening,” you cringe at yourself. Why the fuck did you say that to another person? 

But Natasha shakes her head with a huge, understanding smile. “It’s no biggie - we’ve all just been playing pool over at the Hard Deck and Bob suggested maybe we get some sunlight for once. It’ll be great to work off some tension after work - sorry in advance if anyone’s particularly intense here,” she laughs. 

“Oh, what do you all do?” you ask, eyeing one tall, dark-skinned man and how his muscles ripple as he handles a volleyball between two large palms. 

“We’re Navy - all of us are pilots,” Natasha says. 

Your stomach plummets. Oh fuck. If these guys are all coworkers AND in the Navy AND pilots - well, you didn’t need your stupid engineering degree to do the math. There’s a high probability that someone’s about to make his presence known-

“Yo, Phoenix!” a husky, familiar voice calls out behind you. “Yale said he wouldn’t be able to make it, so we’ll probably have to...” his voice trails off as he recognizes you. 

You pause, meeting his gaze through your sunglasses. “Hi, Bradley,” you say, deciding to at least be the bigger person and not outright ignore him. 

He doesn’t seem to share the same sentiment, nodding once your way before redirecting his attention back to Phoenix. “I guess we’re even on teams then. I’ll go help set things up.” 

You feel a twinge of something in your chest - almost feeling hurt that he was still so upset with you. But you dismiss it as quickly as it came - you have nothing to feel bad about and apparently, neither does Bradley as he jogs away towards the group around the newly set up court. Natasha looks on with a curious expression before picking up an extra volleyball and leading you to where the rest of the group is. 

Bradley doesn’t even look at you. He’s off to the side, tossing a volleyball between both his hands idly and conversing with a man in glasses. 

A taller, dark-skinned man approaches the two of you with a broad smile, giving Natasha a high five and you a friendly nod. She’s still explaining the game setup to you. “We’ll have two teams of five, we might switch things around here and there and we might be dicks to each other, but I promise we’ll keep you out of the line of fire. Just look the other way if I start acting like a sore loser.” 

“Natasha, I’m not sure if Cam’s mentioned, but my competitiveness in IM volleyball got me ejected from a game after I slammed the ball into another guy’s face. No worries.” 

She and the other man laugh, and he reaches a hand out to shake yours. You introduce yourself to him, and he does the same. “Reuben - but call me Payback. And I’m not sure if she’s mentioned, but she goes by Phoenix.” 

You’re confused. “Phoenix?” 

“It’s her callsign,” he replies as if that explains everything. 

“Callsign?” you repeat, looking between the two of them. 

“Yeah, it’s like a unique identifier for each of us. We get it assigned to us by our class, usually when we do something stupid in boot camp,” Nat- or, Phoenix explains to you. 

“Can’t I just call you all by your real name? Instead of nicknames?” 

“Callsigns,” Payback corrects. “And honestly, you could. But it’ll catch us off guard. I mean, if you called out ‘Reuben’ mid-game, I’d probably book it to the ocean because my gut instinct will be telling me that my ex has finally tracked me down to get back the NSYNC CD I stole from her.” 

“Poor girl,” you muse, and he laughs. 

“Come on, we’ll introduce you to everyone and you’ll have everyone’s sign down in no time! We’ll only be using those so you’ll get confused if you don’t know them.” 

He and Phoenix walk you over to a tall, blond Adonis. Like the others, he’s shirtless, tanned, and muscled. You wonder if he could crack walnuts with his biceps. “This is Jake, or ‘Bagman’-” 

“Hangman,” the Ken doll says, rubbing the stubble along his jawline which is tightly clenched as he surveys the game being set up. He looks over at you briefly to nod once. “Nice to meet you.” 

“Don’t mind him,” Phoenix tells you with an eye roll. “He’s hung up on his girl, but she’s not talking to him.” 

You nod, only half paying attention now that you’ve caught sight of Bradley making his way over to your gaggle of three. You can’t read his expression thanks to the trusty Ray Bans he’s wearing, but his strut is as cocky as ever. 

“Hangman has a girl?” Payback asks just as Bradley reaches earshot. 

“Oh yeah, Penny’s tutor friend? Hangman spilled a mojito on her after Dogfight the other day. Poor girl looked terrified.” Bradley teases and smacks Hangman on the back. The others laugh along at a stoic-faced Hangman whose cheeks have slightly flushed. 

“You pilots really seem to have a knack for tormenting innocent women,” you blurt out, narrowing your eyes at the three boys. Bradley’s eyebrows furrow right back. 

“Guess we do,” he says shortly. 

Phoenix shifts her eyes between the two of you before clearing her throat. “This is Bradley - I suppose you already know. We call him Rooster.” 

“Rooster? That’s your callsign?” you ask, incredulously. 

“Yeah! Because he looks out for his own,” Payback says in a high-pitched, almost mocking tone. He couples his words with a sharp pinch to Bradley’s cheek, and he abruptly smacks Payback’s hands away. 

At long last, Hangman breaks his silence with a loud bark of laughter. “Hold on, do you two know each other?” Hangman asks, a grin replacing his scowl. “Why so tense, Bradshaw? Did she give you the slip in the wee hours of the morning?” 

“Shut up,” Rooster threatens at the same time that you say, “We were at UVA together.” 

You blink, feeling slightly hurt for a second before realizing he definitely wouldn’t care enough to tell his Navy buddies about his old college friend who hypothetically got dropped from her hotshot engineering job and was now in Fightertown. You try your best to swallow the lump that still appears in your throat. 

A beat of silence follows. “Apparently, we’re arch nemeses,” Bradley says bitterly, and you’re pretty sure you catch him rolling his eyes behind his sunglasses. 

You narrow your eyes. “Always so dramatic, huh, Bradley?” 

“Me? I’m being dramatic? You’re the one who said it! This is some real pot-meet-kettle crap, Buttercup.”

“Buttercup?” Phoenix deadpans, looking at you sympathetically. You beat Bradley to answer. 

“It’s a stupid joke he’s kept going for fifteen years because Bradley’s quite skilled at never letting things go!” you spit out. 

“Oh, don’t we know it?” Hangman says under his breath before Bradley can retort, then swiftly catches a volleyball from someone over by the court. He crooks one finger in your direction. “We’ll have to call you Buttercup - both because it might piss off Rooster over here, and because I didn’t catch your name.” 

“Jake,” Bradley says warningly, but Hangman’s jogged away before he can get another word out. 

Stupid Rooster. And even stupider Hangman. 

-- 

Volleyball starts easy enough once you’re introduced to the rest of the team. Phoenix keeps you on her team along with Fanboy, an intimidatingly handsome man who goes by Coyote, and a really sweet, round-faced man wearing glasses named Bob. Bradley sticks to the other side, trying hard not to look annoyed with Hangman ordering his teammates around. 

“So you’re Bradley’s friend? Ow!” Coyote starts to ask, but Phoenix cuts him off by elbowing him in the side. 

“No, she’s my friend. I met her through someone from yoga.” She gives him a hard look. “That’s right, I know people outside of you creeps.” 

Coyote furrows his brow. “When do you have the time to go to yoga? And do they have any open spots? Preferably a mat right behind you, Phoe- Jesus!” Coyote rubs the back of his head where Bob’s initial practice serve had landed.

“Sorry!” he calls out, but you can see the curve of a smile on his face as he turns away from Coyote’s glare. You like Bob. 

Once everyone’s in position, Bob makes the first serve - this time a perfect one that arcs the ball over the net and into Payback’s waiting hands. He bumps it over the net, and the game continues. 

The sun beats down on you as you play into the evening. You try your hardest not to ogle the guys around you - or Natasha, for that matter - and it’s relatively easy once you start focusing on the game. But unexplainably, every single time Bradley leaps up to spike the ball, you feel a jolt of excitement at the sight of his abs clenching and his bicep muscles rippling in slow motion. It’s all tan skin and toned calves and bulging biceps and- 

Your train of thought is interrupted by Bob calling out “Buttercup, eyes up!” 

You swiftly bounce back into motion, bumping the ball over to Phoenix, who slams the ball over the net. Close one. And that’s another thing - you’ve adjusted shockingly well to your honorary callsign as every one of your teammates decides to use it, even Natasha a few times (you only feel slightly betrayed at that). 

They reshuffle the groups every game and somewhere along the line, Bradley’s suddenly on your team. You resign yourself to staying as far away from him as possible and let him take the front line and you linger towards the back, and for the most part, your team works like a well-oiled machine. 

You’re surprised at how well Bradley can predict your next move, always positioning himself in the perfect spot to catch your set and spike it over the net. It’s like years of verbal sparring somehow prepared you for this moment to absolutely annihilate Hangman’s team together at volleyball. After one particularly spectacular play, you lock eyes with him and marvel at how in sync the two of you are. Mindlessly, you offer him a double thumbs up. 

Jesus Christ, you’re a dork, you think to yourself before Bradley enthusiastically throws up a goofy thumbs up in return. 

After Coyote’s attempt to save the ball ended with him diving and skidding into the sand, the opposing team wins the game point. “Alright, I think I’m gonna call it,” he says loudly and stands up to brush the sand off his knees. 

You look up and finally realize just how much time has passed. The sun’s making its way down the horizon, and the sky has transformed into a beautiful spectrum of orange and pink hues scattered across the wide expanse. The Hard Deck behind you is already lit with colorful LEDs, and the parking lot is a few cars fuller as more locals make their way in for evening drinks. 

Natasha, who had already relocated to the other team earlier, raises both hands in the air. “I’m still down for a game or two! Bob?” 

“You guys go ahead,” Bob says, wiping at his glasses. “I gotta rinse the sand off these, I can’t see shit.” As he makes his way back to the cars, he holds his hand out for you to slap your palm into for a quick low five. A couple of other pilots agree to make their way in for drinks, except Hangman. 

“I’m game.” - “I’ll play.” you and Bradley both say at the same time, then eye each other curiously. He’s finally removed his sunglasses and you observe how his light brown eyes shine in the evening light. Somehow, his mustache has bits of sand stuck into it from his many dives to the ground. 

You know you’re not much better off - you’ll be scraping sand out from your scalp for days after this. 

“I’ll play with Phoenix,” Hangman proclaims, and tosses a ball over to Bradley. “Losers can serve this time.” 

Everyone else rolls their eyes. “You uh... You want to start?” Bradley turns to you, idly tossing the ball in the air. “I mean, serve?” 

You nod your head and he passes it to you to begin the game. Somehow, you and Bradley work even better as a team of two without the extra people to keep track of. Neither of you even has to call out your next move - both just instinctively making way for the other when Nat or Hangman sends the ball barrelling over the net. It’s easy, effortless, something you never really felt with Bradley until you opened yourself up to working together with him. 

“Heads up!” Bradley calls out and passes the ball to you, setting you up for a nice spike that wins you the game. “Nice one, Buttercup!” 

After celebrating your victory with Rooster with an awkward high five that you can still feel vibrating in your right hand, you make your way back up to the Hard Deck. Natasha is toweling off sand near her car and she holds out a water bottle as you approach, which you accept gratefully. 

“Thanks for coming. I know it was late notice, but the guys really liked you,” she grins as you chug half of the water in record time. 

“I had a great time!” you tell her and screw the cap back on. “I really can’t express enough how much I appreciate the invite and getting to know you all. You all are so welcoming - i-it just means a lot to me, being new here and all.” 

She’s quiet for a moment, then looks at you with what you can best describe as a guilty expression. “I’ve gotta be honest because I feel bad about hiding things. Cam and I may have conspired to bring you here to make nice with Bradley.” 

Your heart sinks. “What?” you ask numbly, 

She slams the trunk of her SUV shut before responding. “Hear me out - Cam’s a really good friend. I met them back when I was at TOP GUN for the first time. And now we’ve been catching up over yoga and they told me about your whole thing with Rooster - I mean, Bradley - from your college days. And I thought it was funny, honestly, it doesn’t come as a surprise to me that he was a little shit back then. 

“But I know something happened between the two of you last week,” she says, and you stiffen. “Because Bradley’s going through some rough shit with this mission, but he was worse than usual last Thursday. And I wasn’t sure what could’ve caused it - I thought it was the same shit with our instructor or something. But then he got super wasted back at base and was just moping around about some Buttercup or whatever and I put together the bits and pieces. Long story short, this mission is so fucking crucial. It’s life or death, and we need the best of the best to be on their A-game, and that especially includes Rooster. 

“Plus, Cam thinks you should let bygones be bygones for the sake of your journey - which I don’t know many details about and I’m not going to pry, but I trust them. So yeah, I suggested volleyball to the team, and conveniently, Yale wasn’t able to make it so I offered to have you sub in, and here we are now,” she finishes quickly, still looking nervous. 

You breathe in heavily, leaning against her car and mulling over her words. “I don’t... I’m not sure what I can do with him.” 

“For what it’s worth, you two seemed to make a really good team near the end there. Maybe you can go smooth things over with him now,” she gestures to where Bradley is currently sitting on one of the wooden beach chairs in the sand. 

You settle an unimpressed look on her and she hastily corrects herself. “Like - not that you’ve done anything wrong to smooth things over. Just... Look, I think he just feels really bad about it - as he should! - but he’s definitely too embarrassed to approach you, let alone apologize out of the blue for how things went down. And maybe if you just go over there, he’ll feel comfortable enough to tell you what he said to me Friday night.” 

“What did he say Friday night?” you quirk an eyebrow. 

She sighs. “I’d love to tell you, girl, but it’s not my place. Just talk to him?” 

You nod, crossing your arms. “I’m not entirely thrilled that you and Cam tried to be all sneaky,” Natasha has the decency to look a little ashamed. “But I understand why. And I mean... At this point, I’m tired of being in this weird limbo with him.” 

She nods in understanding. “No matter what happens, it’ll be okay. I owe you a mint g&t afterward!”

“Sounds great. Wait, how do you know I drink-” you start, but Phoenix is already walking towards the Hard Deck with a sly grin on her face. 

“Good luck, Buttercup!” she calls out before disappearing around the corner of the building. 

You sigh again and shoot a glance over to where Bradley’s still sitting, still staring at the sky changing colors over the horizon. It’s now or never, you think, then silently berate yourself for thinking something so cliche. Taking another deep breath, you make your way across the beach to the unoccupied chair under the umbrella. 

“Hey,” you come up behind him, wavering to see if he’s going to dismiss you or let him join him. 

He looks up, and you try to ignore the weird feeling in your stomach when his warm, chocolate eyes meet your nervous gaze. Why isn’t he being a regular douche and wearing his sunglasses? “Hi, Buttercup.” 

You shuffle your feet around slightly, shifting your eyes around to avoid that weird feeling again. Maybe you’re just hungry. “Mind if I join you?” 

He extends a hand out to gesture toward the empty chair to his right. “By all means.” 

You mumble a quick “thanks” and plop down in the seat next to him. A few minutes of silence pass between the two of you - to pass the time, you look up at the multi-colored umbrella above you and count how many different colored stripes there are. 

You’re at four reds when Bradley breaks the silence. “‘Bane of your existence', huh?” he says with a crooked smile. “What is this, Bridgerton?”

You raise an eyebrow. “Sorry?” 

“Bridgerton on Netflix? Season 2? Anthony and Kate?” 

You look over at him with an incredulous look. “You’ve seen that entire show?” you deadpan. 

He stretches his legs out, brushing some sand from his knees absentmindedly. “I mean... Yeah. Love me some Shonda. No Grey’s for me though - couldn’t get past season 2.” 

You snort, looking over at him. “I don’t think I’ve managed to finish a show at all in the last five years. My job was always... Well, either way, I just finished Stranger Things on Saturday. Bridgerton might be next.” 

“It’s pretty good.” He bounces his head in a nod, looking back out at the horizon. Another few beats of silence pass, and you struggle to find the exact words you want to say. But it seems like Natasha was right about him after all because Bradley beats you to the punch before you can open your mouth. “Listen, I just... I feel terrible about what happened in college. And I know I was all petty and mean earlier today and I don’t want to just make excuses for my actions. Shit, I want to keep myself accountable but I never could have imagined I was making you feel that way in college. And especially here, you know?” 

You chew your lower lip and tightly grip the armrests of the chair nervously. “I just... I shouldn’t have blown up at you on Thursday-” 

He’s shaking his head. “No, no, I totally deserved that-” 

“I just got so angry-” 

“As you should be-”

“And things have just been so hard lately-” 

“I’m really sorry about that, I had no business trying to pry-”

“Jesus Christ, let me finish, Bradley!” you interrupt loudly. He shrinks back and you rub your temples warily.

“That’s what she said,” he mumbles and you look at him incredulously.

A burst of laughter falls from your lips. “Are you twelve?” you ask through a giggle and he breaks out into a wide smile. 

“I’m sorry. I’ll let you speak. My lips are sealed,” he mimes sealing them with an imaginary key and then throwing it behind him. Your eyes linger over the small crinkles by his eyes as he’s smiling, and you quickly snap them back to the sand in front of you, choosing your next words carefully. 

“I guess... Well, first things first you should know that I quit my job.” 

Bradley looks shocked. "What?! At Java-"

"No, not Java Roasters. I mean my job in Raleigh," you huff out and lean all the way back so that your head rests against the wood. His eyes are trained on you, unblinking. 

“Why?” he asks. 

"I quit... because I hated it. I hated the daily minutia of logging onto a computer and attending stupid morning meetings and reporting my stupid project progress and pretending my work is meaningful- I just... I couldn't do it anymore.” 

Bradley’s gaze is still focused solely on you. It feels less intense now, less nerve-wracking than it’s ever felt before. Like there’s no judgment or threat of mocking, just Bradley listening like you’re telling him the most riveting tale and not the story of how everything is falling apart. He hums, encouraging you to continue. 

“I remember the moment I made the decision so clearly. Like on my way back from work, driving down I-40 and I couldn’t imagine living the rest of my life that way like a... Like a blur. I don’t even recall the last time I picked up a book for fun or got into a tv show or followed one of my passions.”

You pause to take a breath, feeling the returning lump in your throat become increasingly hard to swallow as you realize just how vulnerable you’re becoming. “So I quit. Called up all my friends and Camila was the only one to offer me something that wasn’t another job in the field that literally burned me out. So I’m here now. Just a failure, but at least I didn’t get fired,” you joke, turning away to wipe the one tear that’s fallen down your right cheek. 

“Hey, it’s fine, it’s okay,” you hear Bradley say and suddenly his hand is there - open-faced on your left armrest, not touching you in the slightest. An invitation. A peace offering. A symbol of support. You hesitate for a moment before grasping his hand with your left, squeezing lightly. He continues, “Nothing about this tells me you’re a failure. I never even thought that word was in your vocabulary.” 

“You know, you learn something new every day,” you reply through a soggy giggle. He chuckles and squeezes his hand twice. “I don’t know. Back in undergrad, I thought this was what I wanted. Working for a big-shot company with cutting-edge tech. Then I just got pigeonholed into doing the same thing over and over again, and the work was rarely that stimulating.

“Anyways,” you continue. “I guess I just wanted to explain myself and why I’m here now. And Cam says I’ve been holding onto the past for too long, so I guess that’s why everything just all came out last Thursday. I’m sorry - you didn’t deserve me yelling at you like that.” 

Bradley’s been attentive, nodding throughout your spiel and holding onto your hand tightly. When you gesture for him to say his piece, he clears his throat and removes his hand from your grasp. You ignore how cold your fingers feel now and shove them under your thigh. 

“I never knew there was a different side to our... relationship. I always figured it was friendly competition like we were just pushing each other. And honestly, I think it got me through some of my gen eds because I studied so hard into the night trying to impress you-” 

“Impress me?” you ask, partly from shock. “Why?” 

He shrugs. “I dunno. You were smart and so sincere about school and it was always so inspiring, I wanted to do the same. Maybe you’d think I was... cool. I guess” You let his words sit in the air, looking back on every single interaction with him from undergrad that you can remember. 

Because you can’t remember him being malicious, or him being cruel or mean. If you took off your Petty Goggles™, you can see that maybe he never meant to talk to you in a mocking, demeaning way. Maybe. 

“I’m sorry,” Bradley goes on. “I never meant to give you a hard time in college. I wish I saw how my teasing affected you earlier and I wish I was observant enough to realize you never played along, you always just sort of... took it. That’s not fair to you at all. And I wish I hadn't been so obnoxious and fallen back into old habits this past week. I’m just really sorry. And moving forward I’d like to be more self-aware.” 

You nod, cracking a half smile. “You were pretty fucking obnoxious. Caramel in matcha sounds terrible.”

“It’s incredible,” he defends. “And just for the record, I finished every single drink you made for me. You’re doing amazing as a barista so far, sweetheart.”

The two of you laugh, and you feel so much lighter. At this moment, you think that maybe you and Bradley could be friendly - at least, you definitely could leave the past in the past and get a fresh start just like you were hoping to do when you came to North Island. Let go of this stuff with Bradley and get to know him for who he is. 

“Listen... If you’re willing, I-I’d like to have a fresh start?” he says, and he stumbles over the words clumsily, like he’s rehearsed them like he’s hoping you won’t turn him down. 

You smile. “Yeah. I think I’d like that, Bradley.” 

Bradley beams at you - oh fuck, there’s that weird nauseating feeling in your gut - and you hesitantly smile right back. “Let’s head back inside. I’ll get you a drink,” he starts to stand. 

You narrow your eyes playfully. “Thought you wanted me to cover the next drink? You know, with my big STEMinist paycheck?” 

He closes his eyes, breathes in deeply, and turns his head up to the sky before exhaling with a pained smile. “I’m quite a jackass, aren’t I?” 

You roll your eyes and laugh before turning around and making your way through the cool sand. Your heart feels full - ten sizes bigger. “You seem like a good guy now, Bradshaw.” 

--

“Listen, Buttercup,” Bradley said at post-volleyball drinks, right as he was getting up to leave for the night. “I know you’re an organized girl and you like to keep things up to date - which is why I must inform you that whatever number you have under my name in your phone is most definitely out of date.”

“I’d honestly be impressed if you still had the same number fifteen years later,” you laughed. 

“Yeah, yeah, well if you want to reach out to me for any reason, here you go,” he slides over a bar napkin with hastily scribbled digits on it. “Just - save me under my real name? Not like ‘Satan’s Spawn’ or ‘My Worst Nightmare’.” 

“Both are accurate,” you say, pulling out your phone. “I believe I had you under ‘El Diablo’ back then.”

