#Wiggling his eyebrows. Grinning very wide. The problem is -

[tswwwit]

Does reincarnated Dipper ever go and work in medical? - as a doctor or nurse or pyschologist. I think that would be funny. I'm sure Bill would *looove* that.

He definitely could! Dipper does love helping people.

And it'd be delightfully frustrating for Dipper to try and navigate his chosen profession while hooking up with a guy who's into intestinal origami and mind-breaking. Bill might be knowledgeable, but he offers a lot of highly inadvisable advice.

[punkshort]

i'll be home for christmas | part two

Pairing: Joel Miller x f!reader

Summary: Having just caught your fiancé cheating on you, you decide to come back home from the big city to Austin for the month of December to try to figure out your next step. You had no idea you would be getting more than you bargained for with the handsome single dad who built your parents' house.

Chapter Warnings: no outbreak, modern day but Joel is 40, language, fluff, very soft!joel, flirting, kissing, hallmark movie tropes up the wazoo, mentions of infidelity, mentions of divorce, reader's sister is pregnant, hurt/comfort, explicit smut (18+MDNI), (somewhat) unproteced piv sex, angst (but you know there will be a happy ending, this is Hallmark, after all)

WC: 12K

A/N: I am so overwhelmed at the response I received for part one. No contest, it's my most successful story to date, and I can't thank you all enough ❤️ I really hope you enjoy this part just as much. Please read the warnings, this has some (very sweet and soft) smut at the end, so if it isn't your thing, feel free to skip it.

Series Masterlist

Joel sat in his truck, the engine long cooled down by now, as he stared blankly at his garage door, waiting for the stupid grin to leave his face before he went inside to face his brother. But he had been sitting there for almost twenty minutes, and he was still smiling behind the back of his hand.

That date with you was perfect. Well, he could have done without getting knocked on his ass by some kid, but it worked out for him in the end, so he didn't mind.

Goddamn, did you make him feel good. There was no way he would be able to sleep that night, he was sure of it. Not after the way you looked at him, touched him, kissed him. A big part of him wondered for a long time if he would spend the rest of his life alone, believing that lightning doesn't strike twice, that he would never find anyone who would look at him and want him the way you did.

He ignored the nagging voice in the back of his head that reminded him you didn't live there, that you would be going back to New York in a couple short weeks. He couldn't let that bring him down just yet, that was a problem for another day. Right now, his only problem was resisting the urge to drive back to your house and scoop you up in his arms so he could make you feel as good as he felt.

It was close to midnight, so he caved and went inside, hoping his brother would be too groggy to interrogate him. When he walked in and saw Tommy and Sarah lounging on the couch, wide awake and watching some action flick, his face fell.

"Hey, it is way past your bedtime, the hell are you doin'?" Joel scolded, sliding off his boots.

"Dad, c'mon, it's the weekend," Sarah whined.

"Don't care, you know the rules," he told her, trying to sound firm, but he had such a soft spot for her that he never succeeded in sounding threatening.

"But it's a special occasion, I wanted to hear how your date went," she grinned, sitting up and wiggling her eyebrows. Joel's jaw dropped and shot a glare at his brother while stretching his arms out at his side in disbelief.

"Oh, come on, she practically dragged it outta me," Tommy smirked.

"Unbelievable," Joel muttered, collapsing on the end of the couch and rubbing his eyes.

"So?" Sarah pushed, tucking her legs underneath her excitedly.

"I ain't talkin' about this with you," he said, biting his cheek as he stared at the TV.

"Why not?" she pouted, but Joel just shook his head.

"Go brush your teeth," he said.

"Fine," she replied, rolling her eyes as she made her way to the stairs. "But I'll get it out of you one day."

She stomped upstairs and it wasn't until Joel heard the water running that he turned to his brother.

"What the hell, Tommy? You know I didn't want her knowin' about that," he said, exasperated.

"Oh, relax," Tommy said, stretching his arms above his head. "She's sixteen, Joel. She's smart. She figured it out herself, I just confirmed it after gettin' the third degree."

Joel sighed and tipped his head back onto the sofa, closing his eyes.

"Christ," he muttered.

"What's the big deal?"

Joel sat up and opened his eyes.

"Big deal is, she lives in New York. There's no future there, we were just hangin' out, and I don't need Sarah gettin' her hopes up," Joel explained, trying to downplay his feelings, but his chest squeezed at the thought of you leaving one day.

"Ever hear of long distance?" Tommy asked, raising an eyebrow.

"That never works," Joel replied, shaking his head.

"Well, maybe you should make it work," he said, sitting up and muting the TV. "You know, Sarah just wants you to be happy, Joel. We both do," Tommy said somberly. "Told me tonight she's worried about you bein' all alone when she goes off to college."

"I'll be alright," he said gruffly, although the same thought was plaguing his mind recently, as well.

Tommy stared at his brother a moment as Joel watched the TV, pretending to follow the story even though there was no audio. He decided to drop it for now and changed the subject.

"So, you gonna tell me how it went or what?"

Joel bit his lower lip, trying to keep himself from smiling, but he failed. Tommy noticed right away and grinned, leaning forward to tap his knee.

"I know that look," he said, still grinning.

"Yeah, alright," Joel finally said with a smile. "It was great. Really fuckin' great."

"Hell yeah!" Tommy yelled, and Joel immediately shushed him, pointing upstairs.

"She's funny and she's sweet, we had a real nice time," Joel said, his grin permanently etched on his face now.

"I figured it went well since you got home so late," Tommy replied with a wink.

"I ain't gonna sleep with her on the first date," he whispered, just in case Sarah was listening. He settled back into the couch as Tommy turned the TV volume back on, letting the movie play for a minute before adding, "She's a good kisser, though."

"Oh, I can't wait to meet this girl," Tommy chuckled with a shake of his head. "Haven't seen you smile this much in years."

"Yeah, well," Joel replied noncommittally, still smiling like an idiot and staring at the TV. He decided to stay downstairs that night, finishing the movie and then starting another one on the couch long after Tommy left, unable to quiet down his mind long enough to fall asleep until nearly three in the morning.

You woke up the next day, stretching your arms above your head with a big yawn, not ready to get out of bed yet but the voices downstairs told you it must have been late. With a groan, you reached over and snatched your phone off the charger. When you saw you had a text waiting for you, your heart skipped a beat until you read Sydney's name and not Joel's. Your eyes flicked to the top of the screen, noting it was close to ten in the morning, before sliding open the text.

Sydney: sorry forgot to reply yesterday. I saw will at black & blue, he was hammered and falling all over the place

You scowled, not interested in whatever your ex was up to, so you replied with just the thumbs up emoji and set your phone back down.

Staring at the ceiling, you dreamily thought about your date with Joel. God, he really took you by surprise. You were proud of yourself for taking that first big step forward and putting yourself out there again, but you had no idea it would feel like this. You weren't even sure you ever felt like this with Will. Even when things were good, Will never treated you the way Joel did last night. He was so earnest and respectful, opening doors for you and actually listening to you talk about work. And he didn't even try to feel you up, either, although you probably wouldn't have minded. Maybe it was those Southern manners you were missing this whole time.

With a groan, you dropped your phone back on the nightstand and swung your legs over the edge of your bed, wrapping yourself in your robe, still not expecting it to be so cold in Texas. Even though it was December, it was unusual.

You made your way into the kitchen and made a beeline for the coffee, tossing a wave in the direction of your parents sitting with your sister and brother in law in the living room.

"She lives!" Cassie exclaimed with a smug look on her face. You held your mug up to your lips and blew on the liquid, frowning when the whole family was looking at you with matching, goofy smirks.

"Why are you all looking at me like that?"

"Like what?" your mom asked innocently. You squinted at her as you sat down, not buying it.

"How was your date?" your sister asked. You took a sip of coffee before replying.

"Good," you said simply, nodding your head. Your mom and dad exchanged a look and you frowned again, getting annoyed.

"What?" you asked loudly.

"Nothing!" your dad said, looking back down at his newspaper. Who even still gets the newspaper delivered anymore, anyway?

"Josh, what's going on?" you asked your sister's husband, knowing he was the weakest link. He glanced nervously between you and Cassie.

"They saw you and Joel on the Ring camera," he blurted out, and your family all groaned in unison. Your face flushed beet red, gawking at them all in disbelief.

"Are you kidding me?" you screeched.

"We didn't mean to, Bucky. Dad was reviewing the footage because he couldn't find the newspaper this morning and, well..." your mom trailed off, trying to hide her smile.

"Oh my god," you whined, tucking your legs to your chest and hiding your face.

"Looked like the date was a little more than good," Cassie teased, and you smacked her on the leg.

"I can't believe this," you mumbled to yourself, hiding your face behind your coffee mug and praying someone would change the subject. "How much did you see?"

"Just from when he pulled in the driveway til when you went inside," your mom said with a shrug.

"That's, like, everything, Mom! Oh my god!" Your face was hot with embarrassment now.

"He looks like a good kisser, is he a good kisser?" Cassie asked.

"Shut up!" you whined, covering your face with your free hand.

"There's nothin' to be embarrassed about, he was a gentleman. Held the door open for you and everythin'," your dad murmured, and you groaned.

"Can we talk about literally anything else, please?" you begged.

"Of course!" your mom said, her eyes flicking around the room, waiting for someone to say something, but nobody spoke.

"I'm sorry, Buck, but you gotta see the the smile on his face after you went inside, it was so cute," Cassie said, pulling out her phone.

"I'm going upstairs!" you announced, jumping up from the couch.

"Wait! Are you still coming by later to help paint the nursery?"

"I don't know, are there any cameras there?" you shouted over your shoulder as your climbed the stairs with your coffee to hide in the sanctity of the guest bedroom.

"Well, no. Only because I haven't set the baby monitor up yet," Cassie called back and giggled when she heard you slam your door.

Grumbling to yourself, you flopped back into bed and picked up your phone, looking for a distraction from your embarrassment. You quickly found one when you saw you had a missed text from Joel.

Joel Miller: Question for you - when is the earliest you should text someone without looking too pathetic after you've had the best date of your life?

You grinned as you typed out a response.

You: answer - whatever time you sent this text :)

Joel Miller: Oh, good. Thought I scared you off, sent that about ten minutes ago.

You: sorry, I was downstairs talking to my family, forgot to bring my phone. And I don't think you could ever scare me off

You almost told him about the doorbell camera fiasco, but decided against it. Picking up your mug, you tried not to stare too hard at your phone as you waited for a reply.

Joel Miller: What are you doing later?

Your heart skipped a beat at the thought of seeing him again so soon, then quickly stopped yourself, remembering your promise to your sister.

You: I told my sister I would help paint the nursery...

Joel Miller: That's a shame. I was hoping you could teach me something again.

You: oh? lol

Joel Miller: I just realized how that sounded - I meant wrapping Christmas presents for Sarah. I'm awful at it and I have another hunch gift wrapping is a secret talent of yours.

You giggled and rolled over in bed, your embarrassment long forgotten now.

You: you might be right... how about tomorrow?

Joel took the porch steps two at a time, eager to see you again and it hadn't even been a full two days. His finger barely pressed the doorbell when he heard your voice call out I got it! and the door swung open. You smiled up at him, your eyes lighting up before dropping your gaze to his mouth.

"Hi," you said breathlessly.

"Hey," he replied, swallowing roughly.

"Have a nice time, Bucky!" your mom's voice rang out somewhere behind you as you shut the door quickly. Joel grinned, his gaze drifting from your eyes to your mouth before leaning in. You put your hand on his chest and tilted your head back before grabbing his hand and leading him to his truck. Confused, he followed behind and tried not to stare too long at the way your jeans perfectly hugged your ass.

You led him to the passenger side of the truck, but when he reached out to open the door, you snaked your hand up to wrap around the back of his neck, pulling his face down for a searing kiss only when you were sure you were hidden from view.

"Would I sound crazy if I said I missed you?" you whispered.

"No," Joel replied, shaking his head and trying to calm his pounding heart. "Couldn't stop thinkin' 'bout you."

"Me, too," you admitted softly, gazing up at him with your beautiful eyes all wide and burning with desire.

He cradled your face in his calloused hand, the other flattened firmly against the truck door behind you as he stared into your eyes, fighting the urge to pick you up and wrap your legs around his waist so he could pin you against his truck and let you feel just how badly he missed you.

Then, you heard your dad's SUV unlock and your eyes widened in panic.

"Shit," you muttered. "We should go. I think they're heading out."

"Alright, maybe I should say 'hi' real quick," he said, pushing himself off the truck and letting his hand drop from your face.

"No! That's okay, we'll be stuck here forever if you do," you said hurriedly. He gave you a curious smile but agreed before opening the door for you and hopping into the driver's seat.

He waited until he backed out of the driveway and was heading down your street before shooting you a sideways glance.

"Everythin' okay?"

You sighed and rubbed your palms over your face before clearing your throat.

"So, remember the other night on the porch, after you dropped me off?"

He smirked and nodded.

"Yeah, I think I remember," he teased.

"Well," you began. "My family saw us on the doorbell camera the next morning," you cringed.

He laughed, throwing his head back just a bit so he could still keep an eye on the road, and shook his head.

"Oh, I hate those fuckin' things," he said, but he was still laughing.

You grinned, your nerves and unease dissipating quickly.

"You're not embarrassed?"

"Nah," he said with a shrug, then turned his head briefly to look at you. "I'm sure we put on a good show."

You giggled, your cheeks tinting pink, and turned your head to look out the window.

"Alright," he said after a minute. "I've waited long enough and I gotta ask."

You swiveled back towards him, waiting for him to continue.

"What's the story with the nickname?"

You groaned and squeezed your eyes shut.

"It's so unbelievably stupid," you said, but he shook his head.

"Well, now you gotta tell me."

"Fine," you said, rolling your eyes, but your playful smile gave you away.

"It's Buck, or Bucky. Short for Bucket," you began.

"Bucket?" he repeated, bewildered.

"I warned you it was stupid!" you protested, and he chuckled. "Anyway, when I was little, my sister and her friends had a sleepover one time, and I overheard them swearing."

"Okay," Joel said slowly, nodding along while he kept his eyes pinned to the road.

"I always looked up to my sister, I was like her shadow when I was younger. So, when I heard them swearing, I wanted to be like them, too, you know?"

"Yeah, I follow," he replied, still not sure how the story related to your nickname.

"Well, thing is, I misheard them. They were saying 'fuck it', but I heard 'bucket'," you explained. "So I went to school and, thinking I sounded cool, I would say 'bucket' to all my friends. We were little, they had no idea what I was talking about, so I explained to them it's a swear word. Before I knew it, I had the whole class saying 'bucket' any time someone dropped something, or got a bad grade on a test, or whatever."

Joel howled with laughter, gripping the steering wheel for dear life as he tried to make it safely into his driveway.

"The principal called my parents and told them what was happening," you continued, joining in and giggling. "They got me home, and-" you doubled over, clutching your stomach as Joel put the truck in park and slumped over the steering wheel, his body shaking as he laughed.

"And I had to tell them the whole story, about why I kept saying it and-" you wiped the tears from your eyes as you took a deep breath. "And - oh my god - my sister got grounded for two weeks-" Another fit of laughter washed over Joel, tears streaming down his face.

"Wait, wait," he gasped, unbuckling his seatbelt so he could turn to face you. "You got in trouble in school, and your sister ended up gettin' punished?"

"Yes!" you squeaked, still giggling.

"Oh, shit," he breathed, panting as he leaned the back of his head against the seat rest. "Can't believe you thought that was stupid. That's gotta be the funniest thing I heard in a long while."

"Well, I'm glad I could brighten your day," you said, still grinning.

He rolled his head back towards you, his soft gaze drifting up and down your frame quickly before stopping on your eyes.

"You really do, y'know," he said quietly, and you furrowed your brow, tilting your head in confusion.

"Brighten my day," he clarified.

You bit your lower lip and smiled, looking away as the flush began to return to your cheeks.

"Come on, charmer. Why don't we go teach you how to wrap presents?"

You never really gave much thought as to what Joel's house would look like, but once you saw it, it immediately felt like him. It was a smaller, two bedroom house. When you first walked in, you entered a living room with a leather couch and an oversized recliner. A big screen TV was front and center across from the couch, with a few framed pictures of Joel and Sarah mounted on the wall next to it.

"You want somethin' to drink?" Joel asked, making sure to slide the coat from your shoulders before shrugging off his own.

"Maybe just water," you said, following him into the kitchen. You gasped when you saw his cupboards and immediately rushed over to them while he pulled two bottles of water from the stainless steel fridge.

"Oh my god, Joel," you whispered, running your fingers gently over the designs. Each one looked different but somehow they all were cohesive. Some had small flowers or butterflies carved into the corners, while others had simple, yet intricate designs grooved into the wood.

"Had to practice somehow," he said, feeling his cheeks flush as he walked over to hand you your water.

"God, it's so beautiful," you said breathlessly, unable to look away from the dark, stained wood. Your fingers danced over some stars etched into one of doors, your eyes wide with awe, but he was focused entirely on you. He couldn't get enough of watching the delicate features on your face light up whenever you found something new that pleased you.

"How long does this take for you to do?" you asked, finally dragging your eyes away to look up at him. Your throat tightened when you noticed the heat behind his stare, your pulse fluttering in your neck.

"Depends," he murmured. "Some are faster than others, but I prefer to go slow and take my time. Anythin' worthwhile takes time. Gotta show it respect, gotta care for it."

His low and sultry tone made your face flush, forgetting for a moment you were talking about woodworking.

"Y-yeah," you stammered, clearing your throat. Suddenly, you were feeling short of breath. "That makes sense."

He gazed down at you for another moment, his eyes slowly raking over your face as if committing it to memory before speaking again. Your entire body felt hot, and you cursed yourself for wearing such a thick sweater.

"Ready to go upstairs?" he murmured, still staring at you in a way that made your spine tingle.

"Huh?" you whispered, completely entranced by his deep, brown eyes.

"The presents?" he reminded you with a small smirk.

"Oh, right," you said, finally blinking and looking away. You shakily opened your water bottle after he turned around to lead you to the stairs, your mouth suddenly extremely dry.

As you walked up the steps, you tried to get a look at the pictures that lined the wall, but it was difficult to do without tripping. You thought you had finally gotten your head on straight after that moment in the kitchen, but when you realized he was leading you to his bedroom, you felt the tremble return to your hands.

"Sorry, had to hide everythin' in my closet, she's too nosy," he said over his shoulder.

"No problem," you squeaked, trying not to stare at his neatly made bed. Your eyes briefly drifted over the end tables filled with personal effects. You thought you saw a chapstick, a cord for a phone charger, and a worn paperback book, but you didn't want him to catch you, so you looked away quickly.

He opened his closet and you were surprised to find his clothes packed away so neatly. For a bachelor, he kept a really clean house. He pulled out the bags of gifts from the shelf above his clothes, then the wrapping paper, which was leaning against the corner.

"D'you think we got enough room?" he asked, glancing around at the floor.

"Yeah, of course," you said, sitting down crossed legged on the carpet. You reached out for the wrapping paper and rolled it out in front of you as he sat down at your side, taking out her gifts one by one. You felt yourself involuntarily clench as you watched his large hands deftly lay out each item on the floor, his muscles twitching slightly under the tanned skin of his exposed forearms.

"I know what you're thinkin'," he said, and your eyes widened in surprise. "I spoil her, I know, but she's such a good kid, I can't help myself."

That was definitely not what you were thinking, but you chose to keep that to yourself.

"I think it's sweet," you told him. "You seem like a really good dad."

Now it was his turn to blush. He tried to turn his head away so you wouldn't see, murmuring his thanks as you each picked an item to start. After a quick tutorial, which included way too much tape and ripped paper, Joel finally seemed to get the technique down. It only took until about halfway through the pile for you to muster up the courage to bring up a topic you couldn't help but be curious about.

"So," you began, hoping you came off nonchalant. "Is Sarah with her mom this Christmas, or..."

Joel's fingers fumbled for a moment with the wrapping paper, but he quickly recovered.

"Uh, no," he replied, keeping his eyes cast down on the shoe box in front of him. "She's not in Sarah's life anymore."

"Oh," you said, unable to keep the surprise from your voice, but you didn't push him any further. Your mind was scrambling, trying to think of something else to talk about, when he sighed and leaned back, abandoning the gift.

"I'm sorry, this is all so new to me, I probably should've told you about her sooner," he said, feeling guilty, but you quickly shook your head.

"No, you don't have to-"

"I want to," he said, cutting you off. You clamped your mouth shut and turned your body so you could give him your full attention, leaving the hair dryer you were wrapping on the floor next to you.

He drew a shaky breath in and looked up at the ceiling before speaking.

"There's not much to say, really. I'm still not always sure what happened," he began. You nodded, staying quiet and letting him take his time. "We were together since high school, ended up stayin' together after graduation. Sarah was a surprise, we were both still so young but we made it work. It was hard, but once me and Tommy got the business goin', it made things a bit easier."

Your fingers tangled together in your lap as you listened, refusing to say anything until he was done. His gaze drifted towards a fixed point on the wall as he continued.

"From what I gathered, she felt like havin' Sarah so young robbed her from doin' certain things in life," he said heavily. "Said she couldn't do it anymore. Didn't want her life to pass her by and be full of regret."

You bit your lip. The pain was clear as day on his face and it was making your chest ache.

"Well, anyway. I thought maybe she would go off for a couple months, do whatever it was she thought she was missin' out on. Parties, college... other men," he added the last part quietly, and you dropped your gaze to the floor. "Get it out of her system, y'know? But she just... never came back. Eventually, the calls came less and less, and I put two and two together. Didn't even get a courtesy call before I got served with the papers."

He rubbed his eyes, trying so hard not to look like a blubbering idiot in front of you. You reached your hand out and placed it gently on his knee, giving him a reassuring squeeze. He dropped his hand from his face to cover yours, staring at your coupled hands for a moment.

"Joel-"

"It was just so fuckin' hard on Sarah, y'know?" he said, his voice cracking. "I had no idea what to tell her. She cried almost every night, askin' me why her mom didn't love her anymore."

"Oh, Joel," you whispered, unable to hold back any longer. You closed the small gap between you, wrapping your arms around his shoulders and pulling him into your chest, your fingers gently raking through his hair. "I'm so sorry," you told him, burying your nose in the hair on top of his head, breathing in the citrus scent from his shampoo.

He didn't say a word. He just tugged you closer and closed his eyes, leaning into your comforting touch with a deep sigh.

"I'm sorry," he finally managed to croak out. "I'm throwin' way too much at you, I know you didn't sign up for this."

"Shh," you whispered into his hair, then tilted his face up to look at you, his dark brown eyes glassy with unshed tears. "It's okay," you murmured, pressing a soft kiss against his lips. A solitary tear slipped down his cheek when he pulled back to look deep into your eyes.

"It's okay," you repeated, wiping away the tear with the pad of your thumb before placing another gentle kiss against his lips.

He hummed contently against your mouth, sliding his hand up to the back of your neck and pressing his lips more firmly against your own, scared to let you go because if he did, he was sure he would fall apart.

Your grip on his hair tightened as he leaned forward, one strong arm wrapped around your midsection and the other pressed against your back. You mumbled something against his mouth when he tried to lay you down and knocked over a small pile of DVDs.

"Fuck," he whispered and, oh god, the way he said it made your legs turn to jelly and your cheeks flare with heat.

Frustrated, he tightened his grip around you and lifted you up, refusing to break the kiss. A tiny, high pitched squeak slipped past your lips as you wrapped your legs around his hips, letting him carry you to his bed.

He laid you down carefully on top of his plush, navy striped comforter. You sighed into his mouth, your legs loosening around his waist and falling open while you dragged your hands out of his hair and down to his shoulders, wrapping your fingers around his biceps to keep him close. He hovered above you, balancing all his weight on his elbows while his fingers played with the ends of your impossibly soft hair.

He slipped his tongue easily past your lips with a low groan, the noise going straight to your core, making the ache between your legs almost painful while your tongue danced with his, the two already so familiar with each other.

You tipped your head back with a gasp, desperate for air, but he kept going, unable to stop himself. His lips brushed against your jaw before his teeth and prickly beard scraped against the sensitive skin behind your earlobe. You let out a needy whimper and arched your back at the sensation, pushing your breasts into his broad chest as goosebumps spread over your whole body.

"Oh god, Joel," you whined softly, squeezing your eyes shut.

"Yeah, baby?" he replied, his voice thick and muffled against your neck. Baby. Jesus, this man was unraveling you so fast, it was making your head spin.

"I-I know we said this was casual, but-" the words got trapped in your throat as you cut yourself off, unable to finish your thought.

"I know," he said, his voice strained. "Fuck, I know."

He lifted his head away from your neck as he stared down at you, patting your hair back and away from your face as he panted slightly for breath.

You looked up at him, eyes watering as you tried not to think about your time coming to an end in a couple short weeks. You could tell he was thinking the same but didn't want to say it, the pain behind his eyes was obvious.

He blinked a couple times, the clouds clearing as he forced himself to focus on the present. He had you here in his arms, in his bed, underneath him right now. And he was going to be damned if he didn't soak up every single second.

He leaned back down and locked his lips on yours again, this time moving slower, more gentle and tender. He wanted to treat you right. You deserved it, and he wasn't going to give you anything less than what you deserved while he still had you.

You loosened your grip on his arms and allowed your hands to drift to the buttons of his flannel, slowly and shakily undoing them. His heart began to slam against his chest when he realized what you were doing, his mind going fuzzy with desire.

He pulled his head back when you were about halfway down his shirt, looking down hazily at your fingers working open the buttons as he desperately tried to think straight.

"Dad?" Sarah called from downstairs, the front door slamming shut. "Are you here?"

"Shit," Joel mumbled, scrambling off of you as he clumsily tried to redo his buttons. You jumped off the bed, leaning over so you could see into the mirror above his dresser, raking your hands through your tangled hair and quickly fixing your sweater.

"Yeah!" Joel shouted back, glancing over at you to make sure you were decent. "Sorry," he whispered, but you just grinned. Then his eyes fell to the half wrapped presents on the floor.

"Wait! Don't come up-" he called out as he heard her skipping up the steps. Joel grabbed your arm and pulled you out of the room, closing the door behind you both just in time.

"What? Why?" Sarah asked, then froze when she saw you. She looked up at Joel, then back to you, and a slow smile spread across her face.

"Ohhh..." she said with her hands on her hips. "Now I see."

"N-no, it's not what it looks like, she was just helpin' me wrap some gifts," Joel stammered, jutting his thumb over his shoulder. You shifted your weight nervously as you looked back and forth between them.

"Then why are you missing a button on your shirt?"

You both glanced down at his flannel, and she was right. He missed fixing a button in all the chaos. Your face flushed beet red as you stared at the ground while Joel hurriedly fixed the button, cursing under his breath. When you dared to look back up at his daughter, she was smirking playfully at you. Joel cleared his throat.

"Sarah, this is-"

"Yeah, I know, I remember from the party. The pretty dress, right?" she asked, and you nodded.

"Yeah, that's right. Nice to see you again," you said awkwardly.

She nodded, still smirking and looking at you and Joel. You could tell she loved catching her dad in this uncomfortable situation.

"Oh, crap. I forgot. Uncle Tommy is waiting for you in the driveway, said he needed your help unloading some work stuff out from the back of his truck," Sarah said.

"Ah, dammit, alright. You okay for a couple minutes?" he asked you, eyebrows raised.

"Of course," you said. He nodded, walking down the hall past Sarah, muttering "be good" to her as he walked by.

You listened as Joel made his way down the stairs and out the front door, leaving you and Sarah in silence, still staring at one another.

"I'm sorry, we really were wrapping gifts," you assured her.

"It's okay," she said with a shrug. "Last year he used duct tape on my presents, I know he needs the help."

You giggled, causing her to laugh, as well.

"Do you play an instrument?" you asked, just noticing the case on the floor next to her feet.

"Yeah, violin. I had practice after school today," she said, picking it up.

"Oh, cool. I played piano growing up, but I was never any good," you said, sliding your hands in the back pockets of your jeans.

"I have my school's Christmas recital on Friday," she said. "My first solo."

"Oh my god!" you said, clapping your hands together, genuinely impressed. "That's incredible! You must be so excited!"

"Yeah, at first, but now I'm getting nervous," she said, glancing down at the case in her hand. "You wanna hear me play?"

"Duh. Absolutely," you said with a grin. Her eyes lit up and a huge smile spread across her face again.

"O-okay. This is my room right here," she said, turning to her right and opening the door. "Sorry it's messy, my dad's gonna kill me."

"It's totally fine," you said, walking in and sitting down at the edge of her bed. You glanced around the room as she set up her music stand. On the pink walls, she had posters up of her favorite bands with a calendar and string lights draped across the room.

"I really like your room," you said, squinting to look at the stickers and drawings she had on her headboard.

"Thanks," she said sheepishly. "My dad let me do whatever I wanted."

You were about to comment on the various trophies she had on her windowsill when Sarah spoke again.

"Just so you know, I don't mind that you're seeing my dad."

Your eyes shot up to hers in surprise, not sure what to say. You hadn't really had a chance to talk to Joel about your relationship and how that would affect his daughter.

"He's been in such a good mood this past week, and he won't tell me but I know it's because of you," she said, pinning you with a familiar brown gaze.

"Oh, that's so sweet, Sarah," you said, finally finding your voice. "Thank you. That means a lot."

"You're welcome," she said. "I just want him to be happy again."

You dropped your gaze to your lap, your chest tightening at the thought of Joel being so lonely all these years.

"Me, too," you whispered, still looking down. Sarah regarded you for a minute before slapping her palms against the tops of her thighs and leaned down to pick up her violin.

"You ready?" she asked. You looked up and nodded, giving her an encouraging smile and sat back to listen as she began playing a hauntingly beautiful version of 'Silent Night'.

Sarah got about halfway through the song when she hit the wrong note and abruptly stopped, dropping her chin to her chest in frustration.

"Hey, it's okay," Joel heard you say softly as he walked back up the stairs. He paused at the top, right outside Sarah's room to listen.

"It's okay to make mistakes. Just go slower, take your time. Anything worthwhile takes time," you told her, and he smiled when he heard his earlier words to you repeated back to his daughter. He took a step forward to lean against the doorframe and watch the two of you, your back to him as you sat on her bed.

"Okay," Sarah said, taking a deep breath and closing her eyes before lifting the violin to her chin and starting over.

Joel listened to Sarah play the same song he's heard a million times already in just the past month alone, but kept his eyes trained on you. The way you gave her your full, undivided attention and encouraged her with a smile or a thumbs up when she would glance over at you shyly made his chest ache.

When Sarah successfully finished the song with no mistakes, you jumped up from the bed, clapping and cheering for her, making Sarah giggle and hide behind her hands.

Fuck, this was going to be so hard.

"Dad?" Sarah asked the next morning over her bowl of cereal.

"Yeah, baby girl?" he replied, frowning as he pulled his bread from the toaster. He sucked his fingertips into his mouth, trying to bring some relief to the quickly reddening skin.

"Can your friend come to my recital tomorrow?"

Joel froze, his fingers still pressed against his tongue as he slowly turned around to look at her. He dropped his hand and took a deep breath.

"I don't know if that's such a good idea," he replied.

"You don't think she would wanna go?" Sarah asked, her eyebrows pinched together.

"No, it's not that, I'm sure she would," he said, trying to find the right words.

"Then what's the problem?"

Joel sighed and picked his mug up from the counter, then walked over to join her at the table.

"She doesn't live here, baby. She's goin' back to New York in another week or so, I don't want you gettin' too attached," he finally admitted, watching Sarah closely as she considered his words.

"Well, you guys like each other, right?" she asked, and Joel smirked.

"Yeah, but it ain't that simple."

"Yes, it is, Dad," she said, rolling her eyes and dipping her spoon back into her bowl. "My friend Katy was dating this guy last year and he switched schools over the summer. They're still together, it doesn't matter," Sarah said with a shrug, taking a bite of cereal.

If the topic didn't fill Joel with a sense of dread, he would have chuckled at the comparison, but instead he just sat there quietly, watching his daughter as she finished her cereal and scrolled on her phone.

Sarah pulled on her backpack and was sliding on her sneakers to catch the bus when she called back to Joel over her shoulder.

"Just ask her, okay? Please, Dad?"

Joel sighed, hanging his head between his shoulders and paused his hands over the dishes in the sink.

"Alright," he relented, and he heard Sarah clap her hands behind him before slamming the front door shut.

You: good morning :)

Joel Miller: Good Morning, sweetheart. I didn't think you would be up this early.

You: couldn't fall back asleep. What are you doing

Joel Miller: Just getting to work. Why couldn't you fall back asleep?

You thought about it for a minute from under the pile of blankets on your bed, rolling to your side before answering.

You: I was thinking about you...

Joel Miller: Good thoughts, I hope?

You: VERY ;)

His throat went dry when he opened the text. He glanced around outside his car window, making sure he was still the only one on the job site before replying.

Joel Miller: What are you trying to tell me, baby?

You smirked and bit down on your lip.

You: I was wishing you were in bed with me right now

"Shit," he muttered to himself, glancing around once again before adjusting his pants.

Joel Miller: Me too, what are you wearing?

The answer came back almost immediately.

You: nothing

He groaned and rubbed his palms roughly over his face.

Joel Miller: You're killing me, baby. I have to get working in a minute.

You: i'm sorry ;)

You: I promised my parents I would go to dinner with them tonight, but are you free tomorrow?

Joel took a deep breath, trying to clear the onslaught of inappropriate thoughts from his head when he remembered his promise to Sarah.

Joel Miller: It's Sarah's recital tomorrow night. She asked me to invite you this morning, did you want to go?

He nervously chewed his cheek for a moment before sending another text.

Joel Miller: No pressure, I can tell her you're busy.

He sent his second text right as your reply came through.

You: I would love to!

He grinned and raked his fingers through his hair. Tommy's knuckles tapped on the outside of Joel's window, making him jump. He held up a finger before sending you a quick answer.

Joel Miller: Sounds great. I'll pick you up. Try to go back to sleep. Dream of me.

Joel opened the door and slid his phone in his back pocket, a stupid grin etched across his face as he joined his brother in the half-built storefront they were working on.

"Oh man, you got it bad," Tommy said with a chuckle when he saw the look on Joel's face.

"Alright, what do you think of this one?" you asked Cassie as you stepped out of the bathroom modeling the sixth dress of the day.

"I liked the red one better," she said, glancing up from her phone.

"Are you sure? This one is a little more chic," you said, twisting around to look at your backside in the mirror.

"It's a high school recital, Buck. I don't think anyone is expecting 'chic'," she teased, and you rolled your eyes.

"Well, I just want to look nice, is all," you said, sitting next to her on your bed in a huff. You tapped your phone screen, frowning when all you had was another text from Sydney and nothing from Joel. You opened it up anyway, curiosity getting the best of you.

Sydney: OMG!!!!!!

You sent back three question marks and locked your phone with a sigh.

"You still wanna get together next week so we can look at apartments online for you?" she asked.

"Yeah," you said sadly, looking out the window.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," you told her. "Just not ready to go back yet."

"Could that be because of a certain sexy contractor?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at you.

"Shut up," you smirked, tossing a pillow at her lightly.

"Ooo you like him! Lookit how red you're getting!"

"I'm gonna kill you when that baby's out, you know that, right?" you giggled.

"Yeah, yeah, sure," Cassie said, looking back down at her phone as the smile slowly faded from her face. "You know you don't have to go back, right?"

"What do you mean? My job is there, my life is there... everything is there," you replied. "Of course I have to go back."

"What life, though?" she asked, and you frowned at her. "Seriously, Buck. Aside from your job, which you hate, what's left?"

"Well, my friends are there. And I don't hate my job that much. I mean, everyone hates their job a little bit," you said with a shrug.

"Is this what you expected to do when you were in college? Is this what you wanted?" Cassie pressed, sitting up on the bed. "Are you even happy?"

You paused, letting her words roll around in your head for a moment.

"Well, I mean..." you trailed off, not sure how to answer her question.

"If you have to think about it this long, I think you know the answer," your sister said quietly. You groaned and rolled off the bed.

"I'm going back. I have to. I can't just give up because some guy broke my heart," you said, turning around so she could unzip the back of your dress.

"I'm just saying, think about it," Cassie replied. "I wouldn't hate it if my child's aunt was in their life more than twice a year!" she called after you as you shut the door to the bathroom.

Joel eagerly jogged up the porch steps and rang the doorbell, very aware of the camera this time while he fiddled with the cuffs on his dark red button down shirt. He heard high heels clicking on the other side of the door and the corners of his mouth turned up into a smile, which quickly vanished when you opened the door and he saw the dress you were wearing.

"Hi," you said with a shy smile, pulling a soft looking white cardigan on over your shoulders.

He thought he had greeted you. He could have sworn he said something, anything, that didn't make him look like a complete idiot, but apparently nothing came out because you scrunched your eyebrows together when you saw his face.

"Are you okay?" you asked, pulling the door shut behind you.

"Yeah, it's just - Jesus, you look so good," he managed to finally say, tilting his head back to stare up at the roof of the porch for a moment, taking a deep breath.

"Thank you," you said with a giggle. "You don't look half bad, yourself."

He rubbed his forehead, exasperated and flustered before pulling you quickly into his arms and latching his mouth onto yours with a groan.

"Joel," you pulled back breathlessly with a small smile and leaned your head to the side, trying to silently remind him of the doorbell. His eyes raked over you hungrily before shaking his head and pulling you back into a deep kiss.

Fuck the camera, let them see.

You giggled against his mouth, causing him to smile and break the kiss.

"Come on, I wanna get good seats," you said, rubbing your thumb over his lower lip to wipe off your lipstick that transferred. It caused his stomach to clench. That sweet, little intimate gesture made him ache for more so badly that he could hardly breathe.

He walked you around the front of his truck, opening the door and giving you a hand so you could hop onto the seat, the gorgeous red dress you were wearing hugging your curves just right and distracting him to no end.

On the walk around to the driver's side, he mentally scolded himself, reminding himself over and over that tonight was a big deal for his little girl and he needed to stay focused.

As he drove down the street, he realized that his hand instinctively found yours across the seat, his body craving the warmth and softness of your own. How on earth was he going to go back to the life he had before, now that he knows what it's like to bask in the heat of your touch?

Once he got to the school, he found a parking spot and jumped out of the truck. You had figured out by now that he preferred you to wait so he could open the car door for you, so you did. Swinging your legs over the side of the seat, you slid down into his waiting arms, your hands gently coming to rest on the tops of his shoulders. He gazed down at you with his arms loosely hanging around your waist. You saw his adam's apple bob in his throat while he let himself get lost in your warm, beautiful eyes. You lifted a finger from his shoulder, tracing an invisible line down the side of his cheek as you stared up at him with your plush lips parted so invitingly that it made his knees weak.

"Joel! Hey!" Tommy's voice called out from behind, snapping you both out of the moment. Joel sighed and untangled himself from you, taking your hand and leading you forward so he could shut the door before turning around to find his brother.

You could see the family resemblance immediately as Tommy approached you with a wide grin. His hair was a bit darker and a lot longer, and his beard was less full than Joel's, but he had the same soft, brown eyes that you had grown to know and love.

Love? Oh, no.

"Hey, Tommy," Joel said as he got closer, his hand pressed firmly on the small of your back. "This is-"

"Oh, I know who she is. How're you doin', darlin'?" Tommy asked, pulling you into a bear hug, taking you by surprise.

"I-I'm good," you squeaked shyly once he released you. "Nice to meet you."

"I've been dyin' to meet the little lady who's got my brother all wrapped up," he replied with a grin.

"Tommy!" Joel seethed warningly at your side, but you just giggled.

"I'm just messin' around. She knows that, right?" he said, shoving his hands in his coat pocket and rolling on the balls of his feet. "Supposed to snow next week, can you believe it?"

"Yeah, I heard we might get a couple feet," Joel said, steering you toward the doors to the auditorium. "Better get your shovel ready."

You settled in between the two brothers as you found a decent spot in the fourth row. Joel draped his arm around the back of your chair while he chatted with Tommy about work. You inadvertently leaned to the side and rested your shoulder against his chest as you glanced around the room, admiring the lit up garlands around the windows and Christmas trees on the stage with fake presents underneath.

When their conversation died down, Tommy pulled out his phone and began scrolling through social media, holding it low between his spread knees with his chin tucked into his chest.

Joel tilted his face forward to press his lips on the top of your head, breathing in a deep and contented breath. A small smile played across your lips as you turned your gaze up towards him, resting your cheek gently on his shoulder. He looked down at you with a smile and planted a chaste kiss on your forehead, and as each of you slid your eyes closed for a moment, Tommy angled his phone to snap a quick picture, smiling to himself and making a mental note to show his brother later.

The lights dimmed and you all straightened up in your seats. You listened to the music teacher make a small speech at the beginning and politely clapped afterwards. You saw Sarah twice throughout the concert as part of the orchestra, smiling at how focused and beautiful she looked in her white dress. As the concert wound down, Sarah finally came out on stage for her solo, and the three of you eagerly leaned forward. At the last minute, you remembered to pull out your phone and start a video, telling yourself you were doing it for Joel so that he could be in the moment, but you knew you would end up watching it by yourself when you went back to New York City.

The performance was flawless. When it was over, the three of you lept up from your seats, cheering, jumping and clapping, making her wave and blush as she exited the stage. You sat down, giggling, as the people surrounding you gave you all polite smiles and chuckles, then quieted down for the finale.

When the lights came back up, everyone stood from their seats, murmuring and laughing while waiting for their kids to come out from backstage and take pictures. You saw a flash of white out of the corner of your eye and moved out of the way just in time for Sarah to run and jump up into Joel's arms, burying her face in his neck. He squeezed his eyes shut, his arms wrapped around her tightly, murmuring praise in her ear. You felt warmth spread across your chest as you watched them have their moment, the corners of your mouth turned up into a smile with your hands clasped together against your chest.

He let her down gently and she turned to give Tommy a quick hug. He spun her around, making her giggle and fidget with her dress before she turned to you.

"You came!" she exclaimed, wrapping her arms loosely around your waist. Your eyes widened in surprise, not expecting such affection from her, but you quickly returned the hug.

"Of course I came! Thank you for inviting me," you said, pulling back with a grin. "You were absolutely perfect, I took a video, I'll send it to your dad so he can show you later."

"I did exactly what you told me, I slowed down and took my time," she beamed, and it gave you a new feeling deep in your chest that you never felt before.

"That's great, Sarah," you replied, your throat tight with emotion. Tommy dropped his gaze from you and ticked his jaw to the side, finally understanding why Joel was hesitant to let Sarah know about the two of you.

"Dad?" Sarah asked, turning away from you. "Can I sleep over at Katy's? She's having a bunch of girls over and her mom said it was okay."

"Uh, sure, baby girl. Don't you need clothes and stuff?"

"I have stuff I keep here in my locker for gym," she said.

"Well, alright, lemme talk to her mom first," he replied, glancing around the room.