“The devil- Oh REAL clever.” 

Over the next few days, you find yourself texting Bradley more often than you ever thought you would - which to be fair is a low bar, seeing as you never thought you’d even reply to one of his texts. It’s sporadic since you know he’s busy preparing for a mission of some sort on base (he and Natasha didn’t elaborate much more on it during drinks) but he makes an effort to keep the conversation going throughout the day and into the late hours of the night when his replies are longer and more frequent. 

He invites you out to the Hard Deck on Wednesday evening, and you stay to talk late into the night until last call, talking about what you both have done since graduating and gossiping about old college friends. You’re both careful not to discuss what happened during college, your plans, or Bradley’s upcoming dangerous mission - for now, it’s just casual comfortable conversation. You’re becoming friends. 

Somehow, you finally feel at peace with being right where you are - just working at the coffee shop and being friends with Bradley and doing things other than catching up on tv shows. You shoot out emails to your old favorite professors and former colleagues, asking for guidance on what you can do next in your career, and for the first time, you feel hopeful about your future. 

You’ve advanced from treading water to doing a nice, comfortable backstroke. And it feels like it’ll be clear skies for some time. 

Saturday evening at around 5 PM, after you’ve listened to a motivational podcast and finished chores and your weekly laundry, your phone lights up with a call from Lieutenant Gallo. 

“Buttercup!” he sings out as soon as you answer. “What are you doing right now?” 

“Um,” you eye your empty kitchen sink, the spotless floors, and the crumb-free kitchen countertops. “Nothing. Just finished my laundry and some other chores.”  

“Oh perfect! I’m pulling up at your house in two minutes.” 

“I- what? Who gave you my address?” 

“Nat, who got it from Cam. You can yell at them later! Just change into something comfortable and wear tennis shoes.” He hangs up. 

Ten minutes later, you’re seated in the front seat of Bradley’s Ford Bronco. As soon as you slid into the vehicle, he shoved a paper bag towards you and an iced coffee from Starbucks (“Sorry for the betrayal, sweetheart, if only Java wasn’t closed on the weekends”). 

“Pulling out all the stops, huh?” you asked, breaking off a piece of a blueberry scone and popping it into your mouth.

“Well, you’ll need your energy,” he says vaguely and smiles at you through the side of his sunglasses. 

While you finish off your drink, you survey your enemy-turned-friend in the driver’s seat. Bradley’s right elbow is propped up on the middle console, his left hand extended to grip the steering wheel at the twelve o’clock position. The black, sleeveless athletic top is painfully well-fitted and accentuates his stupid muscles. Your eyes catch the way his bicep tenses when he maneuvers a left turn, the way the cords in his forearm clench when he takes a sip of his caramel matcha monstrosity. There’s some old song from the ‘80s playing at low volume on the radio, and your gaze travels to how his long fingers tap out the beat on the console. 

He’s so fucking pretty. And suddenly you’re going through your mental Rolodex of conversation starters, going through all the possible cool things you could say because holy fuck do you want to try and impress him right now. Or make him smile or laugh or maybe reach over and grab your hand again like he did on the beach 

“Sorry, my A/C’s busted,” he interrupts your train of thought. He’d rolled the windows down earlier for which you were grateful - despite it being late afternoon, it was still incredibly hot. 

“Eh, it’s better for the environment to roll the windows down,” you reply. “I mean - to a certain extent. Like I heard at higher speeds it’s not super fuel efficient because it causes more drag for the car and- well, I’m sure you know about that, being a pilot and all. Never-” 

“No no, keep going,” he says and you swear his mustache quirks up with his smile. “It’s not like I’m rolling down the windows in a F/A-18. I like hearing you STEMsplain it, Buttercup.” 

“Shut up,” you feel the heat rushing to your cheeks that must have something to do with the sun. You can’t be this nervous around a guy who almost fainted during his first keg stand. “So can you at least tell me where we are?” 

He heaves out a dramatic sigh. “Well, right now, we’re in San Diego-” 

“Bradley, I swear I’ll jump out of this car-” you threaten through a laugh. 

“We’ll be there in two minutes, Buttercup, jeez! We’re near Point Loma, though, and that’s all I’ll tell you.” 

Three minutes later, Bradley drives past a sign reading Sunset Cliffs Natural Park - and your heartbeat quickens. 

You didn’t even think he heard you offhandedly mentioning your plan to check out the short trail up near here but not wanting to go alone. Your long-winded spiel had been interrupted on Monday by Jake loudly calling you two over to watch his winning 9-ball move (he’d missed the pocket entirely, but that’s beside the point). 

Bradley pulling out all the stops today just makes it difficult to hate him, impossible to be annoyed with how he was before because you can tell he’s trying so hard to make it up to you and be a better friend. You resolve to do the same for him some time - maybe you’ll attempt to craft the matcha monstrosity after all.

“I got water and sunscreen in the back - it’s just like an hour to hike but I know you said you wanted to try something new here, so...” he seems a little nervous now, not meeting your eyes and busying himself with what’s in the back trunk. 

“Thanks, Bradley,” you tell him, and the smile he sends your way finally makes you understand just what Andrew Garfield was waxing poetic about with the shot of espresso nonsense. 

The two of you don’t chat much - mainly because the crashing waves of the Pacific Ocean drown out anything that isn’t a loud shout, but the silence is comfortable between the two. He lets you lead the way, following behind you and pointing out rocks that might trip you up. 

After reaching the turnaround point of the trail, you both settle on a large, flat rock to watch the water over the horizon, the waves forming from far out and crashing onto the side of the cliffs. It’s far too early to see any sunset views, but the sun is still warming your faces and the wind is breezy enough to cool you down without blowing sand into your eyes. It’s quieter here, and you settle into talking about anything and everything, just as you always have this past week.  

After an extended beat of silence, you muster up the courage to broach a subject that’s been plaguing your mind. "So what's up with you and your mission instructor?” you hesitantly ask. “Phoenix told me you guys have some beef. Like, really slow-roasted beef. Worse than your shit with pretty boy-"

"Oh my god," Bradley scrubs a hand over his face. "Please don't call Hangman a pretty boy. At the very least, not to his face. He'll never let me hear the end of it."

You giggle and shove his shoulder playfully in response. You don’t push the topic again, instead waiting for him to either accept the ball in his court or just lob a different conversation topic back at you. 

"He pulled my papers to the naval academy," Bradley says quietly. "Set me back four years."

“Oh...” you trail off, not sure what to say. “Why would he do that?” 

Bradley inhales deeply and shrugs his broad shoulders. “I always knew him as Uncle Pete - or Maverick. He flew with my dad - Goose - and they were really close friends. My mom joked about feeling like a third wheel at times and honestly, I can understand how from what I remember,” he huffs out a laugh, and you smile slightly. 

“I was four when my dad died. It was during some training exercise, their plane got caught in a jet stream and they had to eject. Maverick got out fine, my dad-” he cuts off, turning his head away to look at the ocean again. 

Feeling the deja vu hit, you hold your hand out, palm facing up. “You don’t have to go into the details,” you say as softly as you can above the sound of the wind and the waves. 

When he looks over, the pain in his eyes makes a pit form in your stomach, which is only slightly alleviated by him slipping his large, warm hand into your outstretched one. “No, no, it’s just... It’s been a while since I talked about it. And I’ve just been so angry in class and during training these past few weeks. I don’t know why he’d want to hold me back from making my dad proud. But I just can’t let go of it.”

You squeeze his hand once, letting his words sink in, giving him time to empty all his thoughts. If there’s one thing you’ve learned about listening and supporting people, it’s that you don’t always have to have a response. It’s just about being there.  

“I think he just... He didn’t think I could do it,” he goes on. “Or be as good as my dad. And neither he nor my mom wanted me to go into the Navy, but I wanted to for my dad. For Goose.”

A minute passes of silence. He squeezes your hand once, and you take it as a sign to reply. “For what it’s worth, I think he’d be really damn proud of you.” 

He shakes his head with a sad smile. “I don’t know. Sometimes I watch how Mav flies and think about how different we are. He’s fast, spontaneous, and reckless to a point. And my dad loved flying with him. I’m cautious - Jake’s already given me a hard time for being too slow. I don’t... I think my dad would’ve wanted me to stop holding back.” 

You nod, focusing on the way his hand feels in yours, the way his thumb has started absentmindedly rubbing circles over your knuckle. “I mean...” you start. “I don’t think your dad would be disappointed with the way you fly, Bradley. You’re the best of the best, like, Natasha told me how you’re all in the top 1% and you were all called back for this crazy mission and that’s such a big accomplishment in and of itself. But...” you trail off. 

He squeezes twice for you to continue. “But I think he wouldn’t want to see you holding this grudge against Maverick. And I know I’m the last person who should be telling you to let go of the past... But honestly, ever since our fresh start, I’ve felt so relieved, and hopeful, you know? And it’s absolutely not the same thing, I know. Mav betrayed you, and I mean, I was just mad you were better than me-” 

He scoffs. “It was more than that, Buttercup. Don’t downplay your struggles-”

You wave your free hand. “Regardless! I just mean to say... If this mission really is life or death like you said, then maybe the two of you need to talk it out. Have a fresh start. Just like we did - minus the hand holding, though,” you joke, holding up your joined hands slightly. 

He smiles softly, squeezing once, sending your heart into a frenzy. “Thanks. I really appreciate your input and I’ll think about it, Buttercup. Really. And for what it’s worth, I’m glad we’re on a fresh start.” 

The comfortable silence returns, and you turn your gaze back to the ocean, which isn’t as pretty as you remember it being. Even with the sun getting lower, casting rays that reflect brilliantly off the surface of the water, the sight still isn’t as breathtaking as the man next to you. 

“Sorry I’m still calling you Buttercup, by the way,” he breaks the silence. “I’ll stop - I mean it’ll take a while to switch over, but...” 

You shrug. “I’m getting used to it, honestly. If you called me by my real name, I might have a stroke.”

“Wouldn’t want that to happen,” Bradley laughs, eyes crinkling ever so sweetly, and just then you realize that the nauseous feeling plaguing you this whole week is butterflies. In your stomach. Just like the Miley Cyrus song.  

Sweet niblets. 

--

Tuesday finds you in the middle of another rom-com binge night - you’re on your third glass of ranch water (courtesy of some girl Brittany from Instagram) and your second throwback film of the night (Mean Girls) just for the comfort it provides. You hadn’t heard from Bradley yet - apparently, something happened during yesterday’s training and some Naval officer had passed away.

It’s been rough for him with the mission coming up next week - you’re happy to give him some space. 

Your phone starts buzzing between your ass and the couch, and you pull it out to see another call from Lieutenant Gallo. “Hey, Lieutenant,” you smile slightly, swirling the contents of your drink in the glass idly. “How are you feeling? How was the funeral?”

Bradley’s driving - you can hear the hum of the vehicle over the phone and the Bronco’s turn signal. “It was fine,” he says, finally, sounding distant - and not just because he’s put you on speaker.

“You okay?” You fold your legs underneath you and pause the TV, devoting your undivided attention to him. “You can talk to me.”

He’s still silent. Then, he says your name - your real name. Your stomach drops immediately like you just hit some turbulence, and you set your drink down on a coaster and wait for him to continue. “I don’t know. It just reminded me of how terrible this job can be. Losing someone like that. I mean, no one knew just how sick Admiral Kazansky was, but…. Fuck. It’s brutal here. And Phoenix and Bob both had to punch out,” you gasp softly, “...they stayed for overnight observation and they’re fine now, but it’s terrifying.”

You nod, even though he can’t see you. “I’m glad they’re okay. I know that must be terrifying, Bradley,” you say. “Are you... Are you just more worried about the mission now?”

A heavy sigh. “Yeah. Something like that.” Another turn signal click - your heartbeat is somehow outpacing it. “Listen…” he says your real name again. Your smartwatch is going to think you’re going into cardiac arrest. “I know… I appreciate our becoming friends now. You’ve gotta know that. I just need to warn you about this mission… it’s gonna be fucking brutal. And you know, after we get back - if we get back, sorry to put it that way - it just never ends… it’s onto the next thing. I might get shipped out to Manama or somewhere, I’m not sure. And I just wanted to warn you, because I don’t know how long you’re going to be stuck here for-“

“What’s that supposed to mean?” You say after a sharp intake of breath. His words strike deep into your heart, unearthing feelings of hopelessness you thought you were just starting to bury.

“I mean… look, I just know I’m headed out after this mission if I get back. And until you figure things out you’re staying here, right? I mean you said it yourself, you’re not sure what your next step is going to be.”

You nod again, thinking back to your breathing exercises, thinking back to your hike with Bradley, thinking back to the smell of sunscreen on his skin, the sound of the waves, the weight of his hand in yours. Your efforts are for naught though, as tears still find a way to roll down your cheeks in fat droplets - like the rain on the day you decided to just quit once and for all. The biggest fucking mistake of your life, maybe. “Yeah, I guess,” you croak out.

Bradley’s silent on the line for a second. “I just wanted to… fuck, I don’t know. I just wanted to be straightforward with you. Because I really appreciate your friendship. I wish we could’ve managed the niceties fifteen years ago,” he chuckles dryly. You feel something shift inside you at his phrasing - you’re annoyed at his leisurely tone. He knows exactly why things were the way they were in undergrad. “I just don’t want to keep you waiting here for me.”

That’s the final nail in the coffin. The cruel, painful reminder that your path ahead is terribly foggy, completely uncertain. To hear Bradley speak about it so matter-of-factly, as if he too is expecting nothing more from you but to stay in this guest house for the rest of eternity. It’s honestly starting to sound like a good idea. 

You eye your open laptop where you had pulled up info about Stanford University’s Masters and Ph.D. programs in Computer Science. A dozen tabs are open - programs for schools all across the world, YouTube videos of people outlining how they got into research and University teaching, and a very reassuring post on Reddit titled “How old is too old to attend grad school?”

Your heart sinks at the prospect of trying and failing again. At the realization that Bradley called just to informally shift things over to an awkward long-distance acquaintanceship. At the heartbreaking, anxious thought that maybe Bradley can sense you’re just not cut out to take yet another giant step in your career. That you’ll be here for a while. So you close your laptop with your free hand and squeeze your eyes shut.

“Right,” you say, keeping your voice as even as possible and wiping your wet cheeks with your shirt. “I get it. I just- yeah. Yeah, I don’t know how long I’ll be here. You’re right.”

Bradley sucks in air through his teeth. “I shouldn’t have said it like that. I didn’t mean-“

“No, no! It’s fine!” You cut him off. “You’re right. As always, you’re right. I um… Fuck.  I gotta go, I think.”

“Buttercup-“ he tries, but somehow it fuels a fire you didn’t even know was spreading through your body. All of your anxieties and fears of failure take a backseat to the burning anger in your chest and throat. You find yourself indescribably incensed with him - who the fuck does he think he is? Trying to warn you about staying in this city for too long? Pretending to be concerned about your future?

“Don’t fucking call me that!” You say sharply. “I’m not your buttercup, or your sweetheart, or whatever else you come up with. You know my fucking name, and apparently, you know my plans too! You just have me all figured out, don’t you, Bradshaw? Lieutenant Bradshaw, top 1% of all naval pilots - you know what? Good for you, Bradley. I’m glad you have it all figured out and you’re going off on some awesome adventure right after this with your awesome and talented flight buddies.” Oh god, you’re dangerously close to repeating Janis Ian’s angry monologue from Mean Girls. 

“They’re not adventures, hon-“

“You can fuck off, Bradshaw. I’ll try my best not to wither away here in Fightertown with no fucking opportunities for me whatsoever, working that fucking barista job trying to make sense of all the fucking ways you can make a macchiato because that’s all I can fucking manage! And you know what - for as long as I’ve hated this job, from just the three weeks I’ve been here that is truly only a modicum of my whole life, I’ve been trying to convince myself that there’s nothing wrong with treading water and waiting for your next move. But if you’re so worried I’m gonna waste my life waiting for you then I’ll make it easy for you, Bradshaw: I’m not waiting for anyone but my damn self. I’m gonna give myself time and patience because I fucking deserve that after practically killing myself trying to get a degree I might never use again. So thanks for your concern jackass - but you can shove it. I see even after fifteen years you haven’t lost your penchant for making me feel small!”

“Wait, what-“ you jab your finger at the end call button, effectively cutting Bradley Bradshaw out of your life once again.

~happy ending for these bbs coming in part 3 ~

[kreiitsuuuu]

IS THIS WHERE I DO REQUESTS?? i literally am so bad at navigating this app... anyways i was wondering if you could do iguro, giyuu and sanemi with a s/o that has a stutter? i have a stutter and i havent seen any!! tysm!! <3 i hope ur having a good day!

💮 MALE HASHIRAS WITH A GN! S/O THAT HAS A STUTTER

ft. Iguro, Giyuu, Sanemi, Kyojuro, Gyomei, Tengen [ Muichiro excluded ;—; sorry ]

💌 A/N:: thank you again for requesting! and yes, this is where you to requests! im having a great day, and i hope you are as well! i also hope you don't mind me adding in other characters as well for a bonus! ;—;) </3

☆ warnings: swearing for sanemi's part [ not proofread ]

Iguro Obanai

Has never minded them in the first place.

Probably understood about your condition the first time you two have met, and had never felt the need to get mad at you.

He did ask about it, yet did not make any negative comments.

Iguro loves you just the way you are. And honestly, he's very much thankful that you love him back.

Treats you dearly, as he knows you've been through a lot.

Feel embarrassed about talking because of the stuttering? No need. He'll hold your hand for reassurance, and gently squeeze it, just to let you know he's there. And maybe even Kaburamaru will slither to your neck for comfort as well :]

If someone, and I mean someone makes fun of your stutters — he would not hesitate to confront them on the spot, and will give them the most dirtiest look he could ever manage, while pointing his finger towards their face in a threatening manner.

" Funny? So you think it's funny? Well, I think it'd be hilarious if I were to end you right here, right now. "

" Iguro.. "

" Too much? Or would you prefer to be tortured first? "

No he will not apologize for traumatizing that person. You deserve the world, and if someone disagrees, well, they'd get an earful of words from the snake pillar.

Giyuu Tomioka

Like Iguro, he would not mind them in the first place.

Would probably be confused when you started stuttering, but will catch wind of your condition quickly.

Always holds your hand. Not only does it comfort him, but it also gives a sense of security and comfortableness to you as well.

Loves listening to you talk, with or without the stutters. Your voice keeps him at calm, and him listening to your babblings makes you happy. Will crack out a smile sometimes, just because you were happy.

Well, you did stuck with his silence for so long, he'd also like to stick with you as well.

Did I mention he Giyuu even forgot how you two go together

If someone was making fun of you due to your stutters, he will not hesitate to give them a deathly stare, and some words that'll probably scare them off. Probably just scare them off..

" If you think someone's condition is supposed to be laughed at, what if I suddenly started laughing because on how stupid you are? "

Nevermind, he absolutely destroyed them.

Apologizing??? Psshh like he'd do that after they made fun of you.

After that incident, he'll keep you small, yet kind reminders that you are the most special person in his eyes and he'd never hate you, whatever the events were.

You love him dearly, and Giyuu also holds you close to him.

Sanemi Shinazugawa

At first, he thought you were mocking him of sorts and would accidentally say something that'll hurt you and your feelings.

Will apologize as soon as you explain why you stutter, and will be angry at himself for saying hurtful words towards you. It'll never happen again, and he wholeheartedly promises you that.

Takes him some time to get used to them, but will never get angry at you.

Patiently waits for you to form the words, and won't cut you off.

Whenever he does accidentally makes you upset due to his fuse exploding, he'd take you out to get some ohagi.

He really is trying his best, since he loves you so much and he can't bare to be angry at your, whatever the reason is.

If someone makes fun of your condition, oh you bet he's not taking any chances and will throw every negative thing he could say to the person.

" THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY? YOU WANNA REPEAT THAT AGAIN DIPSHIT?? COME ON, SAY IT! I HEARD YOU GIGGLING TOO, WHAT'S SO FUNNY?? HUH, HUH??? ANSWER ME COWARD "

" Nemi.. please calm down.. "

Sanemi eventually calms down, but he's still holding his urge to put his fist into the person's face.

Also like Giyuu, he gives you daily reminders on how he fucking loves you so much, and he'd love you the same even with your current conditions.

Nothing can stop this angry man from loving you dearly.

Kyojuro Rengoku

This man has loved you since the start, and would not change even with your stutters.

Will never get annoyed, and if you somehow can't get the words off of your mouth, he'll smile and wait for you to adjust.

Loves hearing you talk! Even if you only engage on conversation to him, he loves how you're trying your best!

If you do get tired of talking, he'll embrace you in his arms and tell you how great you did — even if you just said a few words.

Kyojuro absolutely adores you, and if you ever feel bad about your condition — don't! He loves you deeply, and it pains him to see you doubt yourself.

You were his little flame, while he was your blazing sun!

Someone made fun of your stutter while he was around? Not gonna let that slide! His usual happy go lucky aura fades into a serious one.

" Haha! Listen here, making fun of someone's condition is not — and will never be hilarious nor is it supposed to be seen as a laughing stock. I'll let you off with a warning this time, please, respect them next time and fix your attitude. "

After that, he'll go back to his usual self and carries you in his arms as laughter escapes his mouth.

To be honest, he never wants to see you with a frown. Since his overall goal is to make you happy, and loved.

So expect a few surprise hugs and kisses after that incident.

Gyomei Himejima

He treats you like a child — and has never minded your stutters one bit.

Instead of hating them, he instead learns your struggles to do day to day activities and understands your condition.

Gyomei never treated your stutters as a disease, more like something that makes you special — and well, what makes you, you.

Whenever you get embarrassed to talk and you quite can't get the word out due to your constant stuttering, he patiently waits, and reassures you that it is alright.

Loves holding your hand, either it's for comfort or for reassurance.

When someone dares to make fun of you and your stutters, he'd always step infront of you in a defensive manner, and woo the person away as tears fell from his face.

" Please do not say that about them. If you don't have anything better to do, then I suggest you to leave us alone instead of making fun of their condition. Especially when I am around. "

And after that, he'll hold your hand and give you a gentle smile while to two of you walk away peacefully.

He was like a tree who'd give you shelter on a rainy day.

You felt loved in his company, and so did he.

Tengen Uzui

You were flamboyant to him the first time, and is still is even now.

As annoying as this man can be sometimes due to him being insufferable, he loves you to bits!

Your stutters, for his perspective, makes you flamboyant and flashy in his eyes. It makes you, you.

Literally does not mind waiting until you get the words out of your mouth.

Since your voice was like a melody to his ears, the sound pillar will never shame you of you condition as you are dear to him.

If you were having trouble on talking, he would talk in your stead instead — you were very thankful for this as he had saved you so much time.

Will not, and I mean will NOT let anyone get away if they were to mock and or make fun of your stutter.

" How un-flamboyant of you! Do you have any idea what you are saying?! What if I were to decapitate your head like a demon, all flashy style to atone your sins?! "

" Tengen nooo..! "

Will drop kick them if you'd let him to be honest, I mean they were plain out rude!

After that, he'd carry you in his arms for comfort and in a protective manner. Like you were a fragile glass of some sorts. Would maybe even sneak a few pecks on your cheeks when you're distracted by something.

💌 A/N:: hi again, apologies if this looks rushed and mushy, kinda decided to finish this at 1:30 am </3 hope you enjoyed this though. again, not proofread, sorry. if you see any typos, im so sorry again :''[

💮 MASTERLIST [#1] | MASTERLIST [#2]

[mari-writing]

Best To Worst Immortal To Spend An Unbearably Hot Day With | Genshin Impact x Traveller! Reader

[Its hottest day recorded in Tevyat's history. The best to worst immortal to spend that day with.]

Fandom: Genshin Impact

Characters: Albedo (+Klee), Venti, Zhongli, Ei + Raiden Shogun, Xiao, Yae Miko, Ganyu

Genre: Fluff, headcanons

Perspective: 2nd person for reader

Word count: 2199 (don't even ask me how this happened)

ALBEDO

Your best bet if you want to stay cool

He'll be sure to make some cooling equipment. If you tell him about electrical fans, he would be able to make a pretty good replica using his flowers

Since Klee has a pyro vision, I imagine she gets especially hot during the summer so Albedo would be pretty used to dealing with the heat.

I don't see Albedo himself getting too hot though, so he probably still wears his normal clothing.

Its fine, you and Klee can rock the summer outfits (or you can also stick to your normal outfit)

As Albedo is making the cooling fans, you take it upon yourself to use your anemo powers to cool both you and Klee

It actually turns out pretty fun. She ends up convincing you to blow out air at enough speed to mess up both of your hairs

So as you two are giggling together, Albedo comes in, looks at you two, before sighing and creating combs and brushes

Albedo has glorious hair, he definitely knows what he's doing. He sorts out both of you two's hair as he starts up his little artificial fan

It's his flower that he always creates, being used as an oscillating fan

10/10 amazing fan. Not too loud, adds a small hum to the background that you only really notice if you focus on it. Its also very pretty

As Albedo fixes up your hair (he insisted, as he fixed up Klee's it was only right he did yours) he thanks you for keeping Klee entertained. Else, Mondstat would probably be on fire right now

You teach Klee how to make paper fans, and she designs each one for you three. Hers is of course Dododo based of course. Albedo will be based on being the 'bestest big brother ever' and his creations. Yours will have something to do with your anemo abilities and being the 'best sibling ever' (obviously, we can't top Albedo so we get second place)

They are very colourful, and are pretty good fans. She just wanted to be like her brother, so please thank and praise her

Poor girl tries to go fish blasting because she wants to be in charge of dinner

You have to stop her, you aren't trying to start the Great Fire of Mondstat after all

Go for a swim instead. Albedo has you sorted out for sunscreen too, so enjoy the waters to your heart's content

If it gets way too hot, you go to his campsite in Dragonspine, and he'll make an artificial sort of summer in there for all three of you to enjoy. Fake sand, fake sun etc. It's much cooler, but just as enjoyable

GANYU

Cryo vision is godsent

Cool drinks, ice pack, cool towels: name it and you have it

You have to pull her into the tea pot. Even though she has a day off (Or rather, a few hours. Ningguang knew hardly anyone would be productive during the hottest hours of the day, so she sent most people home), she can't help but worry about the files she has on the tables every time she passes them

But she makes sure not to leave any files in your Serenitea pot so it's a perfect escape for her

As soon as she settles into the 'no work right now' mindset, she's determined to make you cool as possible

She's half human so she can relate to your struggles better than the other immortals

She makes a giant ice flower in the middle of the room, and it doesn't even melt at all

You use your anemo to blow the cold around the room, like an air conditioner

The air is now a crisp kind of icey air. Just too good

Though its a bit of an active process you both need to do continuously

You use the cryo as an opportunity to make ice cream, a fun little bonding activity for you both

She will definitely enjoy the ice cream, and when you return to the kitchen after a nap, you will find an assortment of ice creams

Ganyu was only meant to make a couple, but she ended up making all sort of ice cream

Mint, sweet flower, violet grass - you name it

Pick a favourite, she will make it for you as much as you like

If you ask, she will place her palms on your head. She's naturally cooler, after all so she's better than ice cubes.

Overall, very good time spent with her!

VENTI

Everyone everyone everyone

Now that I have you attention: you know how hot air rises?

And how venti is the anemo archon?

Let's assume he's made out of air

The poor boy just keeps floating up.

Your talking to him one second, look over and he's on the ceiling the next second:

"I really can't help it Traveler!" he whines as he pushes himself off the ceiling. He tries to grab onto the couch and misses, and is forced to grab onto the table. Even that is not enough to keep him on the ground. "None of these things can help hold me down! You have to help me Traveler!"

"How can I help?"

Venti: *cheeky grin*

And that's how you got stuck with venti latching on to you. Whether you let him loop his arm in yours, or you let him hold your hand, he's ecstatic

(This, this I want to extend into a fic on its own if I can)

He doesn't even care if your sweaty, or you smell musty. He just wants to be close to you.

Still, being with the anemo archon during a hot day has its perks

You never have humid air with him. The air is always so perfect and cool. It's brilliant

Your drinks never go warm either.

He uses his anemo powers to blow wind through your clothes just to cool you down entirely because unlike everyone else, he can cool you down pretty passively without lifting a finger

To thank you for holding him down, he takes you to Windrise when the hottest hours have passed.

As you lay back and enjoy the shade, he plays some ballads about summer, games, and all sorts

He does pause in between them, to admire you, before returning to singing his songs

I would recommend him if you don't mind him being clingy

XIAO

He is judging you so hard lmao

"You claim to immortal, yet you crumble from a bit of heat?"

Melt is a better word than crumble, but we digress

He is sweating as well though, don't doubt it.

When his judging eventually becomes pity (which is pretty quick), he takes you to a bit of a hidden gem in Liyue

A little cave behind a waterfall. It's much cooler than the outside, it has the perfect shade, and the water in the cave passes as a pool you absolutely take advantage of

Xiao planned to watch you from afar, but you dived in and nearly splashes him, much to his annoyance.

You then ended up taking his hand and tugging him in the water

Was not happy at first, but he likes how nice the water feels against his skin so he doesn't complain too much

You also seemed to be feeling better, so he thinks it was worth it

The two of you have little water fights in said pool, both of you using your anemo abilities to cheat.

When you tire out, you both just sit by each other in the water

You thank him, for saving you from melting

He tells you you are being dramatic

But he also tells you, should you wish to return here at any time, you simply need to call his name

You should spend a hot day with him, everyone. Less clingy than Venti, though he's a bit slow in helping

ZHONGLI

Knowledgeable, but hasn't actually experienced heat as a mortal until now

As Morax, he would usually just sleep off the heat, so he has never had the need to actively cool off

However, as Zhongli, he is struggling

Instead of him helping you out, you have to help him out first

Zhongli, for the love of mora, take the coat off

(Feels like a fanfic waiting to be written here. I'll try and make it happen)

He doesn't want to initially. For many reasons, one being he is low-key attached to the coat.

Since it's you though, he does take it off.

Following this, Zhongli is cool enough to actually deliver his fine wisdom

He makes sure both of you hydrate regularly. Especially you, even though he knows you can handle himself, he doesn't want the heat getting to you

He also gets the both of you to put ice on pulse points. Your wrist, and the side of your neck. He says that's how people used to cool down when high temperatures like this was much more common.

This also leads to many stories, how during the especially hot days he would seek permission from Barbatos to allow the Adepti to dig up snow from Dragonspine and then distribute the cold among the people

Both of you also have iced tea.

I think he would have hated the idea initially, believing it to be blasphemy to the art of tea.

Tea is to be brewed and served hot. Why on earth would someone willingly make it cold-

However, one sip and he's sold

In summary, once he's cool enough to think, he would be a good person to seek out

YAE MIKO

You are kind of on your own

You know how smaller organisms have a larger surface area to volume ratio? So have a higher rate of heat loss?

(Yes I am bringing Biology into this)

Yeah, Miko goes into fox form and just sleeps on a pillow in the cooler corner of the room to sleep the heat off

And she will not let you go near her

But you know what? Its actually better this way

Human form miko during hot summer days is kind of a pain to deal with

And I don't mean she's just whining and whinging

I mean her electro vision

The heat and humidity is kind of making her overload, your getting electric shocks just being in her presence

She claims it isn't her fault, but you are beginning to suspect she's using her electro to keep you at a 2 meter radius away from her

But she could have just told you straight - its too hot to cuddle anyway. But this is Miko, so it's expected.

When the sun is a bit more bearable, you both spend the evening resting in the shade of the Sakura tree at the shrine.

Pack a picnic while your at it. She'll be content with just tofu. She has told you how to make it before, so get on with it

You bring what you please. If you look away though, you might turn back and notice bits of your meal missing

Turn to glare at Miko, who is obviously chewing your food but insists it is her tofu

Watch the sunset. It will be very pretty: pink filling the skies and as pool of golden light from the sun begins to dip below the horizon. Take pictures with the Kamera - take pictures of her and with her too while you are at it

(another fic????)

10/10 recommend - the view, at least. Everything else though, spend the hot day with someone else

RAIDEN SHOGUN & EI

I'm sorry but they are almost useless

Ei hasn't experienced summer in centuries, and the Shogun probably has an inbuilt cooling system

They don't know what you are feeling, so they can't exactly help much

Ei asks the commission for various things to cool you down: she is presented with cold water, a hand fan, and more summer appropriate clothes

So the pair of you lounge about in the shade of Tenshukaku, in summer clothing

As the Raiden Shogun fans you (she insisted and you really can't fight against her will), you make a throw away comment about wishing it rained or something

Unfortunately for you, both of them caught that comment and took it very seriously

They figured that if you wanted rain, they could make a small thunderstorm. Easy right?

Queue the worst thunders in Inazuma history

You have to explain to them that heat makes thunders way worse.

It was so bad, they struggled to contain the storm.

(Feeling a whole fanfic here)

It did rain though, but the thunderstorm was a bit too wild. Even you didn't want to go out there.

Essentially, so it was a complete fail

Ei is so embarrassed, Raiden apologizes for her miscalculation.

Please forgive them. They were trying their best

She asks how she can make it up to you after the storm passes

Cold Dango milk

Even though it was meant to be yours as an apology, Ei can't help but drink two, five, ten of the 30 she had gotten you

Raiden Shogun switches her out quickly though, and hurries you into finishing it before Ei succumbs to her cravings again

If you spend a hot summer day with them, good luck

TLDR of best to worst: Albedo, Ganyu, Venti, Xiao, Zhongli, Yae, Ei/Raiden Shogun

Have you seen the weather forecast and how hot it's gonna be? I'm actually screwed.

Stay cool and hydrated everyone!

Thanks for reading.

[tsarinatorment]

oo now im interested in that apollo is chb'd patron thing would you care to elaborate on that??

@stereden also asked this! There's not so much canon for this as some of the other things I've talked about but there's still a few things to say on the topic, and not only am I going to talk about him being the patron, I'm going to talk about how that works with the things that happen with CHB during the PJO series, and of course because we're talking about Apollo, there's the odd little titbit from TOA that makes its way into this, too.

A lot of this will be extrapolation, but I've done my best to keep more floating headcanons out of it, so this should at least all stem convincingly from canon.

I'm going to address two things under this umbrella, because I think they're related and also because I find them fascinating: Apollo as the patron god of CHB, and Apollo's loss of jurisdiction over CHB by the events of canon.

So, Apollo and the patronage of CHB. While Camp Half-Blood Confidential is pretty goofy and daft in tone, it gives us a few important little nuggets of information regarding the founding of the camp, namely that it was Apollo's idea - or at the very least, Apollo foresaw that it would happen/needed to happen.

As it turned out, giving Apollo a centaur-back ride was the smartest thing I ever did. Unlike others of my kind, I didn’t belong to a specific tribe. I was a loner…and, sometimes, lonely. We bonded during that ride. I found that Apollo could be quite charming one-on-one, when he wasn’t trying to impress his adoring throngs of fans. When we got back to the cave, he said something that changed my life. “Uncle Chiron, I’ve decided to teach you some stuff.” Perhaps he found the idea amusing: a nephew teaching his uncle. Or maybe, being the god of prophecy, he suspected I had an important role to play in the future of Olympus. Whatever the reason, he chose to share his knowledge with me. At first, he showed me simple things, like how to nock an arrow—“Aim the pointy end away from your body”—and how to bandage a gushing battle wound. He taught me to make a lyre, play a number of hits like “Stairway to Olympus” and “Burnt-Offering Smoke on the Water,” and even compose my own lyrics. Once, in an effort to refine my poetry skills, he sent me on a quest to find a rhyme for arugula so that he could finish an ode to a mixed-green salad. The best I could do was pergola. Apollo called my effort an “ode fail”—the ancient precursor to today’s “epic fail”—but he continued to work with me. The lessons went on for a year. Then one day, Apollo showed up at the doorway of my cave with a half-dozen young demigods. “You know all that stuff I taught you?” he asked me. “It’s time to pay it forward! I’d like you to meet Achilles, Aeneas, Jason, Atalanta, Asclepius, and Percy—” “It’s Perseus, sir,” said one of the young men. “Whatever!” Apollo grinned with delight. “Chiron, teach them everything I showed you. Y’all have fun!” Then he vanished.

I have high doubts that this is exactly how it went down - I don't think those six demigods were all direct contemporaries of each other, mythologically, for starters - but they were all trained by Chiron and it makes sense for Apollo to be the one to introduce them, especially as he's the one that trained Chiron in the first place, and paying things forward is not a new or novel idea, especially when it comes to knowledge (after all, that's how teaching works even now - kids learn things, grow up, the next generation of kids start learning from them. That's just how humanity works).

From here, of course CHB continues to expand until it's the camp we know and love today. Chiron details this out for us (again, I don't believe the actual way he tells it, but the basic facts if not the very fictionised retelling seem solid). I won't copy out all of that, but I will make note of Apollo's direct involvement within the expansion, that that's the addition of the satyrs:

The satyrs arrived en masse with this note from Apollo: I predict that in the future, demigods won’t be able to find Camp Half-Blood on their own. The world will simply be too large, too populous, and too dangerous. When that time comes, send satyrs to track down your prospective students. Satyrs can find anything. They recently located a herd of cattle Hermes stole from me that even I couldn’t find. Trust me: you need seekers, and they’re the goats for the job.

Apollo is the one that's actively looking out for future demigods and their safety here. It's understandable that he's the one that knew it would be needed, because of his foresight and prophecy powers, but the fact that he acts on it so early, making sure the Camp is fully equipped to handle it with the satyrs long before they'll be needed, shows that side of him that he tends to not advertise in modern times - the side that wants to look after and protect the demigods.

That's two of the most important parts of CHB - its existence, and the satyr protector-guides - both directly attributed to Apollo himself, tying him more firmly than any other god to the camp. With this in mind, who else could possibly be the patron of the camp, if not for the god of knowledge whose own teachings are being passed down, and who actively worked to ensure the safety of future demigods?

The third thing is not explicitly Apollo, but considering the pattern it seems most likely, and that's the defences around CHB, back pre-Thalia's tree.

You see, I knew that so many demigods living in one place was like an all-you-can-kill buffet for monsters. Yet I had convinced myself that our campers needed no other protection than the skills we taught them. My pride had nearly been our destruction, but I learned my lesson. I immediately sent an Iris-message to Olympus asking for help. The gods heard our plea. The next day, a magical border settled over and around the grounds—a barrier that would both conceal the camp from unfriendly eyes and repel future attacks.

It's just the general "the gods" mentioned here, but considering that Apollo is the most involved god so far in the camp, if he isn't the one that did this himself (unlikely), he's certainly one of the gods that was involved in making sure this protection happened.

Another minor little detail to note is in the symbolism of the battle that occurs which prompts Chiron to request for aid here. To summarise for those who haven't read this story, the campers are nearly defeated, and it's only last-minute reinforcements from past campers that saves the day:

Then, just as rosy-fingered dawn peeked over the horizon, a new battle cry sounded in the distance. Former campers who had learned of our desperate plight now came charging to our aid.

The reinforcements came at dawn. Yes, I know that's a favourite trope in media (see the very memorable Battle for Helm's Deep in The Two Towers), but that doesn't make it any less fitting here - the camp was saved at dawn, which is the time when Apollo takes to the sky (and yes, by this time chronologically, Helios has already faded and Apollo is the god of the sun, according to Chiron's description of their first meeting:

“Ah…yes, Lord Apollo.” I tried to control the twitching in my withers. “Very weird indeed.” I noticed the sky was darkening even though it was only noon. “Not to be critical, O Great One, but shouldn’t you be driving the sun chariot right now?” He shrugged. “Actually, I put it in park for a few minutes because Artemis is up there doing her lunar-eclipse thing.” He scratched his fashionably stubbled chin. “Or is it solar? I can never keep them straight.”

It's likely that this isn't long after Apollo took on the role, although of course he could have just been goofing around with the lunar-solar mix-up, but he is still, in this narrative, the god of the sun by this point).

The implication here is very much that Apollo's the one who called the older demigods to help (presumably the Ancient Laws are in effect at this point - in fact, that may even be why Apollo had to pass on the responsibility of teaching to Chiron in the first place, with the advent of the no interference Laws) which again adds some credence to the idea that he's also one of the gods, if not the god, who supplied the original defensive barrier for CHB.

So, that's Apollo's involvement in the original CHB, way back when, and I don't think it can really be argued any other way than that at this point, at least, he was the patron god of the camp.

But what about modern times?

Modern times gets more confusing. I still believe that Apollo is, on a technicality, the patron of the camp, but in practicality he no longer seems to have any jurisdiction over it.

He still keeps an eye on the camp - no matter how he tries to throw us off the scent in TOA, there are some slip-ups in his narration that give us a glimpse of the god who is not at all distant from camp emotionally, even if he's physically forced to be.

Over the centuries, I’d had many conversations with demigods who wanted to know more about their absentee godly parents. Those talks rarely went well.

From this it's clear that he does spend time with the demigods at camp, historically (although not recently, which I suspect has a lot to do with Dionysus' forced presence, either because Apollo fears being reported to Zeus, or because there's a rule about only one Olympian god near the camp at a time). He cares about them and goes out of his way to reassure them - all of them, not just his own children.

He also remembers names. There are twenty two campers present during THO, including Meg, and during Apollo's narration we are given the names of every single one. The facts he gives us are precise, and the fact that he is able to perfectly recall every name after being introduced once (especially when we contrast this with Dionysus' refusal to get most demigod names right even if he's known them for a decade) implies a strong level of care. And no, this is not just because it's in winter and therefore Rick had a small enough cast number that he could afford to name them all - in TTC there is a similar number of demigods in the camp, yet Percy, who lives with these people for several months of the year, never gives us names. In fact, we learn in BOTL that Percy doesn't bother to learn some of the camper names at all. This is Apollo caring about these children.

“Let me guess,” I said. “Connor and Travis Stoll are the pranksters?” From a nearby basket, Chiron grabbed a flannel blanket and spread it over his fake legs, though the ruby shoes still peeked out at the bottom. “Actually, Travis went off to college last autumn, which has mellowed Connor quite a bit.”

Not only does he know their names, he also knows their habits and personalities. That's not just a basic level of reading names off a roll list, that's Apollo being actively aware of the children at camp as individuals.

It's also shown less implicitly through his conversations with Chiron in THO. Chiron knows that Apollo cares about the campers - he opens their first conversation with this:

My old friend smiled, though his eyes were stormy and distracted. “Apollo, it’s good you are here. We need to talk about the disappearances.”

Literally Chiron's first thing is to bring up missing campers, because he knows Apollo will care about this - and Apollo does! It isn't Chiron who continues this topic of conversation, it's actually Apollo who keeps trying to bring the topic back around while Chiron talks about Python and Delphi and prophecies:

“Chiron,” I said, “this is Meg McCaffrey, my new master and wellspring of aggravation. You were saying something about disappearances?”

“Disappearances,” I prompted. “What has disappeared?”

“The disappearances, yes.” I wiped drops of tea from my pants and tried to ignore Meg’s snickering. “Tell me about those.”

He asks about it three times before Chiron finally gives him the information he's after - it's actually the thing he's most insistent about focusing on in the whole conversation (he keeps trying to dodge the discussion of Python and Delphi) - and even after that it's the one he keeps asking more questions on, trying to get more and more information. Apollo never says so in as many words, but it's clear that he's very worried about the missing campers (a façade he more or less manages to cling to until his own children are added to the number, at which point the façade collapses entirely and we see Apollo in full worry mode over the children).

So the question is, if Apollo is the patron god of Camp Half-Blood (and let's not forget his domain of protector of the young, here!), why did we never see him in this capacity during PJO?

Quite frankly, it's obvious that he can't. It's impossible that, if Apollo had any say over the matter at all, he would have allowed the sacking of Chiron in SOM. He also sends no visible aid during BOTL, but the Daedalus thing is interesting... But let's start from the top.

Apollo has lost jurisdiction over CHB by the time PJO begins. I would argue that this is a relatively recent development - there are conflicting canon statements regarding how long Dionysus has been at CHB (in TON, Apollo says he's been there for half a century but then later we get confirmation that Dionysus' punishment is far from over, yet in PJO his sentence was cut in half down to fifty years - my personal guess is that Dionysus has been there for around 15 years or so as of TLT, long enough that all the current campers have known him, but as his only known children are fifteen or older in TLT (Castor and Pollux are seventeen in BOTL, two years later, Dakota is a similar age to them) the implication is that he hasn't had any children since his punishment began, otherwise why the lack - considering his far from PG domains, Dionysus is a god I'd ordinarily expect to have a lot of children). However, Dionysus' tenure as Director of CHB likely prevents Apollo from getting too close to the camp for any length of time, as I mentioned earlier.