"Thank you! She's right over here," she said, grabbing his hand. "Thanks for coming!" she called back last minute over her shoulder to you and Tommy, and you both smiled and waved as she dragged her father across the room.

"She's so talented," you said, turning to Tommy. He looked down at you and gave you a weak smile.

"Yeah, she's somethin' else," he said with a nod. "Hey, listen. I'm havin' a get together next week at my house. Little Christmas party, I guess. I invited a guy I met at your parents' house - Josh? He's comin' with his wife, Joel and Sarah'll be there, I'd love for you to come by if you can."

"Josh is my brother in law," you clarified for him. "That sounds great, I'll be there, thank you."

"You're welcome," Tommy said, then his brows pinched together as he opened his mouth again to speak. "Joel might kill me for sayin' this, but you gotta know how happy you've -"

"Ready to go?" Joel asked, sneaking up beside you. Tommy cleared his throat and gave his brother an innocent smile.

"Yep," you replied, dropping your hand to find his at your side, lacing your fingers together and giving him a gentle squeeze.

After saying goodbye to Tommy, Joel slowly led you through the parking lot to his truck, desperately trying to think of something else you could do, not ready to drop you off yet. He knew the time you had together was coming to an end, and he wanted to soak up every precious second. Especially after the way he saw you with Sarah: so warm and sweet and patient. He couldn't remember the last time he saw his daughter's eyes light up that way.

He prided himself on being a good father since his wife left. Always making sure to put Sarah first, that she got everything she could ever want or need. Especially his love. When his ex abandoned them, he made sure Sarah got every ounce of love he had, hoping it would help make up for the loss. But as hard as he tried, he could never fully fill both roles. There were just some things that a mother provided for her daughter that Joel couldn't give.

He didn't realize it until he saw you with Sarah earlier that night, and then it felt like everything shifted into focus for the first time in his life.

He held out his hand to help you get back into his truck, making sure your legs were safely tucked in before he gently shut the door.

Sitting in the driver's seat gripping the steering wheel, he stared straight ahead for a moment in complete silence, the keys still in his coat pocket while his mind reeled.

"Is everything okay?" you asked timidly. He blinked and turned to you.

"Yeah," he said hoarsely. He swallowed and looked at his watch.

"You wanna get coffee or somethin'? I know it's gettin' late but I'm sure some place's open," he said, deep in thought as he considered the cafés nearby.

"Don't you have coffee at your house?" you asked shyly. His eyes snapped up to yours and he saw the flush creeping up your neck and the rapid rise and fall of your chest.

Oh.

"Yeah, yes," he croaked, nervously clearing his throat. "Let's do that. I have- yeah, good idea," he stammered, fumbling with the keys in his pocket.

You smirked as you watched his shaky hand turn the key in the ignition. He twisted around to back out of the parking spot, and this time you gave into temptation, unbuckling your seatbelt so you could slide over and tuck yourself under his arm. He immediately pulled you closer, not even caring that you weren't wearing your seatbelt. He would make sure to drive safe. Nothing could possibly ruin that night. He wouldn't let it.

At stop lights, you would run your hand up his chest and plant small kisses against the corner of his mouth, filling him with a radiating bliss he never felt before.

Once you got back to his house, you shrugged off your sweater and trailed behind him as he made his way into the kitchen. You leaned against the wall and watched as he opened one of the cupboards - the one with the small birds carved into the bottom - and pulled down a can of coffee.

"I don't think I have any decaf," he said turning to look at you.

"I don't want coffee, Joel," you said lowly. He swallowed roughly and put the can on the counter.

"What d'you want, then?"

You pushed yourself off the wall and slowly walked towards him, his eyes skating up and down your body as you approached. Wrapping your arms around his waist, you tilted your face up to gaze at him, your mouth hovering over his own.

"I want you."

His eyes fluttered closed as your lips slotted against his, his rough hands immediately coming up to cup your smooth face, holding you firmly against his mouth. Christ, he would never get tired of kissing you. If he could do it every single day for the rest of his life, he would. He knew it seemed crazy. He knew you just met, but he couldn't help the way you made him feel.

"Let's go upstairs," you whispered, nipping at his lower lip.

He couldn't speak. He just nodded in a daze and let you lead him coyly up the steps, then turned around to walk backwards down the hall towards his bedroom so you could pull him tightly against your body. His big hands gripped your waist while his tongue slipped past your lips, searching for its mate.

You reached behind you blindly, your hand fighting with the doorknob as his big frame caged you in against the wood, his masculine scent invading your senses and making it difficult to think. Finally, the door swung open and you both stumbled in, a giggle erupting from your throat as your fingers got to work undoing the buttons on his dress shirt.

You hurriedly tugged his button down off, leaving it in a heap on the floor as you slid your palms underneath the white t-shirt he had on, feeling the warm skin of his stomach and chest for the first time.

"Off," you whispered, your heart getting stuck in your throat when he yanked the shirt over his head, leaving his upper body completely bare to you. Your mouth went dry as you drank him in, then lunged forward, your lips brushing up his sternum until you reached his collarbone. You sucked on a bit of tanned skin there with a moan, then slipped your tongue out to press wetly against the red mark you left, feeling drunk off the taste of his sweat.

He gently pushed you backwards so he could ease you down onto his bed, his breath growing erratic and desperate with each little bite you left on his chest. God, has anyone ever desired him this much before? Has he really been missing out on this his entire life?

"Baby, we're gonna have to stop soon if you don't want this to go any further," he murmured. He found himself in the familiar position of hovering above you while his hand slid down your leg and toyed with the hem of your dress.

"I don't think I can take much more, tell me to stop," he whispered when you didn't answer, running the tip of his nose softly against your cheek.

"I don't want you to stop," you gasped as his fingers slipped underneath your dress. You tilted your head back and moaned when you felt his fingertips brush against the damp fabric of your panties.

His mouth hungrily devoured the exposed cleavage of your breasts, growing frustrated with the fabric of your dress keeping him from seeing all of you.

"Sit up," he demanded, leaning back and pulling his hand from between your legs. You obeyed, and he made short work of your zipper, pulling it all the way down so you could shimmy out, leaving you in just your underwear.

"Oh, fuck," he whispered when he realized you weren't wearing a bra. You let yourself fall back gently on the bed, spreading your arms out above your head so he could see every inch of you in the moonlight.

He couldn't believe this was actually happening. He kept waiting for his alarm to go off and reality to slap him across the face, but it never came. His heart was pounding so fast, he was sure you could hear it as he leaned back down and nibbled at your exposed jaw while his calloused hand cupped your soft breast, his thumb flicking over your hardening nipple.

You scraped your nails over his shoulders and down his chest as you arched your back, pressing into his hand, needing to feel the heat of his skin against your own. Your stomach flipped as you made your way down to his belt, and with shaky fingers, pulled hastily at the leather.

Yanking the belt through the loops with one swift motion, you flung it across the room, making him chuckle against your skin. When you started to work on popping open the button on his dress pants, a devastating thought suddenly occurred to him.

"Shit, wait," he said, putting his hand on top of yours. You frowned up at him, your chest heaving, as you gave him a confused look.

"I don't have any protection," he said through gritted teeth. He hung his head and squeezed his eyes shut angrily. "I-I haven't been with anyone since my ex, and I never thought... fuck," he said, clenching his jaw.

You weighed your options for about half a second before tugging his chin up, forcing him to look at you.

"I'm still on birth control," you told him, searching his eyes. "I mean, only if you're comfortable with it, we don't have to," you said, but in your head you were chanting please, please, please.

"Are you sure?" he asked, panting for air. "I don't wanna make you feel like -"

"Yes," you said, cutting him off by grabbing his face. "Yes. I'm sure, Joel. Please," you whimpered, pulling him back down to you, his mouth crashing down on yours again.

"Please," you whispered again, tipping your head back as his lips left a trail of soft kisses down your throat. "Please, Joel, I need you."

His mouth stuttered against your neck. Hearing you beg and say you needed him when he never thought he would ever be needed like this in his whole life made his mind go blank.

"Okay," he rasped. "Okay, baby."

He tugged at the zipper on his black pants and pulled them off as quickly as he could without leaving you. You reached down to help him, hooking your fingers over the band of his boxers and shoving them down. He kicked them off before yanking down your panties, dropping them on the floor next to his clothes.

You eagerly spread your legs so he could settle his hips between them. You glanced down with a small gasp when you saw the size of him and you felt your cheeks flare. Jesus Christ.

He didn't seem to notice your reaction when he was too wrapped up in staring at the wet heat between your legs, pulsing and waiting, just for him. He slid a finger gently between your folds, making you moan and your back arch. Fuck, he loved how responsive you were to his touch.

He readjusted so he was kneeling between your legs. His palms slid up your calves, past your knees and to your inner thighs, pressing them down into the mattress so you were spread wide.

He lined himself up at your center, glancing up at you quickly to make sure you were ready. You swallowed and nodded, your eyes filled with desire, desire for him, something he still couldn't fathom but decided not to question. He pressed forward gently, notching himself against you before falling forward on his elbows.

He kissed the tip of your nose as he eased himself inside you, pausing when he heard you gasp and felt you tense under him.

"More," you finally croaked, your nails coming up to rake against his scalp. He let out the breath he was holding and pushed in further, his eyes fluttering shut and his mouth falling open as he felt you slowly stretch around him so perfectly, like you were made just for him.

"Oh, god," he sighed, dropping his face to the crook of your neck after he fully sheathed himself inside you. He dragged his mouth across your chest, leaving a wet trail from his tongue and red marks from his scratchy beard in his wake. He waited until he felt your muscles relax under him before he slowly rolled his hips, dragging himself in and out as his teeth scraped over your tightening nipples. You moaned his name softly, the sound permanently etched in his brain, a sound he will refuse to forget for the rest of his life.

He began to roll his hips faster at your encouragement, becoming obsessed with the way you felt and the sounds you made, and it was all for him. He spent so much of his life giving to everyone around him, he never truly felt like anyone was able or willing to give him what he needed in return until now. The recognition was depressing and freeing at the same time. Now that he finally had what he always wanted, what he always needed, he was going to lose you and there was nothing he could do about it.

Each moan from your throat and each kiss from your lips dragged him down deeper and deeper until he collided head first with the stunning, yet so painfully obvious, realization that he was deliriously in love with you. It was insane, he knew that. But it didn't make it any less true.

"Joel," you gasped, pulling him out of his trance and back to the present.

"Yeah, baby? I'm here. I'm right here," he whispered, planting soft kisses all over your face.

You bit down on your lower lip and squeezed your eyes shut. The sheer intensity behind his gaze coupled with the agony of only getting to experience this for one more short week made tears burn in the backs of your eyes.

You felt your orgasm begin to swell deep in your belly while your breath became more ragged and your vision went spotty. It shouldn't feel this good. This was cruel, to be able to experience something like this just to have it brutally ripped away from you. It wasn't fair, yet you never wanted it to stop.

He could feel it. It's been years, and it was never, ever like this, but he still knew. The way you whimpered and clawed at his back while your walls squeezed him so tightly, he thought he might pass out.

"Open your eyes," he panted. "I wanna look at you."

You forced your eyes open, now unable to hold back the tears that pooled there as two drops trickled down the side of your face, getting lost in your hair.

"It's okay, I got you," he whispered lovingly, staring deep into your eyes, seeing everything you didn't dare say out loud.

"You can let go, baby," he told you, his hips snapping against you ruthlessly, desperate to come at the same time.

You felt the wave rip through you like fire, the power and emotion behind it unlike anything you ever felt before. More tears poured from your eyes as you cried out his name, your thighs squeezing his hips so tightly you weren't sure you would be able to stand after.

He followed seconds later with a deep groan, spilling himself deep inside you while murmuring praise and wiping away your tears with his thumb.

"Why're you cryin', did I hurt you?" he asked, his voice filled with so much concern that it broke your heart. You shook your head, wiping the tears away with the back of your hand, but fresh ones just took their place.

"C'mon, talk to me," he urged, leaning up a bit as he softened inside you.

"What are we gonna do, Joel?" you blubbered pathetically. He took a shaky breath in and tenderly tucked your hair behind your ear.

"I don't know, baby, but we'll figure somethin' out. We gotta," he said with a sigh.

"I can't lose you," you whispered, pressing your forehead against his and closing your eyes.

"You'll never lose me, I can promise you that," he replied, pressing a gentle kiss against your swollen lips.

He waited until your tears slowed down before sliding out of you with a hiss. Rolling off to your side, he wrapped his arms around your middle and pulled you close against his chest, and as you finally drifted off in his embrace, he thought about all of the options available before you, determined to find a solution.

Tag list: @lola8888673 @pedropascalsbbg @nandan11 @sushiumex @serenadingtigers @jjlevin @survivingandenduring @amyispxnk @mysterious-moonstruck-musings @merz-8 @wonyoungismind @fandomscollide @anoverwhelmingdin @cayleejx16 @msjjekyll @lizzie-cakes @hexedbywanda @harriedandharassed @joeldjarin - lmk if i missed anyone, if your name is crossed out it means it won't let me tag you

[briarberrythornedhart]

Well... That’s Settled

Cw: none. Just fluff and eventual romance

It’s Saturday. A rare Saturday where you and your co-worker Eddie both aren’t working.

You knock on Eddie’s front door. Waiting a bit and hearing nothing. You knock again.

You hear “Coming. Shit! Fuck! Coming!! shit shit… Hold your gaddam horses” from Eddie— kinda muffled.

He opens the door with a scowl … and a glint catches your eye. A sewing needle in his mouth. He pulls the needle from between his teeth, it is trailing black thread. His scowl is softening into mild surprise.

“Oh it’s you??” He says

“It’s me. You…are... sewing ?? something?”

“Got a new patch for my vest at the show last weekend.” He holds up a black patch that says ‘Sloppy Seconds’ on it. “What’s up?”

“You said you were off today, and you could help me??? But your phone was busy… and probably I should have waited but it’s nearly eleven…”

“Nono, it’s cool, c’mon in.” He holds the screen door for you with his palm, fingers spread wide. “You are always welcome at Casa Munson. Didn’t think you’d take me up on my offer s’all.”

“But, Eddie Munson, you’re my only hope.” You did your best Leia Organa and Eddie grinned at you in acknowledgement of your effort.

“So you’re saying I’m a space wizard??” He fished for the compliment with typical cocky swagger.

“I’ve seen you use the Force on people with weak minds.” You wiggled your fingers in the air.

“When?? When have I ever done that?” He laughed.

You imitated Eddie’s midwestern accent that had that Munson Family brand Tennessee honey drizzled on it. “Golly, Officer, I didn’t think I was speeding. Oh - Keith, you said you didn’t want me to close on Tuesday, you personally want to walk the deposit to the bank, remember. Nah, you don’t need to roll to detect cursed objects right now after picking up that innocent looking pendant ...?”

“Well.. my magic doesn’t work on you, anyway.” He wryly pursed his lips.

It does though. It always does.

You watch him put the needle into a pin cushion that looked like a tomato and he laid his project aside.

He bends over the couch arm to do this and you can see the bit of un-inked skin above his gray boxers where his shirt rides up and his jeans ride low.

You can see the nice curve of his butt where one of the pockets is torn and his boxers show there too and you wish to hell he wanted you back.

You sigh. That would be so nice.

He stands and looks at you with his eyebrows raised in query. “What??”

So you change the subject. “Why don’t you put patches on your jeans? They are rapidly becoming more hole than fabric. Denim isn’t supposed to be... lace.”

He grins again. “That’s just air conditioning for my knees. S’very practical.”

“Including the hole on your left ass cheek - that’s for air circulation too, is it?”

His eyes widened. He runs his hand down his butt, fingers dipping into the hole. “Shiiiiit, why didn’t anyone tell me??”

“Presumably because we were all enjoying it?” You suggested playfully.

His eyes snap to yours. “Enjoying what? Me, looking like a total dork??”

“It’s called deshibile - it’s very fashionable.”

“What are you even talking about?? You're so... aggravating sometimes, I swear to gawd!” Eddie jogs down the hallway and you follow. He tries to get a good look in the mirror by his custom Warlock - she’s so pretty - but he calls her ‘Sweetheart’ - lucky tart. “ How long were these jeans ripped to hell on my ass??!! I only have two pairs - so - you saw!! You totally saw this yesterday and you didn’t even say....”

“Your boxers are keeping you decent - you just have a ripped pocket. It’s fine - You look fine. Why do you care? Keith doesn’t care about ripped pants - like - you wear shoes to work... so you are one up on Argyle with the flip flops. Now if you went commando, that might be a problem.”

He is running his hands through his hair. “I can’t afford more jeans right now... fuuuuuuck.”

“You have sewing supplies right here - You just need another patch, Eddie - from older jeans or an old t-shirt... it would barely show - until our next pay day and then we could go thrifting together? If you want?”

“Yeah.... yeah... sorry - just went to that concert and I shouldn’t have because we needed a plumber last week and money’s tight.”

You nodded. Money is always tight. The job pays you both very little. You know why you stay (to see Eddie) - but you don’t know why Eddie doesn’t get a better job.

“Hey - I’m sorry, I said you were ‘aggravating’, man, I-I didn't mean it - I mean, you do Drive Me Insane, but I guess I kinda like it... how we joke around.” Eddie leaned his forehead into the mirror - closed his eyes. “You’re a good friend, you know?? And... and I promised to help you out. But, I kinda forget what with??”

“Because I didn’t say. Because it’s a secret.”

“Oh! Covert mission, huh?” Eddie turned with - well it wasn’t elegance but it was beautiful just the same. He clapped his large hands together and rubbed them up and down with glee. “What are we up to?”

“I’m making a mix tape. For a guy I like. And I know you have the perfect set up to record on.”

“For a guy??”

“Yeah - I’m into them - dudes - in general.” you snarked. “Girls aren’t out of the question , but I do tend to go for...”

“I know-ah. I mean. You wanna use my equipment - and my music, I assume??”

“Some of it.” You nodded at Eddie. Eddie has a great music collection.

“My stuff... To court some loser...”

“He’s not a loser. He’s perfect.”

“No guy is perfect, I guarantee you.”

“He’s handsome. He’s kind and generous. He’s funny... on purpose. He has these lips...”

“Stop - I do not want to hear about his lips. Where’d you even meet him? At...”

“You know - around Hawkins...” You cut him off before he can ask ‘at work?’ and you’d have to come up with some crazy lie.

“You sure he’s single?? Maybe he’s dating half of Hawkins?? Maybe he’s gay?” Eddie is not looking at you - he’s flipping through records in a milk crate.

“Maybe he is all of those things - or he’s not into me at all - or maybe he’s not into anyone - that’s why I’m making the mix. I can tell him I like him in the j-card and in the musical subtext - if he’s not into me and can never be - we can just be friends. I’ll die a little, but that’s okay - every day we die a little more, right?”

“Morbid. But, accurate.” Eddie turned back to you. “Okay - I said I’d help you and I’ll help you - but we are making two mix tapes. One to express your interest in this guy - who probably doesn’t deserve you by the way. And one for you. Just for you. Deal?” He asks this like he’s the one convincing you of this project. Your idea - your excuse to spend time with Eddie - as much as you can finagle.

“Deal.” You go to shake on it and Eddie stops and spits in his right palm first. He checks you to see if you are grossed out. By his saliva?? No. Opposite really. “So - not a blood pact?” You kid and spit as delicately as you can into your palm - hold it out for him as brave as you can be. He grins, shakes it. You try not to think about your spit combined on your hands. Fail utterly at that.

“Okay... tell me about this Paragon of ‘Manly’ Virtue...” Eddie rolls his eyes.

“You said you didn’t want to hear about his kissable lips, his pretty eyes, his nice ass...”

“God! Stop - I didn’t know you were so fucking horny!! I meant his musical tastes.”

“He’s beautiful and I am an appreciator of his physical attributes. He’s not just a piece of meat though... he’s also got a great voice... and he’s very clever...”

“And you’re what - gonna only put really horned up slutty music on this tape and probably sleep with him immediately - you Can’t!! I mean, don’t - he might have crabs or something. You gotta be more careful.”

“He’s probably not going to like me back, but if he asks me on a date I’ll be sure to ask him point blank if he has crabs, first thing.”

“I’m just sayin’ maybe get to know him a bit before you offer your... body.”

“Okay - noted - Hmmm - ‘Horned up Slut Music’ What’s that filed under in your milk crates system ‘H’ or “S’?? Wait - did you just mean SKA?”

Eddie pushed into your shoulder with his, playfully, and was unusually quiet for a while. Picking up records and tapes and showing you song titles. Gently steering you away from anything that sounded like a Direct proposition for sex with the ‘mystery guy’.

Finally stopping you. “Now you’ve got 97 minutes of music, you’ve got to edit.”

“I thought we were making two mix tapes?’

“I’m making the second one. You have enough on your mind with mr. wonderful. When he breaks your heart you can listen to my mix and cry on my shoulder, and I’ll go kick his ass sideways.”

“I appreciate the offer, but I wouldn’t ask you to do that.” You looked down in your lap.

Eddie put two fingers under your chin and lifted your eyes to meet his. “Is he...like... is he so much better than me?” His voice broke a bit on the end.

You couldn’t speak - why wouldn’t words come out??

Eddie sounded put out but his eyes weren’t mad. “Like, other than the lips and the ass... or whatever - what’s he got that I don’t?”

You kinda... launched into his lap. You absolutely kissed him with tongue right off.

Eddie scootched like a crab into his bed - pulling you with him. Kissing you back.

“Am I a close second? You could settle for me, I’m kinda okay with that, considering the kiss you just laid on me didn’t feel like second prize.” Eddie looked so sweetly befuddled. “I do not have crabs and I’m not secretly dating anyone and I’ve been into you since day one.”