The biggest thing, though, and what I think was the final nail in the waning coffin of his jurisdiction, was Thalia's death. This is when Zeus put a very large, aggressive stamp on CHB - his daughter is the one guarding the camp now, through Zeus' own actions. By doing this, Zeus has completely muscled Apollo out, and we know that Apollo can't (and is too afraid to try to) challenge Zeus.

So, why would Zeus be so determined to claim CHB as his, and kick Apollo out? There's a few reasons. One is his ever-present paranoia. CHB is a major part of modern day demigod society - barring CJ, which is Mars' and the Roman equivalent, it is the most major part. The amount of power and influence it gives Apollo to have it under his control is huge, and we know Zeus fears Apollo overthrowing him (this is also why cabin eleven is the cabin for the unclaimed demigods - while the logic that Hermes is the god of travellers does hold water, as the camp patron and protector of the young, it would actually make far more sense for them to go to cabin seven. The only reason I can see why it wouldn't, in-universe (meta-wise it's clearly to build the Percy-Luke rapport in TLT to give the betrayal the oomph it needed), is if the other gods refused to let that happen. Considering they all seem fine with leaving their kids languishing in Hermes' cabin, they probably don't really care which cabin it is, as long as it's not their own - Zeus is the only one who has reason to protest against it being Apollo, and he has the clout to make sure he's obeyed on this).

Well, I say one reason is his paranoia; really, a lot of this is based on Zeus' paranoia, because all his interactions with Apollo are steeped in this throughout the series. Another aspect of his paranoia is the Great Prophecy - he wants his own child to be the Hero, but when Thalia dies, he's left in the horrid realisation that it might not be his child; Jason is still very young (and also a son of Jupiter and therefore Roman, and the Romans don't even have this prophecy), and if he's broken the Oath, there's a high chance at least one of his brothers has (whether or not he knows about Percy's existence this early is debatable, but from the way the accusations at theft were immediately levelled at Poseidon before Percy even knew he was a demigod, it's likely that the Olympians were aware of Percy's existence at least a little before the events of TLT). A child of Hades would be a problem, but Hades' kids aren't popular so he might see them as less of a concern/easier to get rid of (Hades also doesn't seem to like sending his children to camp - he explicitly refused to send Bianca and Nico to CHB). A child of Poseidon, however?

Remember that Poseidon and Apollo have historically worked together to oppose Zeus. A child of Poseidon central to a great prophecy in a camp that's under Apollo's jurisdiction is, to Zeus, a terrifying combination and one he won't want at all, so he uses Thalia to wrest the control of camp away from Apollo. Now Zeus is the one in control, and we know Zeus doesn't like giving control back. (And remember that in TLT the Apollo cabin back Poseidon... against Zeus; that can't have pleased him in the slightest!)

Of course, there's also the same power basis in his favour - he doesn't want Apollo to have that power, but he does want it for himself. The gods have all been waning compared to their original selves, and their powers are far weaker. During PJO, all of the gods are, if not pathetic, clearly weakened. It's only at the end that we see Poseidon and Hades regain their strength (the same way we see Apollo regain his in TON), while Zeus continues to wane.

So, what does Apollo do about this? He can't fight back against Zeus - TOA is a spectacular example of what happens if Zeus even thinks he's rebelling - but while the functionality has been stripped, he is still the patron of the camp, and also the protector of the young. Apollo doesn't sit back and do nothing.

First of all are the dreams - we know Percy gets a lot of demigod dreams, we know Zoe gets a dream while in CHB, we know Apollo kids get dreams, we can infer that Chiron probably also gets dreams (I'll get to this in a sec), and also that he knows about the dreams (once again, see @fearlessinger's discussion of our theory on Apollo and the Demigod Dreams).

Secondly, there's Octavian.

Now, it took me a while to try and rationalise Apollo's apparent desire to work with Octavian, especially considering the way it ends up with Octavian trying to kill the Greeks (who are under Apollo's patronage - this, at least, must have been a misunderstanding because there's no way Apollo ever approved that), but when I sat back and looked at how powerless Apollo is in PJO, it makes sense.

Firstly, there's his inability to help Artemis directly during TTC. As this is a gods and titans problem, primarily, the Ancient Laws shouldn't actually prevent him from doing this - the only thing that could be clouding Apollo's sight and keeping him out are the Fates themselves - but Apollo is still unable to do more than effectively send children to their deaths (Zoe is admittedly not a child, but Bianca is, and Apollo is the one who got them most of the way to the desert in TTC, although he isn't the one to actually drop them there).

Secondly, there's the mess that is CHB. Chiron is sacked and Tantalus (someone who kills children) is hired in his place (do I like the idea of Tantalus' punishment extending outside of the Fields of Punishment being Apollo's doing as a way to make sure the kids stay protected? Yes, I do - but there's no actual canon for this although Tantalus finally getting his hands on food right at the end, when Thalia is restored and the power in the tree is now purely Zeus', is a very stretchy potential link to the last vestiges of Apollo's influence in any capacity being broken off). This is all around Bad News for CHB and nothing Apollo could possibly have approved of. Then in BOTL the camp is literally attacked and children die (including one of his own).

Daedalus is suspicious as heck the whole time, and Chiron is clearly very suspicious of him - and yet, he does nothing (even though Daedalus was posing as a Roman adult demigod and it highly amuses me to think of the panic Chiron must have been in about one of the smarter kids asking the right/wrong questions). I was discussing this with fsinger the other day and the conclusion we came to is that Apollo may have been the one to assure Chiron that Daedalus had not - yet - joined with Kronos and was therefore safe to have around the kids. After the mess of Tantalus, Apollo would no doubt be keeping a very close eye on who was being allowed near the kids, after all (and as he can't directly interfere, the most likely method of imparting this information would be via dreams).

The fact that Apollo has been dragged off monster hunting by Artemis on Zeus' orders, thereby keeping him away from camp at the time when they need godly protection the most also plays a significant role here (Dionysus, too, was elsewhere on Zeus' orders, which makes one side-eye Zeus very heavily at this point).

Overall, Apollo has lost a lot of power in recent years, and he's desperate to regain at least enough to be able to protect Artemis and CHB again - power which he would get if the Romans started worshiping him higher, because the gods are clearly fuelled by belief (notably, at the end of TON, Apollo has regained his belief in himself, which is even more powerful than belief from others, and makes me wonder if he could now regain his jurisdiction over CHB back from Zeus). This neatly ties in the Octavian side of things in HOO.

So, in conclusion: Apollo is the reason CHB exists, he's been consistently shown to care about the demigods right from its inception to the modern day and protects them as much as he is able to, which makes him the clear choice for patron of the camp. However, Zeus' paranoia has prompted him to muscle Apollo out of any practical patronage (although he is, technically, still the patron even if he can no longer act on it), leaving Apollo desperate to regain the patronage and protect the demigods however he can without directly defying Zeus.

[flightlessangelwings]

La Estrella de mi Vida- Part 1/3

Javi Gutierrez x fem!reader (nicknamed “Estrella” by Javi, no use of y/n)

Word Count: 6.4k

Warnings: smut (18+ ONLY!), pining, unprotected sex, oral (f receiving), reader is the daughter of the doctor to the cartels, canon compliant but takes place pre movie (about 5 years before is what I imagine), minor character death, undetailed illness mention, reader has a good relationship with her father but it’s not explored too much, angsty ending to this part, protective!Javi 

Notes: I am SUPER excited to share this minseries with y’all cause I had so much fun writing it and I spent a lot of time and effort with this! I really hope you guys like it so let me know what you think of part 1 so far! This sex scene is proally the most poetic smut I’ve ever written too, but Javi deserves it!! And this miniseries is packed full of easter egg references to the movie for funsies too!  

@flightlessangelwings-updates​ is my update blog to stay up to date on when I post!

~

“Tell me, doctor,” Mr. Guiterrez sighed in defeat, “How long do I have?”

“Couple of months maybe?” the doctor’s shoulders dropped, “I can try and get you some experimental drugs to give you some more time. And I’ll do what I can to make you more comfortable, but this really isn’t my area of expertise, you know.”

“I am aware. But you are the only doctor I trust. And no one can know about this outside these walls.” Mr. Gutierrez had a solemn look on his face as he was finally confronted with his own mortality. 

The doctor nodded, “Of course. I will do my best, señor.” 

“You always do.”

The doctor was the most trusted and sought after medical professional in the cartel world. Anyone and everyone went to him, mostly for injuries, because he was the best and he was discrete. He was also your father, and the only family you ever had. While it wasn’t easy to grow up in the world of cartels and gangsters, you still maintained a good relationship with your father, and he did everything in his power to keep you safe in this dangerous world he brought you into.

Javi, on the other hand, was the opposite. He also grew up in the world of the underground, but he never had the father-son relationship others his age did. Perhaps Javi was too kind, too good a man for this type of life, and that wasn’t what his father had in mind for him. If anything, Javi’s cousin Lucas had more of that relationship and the senior Gutierrez took him more under his wing as the two boys got older.

Over time, the relationship with his father deteriorated to the point where Javi wanted nothing to do with him. He bought another house in secret and lived there on his own for some time, all the while planning to get out of the country and start a new life somewhere else. Yet, something held him back: you… 

But, just as the doctor promised, the experimental medicine did greatly help the senior Gutierrez with his diagnosis. However, as time went on, he became weaker and weaker until he wasn’t able to leave the safety of the doctor’s walls. 

Javi, his only son, was by his side every evening. Once Javi found out about his father’s illness, he chose to come back to him and mend the relationship before he passed. Javi was always a good man with a good heart, and even through a troubled relationship, he still tried his best. Even when there wasn’t much for them to talk about, he was there to support his father and stay with him so he wouldn’t be alone.

It was only one movie that the two were able to bond over, and the first stitch of a mended relationship began from there.

You walked into his room one day and saw the two Guiterrez men relaxed side by side in the small but comfortable room. They both had their eyes glued to the tv, both immersed in the movie they were watching together. It wasn’t until you cleared your throat to announce your presence that they looked over at you.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to interrupt,” you said sheepishly, “I just wanted to check on you, Señor Gutierrez. How are you feeling?”

“Ah, the doctor’s daughter!” he exclaimed, “Always a pleasure to see you. You look radiant as ever,” he nodded over to the machines that remained hooked up to him, “The constant beeping is getting on my nerves, but what more can a dying man complain about?”

“Papa!” Javi exclaimed as he stood up, “I am sorry about my father. He can never hold his tongue at all.”

You couldn’t help the chuckle at Javi’s embarrassment, “How long have we all known each other? I’m used to his antics, Javi, it’s fine.”

Being the daughter of the most prominent doctor to gangs and cartels, you had put up with far worse than an off-color comment. Growing up, it was never easy, but your father always made sure you were safe, even in his dangerous line of work. As you got older, you started to help him out more, since his business was completely off the grid to keep his patients completely anonymous, even from each other.

It had gotten him in some trouble at times, but the cartels came to a truce that whatever happened within the walls of his clinic stayed there. Rivals would sometimes be wheeled past each other in the halls, and neither would make a move. And everyone came to an agreement that the doctor, and his daughter, would never be punished or harmed for treating those on the opposite side of their wars.

That was how you had met Javi. It was many years ago and he dragged his injured father into your father’s clinic. You had just started to help out, and you did what you could to clean and bandage the wound under the watchful eye of your father. Javi was enamored with you from the moment you met; you were strong and brave and beautiful and smart. You were perfect.

He could tell you had a good heart, even from what he was sure was hell at times. He had watched with those big, soft brown eyes while you cared for his father, but he kept his feelings closed off and never let you know how much he truly cared for you. It was too dangerous to get close to you.

So, Javi watched you from afar, but he always made sure to talk to you as much as he could whenever his father’s duties brought them both through the clinic doors. In Javi’s mind, there was at least one thing to look forward to at the clinic.

“You’re watching Guarding Tess again?” your light tone brought Javi back to the present, “This is the third time this week you’ve watched this.”

Javi let out a nervous chuckle, “Yeah, it’s our thing I guess.” Luckily, you didn’t seem to notice that Javi was staring at you while his thoughts raced.

“Didn’t you bring over Face Off last week too, Javi?” you asked as you fluffed his father's pillow and helped him get more comfortable.

“I did,” Javi’s face lit up at the mention of the movie, “It’s my favorite movie, though I do not think my father enjoyed it very much.”

“Psh,” Mr. Gutierrez waved his hand dismissively. He looked like he wanted to say more, but the way Javi’s face dropped made him change his mind. Perhaps he too wanted to end his life on a good note with his son after years of having a rocky relationship. “How about you? What’s your favorite movie?”

“Hmmm,” you thought, “That’s a tough question. It’s so hard to pick just one. But I think…” you paused as you mulled it over and Javi couldn’t help but notice how stunning you looked when your eyebrows scrunched together while you were deep in thought, “It’s a tie between Paddington 2 and Agora.”

“Excellent choices!” Jaci exclaimed. The truth was he would have said the same thing no matter what you said, because everything you did and everything you liked was perfect in his eyes.

Your face lit up in a smile as you met Javi’s eyes and he swore that he forgot to breathe for a moment. You had charmed him without any effort on your part, and every time he saw you, Javi was sure you got more and more beautiful. You were kind and smart and funny and easy to talk to when he had no one else. He felt like the two of you had a special connection, even if he buried his true feelings for you. It was strange to say that Javi at times looked forward to going to your father’s clinic because he knew he could see you there.

Little did Javi know that you secretly felt the exact same way about him. Javi had always been so gracious towards you since the day you met all those years ago, and you couldn’t help but picture his face in your mind when you were having a bad day. His soft eyes and warm smile made your heart skip a beat whenever you saw him, and you couldn’t help but think he was the sweetest man you had ever met in your life.

But, you knew what a big risk it would be to pursue anything with Javi since it could look like favoritism to the other cartels. Worst case scenario it could start an all out war, and that was the last thing you wanted. So, just like Javi, you kept your true feelings buried deep down and we’re grateful for the times you could see him.

“Javi, why don’t you bring over one of those movies next time. The lady has good taste,” Mr. Gutierrez’s voice broke though the silence that had fallen over the room.

“Whatever you want,” Javi’s voice was soft as you gave him a sympathetic smile and left the room.

Javi’s father passed away just a week after that.

*

You hadn’t been to the Gutierrez compound before, but it was magnificent. It sat right on the water, and the setting sun reflected light off the sea so beautifully. The buildings within the compound were old, but they were charming. Guards were posted everywhere, and the walls were built like a fortress, yet it still felt warm and inviting, even in the circumstances. You felt safe there, and you weren’t sure if it was because of the place itself or because of Javi’s presence.

Javi’s father’s funeral was short, but beautiful. Javi gave a eulogy filled with depth and emotions that you couldn’t help but cry at his words. And after the burial, family, friends, and close business associates gathered at the Gutierrez compound for his life celebration. While your father attended the funeral, he always passed on the gatherings afterwards.

“You go on,” your father insisted, “You’ll be my representative,” he said with a light chuckle.

The mood inside the compound was somber and melancholy, yet it felt comforting somehow. As if everyone remembering his life made it feel like he was still there. The senior Gutierrez may have been the founder and head of a major arms cartel, but he was well respected among the other leaders. Some would even say he was a good man, but you would argue that his son was the more honorable of the two.

While you tried to stay close to Javi, too many others vied for his attention as well, so you stepped back for a time and let the others offer their condolences as well. For a time, you ended up in idle conversation with his cousin, Lucas, who you had met several times at your father’s clinic as well. But, as the sun went down and the moon rose, you noticed that Javi had disappeared. So you excused yourself from the conversation and decided to go look for him. 

Javi sat in his room, alone, with a glass of alcohol in his hand and a movie on the tv in front of him that he only mildly paid attention to. He had retreated away when the well meaning consolations from everyone became too much and he just needed some time alone. However, there was one person that he wouldn’t mind joining him.

A knock at the door started him so much that he almost dropped his drink. Javi quickly rushed to his feet and set the glass down before it broke it before he called to the closed doorway, “Yes?”

The voice from the other end was exactly who he had hoped it would be.

“Javi?”

A grin lit up his face for the first time in days as he bolted to the door with your name in a whisper. When he pulled it open, you stood next to one of his guards, who looked at him apologetically.

“I’m sorry sir. She insisted on seeing you. Says it’s important.”

“It’s fine, gracias,” Javi shooed the guard away and extended his arm out in an invitation to you, “Come in, querida.”

It was the first time you’d been in Javi’s room, and it made your hands tingle with nerves. And it was only made worse when Javi stood just inches from you, his hand still firmly in yours. 

He must have read your mind because Javi suddenly let go of your hand and looked down with embarrassment, “Sorry,” he mumbled as his eyes met yours once more.

“It’s fine,” you whispered as you savored the warmth from his grip before it faded away. 

You saw every little detail on Javi’s face, from the way his curls fell on his forehead to the sharp angle of his nose to the slight bloodshot in his eyes that told you he had been crying. He was beautiful, and you couldn’t help the thoughts that popped into your head, even at a time like this.

“It’s getting late, shouldn’t you be heading home? Is something the matter?” Javi asked sincerely as he placed his hand on your arm and guided you towards the small ottoman that sat at the foot of his bed. 

“I just wanted to check on you,” your voice was soft as you fiddled with your fingers, “I was worried, I hadn’t seen you in a while.”

Javi’s eyes sparkled as he gave you a sad smile, “You do not need to worry about me, querida,” he replied in just as hushed a tone.

For several moments, neither of you knew what to say next. You found yourself lost in his eyes until your gaze dropped down and you realized that once again his hand still gripped your arm. With a quiet gasp, your eyes shot back up, and Javi’s eyes widened as he realized he still held you as well. You covered your hand over his and made it clear that you didn’t want him to let you go. 

And he didn’t want to either.

“Javi…”

“You look so beautiful in the moonlight,” Javi whispered as he brought his other hand up and cupped the side of your face, “More beautiful than the stars reflected off the sea… Mi estrella.”

His words took your breath away, and you felt like your skin was on fire. Part of you screamed to stop, since you were sure Javi was in a fragile emotional state and you didn’t want to make things weird between you. Yet, the other part of you wanted to keep going and see what he would do next. And you had dreamed of being this close to him for years.

“Javi,” you repeated his name, “Is this really a good idea? I mean, your father…”

“I’m alright, mi estrella,” Javi’s voice never faltered, “You of all people know I was never that close with my father,” he paused as he took a deep breath, “In fact, this has made me more sure that I shouldn’t let what is in front of me slip away.”

Every time he called you that nickname it made your heart pound in your chest. Vaguely, you wondered if you were dreaming, or if this was actually happening. Years of denying your feelings and dancing around each other finally came to a head at this moment. It wasn’t the ideal circumstances, but still you were in awe that this was really real. 

Javi’s face was only centimeters from yours, and you felt his breath on your lips. But, he did not move. He stayed perfectly still, his lips ghosting over yours, and you realized that he waited for you to make the final call. As badly as he wanted to kiss you, Javi wanted to be certain that you wanted him just as much as he wanted you.

And of course you did.

With a gasp, you closed the small gap between yourselves and kissed him. Immediately, the kiss erupted into more and Javi held you tightly with his large hands as the kiss deepend. Neither of you were sure who parted their lips first, but the moment your tongue met his, it was like an explosion of fire and feelings completely overcame you both. Desperately, you both clawed at each other, as if you couldn’t get close enough to him, and Javi gently guided you over to his bed.

“You are exquisite, mi estrella,” Javi murmured in between kisses as he tugged at your clothes. But something suddenly snapped in him, as if he regained control of his brain once more and he paused, “Are you sure this is what you want? If I am going too far just tell me and I’ll st…”

“Don’t you dare stop, Javi,” you grabbed the collar of his shirt and yanked him in for another heated kiss, “I’ve wanted you for so long,” you whispered as your hands worked on the buttons of his shirt.

Javi couldn’t help the smile as he exhaled heavily with relief and sighed your name, “I have longed for you since the moment we met.”

“Well, now you have me, Javi,” you breathed as you felt him carefully strip you of your clothes while you did the same to him, “Now what are you going to do with me?” you added with a coy smirk.

He didn’t answer you with his words, only with another kiss as he pulled the last piece of your outfit off and spun you around. He launched both of your bodies onto his bed, and both of you grunted as you landed on your back on the soft mattress with Javi’s full weight on top of you. He had barely touched you, and yet just having Javi on top of you already felt like a perfect dream come true.

Javi’s thoughts must have mirrored yours as his eyes wanted across your now fully naked body. His mouth dropped open in awe as he memorized every inch of your figure in the moonlight, “You are… So perfect,” his breath was heavy and ragged as his skin felt warmer and warmer by the second.

“So are you, Javi,” you reached up and cupped his face as you traced your thumb across his cheek. In the moonlight, the shadows danced across his face and his eyes sparkled. The soft shine from the curls that france his face highlighted him perfectly, and the look of pure admiration on his face was something you knew you would never forget. Javi Gutierrez was truly the most beautiful man you had ever seen in your life, and now it was a fantasy come true for you to finally be with him.

“Now kiss me again,” you used the leverage of your face on his head to pull him flush against you.

Javi didn’t need to be told twice, and he surrendered to your touch as you crashed your lips together. He moaned into you as his hands wandered down to your breasts and gave them a soft squeeze. When you let out a gasp, Javi broke away to watch your expression as he kneaded your breasts and ran his fingers across your nipples. He felt himself harden with every moan and gasp you let out, and when he pinched your nipples a little bit harder and you threw your head back, he thought he might just cum then and there.

But Javi kept his composure as best he could, and he rocked his hardening length against your fold as he continued to play with your breasts. He positioned himself so that he hovered over you, and as he watched you lose yourself in the pleasure of his touch, he couldn’t help but attach his lips to your neck and suck hard at the sensitive skin there.

“Javi…” you moaned his name as you wrapped your arms around his broad shoulders and rocked your hips against his.

“Mi estrella,” he groaned your name after his new nickname for you.

“Call me that again,” your voice wasn’t commanding, yet Javi felt the immediate need to obey your request.