“Eddie, you are the guy.”

He blinked.

“You made me a mix?” Eddie’s pretty eyes got a twinkle in them. “But the messaging is so vague - how will I know if you are really attracted to me when you didn’t use any music to indicate a deep lust for my person.”

“You’ll just have to read the j-card.” You teased back.

[leejenowrld]

omg i loved seeing yn and jeno answer those questions!! i have a few more questions i want them to answer

for jeno and yn

what’s things that you know about the other that no one else would know?

what’s the biggest argument you’ve had?

what’s your best memory together?

how did the meeting of each others parents go?

what’s the craziest sexual thing you’ve done to each other?

for jeno only - do you ever think that your relationship with yn will crumble because she’s the opposite to you and nothing like the usual you go for?

thank you !! and yayyy

what’s the thing that you know about each other that no one else knows?

jeno – yn is very scary. she can have quite a short temper and i know my girl is quiet and seems innocent but she’s lowkey the opposite. i follow her like i’m lost sometimes. i know people assume that i wear the pants in our relationship (and i do) but she’s more dominating of me than you’d assume.

yn – jeno is a secret nerd. he doesn’t really like showing off about his intelligence and he doesn’t make it his entire personality trait (he so rudely tells me that i make my intelligence my entire personality trait) but he’s so smart. he knows everything. if i have any problem i’m more than confident than he can fix it

what’s the biggest argument you’ve had?

jeno – we haven’t had one and we won’t.

yn – we don’t argue like that. we love each other too much for that. all our arguments are small and barely last an entire day

what’s the best memory you’ve had together?

jeno – [sighs and smiles so widely] where do i even start? i love every moment i spend with her. if i had to choose one then i’d say when she made out with me in a spin the bottle challenge. that was her first and last time using drugs. i just fell in love with her even more in that moment. i was so unbelievably turned on. it was the start of seeing her grow in confidence and own herself. don’t get me wrong, she still has so many shy moments but she’s getting more confident, i’m so proud of her.

yn – [giggles and blushes] i think every time we have slow and soft sex. it usually happens when we want to make love to celebrate a good milestone in our relationship. for example our anniversaries, birthdays, when he takes me on a getaway. it’s when i really look in his eyes and think “yeah, it’s you. you’re mine, all mine. i want you forever.” every time he’s inside me i just teleport to another universe and i can’t get over how good it feels time and time again. nothing will beat it.

how did the meeting of each others parents go?

jeno – [leans back and grins] so good, her family loved me. it was spontaneous, we first bumped into her mum at the supermarket and as soon as she realised that i was dating her daughter she cried and kissed my cheek, saying that she’s been waiting for her daughter to experience a great and epic love. then me and y/n invited her parents over and i cooked for them :) i gave her mum flowers and i’ve continued doing so regularly. [proud grin] yn’s mum loves me. i think she loves me more than yn sometime. she treats me like her son and she’s my second mom.

yn – i was nervous. jeno freaked me out and told me they were coming over and it was so suddenly! but jeno managed to calm me down. it was a decent night, i didn’t talk much but jeno’s entire family is chill. when you see jeno’s family, you realise why he’s turned out the way he has. i may not talk to his family often but i will always praise and appreciate his parents for raising the man that they did. he’s a one in a kind.

jeno – she isn’t mentioning how she nearly burned the kitchen down. she’s always doing that, she stress bakes. i’ve probably had to stop a fire from erupting once a month. it’s also my girl and yeonjun. they’re both very bad in the kitchen

yn – [wiggles eyebrows] atleast i’m good in bed

what’s the craziest sexual thing you’ve done?

jeno – probably when she rode my dick on a train? or when i fucked her against the view in paris and the windows were see through, everyone saw and everyone could hear her scream my name. my girl never tries to stay quiet. also maybe when i had her tied up all night and blindfolded? i made her cum about 6 times. it was a good night. i sat on her chest, put my cock in between her boobs, put my cock in her mouth, ate her pussy, she was blindfolded and tied up but we still did it in doggy

yn – every time i call him daddy. i was never someone who was into that, i always used to find it kind of gross but when i look at him naked, monster cock, i just scream daddy. it falls of my tongue before i can think. i also find it dirty when he cums on my boobs or my face, and when i cum on his cock and he makes me give him a blow job

jeno, do you think your relationship with y/n would ever break because she’s not your type, you never went for girls like her and she’s the complete opposite to you?

jeno – [laughs mockingly and huffs] what the fuck? no? she’s the first person i ever fell in love with, it took me 22 years to fully release what true love is and i’m never going back. it’s her. i choose her every day, she’s my world and i want to marry her. i never wanted this before, love was something meaningless to me, i never believed it to be true. marriage was just something that i thought ended in pain. my only satisfaction used to be fucking. all i ever used to do was have sex. i wanted good sex, i wanted to get my dick wet and i wanted nothing more, that’s why i used to fuck around before her. i wanted nothing more because i wasn’t capable of feeling it but then she came along.

i simply do not give a fuck that we don’t have much in common. i simply do not give a fuck that she’s not one of the girls i used to go for. our differences are what makes us whole, it makes everything exciting and it makes us balance and complete each other so well. my strengths are her weaknesses, my weaknesses are her strengths, so and so. we match like two pieces in a puzzle. and who said she’s not my type? my type is her. she entered my world and my type became redefined. when i look at everything i want in a girl, i see my girl. it shocks me when i look back and see what girls i used to be interested in. they’re just so one sided and there’s nothing more to uncover. they’re not interesting. my girl is. i learn something new every day, there’s always something to uncover. she’s my girl and will be my girl until i stop breathing. nothing will make us break.

[supermarvel-fics]

Tickletober Day 25: Teasing

fandom: marvel

word count: 680

pairing: loki x reader (platonic)

summary: you tease Loki in the same way he teased you and he does NOT like it.

author's note: sorry this one's late, too. I've been so unmotivated lately.

“You do realize that escaping me in inevitable…” Loki stated in that deep, growling voice of his. It wasn’t a question. He was telling you how this was going to go. You’d be a fool not to feel intimidated by his words. “I will catch you one way or another.”

You backed away from him, elbows already glued to your sides at the mere thought of what he was threatening to do to you. “You know, this really isn’t fair. I’m a mortal and you’re a God. The playing field is not very level here!”

“Oh, so you have no problem mouthing off when we’re scheduled to spar, but then I find out you’re ticklish and all of a sudden my strength against yours isn’t fair?” Loki raised an eyebrow as he stalked closer to you, a smug grin on his face. He knew he had you.

“It’s different!” You shouted, wincing as your back hit the wall. Loki was on you in the milliseconds your guard had been down, swiftly pulling you forward and spinning you around so that your back was flush against his chest.

Loki splayed his fingers wide across your ribcage as he whispered in your ear, “I don’t think so.” Boisterous laughter ripped from your throat as Loki vibrated his fingers into your ribs. He chuckled darkly as you jolted and practically folded in half to block him. “You are quite ticklish for a mortal.”

“I-HI HATE YOHOHOU!”

Loki dug into the soft skin of your belly and you screeched, your legs failing to hold you up any longer. He gently guided you down to the floor, pinning you down with little to no effort. He pinched at your sides, smiling endearingly down at your bubbly giggles.

“Come now, I’m sure you can fight your way out of this,” Loki teased you. You shook your head, hiccupping for air through your laughter. Loki paused his attack immediately, grabbing your wrists in his hands and pinning them to the floor. “How adorable—just some wiggling of my fingers makes you lose all sense of coherency.”

You grunted, attempting to pull your arms out of his grip. After a few seconds, you relaxed, breathing deeply to evaluate the position you were in. The way he had you pinned was similar to a hold you were familiar with how to escape.

“Have you always been this ticklish, agent? I mean—”

As Loki got lost in his monologue, you swung your legs up, crossing them around his neck and pushing him down onto his back. He promptly let go of your wrists and you sat up to quickly pin him in the same way beneath you.

“All talk and no bite,” You taunted. “And what about you, Loki? Are you ticklish?”

Before he could even protest, you scratched at his belly, surprised to hear a surprised yelp and some giggles come from his mouth. You didn’t let up, only tickling him harder and faster, moving up to his ribs to get a better reaction.

“L-eheh-LET GO OF ME THIHIS INSTANT!”

Smirking, you responded with a fake accent, “You are quite ticklish… for a God.”

Loki’s cheeks grew red as he laughed, embarrassed that his own words were being used against him. “Yohou w-eheh-hill pahay for this, yohou insolent wrehehetch!”

“How adorable! A giggling God,” You chuckled, moving up and down his torso to evade his hands trying to grapple for yours. Loki growled at the reciprocation of your tease and twisted harshly underneath you to throw you off balance. You fell onto your side and it was only seconds before you felt ten fingers squeezing mercilessly at the side exposed to him.

“AHHHAHAH!” You screamed, curling into a ball. It did no good—Loki had you exactly where he wanted you.

“Regretting all those words now, I’m certain. Let’s see just how long you can last.”

Loki tickled you for what felt like hours, throwing in verbal teases every so often which unfortunately only made you laugh harder. But you filed them all away for future use. You’d be getting him back.

[leaderpinhead]

Floyd - Date Break

Prompt: Break

“I think we should break up.” 

Floyd hummed and glanced up from the carrots he’d been chopping out of boredom. Shrimpy stood right at his elbow. Her tomatoes looked more like soup than the diced shape Azul had demanded. He could tell she was serious because of the deep crease between her eyebrows. 

Floyd jabbed the crease with the tip of his finger. “Naw. I’m good.” 

Shrimpy huffed, but Floyd had already turned back to chopping carrots. “I’m being serious! I don’t think this is working out at all.” 

“I don’t have a problem with it.” 

“We shouldn’t be tied down to one another if we want to see other people.” 

“I don’t wanna see nobody else.” 

“And what if I want to see other people?” 

Floyd huffed. His knife came down harder on the cutting board. “This is about Sea Snake, isn’t it? It’s not my fault he’s so slow. He shoulda asked you out before I did if he wants to pout about it.” 

“This doesn’t have anything to do with Jamil!” Another knife came down onto his cutting board, bisecting a whole carrot. Floyd scowled at the red tomato juice on his carrots now. He turned his glare on Shrimpy, but she just glared back up at him. “This isn’t fair to you either. What if you found someone else you wanted to date?” 

Floyd rolled his eyes. He clicked his knife against hers. “Why would I be interested in anybody else? Everyone on campus is boring.” 

“You could meet someone down in the town.” 

“Also boring.” 

“There could be a cute mermaid back home just waiting for you.” 

The thought of any of the mermaids back in the Coral Sea wanting to date him made him snicker. Shrimpy had no idea how those girls were. They were way too boring and prissy to be any fun. They squealed like annoying seagulls when they saw his shadow. 

Now, if he could find a shark mer that might be a different story. Even another squishy cephalopod like Azul would be more preferable. At least then he’d have some fun when he went in for a squeeze. 

Shrimpy chopped done on another one of his carrots. Little tomato seeds flicked onto his cutting board. Floyd’s humor disappeared. “You better watch it, Shrimpy, or the next squeeze I give you won’t be so easy to slip out of.” 

“Your grumpy moods don’t scare me.” 

“I’ll just give you something to be scared of then.” 

Shrimpy stabbed her knife into one of his carrots. Floyd had her flung over his shoulder before she even realized what was happening. A delayed squeal followed them as he stomped across the Mostro Lounge’s kitchen. He flung open the two-way swinging door and ignored the startled looks shot in their direction. 

He scowled when Jade popped up in front of him just as he was about to exit the Mostro Lounge. “Move it.” 

Jade simply grinned. “Now, Floyd. You know better than to bring raw shellfish into the dining room.” 

Shrimpy’s offended “Hey!” was cut off by a sudden squeal when Floyd shifted her on his shoulder. “Shrimpy’s trying to break up with me, so I’m gonna go toss her in a fish tank.” 

A sharp knuckle dug into his hip bone. “Don’t you dare!” 

Jade chuckled. “I doubt Azul will be very happy to have a shrimp in the tanks.” 

“So?” Floyd yawned and ignored Shrimpy snapping the suspender strap of his uniform. “I don’t care what Azul thinks.” 

Jade hummed. He leaned to the side to look around Floyd. “I was under the impression you had only asked the prefect on one date.” 

“Yeah,” Floyd answered. He was getting really bored, really fast. “And she stood me up.” 

“I was kidnapped.” Shrimpy snapped his suspenders again. He jostled her until she squealed. “Just like I’m being kidnapped now!” 

“So,” Jade said, ignoring the wiggling Shrimpy on Floyd’s shoulder, “technically, you can’t have a breakup without having actually dated, correct?” 

Floyd frowned, not liking the smarmy tone Jade had. Jade widely smiled. Shrimpy wiggled on his shoulder. 

Floyd suddenly grinned to match Jade’s smile. “You’re totally right! Shrimpy you can’t break up with me ‘cause we never went on a date.” Floyd patted the back of her thigh, earning a harder punch to his hip. “We’re gonna go on one now so we can breakup!” 

Jade snickered into his knuckles. “Oh? And where will this date take place?” 

“In the fish tank!” 

Shrimpy shouted some kind of protest, but Floyd completely ignored her. He left Jade snickering in front of the Mostro Lounge and ambled through the dorm to the large tank big enough for him and Jade to swim around in if they wanted to. She wiggled, huffed, and cursed the whole way, but Floyd’s grip was stronger than her wiggling. He giggled as he climbed the steps connected to the open top of the tank for easy access for feeding the fish. “In you go Shrimpy~.” 

Floyd threw her into the tank. Or he would have had she not grabbed him by the top of his pants. Floyd wasn’t able to keep his balance with her yanking on him and went tumbling into the tank with her. 

Azul was not happy when he found them splashing around the tank later, but Shrimpy didn’t bring up the whole “breaking up” thing again. 

[thedeliverygod]

Instead of rushing myself to finish my WIP, I decided I'm just going to re-post an oldie but goodie

Just as Sweet (with a bonus White Day 2nd chapter if you're interested!)

Hiyori was nodding along and smiling as Yama excitedly discussed her plans for Valentine’s Day with her boyfriend as they walked home. Still, as happy as she was for her friend, her thoughts drifted to whether or not she should do anything other than obligation chocolate for Yato as she did for the rest of her friends.

“And you, Hiyori?” Ami’s voice knocked her out of her internal debate.

Blinking in confusion, she questioned back, “What about me?”

“What about that guy on your phone sensei caught you staring at? Are you doing anything for him?” She wiggled her eyebrows, intrigued.

Hiyori felt like her face had caught fire, unable to form words.

“That’s right! Who is that guy, anyway?” Yama immediately jumped in, moving closer as they slowed to a stop.

“H-he’s just a friend!” She managed to finally spit out, though she quickly felt herself growing light headed with embarrassment.

The two other girls looked at each other, clearly not buying it.

“Right.” Yama dragged out, “But! You do have a picture, right? Show us, just for the fun of it.”

“If he’s just a friend, it’s no big deal, right?” Ami echoed her sentiments mischievously.

“You two are…” Hiyori grumbled to herself, reaching into her pocket with a shaking head as she huffed, “Fine.” As they shared their squeals of success, she sighed to herself as she unlocked her phone and moved to photos. ‘Most of the pictures I have are selfies from him stealing my phone when I’m tutoring Yukine-kun…’

Finding one she deemed as relatively acceptable, she held out her phone and turned her head away, “Here.” Her ears were instantly filled with more high-pitched squeals and she flinched.

“Hiyori!”

“He’s gorgeous! Again, who exactly who is this guy!? How did you meet him?”

She took a breath and shoved her phone back into her pocket, not sure how to respond. “I, um. You know the younger boy I mentioned before that I tutor? They live together.”

Ami squinted, “So you mean he’s his older brother?”

Hiyori shook her head, “No, he’s more like, um… his guardian?”

“So older guys are your thing, huh?” Yama snapped her fingers as she came to her realization. She winked and elbowed Hiyori, “Wow, and I thought being a closet wrestling fan was your only rebellious trait.”

She covered her face with both of her hands, pleading, “Stop.”

Yama and Ami shared a laugh before Ami repeated, “So… are you going to make chocolate or anything?”

“I don’t know yet.” Hiyori only slightly moved her hand to answer her friends.

“Why not?” Yama tilted her head, frowning.

Hiyori lowered her hands but turned her head away, her voice soft, “I don’t think he would return my feelings.” Before she knew it, she felt both of her friend’s hands on her shoulders.

“You never know until you try!” Ami gave her a gentle pat, “I think you should go for it.”

“And I think the same!” Yama let go of her to give her a thumbs up with a wide grin, “Besides, wouldn’t it be so fun to go on double dates?”

Hiyori laughed nervously, answering, “Yeah, sure…” Taking another breath, she commented, “Thanks, both of you.”

“Of course.” They both flashed more smiles and continued forward.

She returned as much of a smile as she could muster, but her feelings were bittersweet. ‘It’s so much more complicated than I can tell you. I wish I could. And I wish you could meet everyone, but… even I’m not supposed to be as involved as I am.’

Now that dinner was finished, the time had come to go through with her plan. The only problem was she hadn’t quite figured out how to ask Yato how to come by himself and not bring Yukine. As much as she loved the younger boy, she very much did not want him to be present for what was essentially going to be spilling her heart out to his god.

 After going through various scenarios in her head, she decided to keep it plain and simple. Her heartbeat so loud that it was ringing in her ears, she typed out her text on her phone.

Can you come over soon? And by yourself if possible.

She hesitantly hit send and held her breath as she waited. Finally, her phone beeped to signify Yato’s response.

Uhhh sure. Is everything okay?

She took a breath before answering.

Yes everything’s fine

After another brief moment of silence, her phone beeped again.

Just give me a few minutes

Her heart continued to beat erratically within her chest, making the time pass both impossibly slow and fast at the same time. So, when her phone eventually rang, she wasn’t sure if she felt ready or not. In her hesitation, the phone rang several times before she finally hit the answer button.

“I had to sneak away from Yukine.” He announced as he appeared in a flash of bright light, “And it wasn’t easy, so you’d better make it worth it, Hiyori.” He finished with a wide grin.

Her mouth already dry at the sight of his smile, she swallowed and apologized, “S-sorry.”

“You getting sick? Your voice sounds kinda off.” He tilted his head and took a step closer.

Hiyori quickly shook her head, “No, no. I just could probably use some water…”

“On it!” Yato volunteered excitedly, dashing out her bedroom door before she could even get a word in.

Exasperated, she collapsed backward onto her bed and took the opportunity to at least try and calm herself down. Of course, all progress she made vanished as soon as he popped back in the door.

“Here you go,” He kneeled down and held it out.

Sitting back up, she nodded gratefully as she took it into her hands and took a sip. Sitting the glass down carefully on her desk, she looked back up to Yato, “You can’t just wander freely around the house like that, Yato. What if my big brother had been home?”

“I would just say I’m getting a glass of water?” He shrugged, “I wouldn’t worry about it too much, Hiyori. He’s kind of a weirdo himself.”

‘You’re completely missing the point.’ She held her palm up to her forehead, “If you say so.”

“So, really,” Yato sat down on the bed, across from her, “What’d you call me over for?”

She met his eyes and let out slowly, “I wanted to… give you something.”

His eyes widened curiously as he repeated, “Give me something?”

Hiyori nodded before looking down to her lap sheepishly.

“Oh—that’s right. It’s Valentine’s Day. I appreciate the thought, but I don’t really need obligation chocolate or anything.” He gave a small, forced laugh, “Of course I’ll take anything to Yukine, Kofuku and Daikoku, though—”

“I-it is chocolate, but it’s not out of obligation…” She still didn’t meet his gaze, reaching to the drawer in her desk to pull out a white box with a red bow, “…I-I made it myself, so it may not be the best, but I think it’s okay.”

There was a brief pause but Yato started to call out her name, “Hiyori—”

“Just let me get this out, okay?” She forced a smile as she looked up and he nodded, clearly looking concerned. “I’m sort of just using Valentine’s Day as an excuse to say all of this because I’ve wanted to tell you for a while now, but I didn’t know how to.”

She slid the chocolate box towards him, while getting up from the bed and beginning to pace around her room as she explained, “I realized I was in love with you back when you were gone. Kazuma-san sort of helped me come to that conclusion even if… it wasn’t exactly in the nicest way, to put it lightly.”

“What? What did he do?” Yato asked, his voice sharp and dark.

Hiyori glanced back at him briefly, “Don’t—don’t worry about it right now. He’s apologized since then. Anyway, we’ve obviously had a lot of important things going on that needed your full focus. Especially helping Yukine-kun get settled again. So, I didn’t want to say anything about my feelings, because I don’t really know how you feel. I know you really care about me and sometimes go over the top with that… but I don’t know how you really feel.”

She turned back to him but kept her eyes low, her hands clasped together, “So I held it in, at least until now. I know there’s never really going to be a perfect time, but I also don’t think I can keep lying to myself. Or to you, either. I just hope… no matter what, we can still be friends. Because I can’t imagine my life without you. That’s why I’ve told you over and over that I don’t want to cut our ties and that I don’t want to lose you.”

Yato wordlessly slipped off the bed and stood up.

Just as Hiyori felt the tears start to drip down her face, all of the built-up emotions finally pouring out, she felt him wrap his arms around her in a tight embrace. His face buried against her neck, she soon felt his own tears wetting her skin.

She wasn’t sure if she should laugh or feel worse, “I’ve got you crying now, too?” She reached up over his shoulders to wipe at her own eyes.