“Mi estrella,” he repeated with a smile, and it warmed his heart to know you approved of the nickname he chose for you. You were always a shining star in the darkness that was his world, and the way you lit up in the night sky in this moment compared to nothing else. For so long, Javi thought you were out of reach, but to have you now was better than anything he ever could have imagined.

And Javi was sure he never wanted to let you go now.

Javi kissed his way down your body until he reached your breasts. He wrapped his lips around one of your nipples as he cupped your other breast. You let out a wanton moan as you dug your nails into his shoulders while he swirled his tongue around your nipple. You bucked your hips against his chest and Javi groaned into your skin when he felt the wetness from between your legs.

For such a solemn evening, the night became so perfect with you underneath him like this, but Javi still wanted more. He needed more. He needed you. So he continued to kiss his way down your stomach, leaving a trail of saliva and affection along the way. But when he finally reached your pussy, he paused.

“Can I taste you, mi estrella?” Javi’s voice was low and heavy and his curls fell into his face as his chest heaved. He looked as if he would suffocate if he didn’t lick your pussy, but he still held back and waited for your permission.

“Please,” you breathed as you cupped his face.

Wasting no time, Javi suddenly dove in between your legs and gripped your thighs tightly as he covered your cunt with his mouth. The scream you let out when you felt his tongue on your clit went right to his cock, but he ignored it in favor of pleasuring you.

You tasted so good, and the more Javi ran his tongue up and down your folds the more he knew he wouldn’t be able to go back to how things were. He could spend every night, every morning, whenever you wanted buried between your legs.

“Oh shit… Javi… Jav…”

As Javi flicked his tongue on your clit while he kneaded your thighs, you felt completely lost in the bliss. You felt like you floated on the Mediterranean Sea outside instead of his bed. And Javi seemed to know exactly what spots drive you crazy as you felt the tingle of an approaching orgasm before you knew it.

“Javi I’m…” 

He groaned into you as he picked up his pace, desperate for you to cum against him. And it only took a few more licks of his tongue for him to get what he wanted. With a low moan and your hands tightly buried in Javi’s hair, you came hard. Your legs trembled in his grip as waves of pleasure crashed through you over and over again until you couldn’t take it anymore.

You yanked Javi off of you, and the two of you panted in silence for several long moments. Javi had a glazed over expression on his face as his chin glistened from the evidence of your climax. But even as his cock throbbed with need, all Javi could think of was you. How beautiful you looked lost in your bliss like that, how much he wanted to please you, take care of you, grow old with you…

But, Javi was knocked out of his thoughts when you bucked your hips against his and let out a low whimper, “Javi… Please… Fuck me… I need you inside me.”

His cock twitched and Javi froze his movements. He took just a moment to admire you underneath him before he spoke, “I am not going to fuck you, mi estrella,” his voice was low with need as he guided his cock to your entrance and pushed just the tip in. Both of you gasped but he held himself back to finish his thought, “I am going to make love to you.”

Before you could retort with something smart, Javi pushed himself into you more, and every thought you had was instantly gone. All the thoughts in your head were only of him, and how good his cock felt as he slowly pushed himself inside you inch by inch. 

“Fuck… Javi…”

He groaned through gritted teeth as he murmured your name, “Fuck you feel so good… Ahhh.”

“Shit, Javi,” you clung to him as if your life depended on it, “Don’t stop… Please don’t stop.”

Javi wasted no time and slowly thrust himself in and out of you at a steady pace. Moans and groans from both of you filled the room as Javi filled you over and over again. Mumbled curses in between the sloppy sounds of your wet pussy completed the chorus of your lovemaking.

“Mi estrella,” Javi groaned, “I am not going to last much longer… You feel… Ahh, you’re incredible… You’re…”

“Javi,” you cut him off as you bucked your hips against his and clenched your inner muscles around his cock, “You’re incredible… You’re amazing… You’re… Fuck!”

Javi snaked his hand in between your bodies and rubbed at your clit, and he savored the scream you let out as he interrupted your thoughts. Your cries only got louder and louder the more he fiddled with your clit, and from the way he felt you tightened around him, Javi knew you were close.

“Come on, mi estrella,” Javi cooed, “Cum for me again. Let me see you… Let me feel you…”

Your eyes fluttered open as you gaze into his eyes and for a moment you lost yourself completely. Your entire world became only Javi and his touch; everything else melted away. But, your sudden climax brought you back to Earth and you came hard with a loud scream. As Javi pounded into you and rubbed at your clit, your entire body trembled around him as you clung to him. Between how good he felt fucking you and the emotions of finally being with him, it was almost too much and tears filled your eyes as you rode out your second orgasm of the night.

With a moan of your name, Javi came right after you. The spectacular show you put on for him went straight to his cock, and his heart. You were everything he dreamed of and so much more, and to give you such pleasure was everything to Javi. And the way you felt so warm and tight around his cock only made his feelings for you grow until he couldn’t take it anymore and spilled himself deep inside you.

Once he had no more to give, Javi collapsed on top of you and both of you grunted from the sudden movement. Heavy breaths filled the room as neither of you had the energy to move. You felt Javi’s cock twitch inside you and it made you whine softly.

“Shit, are you ok?” Javi said your name as he pushed himself onto his elbows with a lot of effort and slowly slid out of you.

You let out another whimper as you suddenly felt so empty without Javi inside you, but he was at your side in an instant. His concerned eyes looked into your soul and it took you a moment to find your voice, “Perfect,” you finally replied before you pulled him in for another kiss.

This kiss was softer and slower, but still full of emotions. As Javi moaned into your mouth and allowed you to take his tongue with yours once again, you wrapped your arms around him and pulled him in close to you. When you both needed to break away for air, you guided Javi to rest on your chest. Neither of you spoke, but perhaps no words were needed as you rested together on Javi’s bed, tangled up in each other. 

Perhaps because he was exhausted emotionally as well as physically, but it took Javi no time to fall asleep in your arms. His head rested on your chest as the sound of your heartbeat quickly lulled him off to sleep. You, however, stayed awake for some time and just listened to the sounds of his soft snores. You ran your hands through his hair as you cradled his naked body against yours. And in that moment, everything was perfect. 

*

The sun had barely bagan to touch Javi’s skin when the sound of his phone woke him from a peaceful slumber. It had been so long since he had slept that well that Javi felt disoriented for a moment. The melody of his ringtone continued to play as he groaned and slowly blinked his eyes open. He tried to turn over, but a weight held him in place, and suddenly a rush of emotions jolted Javi fully awake.

You were still sound asleep in his bed, your warmth against his body a welcome comfort in the turmoil that was his life lately. Javi let out a deep sigh as he thought back to the night before and how beautiful you looked while lost in your passions. Even now, sound asleep, you looked like an angel from the stars. As he reached out and gently brushed his fingertips along your face, his phone started to ring again.

“Ay si, si I’m coming, I’m coming,” Javi mumbled a string of curses in Spanish as he carefully rolled over as to not wake you, “Si?” he answered his phone and pushed himself to the edge of the bed with his back to you.

“Ay primo there you are!” Lucas said from the other end of the line, “I’m downstairs, we need to talk. Get down here right away.”

Javi sighed as he ran his hand over his face and through his hair, “Lucas, this isn’t a good time. I…”

“Yes yes, I know you had company last night,” he interrupted, “I won’t take long, I promise.”

“Alight. I’ll be right down,” Javi sounded defeated as he hung up the phone and stood up. He stretched before he walked over to his closest, grabbed the first thing he saw and quickly dressed. He ran his hands through his messy curls to tame them, not fully caring about making himself fully presentable.

But, Javi let out a surprised yelp when he turned around and saw you were sitting up with the blankets pulled up to your chest.

“Ay, estrella,” he clutched his chest as he tried to calm his pounding heart, “You scared me. I didn’t hear you wake up.”

You couldn’t help but giggle at his exaggerated reaction, “Sorry Javi,” you covered your mouth and tried to hide your grin, “You seemed deep in thought, I didn’t want to make you lose concentration.”

Javi let out a deep breath as the corners of his lips turned up into a faint smile. Even with the new burdens he now felt after his father’s passing, you still managed to make your way into his heart and give him a moment of brightness in this dark time. He crossed the room and sat down on the bed and cupped your face with his hand, “Mi estrella, you always make me lose concentration,” he murmured, “But you are a more than welcome distraction.”

“I hope I’m more than just a distraction,” you whispered in a nervous tone. 

You had always had feelings for Javi, but you kept them buried deep down, that was until last night happened. And now that the dam broke, you weren’t sure what would happen next. From the way he held you and thrust into you last night, you were sure he felt the same way about you, but you also knew that it was dangerous to let your guard down, even around him. Yet, something about Javi made you want to take that risk.

Javi brushed his thumb across your skin and looked at you with the kindest, most warm expression you had ever seen, “Of course you are,” he said your name in a hushed tone that still held all his emotions, “It’s just…”

A knock at Javi’s door interrupted, “Sir?” a guard in front of the other side of the door called, “Your cousin is waiting for you.”

Both you and Javi dropped your gazes down and noticed that while you were talking, you slid your hand into his. Matching sighs escaped both your lips and you trailed your eyes back up Javi’s arm only to find that he was already looking right at you.

“I won’t be long, estrella,” he said, “We can continue this when I get back?”

You only nodded in response, not trusting your voice.

“Good,” Javi gave you a smile, “Wait here, I shouldn’t be long.” He leaned forward, as if he wanted to kiss you goodbye, but he decided against it. Instead, Javi gave your hand a squeeze before he let go and left you alone in his room: something he wished he didn’t have to do.

*

“Hey, cousin!” Lucas extended his arms out as Javi walked through the door, “I take it you had a good night?”

“It was fine,” Javi said shyly as he sat down at the table across from his cousin, “What was it that you needed to discuss that couldn’t wait?”

“Right to the point today, I see,” Lucas remarked with a grin. After a moment of silence, he continued, “Alright, I’ll get to it then,” he took a sip of coffee and cleared his throat, “Now, your father appointed us both leaders of his cartel before he passed. And business is booming, so we don’t have any time to lose.”

Javi nodded and closed his eyes; he already knew he wasn’t going to like what his cousin had to say.

“You and I both know that between the two of us, I am better suited to actually handle the business. I spent the most time with your father learning everything there is to know…”

“So, you want to take the business yourself?” Javi guessed.

“In a way,” Lucas smirked as he leaned forward, “I am going to run everything from the shadows, and you are going to be the figurehead. It’s a classic misdirection! The world will think it’s you but in fact all the deals will be safe with me. That way the business stays safely handled and no one will ever tear us down. We’ll be unstoppable!”

Javi felt a pit in his stomach. He had hoped that with his father’s death, he could just pass the cartel off to Lucas or another trusted family member and he could leave the business for good. Maybe then he could finally take you out on a proper date with the fear of getting you hurt. He could live the life he wanted to live, with you. 

However, that didn’t seem to be in the cards for him.

“But Lucas, I…”

“No, I know what you're going to say,” he interrupted, “If this is about the doctor’s daughter…”

“You leave her out of this,” Javi swiftly stood up as he raised his voice more than he meant to.

Lucas, however, was only amused at the outburst, “You want to protect her, right? Well, this is how you can. I give you my word, we will keep her safe, but only if you do what I say.”

Javi balled his hands into fists as he mulled it over. Deep down, he knew that once his cousin wanted something, he wouldn’t take no for an answer. Javi also knew that having you as leverage was dangerous, but he would do anything to protect you. With a defeated sigh, Javi nodded, “Ok.”

Lucas stood and patted him on the shoulder, “Alright! Now we’re in business.”

*

Javi hung his head low as he walked through the compound back to his room. Just as he thought his life might change, circumstances got in the way. They always did somehow. Now, he was faced with how to handle things moving forward, and what was the best to keep you safe. He couldn’t bear it if anything happened to you because of him, even though he knew you were a strong person.

“Javi!” your voice broke him out of his thoughts as he entered his room. His eyes landed on your figure, dressed in your clothes from last night and seated at the window with a book from his bookshelf in your hands, “I was starting to worry, you took so long,” you stood and moved over to him, but your demeanor changed when you saw the solemn look in his face, “What’s wrong? What happened?”

This was harder than he thought, and all Javi wanted to do was pull you in his arms and tell you the truth after he saw the look of concern on your face. But, he had to remain strong, for your sake. 

“I…” he cleared his throat, “I have business to attend to,” he lied, “Someone will get your car for you.”

“Ok…” you weren’t sure what to make of his sudden cold attitude, “Is everything ok? Is there something I can do?” You were worried; this wasn’t like him at all.

“No,” he replied back a little too quickly and too forcefully, “No,” he repeated in a softer tone, “I umm, I don’t think we should see each other for a while.”

“Oh…” 

In just one word, Javi heard the heartbreak in your voice, and it took everything in him not to reach out and comfort you. But, he stayed stoic as he turned away from you.

“I see,” you dropped your gaze down to the floor as you gathered your things, “I guess that answers my question from earlier. I’ll just leave then.” When you reached the doorway and stood next to Javi, you whispered, “Sorry for your loss, Javi.”

The sound of your voice broke Javi’s heart more than you knew, but he had to remind himself he was doing this for you as he heard you walk out the door. He stood in silence for several long minutes as he imagined you getting into your car and driving away, unknowingly taking his heart with you. It wasn’t until he was absolutely sure that he was truly alone that Javi collapsed down to the floor with his head in his hands. 

It would be years until the two of you saw each other again.

[vampyrenn]

Fabric and First Dates (Steve Harrington x F!Plus! Reader)

♡ 𝕸𝖆𝖘𝖙𝖊𝖗𝖑𝖎𝖘𝖙 ♡

♡ 𝕽𝖊𝖖𝖚𝖊𝖘𝖙 𝕽𝖚𝖑𝖊𝖘 ♡

♡ 𝕽𝖊𝖆𝖉 𝕻𝖆𝖗𝖙 𝕿𝖜𝖔 𝕳𝖊𝖗𝖊! ♡

↠ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕣𝕒𝕔𝕥𝕖𝕣: Steve Harrington x Reader ⌈Stranger Things⌋

↠𝕊𝕦𝕞𝕞𝕒𝕣𝕪: A ‘chance’ meeting brings Steve Harrington into your life after high school, in a different way than before.

↠𝕎𝕠𝕣𝕕 ℂ𝕠𝕦𝕟𝕥: 6.3K (oops)

↠𝕎𝕒𝕣𝕟𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕤: SPOILER FREE!! (Set sometime in 86 but no show plot yet) Explicitly Plus Size!Reader, anxiety issues surrounding weight and eating (Very lightly mentioned here), feminine clothing and identifiers used, no Y/N, one instance of clothes-sharing but it’s mentioned as a larger leather jacket reader doesn’t fully put on, Steve being a massive simp

↠𝔸/ℕ: So unfortunately I’ve had to split this into at least 2 parts because it just got so long, hopefully people enjoy it and are excited for part two since I’m already writing it haha. Part two will go a lot more in depth, this is really just the fun intro to my baby seamstress and Steve’s story. I love them dearly. Also reader has an invented friend named Claire, I tried to pick an unpopular name these days but I’m sorry for ruining your immersion Claires! You’re friend shaped! FEEDBACK IS ALWAYS APPRECIATED!! THANK YOU!!

»»————- ♡ ————-««

Fabric

Indiana summers were hot. The kind of scorching that made your skin stick to your clothes and melted your sandals into the sidewalk if you stood still for too long. It was only nine, but already the sun seemed determined to cook the entirety of Hawkins alive.

Luckily for you, the small crafts shop you worked at had just splurged on a new AC, so you were living the dream, tucked away in a corner, fixing messy displays that just happened to be right under an air vent and mouthing off with Claire, your best friend turned coworker. You barely ever got customers, usually just stay-at-home moms and grandmothers restocking their craft rooms once a month, so neither of you felt too bad about abandoning the register before noon.

“Look, I’m just saying that I think Evil Dead is way better.”

“And I’m just saying that you’re dead wrong.” You poked her in the side, glaring playfully, “Nightmare on Elm Street is clearly superior.”

“You only like it because it came out a few months after we graduated. It’s like your nostalgia movie or something.”

“It’s my ‘celebrating getting the hell out of there’ movie.” Claire giggled, rolling her eyes at you before slotting the last of the samples in its proper place and stepping back to admire her work. Before you could start once again expanding on how Elm Street was perfect and Claire was obviously just ‘nostalgic’ for weird cabins, the bell on the door chimed. You glanced at each other, confused. It was pretty early in the day for any of the usuals, and well, in Hawkins, you didn’t get much besides the usual coming in. this was definitely out of place.

Claire, always the people person, approached the door while you retreated to the counter. The overly polite ‘Hello, how can I help you?’ from her tipped you off that this wasn’t a regular customer. You looked up, mildly curious about what random person suddenly developed an interest in handcrafts, and honey brown eyes met yours.

Steve Harrington.

Quickly averting your gaze, you fumbled to look busy, like somehow that would make him instantly forget you’d just been looking. Picking up a floss catalog and flipping through it, you silently prayed he didn’t remember you. If he did, you hoped at least, the memory was a little bit better than the sad reality.

You’d never had any kind of relationship with Steve, friendly or otherwise, but for a few embarrassing years in high school you’d had a huge crush on him. That all faded away as he started hanging out with Tommy and Carol, dating Nancy Wheeler, and you were more focused on avoiding them than cooing over him in the cafeteria. You were lucky enough to scrape by, as easy as it would have been to single you out, the chubby loner with two friends who made her own clothes. Even after Tommy stopped hanging around him, and Nancy broke up with him the year you graduated, it felt too late by then. Your worlds were too far apart, or so you thought.

Now they were colliding, and you couldn’t decide whether you were happy or petrified. Probably both.

The blood rushing in your ears prevented you from hearing the rest of their conversation, but Claire was at your side just a few seconds later, nudging you with her elbow while Steve disappeared down an aisle.

“Whoa.” She mumbled. You breathed out a laugh, setting the stupid catalog down and bumping her back with your own elbow.

“Whoa,” you agreed, and after a short pause added, “do you think he found his passion for embroidery?”

Claire snorted, clapping a hand over her mouth to disguise the noise and shaking her head at you, eyes full of both irritation and amusement. “If he hears you, I’m not sticking around for a repeat of King Steve’s wrath.” She whispered.

“I heard he’s gotten nicer since then.” You murmured, and she shrugged.

Claire had been your friend since high school, and you both had the same luck with popularity. Outcast, not bullied but not well liked, barely even remembered. It was a shame, really, since she would have made a great cheerleader; pretty, kind, and athletic to boot, but it just didn’t happen. You weren’t complaining, she was your best friend because of it after all, but you always felt a twinge of regret for her.

Maybe for yourself, too.

“He’s been staring at that wall rack for, like, 10 minutes. I don’t think he knows what he’s doing.”

Torn out of your little pity party, you followed her gaze to one of the large overhanging racks, different fleeces and flannels on display just above Steve’s head. He was directly across from them, hands calmly at his sides, unmoving as a statue. You watched him for a minute, and in that time he didn’t move to flip through the samples or even touch one once.

“I mean, it’s summer in Indiana. Why is he looking at fleece?” She continued, giggling. Humming in agreement, you rounded the counter and started slowly approaching him.

As fun as it was to sit behind the counter and laugh at the once most popular guy in school floundering over sewing scissors, you had a job to do, and even if you wanted to avoid it (you weren’t sure you did), it was clear that he wasn’t going to figure out anything on his own.

Hell, he might not even move before closing at this rate.

“I got it.” You called to Claire over your shoulder, waving for her to stay behind the counter. She was a people pleaser, so you-the snarky one, your boss called you sometimes-usually hung back, but you tried to trade off on customers equally. You told yourself that was the only reason you offered, and it had absolutely nothing to do with the burning curiosity of Why is he here? And What is he like now?

Absolutely nothing at all.

“You know, most people at least touch the fabric they’re trying to buy.” His shoulders stiffened and he whipped around, staring at you in a mix of surprise and embarrassment, and despite yourself it made you smile, just a slight twitch of your lip as you looked up at him. It took him a second, but he returned it, and the sweetness of it made you dizzy. You had been expecting a smug grin or a grimace, but he looked genuinely happy that you had come to his rescue. Your heart stuttered.

He’s only gotten more pretty. So unfair.

“Uh, Yeah I…” he trailed off, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck, and his expression seemed more playful than embarrassed now that he was talking to you. His eyes lit up in recognition the next second. “Hey, we went to high school together, right?” He said your name like he was certain he was right, and you nodded, lips parting in shock.

“Wow, I’m surprised you remember.” You were, only because it had been a few years and you really hadn’t ever interacted, but you didn’t miss the way your words made him wince, his smile dimming slightly. Fuck. backpedaling as you shook your head, you blurted, “Not because I was a loser, it’s just been so long. But everyone in Hawkins went to school together so it’s a safe guess…”

Excellent save. Can I just die now?

You wrapped your arms around your torso, trying to shield yourself, but Steve laughed a little, like he thought you were actually trying to be funny, and the sound warmed you down to your toes. You smiled a little wider, and the small knot of tension in your stomach came undone all at once.

Three minutes in Steve’s presence, and you were convinced that he wasn’t the same boy he used to be, and you liked this one much more.

“It hasn’t been that long.” He countered, crossing his arms in mock defiance. He was bigger than you remembered too, his chest filled out even more, biceps flexing while he moved, and you attempted to ignore it and focus on not making an ass of yourself. The last thing you needed was to come off as a creep.

“I see we aren’t denying the loser part. Cold, Harrington.” Now you were trying to be funny, and the crinkles near his eyes told you it was working. You felt oddly proud, being able to joke about this with him, like you were old friends and not almost total strangers.

“I kinda thought it’d be weirder to deny it. Do you want me to?”

“For my ego? Yes. But it’s too late now, you’ve wounded my pride.” Your hand fluttered to your chest and you sighed dramatically, “how can I ever recover from this crushing blow?”

He hummed, rocking back and forth on his heels and thinking for a second before declaring like it was the simplest solution in the world, “You could give me your number.”

What?

“What?” You could barely breathe the word out, staring at his casual expression in total bewilderment. Frozen in place, you watched his face flush a baby pink, and he stumbled over his words to explain.

“No, I mean-okay. I’m trying to make this thing, a scarf. Just…to try it. But clearly,” he huffed, gestured vaguely behind him to the shelves lining the walls, “I have no idea what I’m doing. I’m asking you for help. It would make you, like, the coolest person in the world.”

Your eyes narrowed, and he had the decency to look a little sheepish, pushing the stray hairs that had fallen over his face back and avoiding your eyes. You had a strange feeling about his reasoning, you couldn’t quite put your finger on it but decided to let it go since this was your first real conversation. Better to keep it friendly.

“This sounds like an excuse for you to get some extra help out of me.” You wagged your finger at him playfully, “But I’ll call it even, since I get to tease you the whole time.”

“You’re an angel.”

Looking down so he couldn’t see how flustered just a simple comment made you, you dug in your work apron, producing a thick black marker with a little ta-da motion to Steve, and he stuck his hand out for you to write your landline on. You focused on writing each number perfectly, so you could stop thinking about how big his hands were.

You drew a little smiley face too, just because you wanted to. When you finished, he pulled his hand back and looked at it, a soft huff of a laugh leaving him when he saw your masterpiece. Suddenly, you were nervous, breaking eye contact to stare at your sneakers. He seemed to be too, taking a quick step back and shoving both of his hands into the pockets of his blue jeans.

“So…I’ll call you sometime.”

“Okay. Cool.” You bobbed your head.

“Cool.” A few more steps back, near the door, he pulled one hand out of his pocket and gave you a quick thumbs up before turning and hauling ass out of the store.

It was the lamest thing you’d ever seen Steve Harrington do, and it had you melting into the floor like you were sixteen again.

You couldn’t spend too long dazing over his smile, however, because Claire was rushing towards you, barely containing her wild grin.

“Oh my god!” She squealed, gripping your arms and shaking you.

“Jesus, what?” You jostled, breaking out of her grip and flipping her off. “You’re so damn nosy, were you listening the entire time?”

She ignored you.

“Don’t ‘what’ me! Steve ‘The Hair’ Harrington was flirting with you! He asked for your number!”

“It’s not like that Claire, are you joking? He wanted help with a scarf, he’s hopeless. It’s like overtime with no pay.” You said lightly, shoving aside the hopeful stirrings Claire was riling up. Steve was, at least at some point, one of the most sought after guys in Hawkins. It was stupid to even hope that he was interested in you. You were no Nancy Wheeler, not even close.

“Babe.” Claire giggled, a knowing grin on her lips as she took your hands and patted them. “He’s making a scarf in July?”

You shook your head, yanking your hands away from her grip and ducking past her to return to the counter before she could see the stupid smile spreading over your face, “It’s probably just some practice before Christmas or something!”

“He didn’t buy anything!” She sing-songed from the aisle.

Your face burned hot.

Safety Pins

A small part of you wondered if Steve would even remember the conversation at all. In the days after he appeared in the store, blatantly lying about making a scarf on the hottest day of the year, you convinced yourself that you’d made up the entire ridiculous interaction in your head, and then the phone finally rang.

The first time was two days after he’d come to the store (not that you’d been waiting), and you forced yourself to wait for three rings before picking up. You were desperate to seem casual, like you totally hadn’t been sitting right next to the extension every night since, an equal mix of desperate and curious, running through everything you could possibly say if he ever called.

“Hello?” Strong start.

“Hey, it’s Steve.” he paused, like he was waiting for you to say something before continuing, “I...bet you wanna know why I’m calling?” The way he said it like he wasn’t even sure himself had you biting back a laugh. This was clearly a golden opportunity to mess with him, and who were you to deny such a gift?

“It’s not about the scarf?” You asked in mock surprise. “And here I thought it was so important.”

He groaned, sounding embarrassed, but not at all surprised you’d already caught him out. “You’re worse than Dustin. Have you always been this sarcastic?”

“Who’s Dustin?”

“Annoying kid I babysit.” His voice was full of fondness despite his words, and you smiled to yourself, heart squeezing. “He’d love you, I bet.”

“Don’t try and be cute and change the subject. Are you going to tell me why you lied about making a scarf in July??”

“Maybe I just wanted to talk to the pretty girl working there. Is that so bad?” The smile in his voice was unmistakable, even if there was a slight shake of nerves.

Biting your lip to try to contain your giddiness, you hummed. “Maybe you should have gotten her number then, I don’t play wing man.” Even though you were joking, there was a thorn of truth in it. Claire was pretty and social, and it wasn’t uncommon for guys to come into the store just to hit on her. Steve huffed, clearly not amused with you dancing around the obvious.

“You’re hilarious.” he deadpanned, “I wanted to talk to you.”

“And your plan was to stand there and look pathetically lost until I came to help you?”

“Worked, didn’t it?” His smug tone shut you up, rolling your eyes silently as he continued, “I actually wanted to ask you out.” he said it so casually it almost didn’t register with you, but he didn’t keep talking, just sat in silence and waited for you to catch up. His patience made your stomach twist in the best way.

“Like a date?” You finally asked, slow and disbelieving.

“Yes, like a date. Are you just trying to avoid answering me?” You sort of were. It didn’t seem real, despite all the signs, despite Claire grabbing your hand and winking at you when she left, saying Tell Harrington I said hi when he calls!

It just didn’t make sense. Unless…

“Are you going to Carrie me?”

“What?” He scoffed, far away from the receiver like he’d pulled the phone away from his ear in shock.

“I think it’s a simple question, Steve.”

“No! Where would I even get a bucket of pig's blood?” His warm voice was indignant, and you giggled, could imagine his furrowed brows and slight pout perfectly on the other end of the phone. You were grateful that for now he didn’t seem to be pushing for an answer, letting you circle around the topic. As much as you wanted to agree, to toss yourself into the fantasy you’d cultivated for years in highschool, you didn’t want to make this easy for him, like so many other girls in Hawkins.

A little selfishly, you wanted to be a girl he wanted enough to work for. Hopefully, he would. Otherwise, you were about to make the stupidest decision of your life.

Sighing softly and shaking your head like he could see it, you breathed out, “I dunno… I’m going to need a bit more convincing, Harrington.” You prayed he heard the subtle challenge in the words, and you knew he did when he responded, confidence suddenly so apparent through the phone you wondered why he had seemed so nervous before.

“I can do that, Sweetheart.”

You were never more grateful you had begged your parents for your own extension in high school, because after that first conversation, Steve called almost every day. It was endearing, how eager he seemed to talk to you, stealing fifteen minutes at work ‘just to hear your voice’, keeping you up late to gently pester you about taking you out.

Just one date, he’d say teasingly, and then you’ll be the one asking, Sweetheart. The nickname had stuck since the first call, and it warmed you to your core every time he said it. you knew from the moment he breathed it into the receiver that you would eventually agree to whatever he wanted.

It took him a few weeks of talking and some surprise visits at work (Much to Claire’s delight), but you finally agreed one afternoon, and the happiness radiating off of him while he walked out of the store made you wish you hadn’t waited so long.

Seam Allowance

It was only a few days before your first date excitement wore off, being replaced with bone deep anxiety and a feeling that you were drawn tight with tension, like a rubber band that might snap.

Claire came over hours before the date to help you get ready, bursting with excitement and about a dozen ‘I-told-you-so’s’, and now you were both sitting on your bed sorting through your jewelry; she was wearing your pajama pants and an old shirt from middle-school, an amusing contrast to your perfectly pinned hair and high heels.

“You’re coming back tonight, right?” she asked, holding a pair of golden hoops up to your skin before wrinkling her nose and putting them back into the box.

“Duh. Where else would I go?” It was a system you’d both made up high school, and one you’d never strayed from. If one of you went on a first date the other would wait at her house, to make sure she came home safe and also to get all of the gossip as soon as the date was over. Claire used it much more often than you, but she still grinned, waggling her eyebrows at you and whistling a low note like you were naughty teenagers again.

“I dunno, Babe, you look gorgeous. Harrington might wanna see the inside seam of that dress.” She lowered her voice in an attempt to sound sensual, leaning in close while you shoved her away, scoffing at her terrible innuendo. The dress was one of her favorites, something you’d bought at a thrift store and altered yourself the summer you’d both graduated. It was bright and flowy, the pink silk draping to your mid-thigh, a mix of sweet and sexy that you’d started wearing after high school, away from prying eyes and insults.

The irony of wearing it to a date with King Steve was not lost on you.

“Please,” you huffed, looking away with the excuse of checking a necklace in the mirror, tossing it back in the pile without much thought, “he already knows what I look like, the dress won’t fool him.” Claire frowned, her playful mood dissolved.

“What do you mean by that?”

Shaking your head, you murmured, “I mean, he already knows what I look like…how I looked in high school,” you cringed, shaking your head, “not all pretty and perfect. Not thin. I feel like I might be trying too hard. Being tricky.” The words sat like acid in your mouth, but Claire instantly threw her arms around you in a hug, laughing a little. It got to you more than it should have.

“Are you laughing at me?! I bare my soul to you, and you’re laughing!”

“Yes!” she admitted, still giggling even as she pulled away to look at you again. “You’re being stupid. He knows how you look normally. He knows how you looked in high school. So what? He still asked you out.” she poked your chest with each word, speaking over you every time you tried to interrupt. “The only thing that’s going to happen is that he’s going to see you looking pretty, not tricky, drool all over himself, and be like, ‘Ooh, Baby, you’re so beautiful and perfect let’s get marr-’”

Clapping a hand over her mouth to stop her terrible imitation of Steve, you couldn’t contain your laughter, shaking your head at her. Claire was always your biggest supporter and cheerleader, and she always seemed to know exactly what to say when you needed it, even if it was stupid and corny and probably not true. You pulled your hand away when she calmed, and you smiled at her, grateful. She smiled back.

“You know, you’re constantly saying Steve isn’t who he used to be. You always forget that you’re not the same girl either.” She winked, pressing a pair of rose gold and pearl earrings into your hand. “These are the ones, by the way. I can feel it.” You swallowed, a ball of emotion and affection suddenly welling up in your throat, Sticky sweet.

Is this what having a sister feels like?

The doorbell rang before you could say anything, and Claire grabbed your purse while you rushed to put the earrings in. She looked you over one last time, nodding her enthusiastic approval and you thanked whatever God was out there that you had her support while you tried to ignore the tears pricking your eyes. She hugged you quickly and firmly, whispering “Go get ‘em, tiger.” and ushering you down the stairs.

—

Steve guided you through the crowded diner with a hand on your lower back, following the hostess closely. The gesture was unfamiliar, embarrassingly intimate in such a public place but also comforting, so you didn’t say anything, just let the heat of his palm burn into your skin until he pulled your chair out for you, always the gentleman.

You felt out of place as you sat down; The bright, tacky colors of the diner contrasted harshly with the soft pastels and curves of your clothes, and your anxiety licked fire-hot up your throat, feeling at once too overdressed and not good enough. Steve noticed as soon as he sat down, but he had enough sense to wait until the waitress was gone, reaching across the table slowly to take your hand. He gave you space to pull away, and when you didn’t, he rewarded you with a grin, the flicker of nerves in his face smoothed over with boyish charm.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t take you somewhere a little nicer…” He gestured to the full tables, but turned back to you with a hopeful glint in his eye. “But I’m really happy you agreed to come.” he squeezed your hand, looking up into your face to gauge your reaction. He must have found what he was looking for because he relaxed completely, although he didn’t let go of your hand on the table. You didn’t mind. “You look amazing, by the way. Have I told you that tonight?”

He did tell you, once at your doorstep, at least two times in the car, and now here. Even if he hadn’t, you could tell just by the way his eyes had trailed up your legs when you walked out onto your porch, mapping out the soft expanse of your exposed thigh while you climbed into his car, the way his gaze slightly heated on your naked shoulders. It was pretty obvious what he thought.

Still, you rolled your eyes playfully, a doubtful smile spreading across your face. “Only a million times.”

“And I’ll say it a million more.” His tone was casual, but you could hear something soft and intense in it, like he knew you didn’t believe him and he was desperate to prove you wrong. “You’re gorgeous. A stunner.”

“Stop.”

“Total knockout. What’re you doing on a date with a guy like me?” He used his free hand and jerked his thumb into his chest, eyes sharp and mischievous, but then he looked away, just for a moment, like he was actually nervous about your answer. Concern unfurled in your chest in an instant, and you leaned forward, squeezing his hand tighter than he had yours.

“You’re beautiful.” You murmured, running your thumb over his knuckles. As much as you wanted to recite terrible poetry to him, say he was Eros himself, carved of flesh instead of stone by the Great Masters, tell him how often you’d listened to him whisper over the phone late at night these past weeks, twisting the cord around your finger and imagining drawing constellations between his beauty marks with your fingertips, it felt like too much for a first date, in a loud diner where anyone could hear, so you said the first thing you could think of. you hoped it had the same effect on Steve either way.

His smile threatened to consume his face, his eyes bright half moons as he beamed at you. “Yeah? Beautiful?” He tossed his hair arrogantly, pulling his hand away from yours to run his fingers through the silken strands, wrists and forearms flexing. Your mouth went dry and it was the best you could do to nod dumbly, trying desperately to grasp a coherent thought.

“Sorry, that was weird.” You shook your head as if to clear your thoughts. “Beautiful is a weird word. Handsome?” You tried, but you were dissatisfied. Handsome didn’t feel like enough, too rough around the edges to include Steve, with his sweet smiles and stupid jokes. It wasn’t enough. Steve was shaking his head too, the moment you’d started backtracking.

“No, no,'' he leaned back, subtly gesturing his head to warn you the waitress was approaching behind you, his wild grin dimming down into something softer and more vulnerable. “Beautiful is… no one’s ever called me that before. You’re my first.” He waggled his eyebrows at you, like the innuendo wasn’t obvious enough, and that molten rush of affection returned, warmth spreading from your face to your sternum; then you processed what he’d said before that, and you raised your eyebrows in surprise.

How could someone like Steve go so long without being called beautiful?

“That’s insane,” then, after a second, “You really are.” Before you could stop yourself. You bit your lip in embarrassment, and his eyes dropped to follow the action, just a flicker before looking back. He took your hand again, rubbing the pad of his thumb across your knuckles soothingly, but his eyes didn’t leave your face once.

“So are you.” The way he was looking at you made you want to believe it, like he was in awe of you, studying your features like he was committing them to memory. You felt warm under his gaze, but before you could make a snarky comment and ease some of your anxiety, the waitress was at your table, and Steve wasn’t looking at you anymore.

You had expected to completely clam up over dinner, but Steve kept you distracted and laughing the entire time, and you were having too much fun to worry about if he thought you were eating too much or trying too hard. You knew from the rumors he was always charming, girls chased him for years when you were younger, but having the full force of it directed on you was something you'd never experienced before. You could see why he had been popular. Steve actually listened when you talked, like he was interested in you. It was depressingly refreshing.

You’d been telling him a story about work, offhandedly mentioning a top you were making when he stopped your story in its tracks. “So wait, you make your own clothes?” He looked pleasantly surprised.

“I mean, kinda. Not all of them. I make some of them. They don’t make cute clothes in my size so…” You shrugged it off like it didn’t matter, eyes on your plate, trying to ignore the admiration in his gaze as his jaw dropped. His eyes followed the slope of your shoulders to the dresses thin straps, one having fallen half down without you noticing. “I do it myself. Didn’t you know this when you asked for my help in the store?”

“Did you make this one?” Steve’s voice was almost reverent when he brought up your dress, ignoring your snark completely. He reached one hand towards you, impossibly delicate fingers sliding the strap back up your arm and into place. It must have only been a second before he was leaning back in his chair and popping a French fry into his mouth, but you felt like your world had stopped. You searched your cloudy brain for the answer to his question. You barely remembered what he asked.

“I altered it, yeah.” The only way you could describe the look on his face was dazzled, and you bit your lip, fingers itching to reach out and trace the planes of his face with your hands. You wanted him to look at you like this forever, like you were ethereal and special; you settled instead for shyly turning away. First date and all.

“You’re crazy talented. I was always thinking about where you got all your pretty little outfits, then I find out you make them?” Your heart squeezed at the idea of him, sitting in his car, or at home, thinking about the clothes you wore, wondering where you got them and keeping notes of your outfits; choosing a favorite. He shook his head in disbelief, eyes meeting yours again in cowed respect. “You’re really something.” And you knew he meant it.

“Yeah, well… you ever need something fitted, call me.” You winked, not catching the innuendo until Steve was already pouncing, smile turned wicked.

“Is that an invitation?”

“Oh my God, You’re such a perv.” You giggled, the happy glint in his eyes more than worth your slight embarrassment at the joke.

“I’m not hearing a no…”

“I’m hearing the complaints the mothers in the diner are filing against us right now…” you hummed, and Steve grimaced, glancing around while you admired the worry lines in his forehead, fighting the urge to lean over and smooth them with your thumb.

“Thank God the check already came then. Let’s get outta here.” He stood up while you laughed at him, already digging in his pockets for his wallet. You grabbed your purse and slid out of your chair, scrambling to find your own, wondering if he’d wanted you to offer to cover anything.

“I can pay for half-“

“Don’t even think about it.” He tossed a few bills on the table, sounding offended you had even offered. You let it go, deciding to save yourself the bickering since you knew he’d never let you pay. Steve’s hand found the small of your back again as he led you out, like it was just instinct, being protective. The thought sent jolts down your spine.

The diner had grown significantly quieter since you’d both arrived, but there were still a decent amount of full tables, and you appreciated the sudden wall of quiet when you both stepped outside. Evening had bled into night in the hours you’d spent with Steve, the hazy sun now completely gone, leaving behind a surprising chill despite the season.

You rubbed your arms quickly, trying to acclimate to the sudden cold, and of course, Steve noticed immediately. Even though you argued, since you would only be outside for as long as it took to walk to his car and get in, he still draped his leather overcoat over your shoulders, and when you caught a whiff of his cologne, and him underneath, you stopped complaining. The leather was soft from use, and you were careful not to scratch it with your nails while you gripped the lapels to keep it around your shoulders.

“Why do you even have a jacket? It was pretty warm earlier.” You asked, watching him fumble in his back pockets for his keys. He glanced at you for a second and the realization hit you. “You brought it just in case? For me?”

Smiling guiltily, he unlocked the doors. “Hey, don’t ever say Steve Harrington isn’t a romantic.”

Watching him walk around the car just to open your door for you, jogging so you wouldn’t open it yourself, you just shook your head. “How could I?” you breathed, and you knew there were obvious hearts in your eyes.

Steve didn’t comment, but you could see the smug look on his face when he helped you into the car-for a wild second you thought about kissing it off of him, he was just so pretty- but you waited until he climbed into the driver's seat to speak again, staring out the front window while he put the keys in the ignition.

“Next time, you’ll be wearing my jacket, Harrington.” You promised; something about the dark and quiet of the night outside made you drop your voice, more heated than you intended, and the blush that rose to his ears at your words made your chest swell with pride.

Steve bounced back to being perfect and charming, and for the entire drive home, he held your hand in his on the center console, a satisfied smile on his face.

The ride back was short, and too soon Steve was in your driveway, turning the car off, the only light coming from your old, orange porch bulb. He cleared his throat, breaking the comfortable silence that had fallen when you pulled up.

“Let me walk you to the door.” It wasn’t a question; he was already unbuckling his seat belt and jumping out to open your door again. A part of you wanted to hop out before he could, just to tease him about how far he was going, but watching him jog around the front of the car just to impress you was far more rewarding. He offered you his hand wordlessly and you took it, letting him pull you out of the car.

Standing outside of your door, bathed in the warm flickering light, Steve was too pretty to look at, even though you wanted to burn the memory in your head. His skin looked tan and soft, brown eyes almost black in the shadow. You looked at your feet, toeing your heels into the mat under them.

“I had fun tonight, Sweetheart.” He says carefully, gauging your reaction, and you smile shyly, glancing back up at him. He’s not smiling, but he looks open and earnest. He’s waiting for you to respond, you realize, so you do.

“So did I.” You breathe, and his lip twitches. He takes a step towards you and you don’t move back, letting him start to slowly crowd your space on the porch. “Even if those kids wouldn’t shut up for like 30 minutes.” You joke, and he laughs, a short huff through his nose that stops as soon as it starts.

“Next time, we’ll go somewhere quieter, promise.” Despite his response to your ‘next time’ quip earlier, you had been dreading the chance that this was a one time thing, that he was being polite and a good date and after this he was going to realize you weren’t a cheap lay because of your weight, or get cold feet, exactly the way most of your pathetic romances ended. The idea that he wanted to see you again was unfamiliar and exciting.

“Next time?” Your voice was soft and vulnerable, and Steve looked at you like you were crazy.

“How else am I going to steal that jacket from you?” He took another step, and you had to crane your neck to look up at his serious expression. One of his hands came up, hesitating before resting delicately on your face, his calloused thumb rubbing soothing lines over your cheek. “I’m committed to the idea, now.”

You hummed, closing your eyes as he continued to ghost his fingers over your features. The feeling was indescribable. “Oh well, you’ll need it when I never give this one back.” You pulled the lapels of his jacket again, and instead of responding he moved his hand from your jaw to the nape of your neck, gently guiding you towards him.

You panicked, suddenly unsure if you were even ready for a simple goodnight kiss, let alone a make out session on your porch, but he was impossibly slow and gentle while he pulled you towards him, and you opened your eyes when you felt his lips in your hair, one hand on the curve of your neck and the other rubbing soothing circles into your soft hip. He pulled away just enough to murmur into your hairline, lips indulgent and sweet,

“You can take whatever you want, pretty girl.” he sounded hoarse and wanting, and it nearly took your breath away. All of your willpower -and remembering your best friend was still upstairs, waiting- was barely enough to convince you to untangle yourself from him, but you did. He kissed your forehead one more time before finally letting you slip inside, still wrapped snugly in his coat. “I’ll call you.” He said gently as you crossed the threshold. You giggled.

“Yeah, I know.”

Watching his car make its way down the street from your bedroom window, Claire shutting off the lights and settling in for the nights gossip session, you knew all you’d have taken was him.

[becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys]

Hey!! One one of ur posts u wrote that u were trained by you government to write poetry?? Sorry if u have posted about this before, but how did u get there and stuff? Hope u have a nice day!!

Well, so, it was a government initiative in the mid 90s because... idk because it was Wales and that was what they wanted to spend their money on I guess. They wanted to establish what they called Writing Squads, I think as a sort of non-sport alternative for nerds like me, which is funny because I also played rugby. But, the pilot one was in my home county, Gwent.