“Well, yeah.” He answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, adding a sniffle as he finished. He pulled back from her slightly, his hands lingering at her shoulders, “Hiyori, you… how do I even put this.” He let out a breath, “For so long I’ve been a minor god, no name, no shrine, nothing to hold on to. And then I met you and… you helped me with Yukine. You helped me understand him and become a better god so that I could take care of him like he deserved. You built me my first shrine. You’ve showed me time and time again that all my efforts to change aren’t useless. How could I not love you?”

Hiyori paused and swallowed, “I appreciate you saying that—but I’m not sure if you mean it in quite the same way.”

“Not the same way…?” Yato repeated, looking her over with a confused look.

“When I say I love you, I mean as so much more than just a friend. Kazuma-san and Tenjin-sama told me that gods—” She didn’t get to finish before he reached up to cup her face, leaning forward to press his lips against hers.

He only lingered for a moment before he pulled away, a small smile spreading across his features, “I have no idea what those two said, but I’m pretty sure I know what I mean.” He moved the hand that wasn’t resting against her face to her waist, pulling her ever so slightly closer to him, “But I can prove it to you if you need me to.”

Hiyori’s lips parted in shock and her voice caught in her throat before she managed to answer, “N-no, I believe you.” Her face was so hot she felt like her head was going to explode.

Yato pressed his forehead against hers, letting out, “That’s a relief. Although, I’ll admit I did sort of want to.”

“Of course you did.” She sighed in response before they both let out a round of laughter. “But in all seriousness,” She pressed her lips to his, “I love you.”

He answered her kiss eagerly when given the chance before giving his answer, “I love you too.” With that, he moved his hand to the back of her head and pulled her into a tight embrace again.

[neyswxrld]

gingerbread war

Fives x reader (gn)

summary: Building a gingerbread house with Fives.

warnings: slightly suggestive if you want to read it like that

word count: ~640

advent calendar masterlist

a/n: my grandma build a  gingerbread house with me once. it was horrible.

p.s. english isn't my mother tongue, sorry for misspellings!

Originally, you were planning on making one big and nice gingerbread house. But both of you weren't good with baking, so you decided to just buy a gingerbread kit and follow the instructions.

Well, it's clearly easier said than done.

It all started in the store: Fives wanted the Minion-themed kit, you were a big fan of the Frozen one. So you bought both.

"Make your own house, mine will be great!" he says, more like a joke, but you're never one to turn down a challenge.

"Fine. The better one gets a special gift!" you agree. Immediately, a determined look settles on Fives' face.

"Are you sure about that? Mine is going to be so much better than yours!" he tells you, dedicated. You just huff out an amused breath.

"Never in a million years!"

And that starts your small kitchen fight.

While you follow the instructions, you see Fives struggling with his glue. Yours was thick and white while his looks like a sad version of that.

You place the single pieces of the house according to the plan, and with the tip to stabilize the walls with a few things that lay around, you soon finish the walls of the building. Now, you just need to decorate it!

You place a few chocolate buttons and Gummi Bears by hand, use the sugar glue as ice decorations, and sprinkle it with colorful sprinkles. In the end, you put some icing sugar on top of it all, so it looks like a layer of snow.

When you are happy with the result, you turn over to Fives, who has barely finished his ground plan.

"It has to dry for a few minutes," he explains as he notices you staring with a raised eyebrow. "It isn't about which one is finished faster. It is about which one is prettier," he explains, like you don't know.

But to be honest, you've already won. Your house is nice and clean, and his walls are full of his weird sugar glue.

You don't say anything, just keep looking skeptical at him. Fives glances back at you with an innocent expression on his face.

Just at that moment, his house makes a small cracking noise. All the walls start to fall down. He sighs, disappointed.

"Well, if you had made a better glue, this wouldn't be a problem now," you say dryly. Fives glances at your house, then at his... ruin, and back to yours.

"Mine is abstract art," he tries to save himself one last time, but you shake your head.

"Absolutely not. I won," you declare, and after another few quiet moments, he sighs and nods.

"Okay. Would be a lie, too, if I told you I don't already know what gift I'm going to give you," Fives suddenly smirks and wiggles his eyebrows.

You roll your eyes, smiling, but don't complain when he pulls you over and closes his arms around you from behind.

"But first, I still want a Minion gingerbread house. Can you help me, please?" he asks kindly, batting his eyes. You agree, rolling your eyes playfully.

A few hours later, you are sitting in the living room on the couch, huddled together beneath a warm blanket, and observe your little houses with much joy. Fives' house still turned out relatively well in the end, and yours also looked very cute.

"Oh, I forgot something!" Suddenly, Fives sits up and starts to rummage through his pockets. "What is it?" you ask, confused, but he has already found his little thing and goes right over to the houses.

"Look, this is us!" he says proudly and places two small, yellow figures in front of his house. They are holding hands and grin widely.

Since that moment, you can't stop the flutter of your heart and that lovesick smile that appears on your lips whenever you look at his house.

TAGLIST:

@isthereanechoinhere96

[the-duke-of-nuts]

The Case Of The Missing Skin Care Products

Wow Duke it’s been *checks calendar* 1 year, 3 months and 21 days since you last posted a fic here. The first chapter of any of my AUs will come out in 5+ years I’m pretty sure this is a record /light hearted Anyways shameless self promo I posted the fic I was supposed to post for last years Roceit Week on my Ao3 last month (Will I ever actually post it here who knows but if you wanna read it just click my account through this fics link it’s literally the only Roceit fic on the account) and if you want/prefer to read this fic on Ao3 the link is here. That is all and as always enjoy and if you don’t literally just scroll away

Summary: Remus lives for causing chaos especially if it means he gets to anger Roman and what better way to do that with the help of no one other than his Chaotic Partner In Crime, but what happens when the Prince wakes up to find his second most prized possession stolen? Will Roman figure the real culprits out or will they get away with it?

Pairing(s): Dukexiety, Logince, Moceit

Word Count: 3034   

Warnings: Remus being Remus (AKA Suggestive comments/Small Innuendo, Eating things you’re not supposed to) Angry Roman so there’s yelling I guess (Let me know if there’s anything else)

Normally 2 AM would be the hour of people already being asleep, an insomniac and horror fan like Virgil however was doing the complete opposite. The emo was currently playing Outlast on his Nintendo Switch and he was very determined to beat it. Virgil was in the zone and when he was in the zone, he was in the zone. The anxious side loved the rush horror always gave him: the eagerness of wanting to know what's going to happen next, the adrenaline from the challenge of outrunning the enemy, the unexpectancy of what's going to pop out at him, the eerie silence, the dark atmosphere, who-

"Vee Vee!"

Virgil jumped at hearing the whisper yell calling to him quickly catching his Switch in time before it hit the ground and paused the game when he finally saw the source of the surprisingly clothed Side calling his name.

"Remus what the hell it's 2 in the damn morning what are you doing here!?" The startled emo whispered yelled back to his boyfriend so he wouldn't wake anyone.

"I got a little lonely and wanted to see if my Darling Emo Nightmare was awake at 2 AM playing Outlast instead of taking his Melatonin gummies and sleeping." Remus jokingly replied fake pouting.

Virgil playfully rolled his eyes. "Of course you did, but seriously what's going on did something happen?"

"Well nothing really happened... yet." Remus grinned mischievously.

"I know that look, what are you planning Dukey?"

"Me? Planning something? Now why would- I wanna steal shit from Roman's room to cause chaos and wanted to know if my Chaotic Partner In Crime wanted to help me." The Duke immediately admitted smirking.

"Knew that chaotic brain of yours had a plan, but to answer the question about your offer what's in it for me?"

"Depends on what my Emo Spiderling wants~" Remus smirked wiggling his eyebrows as he got closer to Virgil.

"Hmmmm Horror movie marathon and no causing headaches for 3 days after this and you got yourself a deal." Virgil smirked back at his boyfriend. Remus went wide eyed. He can't even go 5 minutes without doing anything to purposely cause problems and Virgil expected him to go that long not to!?

"3 days!?"

"Yup that's what I said. 3 days."

"Oh you are so cruel to me sometimes Scare Bear! But fiiine the horror movie marathon will make up for it anyways." Remus grumbled crossing his arms. Virgil laughed and gave his slightly disappointed Duke a kiss on the lips to which he immediately happily reciprocated getting out of his pouty state. "Perfect let's go." Virgil said as he took Remus' hand and pulled him out of the room.

-

Remus was quietly snickering the moment they were in the hallway and at Roman's door. He always enjoyed doing this on his own but causing any ounce of chaos with Virgil made it 10x even more enjoyable and fun. "After you, my 'Itsy Bitsy Spider'." Remus whispered as he dramatically bowed getting out of the way. "Such a gentleman." Virgil teased whispering back as he carefully and quietly opened the door and entered the room with Remus.

What Virgil saw didn't surprise him, by the amount of posters and merch Roman had of himself he didn't even need to see the Prince sleeping on the bed with his own plushie to know that it's his room.

"I love you Roman. I love you too Roman." The Beast onesied Prince slept talked turning to the other side of the bed snuggling closer with the plush. Virgil rolled his eyes at the sight. "What's next does he have some hidden clone in here we don't know about?" He sarcastically asked whispering. "Oh trust me he would make that far from hidden in more ways than one." Remus whispered back crouching down to crawl on the floor and motioned Virgil to follow him. Virgil grimaced in disgust at the thought and followed the crawling Duke until they reached Roman's nightstand.

"Now this is where the fun starts, but the real question is which one of these lovely little valuables will be our victims?" As the two started scanning the nightstand deciding on an item, Virgil noticed a missing space between the stars that used to look neatly decorated on it.

"I'm assuming you already stole one of his stars?"

Remus quietly snickered at remembering the anger his brother had the morning after that night over him stealing one of his beloved stars and smirked as he whispered back his answer.

"Maybe."

"Figures. How about his katana?"

"Hmmmm Tempting but I want to save that for a more special occasion. Tonight we're going for slightly above moderate rage level not death wish just yet."

Virgil nodded at the response and started scanning the nightstand again. The skeleton onesied Side was slowly running out of ideas until his eyes laid on a stack of different branded, color coded, products that Roman would be enraged for weeks if he caught someone touching.

"What about his skin care products? He cares about his looks more than anything and he'd be pissed if he found it missing." He suggested. Remus quietly gasped and whispered back in excitement. "Scare Bear you sexy little genius that's perfect!" The Duke quickly but carefully picked up the products and handed some to Virgil. "Now let's go I know exactly where to hide these!" Remus excitedly whispered as he quickly and stealthily ran out of the room with Virgil trying to keep up behind him.

"Ree wait up!" Virgil whispered yelled as he carefully tried to close Roman's door with his hands full and sighed when he found the Duke nowhere in sight in the hall afterwards. "You gotta be kidd- Ing!" The emo yelped when he felt himself get pulled into a room and realized whose it was.

"Slow poke." Remus teased hugging Virgil closer from behind, resting his chin on the top of his boyfriend's head. "Asshole." Virgil playfully hit a cackling Remus' shoulder when he turned around. "Whaaaat I thought you were good at keeping up at a lot of things Vee Vee~" Remus smirked wiggling his eyebrows. Virgil playfully rolled his eyes blushing slightly at the suggestive comment.

"Yeah yeah anyways where do I put these?"

"Right this way." Remus said as he led Virgil to the source of where he hides all the things he steals.

"Your closet?"

"Would you dare look in there at 3 in the morning if you were Roman?"

"Touché. Alright let's get this over with-"

"Wait wait hold on!" Remus stopped Virgil before he could throw the rest of the products inside. "What-" When Virgil turned to look at Remus again all he could do was blink repeatedly at trying to process the image of seeing his boyfriend munching on one of the products.

"Mmmm Strawberry! Okay now quick throw it in!"

"I- Y'know what why am I not even surprised by that?" The skeleton onesied Side shook his head and quickly threw the products in the closet and closed it. "Simple, because you love me." Remus smiled innocently batting his lashes "You know I do but you still owe me for leaving me back there." Virgil crossed his arms.

"Oh where are my manners what can I possibly do to make it up to my Chaotic Partner In Crime?"

"I think you know." Virgil smirked as he wrapped his arms around Remus' neck. "Maybe I do." Remus smirked back and wrapped his arms around Virgil's waist leaning closer. Just before the eyeshadowed couple could break the space between them and kiss they heard a familiar high pitched loud scream in the distance.

"Who in Aphrodites' name stole my skin care products!?"

They both laughed at hearing the rage in Roman's voice from the other room. "Guess he woke up earlier than expected and a new record too!" Remus cackled.

-

Roman could not believe this was happening to him. One moment he was sleeping peacefully and dreaming about being praised in his royal glory and next thing he knows he hears a sound and wakes up just to find his second most prized possession stolen! The Beast onesied Prince was currently pacing around his room trying to calm down both his anger and distress.

'Relax Roman it's fine you'll catch the sneaky little bandit you just need some help doing it while everyone else is a suspect but who?'

Roman wondered to himself but soon knew the exact Side to go to. Logan. His beloved nerd was known for being skilled in the mystery department and he was the only one he knew for certain was innocent so he was just the Side he needed for this. He made up his mind and quickly ran to Logan's room and frantically knocked on his door.

"Roman it's the middle of the night what's going on?" Logan asked as he opened the door adjusting his glasses.

"I know it's late Starling but this is an emergency and I really need your Detective skills."

Logan immediately summoned his Sherlock outfit on himself upon hearing one of his favorite words. Finally a real mystery he get's to solve, he's waited for this moment his whole life.

"You had me at 'Detective' what do you need?"

"Someone stole my beauty products and I need your help finding the culprit."

"Well I can certainly help with that Dear. Perhaps we can start by finding some evidence from the location of the crime scene?"

"Good idea."

They both made sure to be quick about going back to Roman's room. The Prince had already been robbed once and he's certainly going to make sure it doesn't happen twice.

"Alright Roman can you tell me when you first noticed your belongings stolen?" Logan asked summoning a pen and notepad.

"Well I heard a noise that rudely interrupted both my dream and beauty sleep and that's when I saw they were gone."

Logan nodded writing down the response. It was a start but he needed to know a little more information.

"Interesting. Do you know where you last had them?"

"On my nightstand." Roman answered and pointed at the spot where the items used to be on the dresser.

The Detective leaned closer to the spot and summoned a small brush and fingerprint dust and started to use it on the nightstand but found nothing. "Fascinating, there's not a single fingerprint on here." Logan wrote down the results intrigued. He was impressed that the thief managed to take all of the products in a short period of time without leaving a single trace of evidence let alone before Roman could even wake up.

"Maybe they used gloves?" Roman suggested.

"That or they're very experienced in swiftly stealing things in a careful manner like seriously there's literally not a single footprint here either." Logan replied using his magnifying glass on the floor.

"What!? Who could it possibly-"

Roman went wide eyed in realization putting the clues together he knew exactly who it led to but at the same time it could've been anyone and he knew just the thing to do to get his answers.

"Starling I think we've found our culprit. Everyone living room meeting! Now!"

-

"You all probably know why I've called you here or mostly one of you for that matter." Roman said pacing slowly back and forth infront of a sideways line he made the other sides form. "Ah yes clearly you called us here at 4 AM to practice our kickline routine for your next upcoming musical." Janus sarcastically said rolling his eyes.

"No...! But that's not a bad idea for another time! Anyways I've called you all here because someone stole my skin care products and I know exactly who it is!" Roman declared stealing a glance at Janus.

"If that's the case then why did you call all of us instead of the person you knew who did it?"

"Because if I did that and end up being wrong I wouldn't get to freely interrogate the rest of you in one room to find the real culprit."

"Okay but how come Logan isn't in the line?" Virgil asked.

"Because my Starling would never do something like this."

"How would you know that?" Remus asked.

"Are we really going to have that discussion?" Logan replied giving the Duke a look as if the answer to his own question was obvious. "You may never know." Remus shrugged his shoulders.

"As much as I'm enjoying this slumber party, I would like to go back to bed so Roman please do share who you believe this mysterious thief is."

"Very interesting that you're so eager on that information when it was actually no one other than you Janaconda!" Roman exclaimed pointing an accusing finger at Janus.

"Me?"

"Don't play innocent Lyin' King yes you! From the evidence Logan and I've gathered there was not a single fingerprint or footprint in sight and who do we know is experienced in carefully stealing things, wears gloves, and can easily turn into a snake? That's right the Self Care King himself! Those scales are perfectly smooth for a reason and it certainly isn't from shedding!"

Janus blinked trying to process the Prince's accusations. He didn't know whether the sleep deprivation was kicking in or if he was genuinely losing braincells.

"Congratulations you figured him out can we all go to sleep now?" A fake irritated Virgil asked.

"Not yet I wanna hear him out."

Janus sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Roman I'm going to be honest here with you for once because I'm too tired to deal with this right now, there's this thing called lotion and it's why I would have no reason to steal your products."

"Bullshit it takes more than just lotion for smooth skin! I've also had multiple products and you're the only one with extra hands to carry them unless-" Roman suddenly gasped having a realization. No it couldn't be but it all came together.

"It was you too wasn't it Patton!?"

"W-What?" Patton asked nervously confused.

"Only you would be kind enough to help your beloved husband in the act and cover for him!"

Patton didn't know what to say or think. Did he and Janus slept walk and somehow did it? Was he the one who stole it without realizing? Did he borrow it and forgot to give it back to Roman? Whatever it was he certainly wasn't going to let his husband be punished for it.

"Yes it was me! I did it! Take me instead!"

Janus facepalmed at hearing Patton try to take the blame for him. This whole situation felt like an endless fever dream he couldn't wake up from.

"Patton I trusted you and expected this from him but from you of all people-"

"Roman chill out." Virgil cut in before Roman could scold Patton further and unintentionally make the cat onesied Side have a mental breakdown for something he didn't even do. "Why are you defending them!? Maybe it was really you who stole it because we're all well aware of how you take pride in your whole emo persona! I bet you did it for a cleaner pale look!" Roman accused glaring at Virgil.

All the skeleton onesied Side could do was blink and raise an eyebrow. Despite actually being partially guilty of doing it that would be the last reason for something to be his motive.

'He should really just leave the Detective stuff to Logan'

"Roman when have I ever gave a shit about hygiene for the sake of beauty let alone to look more 'emo' for it?"

Roman opened and closed his mouth hesitating on his response. Virgil was right. The emo never cared for being the center of attention let alone look more appealing to others especially when he was dating someone like Remus. "I- Y'know what yeah fair that alone makes you automatically innocent."

Roman turned and his eyes then laid on Remus. If someone had a history of stealing things his twin was definitely one of them.

"I don't know why you're looking at me Romano when you know I'm the dirtiest out of all of us for a reason."

"That's true and you wouldn't have any use for them anyways." Roman squinted suspiciously at his brother.

"Well one..." He side eyed Janus and Patton. "Or two of you could be lying and I'm going to find out who-"

Roman suddenly cut himself off when he smelt a familiar strawberry scent as he faced his twin again. "What? Have you finally appreciated my new fragrance 'Sweet Sewage Delight' brother dearest?" Remus asked feigning innocence. Roman glared at the response.

"Starling magnifying glass!"

Once Logan handed the magnifying glass to Roman, The Prince immediately hovered it over Remus' mouth and gasped at seeing the tiny pink crumbs around it.

"I knew it!"

"Clearly you didn't because you were so confident in it being Janny and Patty!" Remus cackled. Roman took a deep breath in and out to contain his anger at his brother so he can properly apologize to Janus and Patton for the misunderstanding.

"Apologies on my part for that you two."

"It's alright Ro."

"Accuse me of something in the middle of the night again and I'll sue you for slander." Janus tiredly threatened. "Noted. Now that I've caught the real culprit..." Roman summoned a rolled up newspaper and started repeatedly hitting his cackling brother on the head with it. "Stop stealing my stuff you heathen! You owe me a new one and if you even dare try to do this again I'm making a soap barrier on both mine and your front door!" He summoned the newspaper away and jumped into Logan's arms.

"Starling carry me back to bed please."

"Yes Dear." Logan sighed doing just that with Patton and Janus following behind holding hands as they walked back to their respective rooms as well, leaving the eyeshadowed couple in the living room.

"Thanks for still taking the full blame back there, you didn't have to."

"Oh y'know it was nothing." Remus waved his hand dismissively.

"Still not reducing your chaos days."

"Damn it!"

[luveline]

𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬 | 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐨𝐧 𝐱 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

summary Steve might be acting strange but he's still a good friend. If he did get body snatched, the aliens are doing a great job at making you like him. [3.2k]

warnings fem!reader, anxious reader, fluff, hurt/comfort, steve pining, mutual pining, soft and protective steve, no spoilers, kind of requested

𓆩❤︎𓆪

An orange as big as your fist falls into your lap. You flinch away from it before you realise what it is, and an apology echoes from overhead. 

"Shit," Steve says quietly. "Babe, I'm sorry. Thought you heard me." 

Your nose wrinkles at his pet name. An inadvertent reaction to your own feelings, how his calling you 'babe' is enough to amp up your already racing heart.

Steve sits down easily beside you, the two of you knee to knee under the ticket counter. There's a hubbub of noise behind you but on your lunch break that's a world's away, somebody else's problem. 

"It's hard to hear anything when it's so loud in here," you explain, smiling at him in greeting. You love it when he comes to visit you. 

He's still wearing his Family Video vest. He must be on break too. You take the orange into your hand. Its rind is amazingly cold and a beautiful, deep orange. 

"This is huge," you say, offering it back to him. 

He takes it and pulls the small pocket knife you'd known he'd bring with him from his jeans, performing a dangerous manoeuvre wherein he slices it into two in his palm. The zesty smell of citrus clouds the air quickly, replacing the Palace arcade's musk. 

"It's a big one, for sure." He cuts one half into two quarters and passes them into your eager hand. "I hope it's good. Sixty cents at Bradley's." 

"For one orange?" you ask, licking a drop of juice off of your finger before digging into your given treasure. 

"Good thing I like you so much," he says, cutting his own half into two. 

You grin around your orange slice and he grins back, popping the rind between his teeth. Even with his lips parted this wide and your absurd orange slice smiles he's handsome. You almost choke from laughter, pulling the peel from your mouth, cheeks full of sweet flesh. 

"It's a good one," you confirm. He nods his agreement. 

Your coworker walks towards the desk, sees you behind it and swiftly turns on her heel. 

"She doesn't like you," you say quietly, pulling the corners of your second slice until juice bubbles up past broken skin. 

Steve's already finished his, the rinds clean on his dark jeans. He scowls at your observation, leaning back with his arms braced behind him. 

"Why do you say that?" 

"Sorry, I didn't mean- uh," you stammer, put off by his stern look. 

He softens quickly, his frown melting away. "Tell me why you think she doesn't like me," he rephrases. 

You toy with the orange slice in your hand and try to quell the nausea that has swept you up. You've been like this for as long as you can remember – so afraid to upset people that even a hint of displeasure sickens you. Steve seems to understand, and he knows how to talk you down. Most of the time. 

"Well, she won't come near me when you're here," you say.

"Maybe she's just giving us some privacy." He wiggles his eyebrows at you. 

You take a big bite of orange and cover your mouth with your hand. "For what?" you ask, perplexed. 

Steve shifts and the veins in his arms flex. "Just in general." There's something weird about how he says it, though you're hardly one to judge.

"Hey, what are you doing after work?" he asks. 

You wipe your face with the back of your hand.

"You wanna come over? Watch an old movie?" 

You love old movies. "Sure. Yeah. Thank you." 

He smiles like he's endeared and you feel at once patronised and well-loved. Steve flicks his wrist to check the time and doesn't like the answer, moving to his knees to take the peel from your lap. He kisses your cheek before you know what he's doing and stands. 

"I'll see you later, okay?" 

"Okay," you say, slightly breathless and very confused. 

You watch him walk away and wonder if your Steve has been replaced with a doppelganger. It would explain why he's wearing dark jeans, you reason. But he'd been too Steve to not be Steve, too weirdly caring, too perceptive of your feelings. 

You're still wondering why he kissed you when you leave the Palace. The short walk is racked by trepidation. Is this, like, a bodysnatchers scenario? You peer through the glass door for a moment to analyse his behaviour but he looks normal as ever behind the counter, a rubik's cube in his hands. 

You let yourself in and his expression clears, frustration turning to something much kinder. "Hey. Come pick a movie for us." 

You smile nervously and stride into the room. The neon behind him is bright and paints him pink now that the sun's going down. 

"Are you closing soon?" you ask. 

Steve points to the sign. You look over your shoulder and flush with heat, embarrassed. "Already closed. Just waiting for you." 

"Sorry, I took forever-" 

"S'fine. Choose a movie, babe. And snacks, if you want them." He nods to the Indiana Jones stand boasting long bags of yellow buttered popcorn and pink-blue candyfloss. 

"You don't want to pick?" you ask. 

It's so quiet in the store that speaking feels taboo. 

"I picked last time! Go, go pick one. Don't be lazy." 

He sets down the puzzle and follows you to the section you always peruse, transatlantic movies from the fifties. There aren't too many, but enough. You can't make up your mind, finger trailing lightly over their tops, weighing your options whilst trying to work out what it is that's wrong with Steve. 

Maybe he has been body snatched. He's so quiet. Usually he'd be filling the silence with something, an anecdote from work, a debate with Robin that he wants a verdict for. 

Your finger comes to a random stop. You look to him, mouth open and about to ask him if he's alright when he asks, "That one again?" 

His hand reaches for it and your fingers brush, his thumb sliding over your index finger. He grabs the tape and turns it around to read the summary though he's seen it before at least three times. 

"You always cry in the middle. Think you can handle it today? I don't want you crying as bad as you did last time, that was heartbreaking," he says conversationally.

You're close enough to see the sparse freckles on his skin. Almost invisible. What can only be a handful of them. Your breath catches as he meets your eyes, a teasing smile taking his lips as he holds the VHS aloft and shakes it. 

"I won't cry," you say. 

"Are you sure?" he asks. 

"Yeah." 

He looks between your eyes as if you might break and change your answer, but you don't, and he tucks the tape to his chest. "Alright. Get your snacks. I'll rent it." 

You're glad to get some space from him, more than confused, your heartbeat fast at your wrist. You worry your thumb over your pulse point and stare at the popcorn, willing yourself to calm down. You can't tell whether this is your everyday anxiety or because of Steve, and if it is because of Steve, what are you going to do? Steve's your friend. 

You've always liked him a little bit more than you should. You'd never considered he might like you anymore than as a friend, but his affection seems far past the bounds of amity. What if Steve likes me? you think, nibbling your bottom lip. 

Steve plucks a bag of popcorn off the stand from over your shoulder, surprising you for the third time today. You wince and he goes all soft. 

"Fuck, I'm sorry. I did it again." 

"I was in my head," you say, wanting to reassure him. It's hardly his fault you're flighty. 

He lets his arms drop from his chest, the popcorn and movie held in loose fingers. "Is it bad today?" he asks gently. 

You shake your head, then pause. "I mean. A little. I don't know how to explain it." 

Steve puts your movie bounties in one hand and tucks a stray strand of hair behind his ear quickly, scratching at his neck. "Do you wanna talk about it?" 

"It's just work, Steve," you say, not entirely truthful. 

You can see that he's caught you, disbelief in the way his lips part, like he might pry. He doesn't, only nods and takes your shoulder into his hand to give you a familiar, bruising squeeze. You'd think after what must be a hundred or more of these you'd be used to them. 

"Let's go," he says. 

He flicks off the lights and shepherd's you out of the door to lock it. You don't stay to watch, letting yourself into the 733i to hide from the gnats swarming the store's overhead light. 

"Buckle up," he says as he climbs in, dumping the popcorn and movie into your lap. 

"I'm already buckled." 

"Double buckle? I don't know. Don't get sarcy with me." 

You bite back a smile and as soon as Steve's turned on the engine you're reaching for the stereo, pressing eject on the tape deck to see what cassette is currently inside. 

"She's So Unusual?" you ask, grinning.

"That's not mine." 

"Uh-huh." 

"It's not. That's Max's." 

"I know for a fact that Max doesn't like Cyndi Lauper." 

Steve grabs your seat with his left hand to reverse out of the parking lot and you blink rapidly to dispel the traitorous thoughts that instantly infiltrate your mind, whispers of fuck, and oh, and Jesus, his arms. 

"How would you know that?" he asks, his voice low enough to make your stomach ache with butterflies. 

You catch his eyes as he turns back to the wheel. His eyes are about as dark as his voice, smooth as velveteen. 

You're so flustered you forget to answer. Steve takes your silence for the wrong thing, his devil-may-care grin turning down. 

"Are you sure you're okay?" he asks. 

You shove She's So Unusual back into the stereo. "She told me. When you took us up to Indianapolis." 

Steve reaches out for your hand in your lap and rolls your fingers in his. "Are you okay?" he asks again. 

You squeeze his fingers weakly. "Yeah," you say. It's an unconvincing attempt and neither of you miss it. Your chest is hurting, a tightening. You try not not pay it any mind because focusing on the worry will only make it worse, but the thing is – you can't not feel it. It's impossible to ignore. 

"Take a deep breath," he says. 

You nod and do what he says. In through your mouth, out through your nose. Slow. In through your mouth. Hold it. Out through your nose. Steve's hand an anchor in your lap, his breathing an exaggerated instruction for you to follow. 

"You've had a long week, huh?" he murmurs sympathetically. 

"I'm okay," you say, the panic waning again. 

You're waiting for the dam to break, but Steve keeps it at bay for a moment, his presence and touch undoubtedly and invaluable. Soothing, he rubs the back of your hand and returns his hand to the wheel. 

Your relationship with Steve could be described in so many ways; amicable, irreplaceable, soppy words with big meanings. Or it could be described like this, your skin still tingling from his hand, a thousand small touches over the time you've been friends and each one a brand. 

A phantom bruise, aching like he'd kissed your fingers to tenderness.

You bring your hand to your neck and push into your skin, searching for the gap between your collar bnes.

"I can take you home, if you want. Not that I want you to go home." He rushes over his words. Very not Steve. Again, you think of your body snatcher theory. "I know it's easier sometimes to be by yourself." 

"I don't want to be alone." 

He turns to you and he really shouldn't because he's driving, giving you a three second smile that feels like three minutes before he says, "Lucky me." 

Up the driveway, out of the car and sequestered in Steve's living room. You collapse into his couch and pull one of the cushions onto your chest for a little bit of compression, to hide away for just a second.

"Take your shoes off," Steve encourages, flicking on the TV. 

"I will." 

He huffs and puts the VHS into the TV. The previews and commercials begin and he slinks to where you're sitting, looking down at you quizzically. 

"Why are you looking at me like that?" he asks. 

"I was just gonna ask you the same thing." 

"Is that so…" Steve perches on the edge of the couch cushion beside you and starts to untie your shoelaces. "How am I looking at you?"

You know a trap when you hear one. You listen to the tugging sound of your shoelaces coming undone and stare at the back of Steve's head, his nice hair. You brush a rogue lock with the tip of your finger. 

"Have you seen any pink flowers around lately?" you ask. 

Steve laughs and pulls your left shoe off before starting on the right. "No?" 

"Like. Weird looking cabbages? Gelatinous creatures? Jeff Goldblum?" 

Steve finishes untying your laces and looks up as he slides off your shoe, pausing with it in his hand. "Babe," he says, real slow with an awful smirk, "are you talking about Invasion of the Body Snatchers? You think I've been replaced by an alien?" 

You shy away from his expression but double down. "Have you? I guess you wouldn't tell me." 

"Am I acting like a body snatcher? They were jerks." 

"No," you say, dragging the word as he takes off your second shoe. 

He pulls your sock up where it had been falling down before collapsing backwards, completely slouched with his hands behind his head. 

Why does he do this to you? You're having more conflicting feelings than any one person should ever have, and you're a shaken bottle of soda most days. It's like having a tube of mentos dropped in and the lid closed tight. You're gonna burst. 

Steve shifts his hips. "Where's the popcorn?" 

You fish it from the side of the couch and break it open. It smells cloying. Almost too buttery, you shake a handful into your open palm and feel the greasy fat coat your skin.

"You're not being a jerk." 

"Then why am I a body snatcher?" 

You pretend to watch the TV. "I don't know. You're just… being different." 

"Bad different?" 

"Different." 

"Am I not usually this handsome and charismatic?" he asks expectantly.

"Well, you're always handsome. Charismatic might be a stretch."

His smile fades into a straight line. "You think I'm handsome?" 

You flick a popcorn kernel at him. "Me and every person in Hawkins."

He laughs and it's not right. Weak. The two of you turn your attention back to the TV. The movie's opening credits have begun. They're always long in these black and white romances, and usually you and Steve would talk over them. 

"Of course I think you're handsome," you say. 

"Of course." 

You can't understand him. There's a hint of dejection there. You barely have to think before you're trying to salve his insecurity. 

"You have… you have these amazing brown eyes. They could talk for you. You're so expressive, and you get so frustrated, but your eyes never seem… mean." You cringe at yourself. It's a bad explanation. You try again. "You're… really pretty, Steve." 

"Pretty," he says. 

You flush with heat. "Right. Handsome. You're very handsome." 

"I liked pretty."

The movie's music blares. Traditional pop of the late forties. You decide to pretend like you've just had a completely normal conversation with your friend and now that the movies started you're invested in that instead. You share popcorn and watch the movie. 

The leading lady is crying beautiful, carved tears down her face pale as the moon. 

"But I'll miss you," you say with her. 

"You won't have to miss me. I'm only the other side of the ocean." 

"Only! Dearest, dearest, dearest," she can't go on. She cries and cries into her patterned handkerchief and her beloved clutches her wrists. 

"Dearest," he says to her. "Don't you see? An ocean is a teardrop in the face of love. You might take a step and find me at your side again." 

"But I won't," she says. You say it with her, on the verge of tears. You hate these stupid movies. 

You can feel Steve looking at you. You turn your face, eye to eye as the love interest says, "You talk with great surety. But I talk with more. I love you. I love you." 

You blink, alarmed and feeling caught. Steve's eyes flash down to your lips. You think for a moment that he's going to kiss you, and then the moment ends.

He speaks on, "Surely, that love will tenure across the Pacific." 

"You said you wouldn't cry," Steve whispers. Then,  with more weight than it needs, "You're a bad liar." 

"I'm not crying," you say. You press the back of your index finger to your damp lashes and sniffle. 

He rolls his eyes and the movie goes on. Your eyes start to tire, aching from the threat of tears and a long day. You let yourself melt into the couch beneath you and pull your legs up, hand under your cheek, the other stretched into the gap between you and Steve. 

You're just gonna sleep for five minutes, you swear, but suddenly it's dark and the movies ended, and Steve's whispering. 

"Are you awake?" he asks. 

You're afraid to say yes. You don't want him to make you go home or set you up in his bed, as selfish and childish as it might be, content and lazy and really wanting to sleep right here on the couch next to him. 

Something bumps your hand. Long, deft fingers smooth over your knuckles and trace your skin. Reverential in slowness, in care, hot fingertips that spread a feeling like light, blooming. 

"I should've told you," he says. He brushes the broad of his thumb over the back of your hand. 

Steve turns your hand and threads his fingers through yours. Should've told me what? You want him to tell you what he'd meant before a bad thought metastasizes. His hand, miraculous, keeps any unkind thought at bay, his big palm to yours, his fingers pressing into the divots of your knuckles. 

It's over too fast. He pulls his hand away and you hear him stand. He crosses the room to turn off the TV. Popcorn rattles as he ties the bag closed. 

He brings his hand to your forehead. You hardly feel it through the fog of fatigue. 

"I wish you wouldn't worry so much," Steve says. 

Something softer against your crown, and then you're falling asleep. 

𓆩❤︎𓆪

thanks for reading! | my masterlist

[echoalyssa]

Through His Window | Marcus Baker

Authors Note: Marcus is 18 in this and will be for every time that I write for him! Plus look at the boy, as if he’s 15 😒 I love this boy with all my heart, and could not write about anyone younger than 18 ever. Oral sex! Female receiving.

Y’all get yourself a man (or a woman) like this. I never KNEW until i experienced it. Don’t settle for less!

It’s late at night when you scurry across the street and into the Bakers’ yard. Normally it was your boyfriend climbing through your window, but today, or rather tonight, you decided that you wanted to switch it up.

You reach for the lowest branch of the tree below Marcus’ window, hauling yourself up and wedging your foot into the crevice before reaching for the next branch.

Its really not the most comfortable, stray leaves and twigs hit you in the face and if you weren't wearing leggings you'd certainly have some very scratched up legs.

Thank god it wasn’t a fern tree, that would be utter hell. How Marcus climbed up so gracefully was beyond you.

You finally reach his windowsill and with a might haul, you manage to pull yourself up. You wiggle so that a butt cheek and a thigh rests on the ledge, your other leg still on the tree branch and then you push the window up.

Luckily he hasn’t locked it, otherwise this whole thing would be ruined. Plus, stairs were boring.

You focus more on climbing into the room safely than looking for him. And when you’re seated on the floor, gasping slightly because it sure was a workout, you look up.

Marcus is standing by his dresser just staring at you, looking downright shocked. He blinks, his jaw opening and closing like a fish. His eyebrows rise and then fall again.

“Hey baby!” You say with a giggle.

He blinks another confused blink and then his face lights up. Your boyfriend crosses the room to you and then hauls you up so he can kiss you.

You melt into him, the ever so present fact that the two of you fit together like puzzle pieces looming over you.

“What are you doing here?” He asks with a chuckle of disbelief after he’s pulled away.

You stroke your jaw and grab your crotch, like teenage boys did for their instagram pics. “I’m Marcus Baker. I crawl through windows at night.”

He eyes you, and then simultaneously the two of you break into laughter.

Your fingers find the hem of his tshirt and you tug lightly, before backing away from him to slide off your shirt (one of his old ones, though it unfortunately didn’t smell like him) leaving you in those black nike running shorts that you loved.

He obliges, not because he enjoys being shirtless but because he likes you in his clothes. Or nothing at all. He wasn’t picky.

You slip it over your head and then dart for his bed, you fling yourself onto the mattress and your body bounces back up after impact.

He darts after you, jumping on top of you and pinning you to the mattress. His fingers go to your sides and he begins to tickle you, knowing all the right places.

You squirm, all giggly and thrashing. You can feel the lack of air and you smack at his shoulders playfully, trying to escape his wrath.

He pulls back, knowing you need to breathe. “Give me one good reason as to why I should stop.”

You gasp, and gasp again, sucking that precious air back into your lungs. “I-I-“ You suck in more air, a stray giggle following. “I’m horny!”

At that his eyebrows raise and he peers down at you. “Horny eh?”

You nod curtly and then for extra effect add a little army salute.

“I’ve got a spectacular solution for that problem then miss. Will you allow me to assist you?”

“Yessir!”

He rolls over to the right of his bed so that he’s no longer on top of you and then pats the space between the sides of his head.

You give him a blank look.

“Ride my face babe!”

You feel your eyes blow out wide. Oh. OH. “Isn’t that dangerous? What if you can’t breathe?”

“Death by thick thighs, I would not complain!”

“No death Mar!” You exclaim.

He pats the mattress again. “Bless me with the glorious juices of your body.”

This kid. This kid would be the end of you.

Reluctantly you tug the shorts off, and because of the built in underwear you didn’t need to wear underwear. You straddle his chest first and look down at him.

“Are you sure?”

You knew he loved eating you out, loved cleaning you up and he loved giving. But you’d never sat ON his face before.

Slowly you scoot up, seeing his face disappear between your thighs. Though you hover over his face, reluctant to put too much weight on him.

His arms wrap around your thighs from the back, his palms resting on your hips, and then abruptly he pulls you down onto him.

His lips land on your clit and you gasp, trying to rocket back up but he holds you there, his grip firm but not tight.

He drags his tongue through your lips and you whimper. It’s always so good when he does this, but the fact that you’re on his face is ridiculously enticing even if you’re still worried. His tongue then flicks upward and- he catches your clit and your hand shoots downwards, wrapping in his hair.

“Oh god-“

He groans from underneath you and you know it’s because he loves the way you taste. The vibration of the groan rockets through you and your legs shake.

His tongue picks a steady rhythm on your clit and you find your hips rolling forward ever so slightly.

“Is that o-okay?” You gasp out, worried you’ll hurt him.

He lets out a ragged moan in response and tugs you further into him.

Something about this angle, about this position, it was stirring a fire in your belly already. If only there was a mirror, if you ever did this again (and you had a feeling you would) you’d definitely be adding a mirror to the equation.

Your body is succumbing to him, you fall forward, grabbing the headboard for support, fisting his hair.

His tongue stays steady and when he needs a slight break for air he’ll pull you off just slightly before tugging you back onto his face.

Your eyes are glued to his face between your thighs, the source of all the pleasure coursing through your body. At the way just his eyes and forehead are visible below you. His gaze flickers to you occasionally, watching your reactions every time he changes the angle and alters the pressure.

He drags his tongue down to your opening, plays with you there for a bit and then returns full force to your clit.

It’s enough to make you keen out his name.

“M-mar-marcus b-babe p-please” You beg.

The sound of your voice, racked with your impending orgasm and the taste of you does him in and his tongue speeds up, his lips curl around your clit, he sucks on it, like a cherry.

“Oh I-“

Your legs are shaking and you knew that if you wanted to pull off of him you wouldn’t be able to. You hoped he was doing okay on oxygen down there.

It hits you like a truck. Like the first time you vape but have no idea what it’s like. But harder. Your entire body seizes up and then… heaven. Euphoric bliss.

You release onto his face, into his mouth and he laps it all up, urging you through your orgasm and then further. He’s obsessed. His arms keep you pressed onto him.

Your hips jerk, reaching over sensitivity but he doesn’t stop. Instead Marcus keeps going, showing your body how it’s down. What a real orgasm is. You’re seizing above him and the pleasure just won’t stop.

Eventually his pace slows and he slowly pulls off. He helps you lay down next to him, where your entire body is shaking, especially your legs. Who knew post orgasm shakes were really a thing?

He grins at you, mouth and chin glistening with your liquids and then as you watch him, he uses a finger to collect and literally cleans himself.

It’s about one of the sexiest things ever and you don’t think you’ll ever recover from this. Not that that would be such a bad thing.

[my-insanity-is-an-artform]

I’ve had my plight over sky and warriors bassboosted and teased by several people now sky and wars wouldn’t do this to me they would just hold me in their arms and kiss it better <//3

.

. The the the there’s only one bed trope but its with those two,,,, man . They haven’t even confessed or started courting u yet and they’re already sharing a bed with u while having a crisis over having you so close to them and looking so cute

- bestie anon

THERE WAS ONLY ONE BED!!!!! (Bestie, you know me so well.)

It was late when the group stumbled into the inn and the look on the assistant's face was awkward when he said there was only three rooms available. Two of the rooms had two beds each while the third room had room for three in it.

It was decided that most of the group would share a bed while Time, who tried to argue but was still healing from freshly healed broken ribs, got a bed to himself.

You, Sky and Warriors were unanimously voted to take the last room amongst a few hidden smirks and grins.

But you were honestly so tired, you and Sky could barely keep your eyes open and the pair of you merely nodded.