So they had teachers in every primary school keep an eye out, basically, for any kids who showed natural aptitude for writing. Of any kind - they actually did do prose and scriptwriting and that as well, but the main focus ended up being on poetry, I believe for convenience and politics. But yeah, any child that wrote something good, that piece of work got submitted and the kid became a candidate.

SO, cut to me, seven years old, MASSIVE fucking dweeb, no friends because my teacher was a sour old crone who hated children in general and teachers' children in particular a truly abnormal amount, and that amount was ALL OF THE HATE SHE HAD IN HER HEART. My Mam was a teacher, so in the personal rankings of Mrs Thomas, suffering my existence fell somewhere between breaking a fingernail six minutes after you just got them done in an expensive and fully booked salon, and stepping in runny dog shit. To relieve her rage and disgust at my presence in her class, she spent the year directly bullying me heavily and encouraging the other children to join in, and they were, you know, seven, so they took up that challenge with gusto.

What I'm saying is, I was therefore prone to sitting by myself and making my own fun sometimes during the occasional bout of Free Time we used to get (sometimes we'd get a Free Time period, during which the Teachers would hastily catch up on paperwork I think, or possibly sit there mired in a miasma of bile and fury as they thought about other teachers' kids being in their class idk, but the point was that us kids could do whatever we wanted in that time: arts and crafts, mechano, recreational maths, creative writing, etc). Now, my sister was in high school at the time, and the night before we'd gone to... some sort of academic event of hers, maybe a school play? Parents Evening? Dunno. But I'd been wandering the corridors of the high school, bored, when I'd found the displays. One of them was a load of poetry from the English department.

And one of those poems had a horse on, so I was in.

I can't remember it by now. I know it didn't rhyme, which my seven year old ass thought was bullshit. I know it featured the line "The horse of the valleys/ has come out to dance", too, because of the whole thing, that lodged itself in my brain. I thought that was the best thing I'd ever heard. I thought that was magnificent. I thought that was magical wordsmithing, sheer genius, so lyrical and beautiful you could glimpse the divine in the cracks between the letters...

Except, thought I, it's a missed trick, isn't it?

Because it was in a shitty non-rhyming wall of drabness, and also the scansion of that second line is not quite right, not quite rhythmic, not stressed in the right places. So clearly I could do better.

So, that next day, there I am in Free Time. I decide I want to do some creative writing, i.e. shamelessly steal a line and a half from someone else's work and Improve It.

(I did not Improve It.)

So I write out this poem. I don't remember all of what I wrote, either, but happily for all of you, Tumblrs (unhappily for my ego) I actually can remember the first stanza, so...

Sigh.

Trees drift in the darkness

Like white spirits of light,

The horse of the valleys

Is dancing in the night

LITERARY GOLD I'M SURE WE CAN ALL AGREE

There were four or five stanzas, every other one finished with that same couplet about that horse, dancing away like it was in a fucking disco, but the rest are lost to history. Uh, one rhymed sight with night. And I think one was fight? I'm pretty sure. I know one of the even numbered stanzas rhymed green and seen. "Can be plainly seen." And "through leaves of emerald green." That was it. And I drew a rearing horse under a moon to go with it. I was committed to my Shakespearean genius.

Anyway, that done I went up to Mrs Thomas where she sat seething behind her desk, cannibalising her own soul with her loathing for all the children in her class. And I put my creative writing book down for her to check, and then went to draw another horse.

Normally, the process was, she'd vaguely tick the work, then make you take it away again.

But this time, she actually called my back up to her desk.

"Did you write this?" she asked me suspiciously.

"Yes miss," I said, and then consumed with guilt for my plagiarism, I said, "it's based on one I saw yesterday."

"Explain," she said.

And I said, "It was about a horse and it didn't rhyme and I Improved It."

(I did not Improve It.)

"Hmm," she said, and then didn't give the book back.

Half an hour later, the deputy head came in, and read it, and gathered about Mrs Thomas' desk. Ten minutes after THAT, the head master came in (he was later fired for having so much porn on his school computer that it almost caught fire but that's another story).

And that night, my parents told me I was being invited to join the Gwent Writing Squad, and bought me a special pen as a reward.

And that's how it went, pretty much. Mrs Thomas was a vicious and grotesque possum but in that one sense, on that one day, she actually Done Me Well. I went to training once a month until the summer after I turned sixteen, and I now use those skills to write queer Welsh werewolf erotica and also lengthy Tumblr posts about walruses.

[husbandohunter]

You know ur small predicament post?? you should make a reverse version where s/o is smaller!

A Smaller Predicament [Genshin Impact x Smol!Reader]

Characters: Scaramouche, Diluc, Kaeya, Childe, Xiao, Zhongli, Albedo

Synopsis: Not only did you shrink, you went pocket sized as well!

(A sequel to "A Small Predicament")

(A/n): Sorry for the long wait anon, and I kind of added a twist to the scenario for more diversity hahaha hope you don't mind >_<. And why is Childe the poster boy for this series lmao.

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

Childe

When Childe walks in, he doesn't see you....until he looked down. He almost crunched you beneath his feet if it weren't for your constant flailing of arms and screeching voice. He blanks out for a hot minute as you clung onto his toes, doesn't dare to move an inch because he's so petrified (even though there's nothing to be afraid of??). But honestly if Childe moved right now, he might accidentally flail you to the side and that's the last thing he wants.

"WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU??" He screamed so loud it nearly blew you out of proportion. Seems like he's going to have alot of adjusting to do. Childe is a tall man (canonically the tallest) and he knows how impulsive he can get which is why he bought a handmade dollhouse from one of the Liyue merchants for you to stay in.

Though there's something about your tiny size that makes his heart flutter. With your face so small with a pair of eyes far too big, *clutches chest* "My oujo-chan is so cute" -Childe probably. He won't stop saying them over again and you were growing tired of his gushing reactions. He can't help it. He wants to spoil you rotten. You fit right onto the flat of his palms, the way you just snuggle up againts his finger and he just- swoons, might tear up (bruh).

Toys may be for kids but for Childe it was now his favourite pass time. While you navigate around the wooden dollhouse, he pitches in by moving around the furniture to make it easier for you. Offers to carry you through the rooms like a personal elevator. And please, please let him tuck you to bed. He has to pinch his fingers to grab the blanket. It's so adorable to him.

Loves it when you snuggle up against his collar. He thinks it would be the best area for you to be nearby him since the risk of you getting hit by anything (or him) by accident is very slim chance. Sometimes he pulls up his collar so that you're more comfortable and cradled within. He would have to avert his eyes down rather than turning his head if he wanted to look at you otherwise you'd be hit by his chin and that would hurt.

The poking sensation with you by his neck can bother him since he's veeeery tickilish there. Plus, Childe can get easily sweaty so have fun with that.

You have a feeling that he wasn't so pleased when you transformed back. You might be right. Actually, you are right. He secretly has an extra potion hidden somewhere...just in case.

Diluc

Mortified, his soul just left his body. To think things couldn't get any worse ever since he turned into a child to the point no one took him seriously, now you're literally the size of an apple. Oh god what if his bird suddenly swoops in and gobbles you right up? Or the wrath of the wind comes by, swirling you away towards a tornado. Needless to say, Diluc grew paranoid over your well-being ever since.

Due to your extremely small size, he will ensure that you are supervised by him (except at night where he has places to go). In otherwords, you're slipped into the inner pocket of his coat. It's super warm, you can fall asleep (and feel his heartbeat awww). Diluc doesn't like keeping you in places where people can see you, it would be too easy for outer things to access your tiny form (or maybe he secretly likes the feeling of you in his pocket.)

And he's such a gentleman about it. You noticed how careful he moves among his footsteps because he's worried that you might get dizzy. Diluc guards the pocket at close parameter, keeping an eye on things so he won't bump into them. As if he was treading on thin ice (you even suggested it was best to leave you home but he's too overprotective for his own good).

You're like his little assistant. Diluc does so much paperwork through out the day and although the act was small, he finds it endearing how you would help bring the papers back to it's rightful pile or pushing the ink bowl towards him. Or during his shifts at Angel's Share, crawling around the glass utensils and trying to find a specific wine beverage on his shelf. Of course that only happens when the shop is closed, how is he going to explain to his patrons that you shrank and now live in his pocket?

He dislikes the thought of you wandering too far. It's so easy for you to get lost especially when the mansion is so large.

At night you now sleep atop the fluff of the pillow. Diluc is a calm sleeper so he won't have to worry about hitting into you. However he radiates warmth so you just subconicously roll towards to his face. He usually wakes up with you sprawled over his nose. He can hardly breath (careful, he might just sneeze too).

This all happened because of the experiements you participated with Albedo. Diluc ensures that doesn't happen again. It will take some tencaious effort to convince him otherwise.

Scaramouche

Fuck this guy. He treats you like his new pet, a new toy (though you technically are one). He has this arrogant, smug and sadistic look as if he was a predator looking at his prey and grabs you by the collar before dangling you up in the air.

"Hmph, looks like the tables have turned," he says while toying with your state. You tell him he's just angry because he's short himself and mad that everyone else in the Fatui organization is taller than him. Scaramouche demon face activated. He's about to devour you. (Maybe you should keep your mouth shut this time. Honestly your relationship with him is pretty weird).

His hat is so fun to play with. You'd swing around like Tarzan using the strings that were hanging from it. His head was your playground now which annoys him to an enourmous extent because it makes him look ridiculous. Scaramouche will have a hard time catching you since you move around so much. Climb around him, especially the back of his neck. He'll start wheezing when you tickle him there.

The type to put you in a box but also the type to keep you on his shoulders. Being relied on makes him feel taller (lmfao). Scaramouche seemse to have developed a habit to poke your cheeks whenever he needed your attention and you bit him back once when he pushed too hard that you nearly fell off. Despite your size, your teeth still hurt. He threatens to put you back into the box if you don't behave and the outcome ends with a full out brawl as he tries to grab you again while you run around, pulling the strands of his hair to climb on top of his hat. (This is literally Tom and Jerry wtf.)

After transforming back, he outwardly admits his disappointmen. Scaramouche says it suits you better (when he actually meant that he highly prefers you small). You marked his words, keeping an extra vial for your own entertainment in the near future.

Xiao

Xiao was face-palming against his forehead real hard about this. For the love of Rex Lapis, what kind of trouble have you gotten yourself into this time? First it was the child incident, now you're the size of his finger? Good grief, looks like he will have to keep an eye on you from now on but at the same time he's scared to get too close, you are nothing but a tiny mortal in which he would have to double his effort to look after.

He lets you sit at the crown of his head rather than anywhere else. You insisted since it was easier to see everything at a nice distance (plus he's short so you won't have to worry about him bumping into door frames). You noticed that Xiao also has a little strand sticking out from the center (ahoge) and you sometimes grab onto it for stability. Turns out he's quite sensitive there and winces when you pull too hard.

For the remaining week as the antedote was being prepared, Xiao became extremely aggressive over your well-being, he looks as if he's ready to massacre everything in his way...which he did. Clears out the monsters off the path before going on daily strolls with you, you wouldn't have to lift a finger from now on. No one except for him is allowed to hold you unless they're a trustworthy person. You could feel his sharp eyes glued on you like a hawk when walking into the grasp of Zhongli's hand.

You once accidentally tripped into his almond tofu when he wasn't looking and he almost ate you. Turns out being small made his job as your gaurdian ten times harder (especially when you're the clumsy type). If you were to fall off the table, he would have to catch you right? Xiao often bumps into furnitures in the process...ouch!

He's very soft. It's all over his forehead, his mouth, his eyes. When he looks at you, his tense eatures melted away and there's an invisible fondness over them as he cradles you in his palm. The way you snuggle in them is lke the most precious thing in the world.

When you turn back, there's a wave of relief. He was really stressed out you know?

Zhongli

His first thought is to get you as far as he can from the Funeral Parlour before Hu Tao finds you. Who knows what that child might have in mind. Zhongli takes one of his empty tea pots and urges you to go inside, or carries a tea cup with you in it, he likes placing you on objects while carrying you around.

Zhongli realizes that you can no longer use the household items like before so he has to remake them to your standards- especially when he realized he doesn't have the mora to buy you a dollhouse. He improvises. Takes a handkerchief to make your blanket, his cups for your bathtub, Zhongli had to cut the foot into byte-sized too. But in terms of clothes, well he had to make them as well. Living thousands of years would mean he would have lot of experience. Sewing was one of them luckily. But that would mean he has to take your measurements as well. In the end, most of the things he made were dresses since they were alot easier.

You like to sneak in between his shirt and his vest tucked behind the coat he wears. Unfortunately Zhongli doesn't seem to have visible pockets (most likely the reason why he doesn't carry mora either), though if you don't hold on tight you might just slip down his vest and right to his stomach. It makes him chuckle when that happens even if the amount of effort to get you out took more than he thought since his attire is quite complicated to put on. If you really want to climb on him, he'll find a seperate pouch (but realizes it won't be a good idea when there's alot of pick-pocketers in Liyue streets).

All of a sudden he reads you bedtime stories. It's some sort of inner instinct that tells him he's taking care of a child now (he's right though). You realized that his voice was equivalent to a thunder's roar due to size difference. He would have to whisper now.

It will always be part of his precious memories when you turned pocket-sized. Zhongli still keeps the clothing he made somewhere in his closets too.

Kaeya

Amused by this eventful situation. Absolutely thrilled! He's not evil like Scaramouche but this new version of his s/o is both adorable and fun at the same time. You're so easy to tickle, just one poke using his finger against your hips makes you yelp. Sometimes he twirls your hair or taps your forehead gently despite your protest, he's so handsy like always in an affectionate yet annoying way.

Kaeya picks you up and places you among the fluffy comfort of his feathery scarf. You sneezed, the last time he cleaned it was before he went on a mission with the knights. Though you have to admit, it's the best feeling in the world. It's so soft you might sink deeper into the fabric. He likes to put you in places where he can talk to you easily, sometimes on the table while he downs on his wine. Normally you have to take the bottle away before it gets too much, now you have to push it away which he finds very entertaining at your futile attempts.

"Don't you have anything better to do?" you tell him. Since you turned byte-sized, he can't seem to stop playing around. Takes his two fingers and pretends they're legs walking across the surface. You would turn around and he halts, Kaeya sends you his signature grin. When he promises that he wouldn't do anything funny, you would let him hold you. Since hugs are out of the equation, Kaeya gives you his finger instead to wrap your arms around. He can't get enough seeing you like this, things he couldn't do when you were normal-sized. he enjoys your reactions way too much.

His favourite pass time is helping you brush your hair because the hairbursh is too big for you to handle. Kaeya ensure he's handling things delicately but he would love to help style it for you as well. Pretty please? At this point one request turns to another because he's having way too much fun. But it couldn't be helped since you would need his assistance in almost everything so there's really no escaping.

You were so happy when things were normal again but Kaeya would bring this up again during your conversations (how next time he would like to put you in his drinks while you're wearing a swim suit).

Albedo

Legit blurted out if he could put you on a hamster wheel.

What about trying out the little maze he just made?

Or participating in a race against slimes of different elements?

No? Okay, then he'll just turn you back.

Albedo isn't going deal with this as along as he can help it (especially when he remembers what Klee did to him when he turned small.)

[lotuslilyandlilies]

Twisted Wonderland Boys Boyfriend Scenarios

Fandom: Twisted Wonderland

Genre: Fluff

Relationship: Cater Diamond, Leona Kingscholar, Riddle Rosehearts x Reader (Separately)

Reader’s Gender: Gender Neutral

Reader’s Pronouns: They/Them

Headcannons

Requested By: @loonashadow

(Images are not mind)

A/N: I didn’t know what boys you wanted so I just went with a few that I’ve had some ideas for.

- Lotus Lily

Extra note: I am so sorry guys! I didn't even see the r-word! I'm so sorry if anyone was even the slightest offended. I'll be extra careful next time I look at images sent to me and requests. I have no excuse for not being attentive enough.

Cater Diamond

You all know that this boy is going to take a bunch of photos and post them on his magicam account.

There is no way that your relationship is private, almost everyone at school knows that the two of you are together.

A few of Cater’s followers found you guys on a date and asked for a photo.

Oh there’s a bench at a park? Go pose so that he can take a photo of his wonderful lover.

Since he doesn’t like sweets, cafe dates are rare.

If you do go be prepared, cause he’ll order a bunch of sweets just to take some aesthetic pictures.

You end up eating everything and even then there are leftovers.

I also think that he knows his way around technology, you got a problem with your phone? No worries he can help.

He will want to have matching profile pics in every social media app.

Since he is easy going I feel like he’d also enjoy picnic dates and movie dates.

During school he’ll probably hold your hand, after class he will zoom across the halls to your classroom and wait for you.

The amount of times that man had gotten yelled at by Riddle for breaking the “No holding hand during school hours” rule and the “No PDA at school” rule is amazing.

If you had a madol for every time that happened you’d be rich.

I think almost every month he’d bring you a bouquet of your favorite flowers/chocolate/snacks/etc.

Have fun getting alone time because with Cater, it’s almost nonexistent.

He really isn’t that jealous, but if he ever finds himself in a situation where a suspicious guy or girl is talking to you, he just posts about them on his magicam account. 

He’d rather let his followers do the hard work in chasing them off, he’ll be a bit more clingy though.

Overall he’s very sweet, kind, and caring. He just wants to be the perfect boyfriend for you.

encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com

Leona Kingscholar

Lazy mf.

Most of your dates are hanging out in the botanical gardens with him sleeping, using your lap as a pillow.

Your tardies and absences are going to double and maybe triple.

This guy is most definitely a jealous and possessive guy, especially when he feels threatened.

These aren’t the most desirable traits, but he knows when to stop.

He won’t accuse you of planning to leave him or cheating, but he will make sure that you know exactly who you belong to.

Get ready cause you're going to be helping Ruggie a lot with Leona’s personal requests.

You got meat? Well, say goodbye because the most you will get is one bite.

He’ll make it up to you by buying you something.

Cheka adores you

“Unca Leona, is that your mate?”

Never have you ever seen this guy so red

Cheka thinks you’re the best. (So sweet <3)

Leona will toss poor Cheka into the hands of Jack or Ruggie and leave with you between his arms.

Ain’t no way you guys are spending your entire date with a little ball of energy like him.

Riddle Rosehearts

Your favorite flowers every day.

He doesn’t know how to properly show love (Does anyone in twst actually know how to??? TwT)

Most dates are tea parties and walks along the rose gardens.

You learn how to make strawberry tarts from Trey.

You guys take care of hedgehogs together (;w;)

You are an angel for those in trouble

If anyone can calm this redhead down it’s you.

If you kiss him, he get as red as his hair

Ace asks you to teach him some tricks

You told him that you just kiss his cheek or show some form of physical affection

Ace actually tried it… 

It was “OFF WITH YOU HEAD!!!” for him (R.I.P. Ace, you will be missed)

With the time you have spent with Riddle you gradually learned how to care for him

Whether it’s a few hours of your day to study with him

Make him take time off of his duties and spend some quality time with him

His biggest weakness is you

If anyone tries to even harm a single cell on your body, they will be hearing from a very angry Riddle.

Overall, it may take some time, but with some patience you guys are the cutest couple

[kanmom51]

Another oopsy Jikook moment?

Or:

Just another one of those “what the hell was the editors thinking?”

This keeps happening, doesn’t it?

These what seem to be intimate or very suspicious moments with JM and JK that pop up once in a while in the content.  

These moments they seem to be caught off guard, and you ask yourself how come not only wasn’t the footage just chucked away, but there was a choice (I keep on bringing this one up - choices) to insert the footage into the content.

I’m not talking about the moments that they know the cameras are rolling and they still do what they do.

And I’m also not talking here about Hickey-gate.  One of those obviously suspicious ones, as that, I believe, was a clear choice of JM and JK’s to go with it.  Not cover it up to start with.  Show it off proudly.  Talk about it proudly.  And at the end of the day allow it, or even want it, into the official content.

No.

I’m talking about those moments where JM and JK think, perhaps carelessly so, that they have some element of privacy.  They know cameras are around but they found their way away from the cameras, and said cameras find their way into JM and JK’s very surprised faces.

This latest ‘incident’, which let’s be honest, we enjoyed ever so much, is one of those moments. The two tucked away in the dark, pretty intimate, caught off guard when the camera comes in search of them (?).

Love the captions though, lol.

JM and JK are clearly trying hard, but being shy is not what goes through my mind...well, not until they are caught on camera that is...

This is only the last instalment in quite a long list of questionable editing decisions we’ve had over the years.

Let’s see what comes to mind here...

I’ll start with the obvious one.

The one that left JK hyperventilating.

The “and this is how we take a selfie” incident.  Good save, btw JM.

Next obvious one that comes to mind is them being blindsided in BV 3, the two clearly having a private moment, hair dishevelled, JM’s shirt button open, JK’s sweatshirt zipper down, and Tae walks in with the cameras to give JM his gift.  This btw, is happening in another bedroom that we are never really shown on the show.  

Same JK deer being caught in the headlights hyperventilating vibes.

I get that they wanted to achieve the JM surprised face, but really, this was an invasion of these two’s privacy.  Unless, do they not see it?  But don’t they?  Because it can be argued that they did see it, and that’s why it’s in the behind episodes and not the televised show itself?

Best (?) moment saved for last.

Of course I’m talking about Summer package 2018 and the hidden room cameras.

Again one of those very questionable editing moments.  

Yes, all the guys had these cameras in their rooms (a very ill decision within itself).  But not all of them were shown in the end footage, so why show these two, obviously caught off guard, shocked look on JM’s face.  I’d say thankfully we didn’t get JK’s face in the frame, can just imagine the level of stress.  Well, we kind of hear that in his voice with his “Chocolate” later on, lol.

Another couple of ‘caught us’ or “we didn’t expect the camera to be there” moments:

The second moment I’d say is more me asking why put such an intimate moment in the show (even if they did know the cameras were there). 

There’s something about BV3, don’t you think?  Lol.

These are all moments that maybe shouldn’t have been filmed in the first place (well the latest BTB the cameras were roaming around, so perhaps couldn’t be helped), and even if it was ok to film them (that hidden camera was definitely not ok, and a clear breach of their privacy), I’m not sure about the thought process allowing them into the content.

Now, after all the fun and games here, and this long ass post all about the Hybe editors, I do have to say that perhaps this last one is a little different.  Not the catching them in a private moment different, but the including them in the decision if it goes into the content different.