Warriors led the way up to your room and hustled you inside, at which point Sky took a second to realise what he was seeing and jolted wide awake.

You, on the other hand, saw the large bed and gave a tired cheer. "Dibs on the middle."

"What?" Warriors said as he locked the door and then saw the thing that had brought Sky up short and was now looking panicked.

"Dibs on the middle. Everyone knows the middle is best spot." You said as you started to shed your layers, barely taking the time to lower your pack properly.

Warriors and Sky traded a glance.

"Perhaps..." You cut off Warriors with a flat glare.

"If you say 'sleep on the floor' I will drag you into the bed, kicking and screaming if I must." While you hadn't quite meant to phrase it like that, it did do the job of silencing any protests from either hero.

They averted their eyes and started to shed their own layers as you snuggled into the covers. You gave a low hum at the softness of the pillow and curled onto your side.

"Bed's nice. Must be the honeymoon suit or somethin'." You started drifting off, totally unaware of Warriors exhaling like he'd been punched and Sky having to sit down very quickly next to you.

They stared at you for a few minutes before you groaned and wiggled a hand out. "Get in. 's cold."

They traded looks then gingerly slipped under the covers.

Warriors was behind you, barely inches away from your back, while Sky was in front of you and you could feel his warmth.

You hummed lowly and gave a sleepy smile. "Night, guys." And drifted off.

They waited a few moments before Warriors cautiously peeked over you.

"...I'm not going to get a wink of sleep. You?"

Sky shook his head, eyes locked on your sleeping face.

"...Kinda thought we'd have confessed to them before we saw this." He said glancing at Warriors before returning to watch you.

They both watched you dream for a few minutes, stunned and panicking slightly, before Warriors cleared his throat.

"i know it's a useless thing, but perhaps we should at least try and get some sleep. We have a long day tomorrow."

He lowered himself back down onto the pillow and nearly groaned pitifully when he saw that your hair was just inches away, begging him to bury his face in it.

Sky was battling a similar problem as your face was just inches from his. Just how was he suppose to sleep like this?!

(The morning came and as it turned out, both heroes did manage to fall asleep as they were awoken by a grinning Wild and Twilight who had his eyebrow raised.

Somehow during the night, Warriors wound up pressed to your back and Sky had curled closer to cling to you.

All three of you had your limbs entwined and it was honestly hard to tell where each person began and ended.

Warriors and Sky nearly died when they saw the pictures later that day.

You, on the other hand, had a lovely sleep and wondered if the two would be down for cuddle piles again sometime soon.)

[fruggo]

the boys x tough f!reader (part 2)

requested by : @dranonymous

i love this idea and i hope you all enjoy part two! :D here’s part 1 with the original request.

warnings: swearing, canon-typical violence, dwight is really cute, danny is an asshole, jake is that cute “stoic man who is actually caring and thoughtful” trope because i say so

𝐃𝐖𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐅𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐅𝐈𝐄𝐋𝐃

you are so cool. like ,,,,,so cool

dwight admires you so much. you just got here and yet you are breaking pyramid head’s ankles—dodging his trail of torment left and right, the killer just can’t touch you.

and how did you feel about everything? terrified, honestly, but nobody would ever be able to tell because you didn’t let it get to you. it was like you had already been here before, because the second you learned how to do something, you had it down no problem. fixing generators came naturally, and you could also run the killer for the whole trial if you had to. teammates could easily rely on you to do whatever needed to be done.

that was what made you and dwight such a powerful duo. from the moment you met, you knew you felt comfortable around this guy. he was sweet, maybe a little timid sometimes, but he knew how to step up and be a leader for everyone despite his fears.

you both knew what to do, and you fit together like a glove. your minds worked in very similar ways, which made communicating that much easier and efficient; the second a decision needed to be made, dwight was on top of it, encouraging the teammates and helping them get on their feet. you were already ahead of them, so dwight would just nod to you, knowing you could do your job well.

of course, there were times when dwight’s anxiety got the better of him, and you had to be the one encouraging him.

dwight hated the hag. despised her. he could not stand her jumpscares when a trap was triggered, he would swear he was about to have a heart attack. he couldn’t admit this at first, but you figured it out when feng min was hooked and dwight stuck to the generator, nervously glancing over his shoulder every few seconds. he always went for the saves, so something was obviously wrong.

“dwight? why don’t you go save her?” you asked, eyeing him from your side of the generator.

he didn’t respond, looking over his shoulder again.

you decided to rescue min, but when you got back, you were going to chew dwight out until he gave you a straight answer.

you crawled up to the hook to avoid triggering a trap and gently lowered min to the ground. the two of you inched away carefully until you were far enough away to patch her wound.

“dwight, get off your ass and answer me,” you demanded (affectionately) once you were back at the generator, which was nearly finished. “what’s wrong?”

his eyes conveyed nervousness in every sense of the word; they darted all around, searching for any incoming danger. this was your first time seeing him like this, so you were confused. was he alright?

“it’s just…the hag,” he started, still fiddling with the wires. “her traps, i can’t…”

oh. was he anxious about the traps?

“i just can’t deal with them,” he finally said with difficulty. that was understandable; when they caught you off guard it definitely made you leap out of your skin.

“dwight, listen,” you said. “you’ve dealt with every other killer in this realm, haven’t you? you’ve bested the nurse, the huntress, micky myers, and even the spirit, who’s a bitch. i know hag’s traps are fucking terrifying, but you’re dwight! you are a leader, and you are good at being a leader. you can get out of here, i promise. and besides, with me here, you have nothing to worry about. i’ll kick that witch’s ass, got it?”

your very inspirational speech got him to smile. you were right, anyways—you could definitely kick the hag’s ass. what could go wrong?

nothing, actually. genuinely nothing went wrong. you took chase for the rest of the trial so that dwight didn’t have to worry about a thing, and everybody escaped with no problem. he didn’t understand how you were so good at evading capture—but perhaps you would tell him about your past eventually. you hadn’t yet decided.

back at the campfire, you and dwight comfortably sat side-by-side, patiently waiting until your next trials.

“thanks,” he said.

“for what?”

“for that very motivational speech you gave me,” he laughed.

you wiped imaginary dust off of your shoulder, giving him a confident smile. “i got your back. and man, that hag lady really is a bitch, huh? i can see why you hate her.”

that comment unintentionally caused one of dwight’s long, angry rants about his least favorite killer, and all you could do was watch him and listen with a soft grin on your lips. you’d never seen him angry before—it was adorable. made you wonder if you should just piss him off for fun sometimes.

𝐉𝐀𝐊𝐄 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐊

this guy has hella respect for you

you’re independent and easy to teach, and that’s everything he could ask for.

now and then, the other survivors basically gave newbies to jake to teach them everything about the realm—they considered him the expert on all things survival. you were one of those newbies he was forced to take care of.

jake normally hated teaching new survivors more than anything, because it was never his choice and they were all so difficult. but you were different. you were responsible, reliable, and smart, and it made his job so much easier. as time went on, he grew to be quite fond of you.

word eventually got out that the new girl had managed to charm jake out of his “hermit ways,” but he insisted that it was not true (he also disagreed about the “hermit ways” part). it was never spoken of between the two of you, but it definitely floated around in the air waiting to be addressed.

it really couldn’t be ignored any longer. anytime you were seen anywhere within 24 feet of each other, the other survivors would give you looks and wiggle their eyebrows or shoot you a thumbs up—all of which were unwanted. it created a weird tension between you and jake that wasn’t there before, and you really didn’t like it.

you missed when you were first starting out, and jake had just realized how competent you are. those days were fun—he respected you a lot; you could see it in his face when he looked at you. you always knew when he was pleased and when you did stuff right, because he would have the tiniest, most subtle grin on his face, but you could see it, and it made you feel accomplished.

you knew he still respected you, but you had basically jumped the learning curve of the realm and quickly adapted to every killer, every challenge, and every task. how you did it, nobody could ever know. but you were almost sad, because there was kind of no reason for you and jake to spend a lot of time together anymore. if you did, then everybody would freak out for the wrong reasons, and it would ruin your friendship.

so what if you had a few small feelings for him? no one gave a shit—you knew jake probably wouldn’t give a shit. to him, you were just another annoying survivor he was forced to teach. besides, you didn’t have time for that kind of thing.

man, were you wrong, though. he really, really wanted to be around you, but you already knew everything, so he didn’t know what to do to spend time with you. his way of initial bonding was sharing knowledge, but that had already been done, so…what now?

then came the one trial that changed everything.

it was normal at first. the killer, blight, was doing well, so you had to step up your game. one generator was completed and he had 4 hooks on three different people—you were the only one not hooked yet.

he was after you, and you were expertly dodging every rush and swing he threw your way. unfortunately, you accidentally ran to the generator that jake was working on, and things got a little complicated.

when the blight rushed at the wall, then at you, jake ran towards you while you ran towards him—you were both looking over your shoulders—and alas, bonk. you crashed into each other.

oh, no!! how terrible!! looks like jake fell on top of you :/ what an unfortunate situation to be in /s /s /s /s /s

wowwww near proximity ! you’d never been so close before and it was awkward but nice (?)

then you remembered there was a crazy drug addict or whatever over there and he was chasing you, and the moment was ruined. jake quickly rose and pulled you up with him, and you went in opposite directions, both nervous and wide-eyed now.

lol

after that, the trial went quite south. everybody was sacrificed. perhaps the loss could be partly attributed to you and jake avoiding each other like the plague. but who knows, right?

back at the campfire, you began feeling overwhelmed by all the weird stuff happening lately, so you excused yourself to the edge of the woods to have some quiet time to yourself. a few minutes later, jake came to check on you bc he is a fucking gentleman and yes i will die for the “stoic man who is actually caring and thoughtful” trope. fuck you

it’s slightly awkward at first, but then you start talking like normal and things feel a lot better. a little bit of the tension eases away, but not completely. what the fuck do you do with feelings like this?????

you simply composed yourself as best you could. it would have to do.

now that you felt a little more normal (lie), you trekked back to the campfire to wait for your next trials side-by-side. there was no one you felt more comfortable with or more respected by than jake. he appreciated you for your competency, and that was one of the best things you could ask for.

and to your surprise, jake actually took your hand and laced your fingers with his own. and it felt nice. never in your existence would you have thought he would be okay with displaying public affection, but you smiled up at him and gave his hand a light squeeze.

maybe the entity gave him drugs.

or he just liked you that much. either one would make sense.

𝐃𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐘 𝐉𝐎𝐇𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐍

danny hated you. he really did.

you were so unbothered, so calm, so good at knowing what to do. it really pissed him off.

you got so much attention from the other survivors for your skill and that really pissed him off too. it’s not like you cared or wanted it or anything, but how dare they even touch you when you so clearly belonged to danny?

…who knows wtf that even means. so anyways-

when you realized how much time danny spent chasing you in trials when he should have been patrolling generators, you began to get suspicious. especially when he would take you to the hatch and then close it in your face, watching you die to the entity. he obviously had some kind of beef with you.

you were determined to find out what he had against you, so you began to tease him a bit in chases. your favorite and most frequent phrase was something like, "can't catch me? lil baby man? lil baby? lil baby man gonna cry?" you were really testing your luck with that one, and that's why you loved it.

once, you told him his fly was down, and he actually fell for it, making you nearly keel over in laughter. you got moried without even being hooked after that.

despite the horrors that frequented this place, you were never in a crisis about it. you simply learned what had to be done, and then you did it, much to the chagrin of danny. you had skipped the big "useless baby survivor" phase, and that one was his favorite :( he loved trials with new survivors because it was so easy and fun!

but alas, from the beginning, you were always on top of things, always slamming pallets onto his head or saving teammates with a flashlight.

oh, don't even get him started on your flashlight usage. you were the absolute worst to go against--every pallet stun, boom: danny's eyes fucking burned out. every time he picks up a survivor, boom: danny's eyes fucking burned out. you were a bitch with that item.

he finally began to get so fed up with your behavior that he decided you must be taught a lesson. somehow, countless mori and tunneling and camping incidents had not even managed to bother you. you literally did not care. but he had something different in mind this time.

the realm was haddonfield, of course. all of the killers despised this map, and for good reason--you ran danny around the entire neighborhood for three generators. did he have to chase you? no. but he needed to for himself.

he finally caught you in a dead zone, rejoicing to himself as you fell to the ground in defeat. "wow, that was a good chase," you mumbled under your breath, feeling accomplished. one of your best against danny, probably.

you were expecting him to pick you up, but instead he snatched the flashlight from your grasp and chucked it as far away as he could. and before you could protest, he pulled you up to stand again and yanked you towards himself, gripping your wrists so tightly you swore it left bruises.

"what's wrong...lil baby man?" you said with a pout, trying not to laugh. "is baby man angry?"

you were slightly scared if you were being honest, but you couldn't let him know that.

danny sighed. you really didn't know when to stop, did you?

"bitch," he spat, voice dangerously quiet. "cut that shit out."

"what shit?"

he squeezed your arms tighter, provoking an "okay, okay, i get it!" from you.

"do you?"

"sure. what's the worst you could possibly do to me anyways?" after those words left your mouth, you got a weird feeling that the killer was smiling behind his mask.

"listen, uhh, danny, is it?" you said, putting as much nonchalance into your voice as you could. "i just wanna know why you hate me so much. remember that time you closed the hatch in my face? the fuck was that for?"

he frowned at the use of his name but responded regardless, "you're a little bitch, and you deserved that."

you gasped dramatically, feigning offense. "ouch. that one hurt."

"i can make you hurt a lot more," he said darkly. you probably should have been scared, but you just really couldn't take him seriously.

so you laughed. it shouldn't have been funny, but it just was and now you couldn't stop. "you're just--you--i can't--" you wheezed, shaking from the laughter. "i'm sorry, it's really not funny."

danny didn't understand you. anybody else would have been sobbing if he so much as touched them, and here you were acting like it was a joke.

what could he do if you truly were not afraid of him?

perhaps it was time to let it go.

while his guard was down, suddenly you reached above his head and plucked his mask off, revealing his face and continuing your bouts of laughter at his shocked expression.

you threw the mask in the same direction as the flashlight, composing yourself and putting your hands on your hips. "you look pretty nice," you said, nodding.

wow. what the hell was danny supposed to do with you? perhaps the only completely unbothered, completely unserious survivor? he knew you were smart, and you knew what you were doing. he didn't even want to kill you anymore, you were just that fascinating.

that trial ended in you standing at the exit gate, your finger and your thumb in the shape of an L on your forehead. danny couldn’t care less at this point--he was done with your shit. but somehow he still liked you, and this definitely would not be the last time you saw him without his mask.

[jakekiszkaenthusiast]

Need

pairing: sam kiszka x reader

warnings: SMUT, unprotected sex, hair pulling but that’s about it for rough stuff lol, spit?

author’s note: having a sam moment. it won’t last long so i wrote this to get it out LMAO, this is also a gift for my sammy lane friends. ENJOY!

“what should we watch?” josh called through from the living room, already sat on the couch and scrolling through the options on the tv.

you and sam were in the kitchen: sam was entrusted with pouring drinks and you were finding a bowl large enough for the copious amounts of popcorn the boys were sure to eat. jake was somewhere in the back of the house, scrolling on his phone.

“uhh, pick whatever you want, josh. we don’t mind.” you yell back, taking initiative and speaking for both sam and jake. you heard josh hum affirmatively.

you bend over to look into a low cupboard and cheer when you find an appropriate bowl, though your celebration was interrupted by a pair of strong hands gripping your ass. smiling to yourself, you push yourself further into sam’s hands and hear him let a breath out.

bringing your head up, you manoeuvre your body closer to his and trap his hands between you and his hips; though they quickly escape and wrap around your waist to pull you even closer. you wiggle your hips, feeling him stiffen underneath you and hear him gasp quietly.

“babe.” he drags out the syllable, whining at your teasing.

“whatever is the matter, samuel?” you ask with feigned innocence. his arms around your waist tighten, warning you.

“you know what. don’t tease me like that.” he grumbles into the crook of your neck.

“don’t grab my ass like that and we won’t have any more problems.” you say firmly, pulling his arms off of you so you could go back to the bowl in the open cupboard. he huffs and moves away to finish making drinks, which makes you smile valiantly- you won that round.

once the popcorn was ready, the movie had already begun so you both crept in with the snacks, placing them on the coffee table and quickly finding that jake and josh had claimed the couch as theirs, leaving only the loveseat for you and sam. you attempt to squish to the side to give sam room, but he rolls his eyes and pulls you on top of him. you were now sat in his lap, his hand resting on your thigh.

eyes wide with shock, you look back at sam, who smiles innocently and raises his eyebrows. you try your hardest to concentrate on the strange independent movie josh had chosen, but sam’s hardening length underneath your ass was making it very difficult. the hand resting on your thigh began moving up, closer and closer to your core; you cursed yourself for only wearing shorts and a giant t-shirt, well aware of how sam was going to utilise your bare legs in this impromptu competition to turn each other on.

you cross your leg over the other, blocking his hand from going any further and unexpectedly pushing you harder against his crotch, making him groan quietly into your hair. feeling as if you had the upper hand, you shift your weight a few times, rubbing against him and smiling smugly when he gets even harder and his grip on your thigh tightens.

this teasing continues for the majority of the movie, slowly and as quietly as possible getting each other more and more turned on- though when you reached over to grab a handful of popcorn from the table in front of you, sam let out a strangled and barely contained groan at the change in pressure, which made josh’s eyes flick over to you both, grinning devilishly at the scene before him.

you knew sam wouldn’t last much longer in this battle of wills, and you hoped it was sooner than later- the wet pooling in your core was seeping through your underwear and there was a feverish heat under your skin: you knew your chest and face would be red if you could see yourself.

the final straw for both of you was actually the movie: a steamy sex scene full of moans and naked bodies began, and you feel sam’s entire body freeze. your eyes were glued to the screen, unable to explain why it was turning you on even more.

“yeah, we’re gonna go, uh, upstairs.” sam speaks, breaking everyone’s attention from the screen. he taps your thighs, indicating he wanted you to get up and you obey, scurrying behind him as he left the room abnormally fast. neither of you wait for the twins to reply- they knew and you both knew they knew.

running up the stairs, you catch sam in the hallway and pull him into the bathroom, the closest available room; you knew it was ridiculous because his room was only a few steps away, but you didn’t want to wait. he chuckles darkly, licking his lips and pulling his shirt over his head as he stepped into the room with you.

sam locks the door while you scramble to remove your clothes, desperate to have him fuck you from behind against the sink. pulling him by his belt, you press your mouth to his and begin a sloppy make out session. if you could see yourself, you’d be embarrassed at how horny you were both behaving; tongues and spit everywhere, hands roaming over each others bodies, hair becoming unruly and moans becoming captured in each other’s mouths.

“fuck, y/n. turn around and bend over the sink.” sam commanded, pushing your body over and parting your legs despite your immediate obedience. you groan loudly when he pushes a finger inside of you, his thumb brushing deliciously against your clit.

“so wet for me already?” he added another finger, laughing when your hand slaps the sink with overstimulation.

“mhm, all for you, sammy.” you mumble, eyes closing as his pace speeds up.

“that’s right. all for me.”

sam reached his other hand around to pinch your nipple, eliciting a low moan from you. you arch your back and press yourself against his chest, enjoying how hot his skin felt and the sensation of his hair tickling your neck.

“need- i need your cock, sammy. please, just want you inside me.” you beg, yearning for more contact than just his fingers.

“ok, baby. i’ll give it to you good.” sam removes his fingers, grabbing a fistful of your hair to pull you up to the mirror. he makes eye contact with you through the reflection and sucks your juices off of his fingers, occasionally tightening his grip on your hair. your clit throbs at the sight, reminding you of your need.

sam pulls his cock from his trousers, wasting no time with undressing. he knew how badly you both needed this.

he bends down to be face to face with your core, spreading your ass cheeks to reveal yourself more to him before spitting onto your entrance and letting it drip down over your clit. you gasp loudly, feeling your nipples harden with pleasure at the lewd act.

a loud moan leaves your mouth as he slides in with ease, not leaving any time for you to adjust before beginning a quick pace, hips slapping against your ass. your eyes rolled back when he pulled on your hair again, the sight of him taking you from behind becoming blurry.

his mouth was pressed to your cheek, muttering unintelligible filth against your skin. your hands were gripping the edge of the sink so tightly your knuckles were turning white, and you were chanting his name so loudly it would be impossible for the twins downstairs to be unaware of what was happening. you would be embarrassed, but nothing currently mattered to you other than sam’s hands and his cock inside of you.

you could feel yourself beginning to teeter over the edge of orgasm, your body involuntarily twitching and thighs stiffening. sam slaps your ass, and the sting pushes you over; you clench around him and wail his name, your legs becoming jelly as he roughly fucks you through your high.

his thrusts were starting to become sloppy and you knew he was close. you grind yourself further into him, knowing it would make him come faster- and it worked. his hips stilled and he moaned loudly as his cock twitched, his whole body shuddering as he came deep inside of you, eyes squeezing shut and his grip on your hair tightening yet again.

“fuck!” he yells out, letting go of you to push his hair away from his face. his other hand gently pats your ass as if to applaud your performance.

“that was-fuck.” you manage to say, your voice breathless and completely fucked out.

“yeah. wow.” you were both clearly as tired as each other, and thoughts of sleep and sam’s soft bed were filling your mind.

sam pulled out and helped you clean up, handing your shirt back to you and holding the door for you when you were ready to leave the bathroom.

you stopped in the doorway, reaching around his neck and pulling him into a deep kiss. pressing your foreheads together when your lips broke apart, not quite ready to stop touching completely.