It’s different times.  And although the two were caught off guard in what looks like them having a pretty private moment, I don’t think that this was added to the content without their consent (something I really cannot say about everything pre 2019 and even 2019).  

They didn’t have a say in being caught on camera, that was done and dusted (even though I am 100% sure that there are those absurdly crying fanservice once again, and how stupid do they look doing that?).  But I do think that they did have a say if this goes into the BTB or not.  Just as much as they had a say with the hickey.  Just as much as I believe they gave permission to Viollina and PolyC to post them wearing their brand.

[pseudopeachy]

Ran Haitani x gn!Reader: I won’t say I’m in love

Genre: Fluff

Character: Ran Haitani, Tenjiku timeline

Warnings: Violence, curse words, a bit of misogyny if you squint

a/n: I think Ran fits perfectly in the best friends to lovers trope. I had a looot of fun writing this. Hope you enjoy! 🖤

Please consider reblogging as well 🖤

Ran thinks you’re perfect. The universe took its precious time in making sure that you’d be one of the ethereal individuals to ever grace the Earth, it gave you the brains every genius would be envious of and gave incomparable beauty after being bestowed Aphrodite's blessing.

But Ran also wants to strangle the lights out of you because you’re dumb as fuck.

He can look past your questionable fashion sense and sheer audacity to fall asleep when he wants to ramble about what happened during one of their fights, but he can’t overlook your taste in your partner.

He shouldn’t one to talk as his preferences were something along the lines of good and pretty enough for a fuck or two. But you? Oh, sweet ol’ you whose face is buried between pages of books and sighing when the love interest does something that piqued your interest?

You, who wants to experience dancing in the rain with your lover or slow dances at two in the morning while making pancakes?

Ran thinks you’re adorably stupid to want such surreal things. Settle for bondage like the rest of humans, for fuck’s sake.

“Why must you always be an asshole, hm?” Your voice, dripping with utter annoyance, brought him back to reality. You’d always get in such a sour mood whenever he turns down a confession or two.

He doesn’t care for the poor soul, or souls on some days, who was pouring their heart out in front of him; not when he’s thinking of dragging you and Rindou to another café somewhere after the person was done rambling.

You’ve been with him through ups and downs. Hell, you frequently visited him and Rindou more than their parents when they went to juvie. You always arrive after a call or two, not once questioning why they were so enamored with the gang life and instead pressed a bit harder on their bruises and wounds when you’d clean them up after a fight while nagging their ears off.

Why on Earth was he going to trade you out for someone mediocre? Are you that stupid?

“So, you’re saying that you’re in love with (y/n) and you want to date them instead. Is that it?”

Ran almost spat out the alcohol he’d been sipping upon hearing Izana’s question. He looked at their leader as if the silver-haired man grew three heads. His lilac eyes scanned the room in hopes to find someone who’d think otherwise, only to find every Tenjiku executive awaiting his answer.

He immediately regrets bringing up the topic of you and his relationship status after their meeting.

“No! Oh my God, where did you guys get the impression that I’d date (y/n)?”

Izana and Kakucho exchanged glances while Rindou sighed defeatedly. Everybody knows Ran Haitani is an intelligent man, a feared gangster who actually knows how to strategize fights.

But he was very dense when it came to you.

“So you’re telling us that you don’t love (y/n) more than a friend even though the first person you’d think of dragging around is them and not Rindou or anyone else?” Mochi slurred out the words as if the older Haitani can’t understand Japanese.

“Absolutely.”

“Even when they’d cook you and Rindou bentos for lunch? Not when you don’t want anyone to clean up your wounds but them?”

“I don’t trust anyone but (y/n) with those things. They also know what I like so.”

Hanma then reasoned, “So it’s ok for (y/n) to start dating others, then?”

The dramatic gasp from Ran gave hope to the members. “What kind of an idiotic question is that?! Do you want them to get their feelings played with?!”

“You are fucking hopeless, Haitani.” Was all they heard from Muto as he and Sanzu walked out of the room, clearly tired from hearing Ran’s bullshit.

“You don’t get me, you assholes. Do you know what kind of person (y/n) likes? That little shit wants to date someone they can make things with at ungodly hours in the morning, or get cozy somewhere with a book or a movie! They have unrealistic standards, they could get hurt out there!”

The room stilled, on the verge of giving up on the frustrated heavenly king.

“You’re in love with (y/n), you stupid fuck. You’re just in denial because they’re your best friend.” Kakucho sighed as he massaged his temple.

Ran only groaned in response, clearly done with them.

They don’t understand him; it was normal for the both of you to go on café dates and have skincare nights as you dish out gossip. It was normal for him to think that no person deserves you because you were truly a cinnamon roll that’s too pure for this world.

He’s always had your best interest at heart because he’s your best friend. He’s been with you ever since, you both don’t need anyone to change that.

All hell broke loose when you introduced Ran to your suitor, though.

His ears kept ringing while you were rambling about god-knows-what, your eyes shining bright whenever you’d look at the other guy.

And the guy in question, Hiro was what you called the creature, was smiling at you as if you were the best thing he ever laid eyes on.

That was true, but Ran wasn’t adamant about sharing you with some sad excuse of a person.

“Does he even know what type of books you are reading? Does he even know how to read?” He earns a well-deserved smack from you after that, although still whining like a child about your suitor.

“Try to get along with him, please? I don’t want you to think I’m replacing you just because he wants to be with me.” The older Haitani was still salty with the whole thing, but he can’t say no whenever you’d pull out your puppy dog eyes at him.

But getting along with Hiro, or the little shit as he’d call the guy, was becoming a real challenge as the newcomer was replacing him in your life.

You want brownies in the morning? Hiro’s got a fresh plate delivered to you.

You say you want Ramen after class? Dear Hiro’s there to save the day.

There’s some tea you need to spill? Hiro’s already on your couch, all ears.

“I am going to stick my baton right up his ass, he’s going to feel it in the afterlife.” Ran said when he and the rest of Tenjiku saw the both of you walking to your home, hand-in-hand.

“Are you saying you’re jealous of one measly guy?” Shion snorted, only to meet cold lilac eyes that dared him to speak up again.

Ran? Jealous? That’s bullshit.

“Why not be happy for them instead? Aren’t you glad (y/n) finally has someone who loves them?” Kakucho muttered, his eyes fixated on the braided man whose jaws only tightened at his remark.

You are happy and loved, Ran thought. You have him and Rindou and your less important friends to prove that.

But what the fuck did Hiro have that he doesn’t? What were you even seeing in him? It’s only been three weeks at most and yet you practically forgot that the Ran Haitani, your best friend, exists.

Instead of taking Kakucho’s advice, Ran was keen on making sure that Hiro knows his place; that he wasn’t going to amount to anything in your life as the lilac-eyed man does.

Did you want to buy a newly released book? Ran’s got you covered.

Do you want to take a night stroll because you can’t sleep? This particular ruler of Roppongi’s got you.

You want to experiment with hairstyles, you say? Well, there’s a dashing, young man with luscious locks waiting for you.

“Just admit that you love them, for fuck’s sake!” Kokonoi screeched, clearly annoyed with his colleague who was currently contemplating whether or not should he just kick your suitor and call it a day.

It was one of those times that Ran and the rest of Tenjiku would see you strolling the city with your admirer. You were enjoying his company, and the gang thinks the both of you are cute as fuck.

But those weren’t important to a particular man who wanted to punch the daylights out of said escort who had been hogging your attention and affection. It hurt Ran’s ego to lose to some poor excuse of a man.

He grumbled as he saw Hiro twirl you around, giggling like children as you stopped in front of your favorite café-

He was going to fucking kill the both of you. You practically betrayed him when you entered the cute shop with some random dude. That should’ve been him!

That should’ve been him you’re trying new cakes with. That should’ve been him you’re leaning on to as you wait in line That should’ve been him you’re annoying when you wanted to taste his order.

Ran was losing you, and as much as he wanted to be in denial about it, you were clearly in love with that guy.

He had been sulking when you didn’t message him for three days, pouring out his frustrations during gang fights. Rindou tried to console his brother but the former would just brush him off and would just go straight to his room.

He couldn’t even hook up with someone just to vent out his frustrations! For some fucked up reason he couldn’t understand, he was seeking you. He didn’t want anyone but you.

He wanted to listen to your rant and gossip as he drifted off to sleep. He wanted you to cuddle up next to him until you decided that it was time to mix pancake batter and whip up some fluffy pancakes before the sun was up.

He didn’t know what kind of devil possessed him to want you so much. You were the first thing he’d think about in the morning and his last memory as he drifted off in the night.

Ran just missed having you around.

The man almost cried when you finally called him on a Friday night. He was about to talk your ears off when he heard you sniffling at the other line.

“Ran, can I come over please?”

It broke Ran’s heart to see your puffy eyes when he opened the front door. There weren’t any words spoken as he caressed your hair and calmed you down. Your grip on him was desperate, like a child whose mother said no.

“H-He said that it irked him that I have a lot of guy friends,” You whimpered, “He was pissed when I asked him to get along with you and Rindou, saying that we weren’t safe if you guys were around.”

He was right. The bastard was no good for you.

“We fought when I defended you both. He wouldn’t believe me when I said that you were nice and we’d been friends since we were kids.” You then started crying into Ran’s chest.

“I slapped him when he said that I must have been fucking a lot of gang members for me to defend you guys like that. He called me names and decided I wasn’t worth shit and left me all by myself in the middle of the night.”

And you cried in his arms, too heartbroken to do anything but whimper as he tried his best to calm you down. It took a bit of time, but he made sure to cover you in the fluffiest of blankets before knocking at Rindou’s door.

“Keep an eye on (y/n) for a bit. I just need to have a little talk with a certain piece of shit.”

And did it feel so good to finally beat the stupid fuck into a pulp when the older Haitani saw Hiro lounging in a convenience store near your house, courtesy of one henchman. He was giddy as he dragged the man beside an alleyway before proceeding to pound some sense into the other person.

“You motherfucker,” Ran muttered, “(y/n) trusted you so much that they were going to pick you over me.”

Metal on skin resonated in the air as the older Haitani continued, “(y/n) deserves the whole universe and yet you couldn’t give ‘em the love they deserve?! They’re an angel. Angels are supposed to be cherished and treated like gods themselves yet you made mine cry.”

Ran then called up a few of their minions once he had his fun. After getting your favorite snacks at the convenience store, he jogged his way back to the apartment.

It both warmed and broke his heart to have you greet him by the door as you clung to him in dear life. He tossed Rindou an energy drink before waddling with you to his room.

“I’m going to kill him.”

“Of course you do, sweetheart.”

“Gonna sell off to the Yakuza and have him thrown in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.”

“Sounds like a plan, love.”

And as the world slept and you finally drifted off to dreamland, Ran found himself looking at you from his side of the bed.

He loved the way your hand fits perfectly in his. He loved the way you melt into him whenever either person would offer a tight embrace. And he absolutely loved the way he’d do anything for you.

He’d give you every star and moon in the cosmos if it meant he’ll never see you cry again. Especially if your tears were for some unworthy motherfucker.

You were the definition of perfect. You deserve nothing less of it.

That night, Ran found himself accepting the fact that he can’t live without you. He’d rather not love at all too if it meant you’d disappear in his life.

He was more than willing to lose some hours of sleep to whip something up in the kitchen whenever you’d feel like it. He was more than willing to fight any demon that may invade your head from time to time. He was willing to lay his life down for you if it mean that you weren’t going to leave him.

Ran would do anything to see you smile and make sure that your most vulnerable state was for him and him alone. He’d do anything to have you cradle him to sleep every night.

Was this love?

Was love defined as sacrificing yourself for the one you love? Or to put them before yourself? Or to want them to silence your demons and vice versa? Or to make sure their smile never falters?

If this was indeed love, then Ran wouldn’t say he’s in love.

Not until you admit that you loved him first, that is.

-🖤-

[sukirichi]

black magic [01]

REQUEST. arranged marriage + enemies to lovers (sukuna is a simp and lowkey a housewife)

CONTENT/WARNINGS. some suggestive scenes, but overall fluff and romance! slight crack fic, I guess? I was laughing when I wrote this lol

NOTES. I NEED A HUSBAND! SUKUNA I’M GOING TO CRY GOODBYE THIS HAS ME SOFT. also anon i’m not sure if you wanted something with more ~sexual tension~ since this is kind of just comedic, but I hope you like it anyway!

part one | part two (nsfw)

“This is new,” you comment with a glare, your ankle propped on Sukuna’s knee.

“Shut up,” he rolls his eyes, pushing your skirt aside to clean the wounds you attained through exorcising curses. You’ve taken a particularly strong curse today and you’re caught off guard, barely finishing the mission unscathed. Limping all the way back home isn’t easy especially since you live on top of the darned mountain, but if Sukuna’s going to kneel in front of you like this...maybe it wasn’t too tough a journey. “You should stop going to missions you’re not ready for. Look at you, all wounded and bloody.”

“You sound like you care.”

“You’re my wife,” he huffs while dropping the bloody towel on the floor. Sukuna wraps the bandage around your ankle and carries you bridal style even though you’re perfectly capable of walking, but he shoots you a silencing glare. You’d have knocked him in the face any other day, but he’s particularly warm and smells nice today – plus you’re beat – that you bury your face in his chest, ignoring that stupid fluttering in your stomach. “Of course I do.”

You snicker, mind tracing back to your earlier years of this dreaded marriage.

It definitely wasn’t the best – the memories blurring between strangling each other to making out as if breathing was never a thing – and it felt like forever ago when you first met him.

You’d never say it out loud, but... you don’t regret this arranged marriage. Not when Sukuna is tucking himself beside you on the bed, your head above his muscular chest a place similar to home. He covers both your bodies over with a blanket, pulling your body closer to him with a strong arm, his lips pressing onto the crown of your head.

Ugh, you think to yourself, giving in to the need to cuddle your husband after a long day of work. You still refuse to say it out loud, though, and you irk him further by muttering, “That’s not what you said two years ago.”

“I wasn’t in love with you then.”

 “I refuse to be married to you!”

Sukuna fights back the urge to cover his ears. Ever since your clan decided to visit his land and started exorcising curses one by one, his life has been nothing but hell. Not only are your relatives the most arrogant people ever with a consistent god complex, they just had to let their little mortal child be in charge of taking on the stronger curses. Seriously, what were they thinking, sending you – who’s barely even out of their training bra years – to deal with curses like him?

Everyone knows Sukuna is a no bullshit man. He won’t hesitate to cut your head off the moment you came raging at him, but then he sees how young you are and decides to send you back to your family.

Expecting that everyone would just call it a day and he’d get offerings for his unexpected mercy, Sukuna is beyond stupefied when they send you back to his temple, all dressed pretty with a basket of fruits and flowers braided in your hair. He remembers growling because you look adorable, but that’s easily wiped away when you open your mouth, your voice scratchy against his ears as you stomp your feet like the young mortal you are.

Sukuna pushes a thumb to his forehead to ease the impending headache, and that’s just from your presence. Something inside him tells that you’re going to be a bigger pain than you look.

“You don’t have much of a choice. You should’ve thought of that before deciding to run rampage over my land,” he reminds, turning boredly to his lone servant from above his throne. Sukuna isn’t impressed, to say the least, especially with your clan’s audacious proposition to gain his favour just this once. “Is this really the woman you bring me – the one they insist to be my wife?”

“She is their best fighter, my Lord.”

Well, he can’t disagree to that. You did, after all, single-handedly give him a cut on the cheek. “She’s feisty indeed.”

“Don’t talk as if I’m not here!”

“Mouthy too,” he mumbles to himself, but your sorcerer senses are sharp and easily picks up on it. He sees you flush angry again, looking immensely adorable with your tiny fists clenched like that and he snorts, waving a hand in the air. “Whatever. Get the wedding over with,” he nods to his servant, his sigh loud and tired as he makes his way to you.

You don’t stiffen at each haunting step, his eyes only glimmering harder with entertainment. It’s rare to find a mortal that doesn’t quiver at the sight of him, the urge to break you only growing stronger.

Even as he cups your face, making sure to not let his claws dig into your precious skin, Sukuna smirks. You’ll be entertaining indeed.

So Sukuna makes a promise, four eyes surveying the way your body is starting to fill in curves at the right places, the swell of your flesh just perfect in his hands... He chuckles to himself, daunting you further as he leans down to your ear, taking pleasure in the slight way your breath hitches. “Maybe then I’ll get to teach you a lesson or two.”

You’re definitely something else, taking advantage of each presented opportunity and not wasting any time before you make your move. Right after the wedding and everyone’s left, leaving you alone with your new husband behind closed doors; you push him until he’s on the ground, legs straddling each side of his hips while you growl above him – the sound similar to a battle cry.

Sukuna merely smirks, barely moving a muscle as his large hands come up to rest on your hips to steady you. “I’ve imagined countless ways you’d be on top of me like this,” his eyes light up with humour upon feeling the cold blade on his skin, “None of them included a knife on my neck though.”

“Shut your mouth. I will kill you myself,” you warn, pressing your knife harder until it draws a slight tinge of blood.

You hardly look threatening above him like this, dolled up to look the best in your wedding with this cursed being. If anything, you look more divine than deadly, and Sukuna thinks that perhaps your beauty could be your best weapon. You are bewitching, after all.

“I refuse to be your Queen and sit next to your throne.”

“Then why didn’t you stop the wedding?”

“I—”

Sukuna’s teasing grin grows wider when you pull back, trying so hard to not trip over your words. It takes all of his self-restraint to not take you right then and there, but he does a good job of holding back, enjoying this view above him instead. “Could it be you’re attracted to me after all, hm, little one?”

“Do not test me, Curse. I’m more than capable of exorcising you myself.”

“Oh, I don’t doubt that. You’re the strongest in the Gojo clan, are you not?” he prompts to appease you, “I don’t even want to see what you’re capable of, but maybe, just maybe...” just as his eyes darken, the edges of his lips turning up into a smirk, Sukuna digs his claws into your thigh in a possessive show of ownership, a painful reminder that you’re his now. “...You could put on a little show for me?”

“I hate you!”

Experienced and strong as you are, you’re nothing compared to a thousand year old curse who’s killed a lot more people faster than you could blink. Sukuna immediately notices the animalistic way you draw your blade, arm swung back with rage written all over your face. Before you could so much as bat an eye, he easily switches the positions until you’re under him, using only one hand to pin your arms above your head, your blade effortlessly thrown to the other side of the room.

“As I thought, you’re a lot prettier under me like this,” he observes, roaming his eyes shamelessly over the fabric clinging prettily to your body. You’ve fallen silent at his unconcealed attention, your compliance enticing him to lean closer just to inhale your intoxicating scent.

“Not so feisty now, little one? Where’d all your hatred for me go?” Sukuna pulls back with widened eyes, “Oh? Am I hearing it wrong or is your pathetic human heart beating so loud right now?” You refuse to look at him, wriggling your hips in an attempt to leave, completely unaware that the mere movement is hypnotizing the curse above you. Sukuna grips your hips in warning, not wanting to destroy you – not now, anyway. “You know all you need to do is say it. I’d gladly take you right here and then.” His words spoken with that deep, throaty voice immediately sends a wave of heat down your core, but you turn away from him, breathing hard and nervously; something Sukuna picks up on in an instant. “Little one...have you never had a man hold you like this before?”

“N-no...”

“I see. Pure and innocent behind that ferocity, huh?” He surprises you by pulling away, smoothening his white robes down as he leaves you panting still on the floor. “Fine. I won’t touch you unless you ask me to.”

“I’d rather die before that ever comes out from my mouth.”

“We’ll see about that,” he smirks, winking at you before he shuts the door. “Little one.”

There’s a lot of weird – and utterly inconvenient things – about being Sukuna’s wife. The man eats everything, absolutely everything, and it doesn’t help that he sucks at hunting too. For a man so huge and burly, he sure is lazy, preferring to do the laundry in the riverside instead while you go out every day to prepare your meals.

You actually don’t mind, but it’s very fun to complain around him.

You’re on your way back to the temple when Sukuna grabs at you, making you drop the freshly caught birds onto the ground. Your brows furrow, about to scold him for being too eager again when Sukuna stares at your arm, his lips pressing into a thin line.

Following his line of sight, your lips form an ‘o’ shape. There’s blood trickling down your forearm from his claws accidentally cutting you, guilt written all over his face. Another weird thing about Sukuna is that he babbles a lot when he’s emotional, and you’re too tired to hear him beat himself over it that you just drag him inside your room, sitting his ass down before taking a clipper.

Sukuna scoffs when you start cutting his nails. It irks him that you don’t even bother wiping the blood off first and he tsks, eyes narrowed at you. “You should have thicker skin.”

You roll your eyes as you file his nails; you’ve been married to him long enough to know it’s his way of saying sorry. Not wanting to let him wallow in guilt any louder, you pad kisses over his knuckles before swiping the black ink off your desk, using a pen brush to colour your nails instead. Sukuna hovers behind you, head tilted to the side as he watched you. “Are you painting your nails black?” he utters in disbelief, trying to ignore the fact he feels...proud and even a little smug. “Not so fitting for the angelic sorcerer now, isn’t it?”

“I’m only doing this so you don’t feel left out.”

“Maybe I’ll add markings to your pretty face too,” he cups your jaw to make you turn to him, landing a solid kiss flat to your lips which makes you sigh, pretending to be annoyed but leaning over for another peck anyway. Sukuna laughs and pulls you onto his lap, kissing your neck this time around, a little annoyed that you don’t stop in brandishing your nails. “Wife, what do you think?”

“I have work, Sukuna. You flirting with me doesn’t change the fact I need to go.”

“Come home safe for me, at least?” he breathes down your neck, his touch sending shivers down your spine. You’ve definitely changed since the first time he’s met you, starting from a mean (although he stands strong that you are still mean to him sometimes) temperamental little one to a mature, stronger sorcerer who’s secretly weak for his wife.

Unable to resist him as always, you turn around once you’ve finished painting your nails, rubbing your nose over his until your strong, scary husband is turning into putty at your hands. “Of course I will,” you peck his lips one last time, Sukuna’s eyes closing as he dives in for a deeper kiss. “I’ll always come back home to my handsome husband.”

If anyone were to ask how it’s possible that the King of Curses is actually very soft for his sorcerer wife, everyone would claim it’s impossible and a heresy – but if you ask Sukuna, it’s probably just black magic doing its wonders.