“are you two done?” a voice makes you both jump and whip your heads to the top of the stairs, to find josh stood with his arms crossed in faux anger.

“fuck off, josh.” sam shoots back, cheeks going pink. josh only laughs and shakes his head.

“move, i need to pee.” josh barges past both of you, slamming the door. you and sam burst into laughter, taking the few steps to his bedroom and making small jokes back and forth.

you both flop onto his bed and continue your bantering, wrapped in each other’s arms, trading kisses every now and then, until sleep finally took over both of you.

[myherowritings]

Hey There, Roomie

— After being set up on a bad date with Ushijima, he insists on walking you to your doorstep. Not wanting him to know where you live, you lead him to Iwaizumi’s apartment and pretend Iwaizumi is your roommate. 

pairing: iwaizumi hajime x reader word count: 4.0k genre: college/university au, fluff warnings: mentions of drinking, language, secondhand embarrassment, suggestive comments at the end, oikawa is meddlesome, awkward but cute confessions™!!

a/n: ur bad date is with ushiwaka ok i’m sorry he’s a nice guy but i had to make it someone HDJSJS,, also this is based on real life events except my friend who lived in an apartment near me isn’t cute like iwa-chan :( LMAOOO i hope u enjoy reading!!! xx sof

「 hq masterlist 」

“I assure you, you don’t have to walk me to my apartment.”

“It’s not a bother. I insist.” 

“No, it’s fine.” Although you tried to keep a smile on your face, you were certain it looked more like you were baring your teeth at him. “Really. You don’t have to do that.”

Ushijima shrugged. “I told you, it’s no big deal.” 

Your grin turned into a grimace as you stepped outside the car and headed towards your apartment complex. You managed to grit out, “Great. Thanks.”

A friend from your class had told you they had a friend of a friend who saw an Instagram post of you and thought you were cute. After they showed you a picture of him, you said the same. Little did you know it would lead to a mess of a date set up by said friend. 

The date was at a karaage chicken place and it was filled with the most uncomfortable silences you had sat through since office hours with a professor who you were sure hated you. Ushijima was nice enough and it wasn’t the worst date ever, but the two of you just did not click. You figured it was partly your fault for agreeing to meet with him despite not having a single clue about his interests and never having talked to him once, but it was too late to undo it now. 

He was a gentleman, at least. Offered to pay, held your seat out for you, drove you to your apartment complex, and, now, was trying to walk you to your doorstep. 

The thing was, you did not want him to know where you lived. 

You didn’t get red flags or feel threatened by any means, but having a guy you went on one uncomfortable date with know your exact address wasn’t really something that sat well with you. You’ve heard enough college horror stories to be wary. But, you didn’t have the heart to tell him explicitly not to walk you home… So the only solution? 

Head to your friend’s apartment in the same complex instead.

“Do you know where you’re going?” asked Ushijima, examining you as your eyes darted around from building to building. 

You’d been to Iwaizumi’s apartment before, but that didn’t stop you from looking lost and confused in this maze of houses. And it didn’t help to have Ushijima’s semi-condescending gaze on you the whole time. The worst part was, you were almost certain he didn’t even mean to be condescending— He just was. To you, at least. It definitely rubbed you the wrong way during the date. 

“Yeah,” you laughed, walking past your apartment, “of course I know where my own apartment is.” 

Iwaizumi’s place was just a few buildings north of yours, which you were quick to remember after catching sight of your place. You briefly wondered if he would be home on a Friday night, but quickly decided it wasn’t important. It’s not like you would be entering his house anyway. In fact, if all went well, he might never even know you were outside his apartment to begin with. 

The plan was to have Ushijima drop you off at the doorstep (since he so unwaveringly insisted that he had to and it was no trouble for him to do so), tell him goodbye, fumble with your bag to “look for your keys” as he walked off, then—when he was out of sight—dash to your apartment and lock yourself in your bedroom for the remainder of the night. 

A foolproof plan. 

“Well, we’re here!” you chirped, standing outside Iwaizumi’s door labeled 237E. You whirled around to face Ushijima. “Thanks for walking me. See you around!” 

“Of course.” He nodded but made no move to leave. 

Your smile wavered. Was he waiting for you to enter your house safely? If he didn’t seem so innocent, it would’ve been incredibly creepy. 

“Err,” you drawled, ruffling through your bag. “I’m just finding my keys. You can leave now; I don’t want to keep you any longer!” 

“It’s not a problem.”

Your right eye twitched. What did he think could possibly happen in the time it took you to unlock your door and enter? While it was sweet—in a very suffocating way—it wasn’t what you wanted. After the bad date that was disappointing for the both of you, you expected him to eat his food and dip. Not see you all the way into your house despite the fact that, deep down, he’d much rather be in his own home. It was domineeringly kind.

Didn’t he understand how stressful this could be for someone? His obliviousness was overbearing, but you supposed you couldn’t blame Ushijima when you didn’t verbalize your discomfort to him. 

“Everything okay?” he asked for what felt like the fifth time that night. 

You chuckled nervously. “I guess I…can’t find my keys?” Looking at him sheepishly, you scratched the back of your head. “But, my roommates will probably be home soon! Or, they might be here now. I’ll just ring the doorbell when you leave!” 

Ushijima blinked. “Why not ring the doorbell now?” 

“R-Right,” you stammered, unsure whether you wanted to rip your hair out or cry in frustration. Maybe both would be good. “That’s smart. I can do that.” 

He looked at you expectantly. 

You winced, bringing your pointer finger to the white button of the doorbell. Before you even had the time to gather the courage to press it, the door swung open suddenly, startling you enough to let out a small yelp.

“Ah—! Iwaizumi!” you cried, eyes wide as you stared face to face with your very confused-looking friend. He glanced between you and Ushijima with a questioning expression, but you rambled on before he could say anything. “Hey there, roomie!” You batted your lashes, pleading with him to play along. “I forgot my keys again.” 

Iwaizumi’s face displayed a look of pure confusion and you were certain he must never have gotten any acting awards when he was younger. His expression became even more puzzled when you wiggled your way inside the door, standing snugly next to his side. 

After an awkward silence, you continued again, “Well, thanks for walking me Ushijima-san! And thank you for the date. Maybe I’ll see you around.” 

If he noticed anything suspicious going on, he didn’t show it. Instead he simply nodded and wished you a goodnight. 

Yup, there was definitely no chance of Ushijima wanting to ask you out on a second date. Not that you were complaining. 

You shut the door—the door to an apartment that wasn’t even your own, mind you—and let out a sigh of relief. With your eyes closed and your back resting against the wall, you momentarily forgot you were standing in the entrance of Iwaizumi’s living room. That was, until you started feeling his heavy gaze on you. 

Gulping at the intensity, you cracked your right eye open ever so slightly. “Yes?” you asked innocently.

“Yes?” repeated Iwaizumi incredulously, voice raised in exasperation. “You want to explain what just happened here?” 

You had a sudden interest in your shoes as you shuffled in place. Iwaizumi was your friend and someone you considered yourself semi-close to— Comfortable enough to hang out with regularly and talk with almost every day, but not someone that you confided in with no qualms. And definitely not someone close enough for it to be normal to show up at his place unannounced. You were much closer to his best friend, Oikawa, but that was largely due to him finding out you had a big crush on Iwaizumi a number of months ago and feeling the need to tease you endlessly. Apparently, nothing brought people together like relentless goading. 

“Another bad date,” you answered with a noncommittal tone. “A friend set me up with that guy you saw, Ushijima, and the date was so awkward.” 

He folded his arms across his chest, pulling his white t-shirt snug around his biceps. You tried not to let your eyes bug out of their sockets at the sight. “And yet you let him bring you home?” 

“I couldn’t say no! I tried dropping hints but he just didn’t get it.” You looked up, a sheepish half-smile on your face. “But I was smart enough not to bring him to my apartment. Hence why I came here. Roomie.”

Iwaizumi let out an exasperated half-chuckle, half-sigh as he motioned for you to come further inside. You slipped off your shoes at the doorway and followed him into the living room, taking a seat on the couch next to him. He rested his arm against the headrest of the sofa and you were consciously aware of his hand mere inches behind your head. 

“Are your other housemates here?” you asked, curious as to why there wasn’t the usual amount of chatter and rage gaming from inside their respective rooms. 

He shook his head. “They’re all back at their hometowns for the weekend.” 

“And poor Iwa-chan is home all alone on a Friday night instead of out partying with friends?” you teased, reaching over to pat the top of his head mockingly. 

Glaring at you for the nickname, he lightly swatted your hand away. “You’ve been spending too much time with Oikawa. His shittyness is rubbing off on you.” There was the slightest hint of amusement in his voice to let you know he was only joking. “And being home alone is better than being stuck with a bad date.”

“Ouch,” you cried, crossing one leg over the other and sticking your tongue out at him. “Yeah, sure, I would rather have been curled up in my bed than go on that date— But you didn’t have to call me out like that.” You pouted. “At least I got free food, I guess.” 

He rolled his eyes with a snort. “If you were uncomfortable, you could’ve called me to come pick you up.”

Despite his gruff voice, there was a look of concern on his face. His eyebrows were furrowed and the corners of his mouth were downturned. Iwaizumi’s offer made you feel warm in the stomach, even if you were sure he was just saying it out of courtesy.

“Or better yet,” he continued in a murmur, “don’t let your friends set you up on dates with guys you barely know, dumbass.” 

“Hey! Aren’t you and Oikawa the ones always telling me I need to go out and date more in the first place?” you said, huffing at his insult. 

They told you your college years were your prime dating years and you might regret not going out with a variety of people now. When else would you have the free time and the patience to date, anyway? That was part of the reason you agreed to blind dates and set ups, after all. If Iwaizumi was insisting you date around, that most certainly meant he didn’t reciprocate your feelings for him. Meaning, you had to get over him somehow before the hurt could kick in, even if that somehow included less than ideal fraternization. 

“I never said that,” he grumbled, shaking his head. “Why would I tell you to go on dates with other people? It was just Oikawa who said you should.” 

You blinked in confusion. “But you were there and you nodded in agreement.” 

He shifted his body to get a better look at you, a scowl on his face. “I did not. You were drunk and you probably thought my head was moving when it wasn’t.”

“Well, you were drunk too! Maybe your head was moving and you just didn’t know.” The lines between his forehead deepened and you laughed, unable to stop yourself from tapping the wrinkles with your ring finger. “Don’t think too hard; you might hurt your brain.”

“You really have been spending too much time with Shittykawa,” he said with a defeated sigh. “But whatever you think I said back then, it’s probably not what I meant. You shouldn’t date anyone unless you want to.” 

The thing was, you did want to date someone. Iwaizumi. You were just under the impression he didn’t want to date you. 

You shrugged. “What about you? Have you been dating people you don’t want to?” 

He shook his head. “No. I haven’t dated anyone recently,” he admitted, averting his gaze from you for the first time that night. “I actually...am interested in someone, though.” 

Your stomach dropped. Oh.

“But I don’t think they like me.” 

Trying not to show him the crestfallen expression on your face, you looked down at your lap. You had been mentally preparing yourself to accept that Iwaizumi didn’t have a crush on you like you had on him—you were ready to face the harsh reality—but you were not expecting him to tell you he liked someone else on top of that. That was just a double blow to your gut.

You forced out a laugh, hoping it didn’t sound too strained. “That’s silly. Of course they like you.” 

“I didn’t even tell you who it was.”

“Don’t need to,” you said diffidently, fingers toying with a loose thread on the blue sofa. “I already know. There’s no way someone wouldn’t like you back.”

Iwaizumi snorted disdainfully. “I wouldn’t be too sure about that. Them going on dates with other people and telling me about them after seems to be a solid indicator that they don’t.”

You froze, letting go of the string you accidentally pulled from the couch. Now, you wouldn’t say you were an overly optimistic person, but you still couldn’t help but think the situation he described was oddly familiar to yours. There was a large chance he was referring to someone else, but with the way you felt his smoldering gaze on your body, you wondered if maybe, just maybe, he could be talking about you. 

“Maybe they think you don’t like them so they’re going on those dates to get rid of their crush on you— But only because they thought you told them to do so! And, honestly, the dates probably aren’t helping at all on getting rid of the crush; it just makes it get even bigger and bigger as they realize they can’t like anyone the same way they like you and now they don’t know what to do,” you babbled, unable to stop the word vomit.

After processing the words that you had just uttered, you slapped your hands over your mouth to shut yourself up. That was a little more than you had originally wanted to say… Okay, a lot more. You winced. You wanted to subtly hint that you were talking about yourself, not be so obvious as to yell it out with a megaphone and have a blinking billboard pointing your way. 

Idiot, idiot, idiot.

You could only hope Iwaizumi was oblivious enough to let this whole thing go and assume that you were only speaking hypothetically. But he was smarter than that. You knew it. He may be a little dense when it came to romance, but even he couldn’t be dumb enough to misunderstand your conspicuous slip up. 

Your stomach churned as you awaited his response.

“So,” he spoke slowly, keeping his cautious regard on you, “Oikawa was right?” 

You blinked. That wasn’t the response you were expecting. But things just didn’t seem to go as planned today, you supposed. “What do you mean?”

“You do like me, then?”

“W-What? When did…” You gaped, trailing off as your throat tightened. “He told you that?” 

“A month ago, he told me he thought you might like me,” Iwaizumi admitted, a rosy red darkening the apples of his cheeks. “But that was before you started going on those crazy dates, so I figured he was wrong.” 

A cry of indignation escaped your lips as you heard the news. “Seriously?”

He nodded.

“No way!” you sputtered in disbelief. “He found out I liked you months ago— At the beginning of the school year! And then last month, Oikawa told me I should to get over you by going on a bunch of dates.” 

Your brows were furrowed and arms folded as you glared into the sky, wishing Oikawa were there so you could yell at him for making a fool of you. Iwaizumi caught your gaze with a disgruntled look of his own. 

“What on earth?” you groaned, burying your face in your palms.

“I’ll kick his ass the next time I see him,” Iwaizumi vowed.

“Please,” you muttered, a thousand thoughts racing through your mind. 

Oikawa knew you had a crush on Iwaizumi. Why would he tell him behind your back? And was Iwaizumi’s response negative? Is that why Oikawa told you to date to get over him? Trying to understand Oikawa’s thought process was enough to almost give you a headache. 

“But, wait,” said Iwaizumi quietly, effectively interrupting your train of thoughts. “Months?” 

You peeked at him through the cracks between your fingers. “Huh?”

“You said you liked me for months now? Since the start of this school year?” 

The heat rose to your cheeks in embarrassment. “T-That’s not the point—!” 

“Because I’ve liked you for a few months now too,” he interrupted before you could deny anything. Your eyes shot open as you stared straight at Iwaizumi, just now noticing the serious expression on his face. 

Was this a confession?

“Ever since that night we ditched our friends to stay inside and watch Godzilla instead of going to the party.” He shared a small, slightly sheepish smile with you as he recalled the memory. 

In the beginning of the year before classes had started but everyone had already moved into their respective apartments, Oikawa decided everyday of the week leading up to the first day of school would be a good day to get shit-faced drunk. It was fun for the first three days, but by day four you were getting worn out, and by day five, just the thought of consuming one more jello shot made you shudder. 

So when Iwaizumi—who you had then only recently realized you had a crush on—suggested you two sneak away to his empty apartment and watch some movies instead, you were more than happy to oblige. 

“I thought you looked...cute that night,” Iwaizumi managed, his voice gruff and tentative. “It was funny how you were scared by the movies even though it was hardly even horror.” He snorted at the recollection, hints of a grin playing on his face. “And I may have realized then that I had already started liking you.”

You bit the inside of your lip to keep your face from splitting into a beam. Your eyes were wide open, almost as if you were in a daze and were only dreaming the events of this night had happened. Iwaizumi shoved his hands in his sweatpants’ pockets, ducking his head to hide his delight at this situation.

“You like me too?” you asked breathlessly. There was still a tone of disbelief in your voice. 

He nodded. “Have for a while now. But I didn’t tell Oikawa about it until last month. And that’s when he said he thought you liked me back.” 

At his words, you visibly relaxed. So Oikawa didn’t blab about your crush on his best friend— Though, in all honesty, maybe if he had, you could’ve had a relationship with him sooner. You leaned your head back against the headrest of the couch with a sigh. “Then if he knew you liked me, why did he tell me to date other people that night we were all out drinking together?” 

“To piss me the fuck off.”

You laughed in surprise, not expecting Iwaizumi to sound so furious. 

“He probably wanted to get me to disagree with him, that dumbass,” he hissed, a scowl forming on his face. Even with his nose scrunched and forehead crinkled, you thought Iwaizumi was as handsome as ever.

“Maybe Oikawa thought you wouldn’t confess without his help so he wanted to push your buttons and make you jealous by seeing me date other people,” you said, chuckling at the audacity of this situation. 

Iwaizumi apparently didn’t share your amusement, since his scowl deepened. “I would’ve confessed without his unwanted help,” he grunted. But you knew he wasn’t too annoyed by his best friend. Oikawa never had any ill-intentions towards the two of you, and you both were aware of that. “I was a little jealous, though,” he admitted with flushed cheeks. “And I may have gotten a bit happier every time you told me afterwards that you didn’t like your date—especially tonight.”

You smiled shyly at him, only mildly embarrassed by the routine you two had picked up. Go on a date (usually prompted by Oikawa), wish your date was Iwaizumi the whole time, go home, message Iwaizumi about your bad date, repeat. But in today’s case, you went to him in person instead of texting. 

“But I was dreading that one night you’d message saying your date went well,” he said, hands balled up into fists and gaze downcast. “Or worse— Not message that night at all.”

Your expression turned somber as you realized that while you were casually dating around to try to get over Iwaizumi, he was there watching you go out with other people. A feeling of guilt spread through you as you bowed your head slightly, wishing you had taken the chance to tell him your feelings instead of trying to toss them aside. 

“Iwaizumi, I’m so sorry,” you said. “I didn’t even think about how it could be affecting you.” 

“Hey, it’s okay.” He placed his closed hand on the top of your head, making you look up at him. He nodded once. “You didn’t know. And Assikawa was the one pushing you to go on dates you didn’t want,” he said wryly, though his tone was more amused than bitter. “But maybe now you don’t have to keep going on those bad dates anymore.” 

Your heart skipped a beat at his words. Was he offering—?

“Y’know,” he said, “if you… If we…”

“Went on a date?” you completed, hesitant but hopeful. “With each other, I mean.”

“Yes. With each other.” He held his breath. “What do you think?”

After a beat of silence, your face split into a grin. You practically jumped off the couch in excitement, bouncing towards Iwaizumi to tackle him into a hug. He let out a surprised grunt, but caught you in his arms nonetheless.  

“I think you could’ve saved me loads of wasted nights if you had asked a month earlier!” you laughed, burrowing your face into his chest— His very strong, very muscular chest that had no business being this comfortable. “To think all this time I could’ve been going on dates with you instead of random people I end up blocking a day after?”

His right hand rested between your shoulder blades while his left was lightly cupping the back of your head. He chuckled and you felt the vibrations through his thin t-shirt. 

“We’ll have plenty of time to make up for it now,” he said, voice warm and inviting. “We can catch up on dates this whole weekend. Or just rewatch all of Godzilla again.” 

“That sounds like the perfect date weekend.” The grin on your face never left as you stayed tangled in his arms. “And your roommates aren’t back until Monday, hmm?”

He titled his head down at you to see your expression, the corner of his mouth quirked upward as he smirked. “Yup. They’ll be gone all weekend.”

You two exchanged knowing looks, causing you to wiggle your eyebrows suggestively and make him laugh. His ears turned red and when you pointed it out he got even redder. You smiled at each other as you held him even tighter. 

It didn’t matter what you two would be doing this weekend. All you cared about was getting to spend more time with Iwaizumi.

“Then we most definitely have a lot of catching up to do.” 

[espressokiri]

Can I request Aizawa with a popular hero s/o? Class 1-A loves them and goes crazy when they find out he’s married to their idol.

Aizawa x GN!reader

In which reader is Aizawa's married partner and is popular with crowds and loved by class 1-A.

Warnings: None

Genre: Fluff

Note: (H/n) = Hero name

Being a man who savoured his alone time, mostly spending it catching up with sleep due to his hectic scheduling of night patrol and teaching students, he was surprised to have fallen for a colleague who fell into the spotlight and enamoured everyone they came in contact with. They were the prime example of ‘opposites attract’ and it was oddly endearing. 

Y/n always emitted a comforting energy around them, their soft and nurturing nature drawing admirers and fans, hence shooting their rank in the Heroes poll right under the popular winged hero. Despite their popularity due to their personality, their strong ability to maneuver their quirk and quick thinking under stressful situations had gained them respect with both civilians and heroes.

Because of the awareness that Aizawa does not enjoy the spotlight, Y/n had always arrived to their shared home in secrecy to avoid paparazzi and crazed fans from finding out their humble abode, a comfortable one bedroom modern apartment that was perfect for the pair of them. Their odd schedules seemed to clash but the couple always made it work, sometimes sacrificing each other’s sleep to be able to spend time with the other -usually Y/n as they know Aizawa lacks enough sleep already.

“Sweetheart, it’s time for you to wake up.” Y/n whispers softly, leaning over Aizawa and tracing their forefinger around his facial features, easing him awake. A groan rumbles in the man’s throat before he slowly opens his eyes, a soft smile taking over as he’s met with the worried gaze of his partner. “Good morning.” Aizawa’s voice rasps out, throat dry from just waking up.

“Morning, my love.”

Aizawa takes their hand that was on his face and places it on his lips, giving it a peck before letting go.

“Breakfast is ready.” Y/n informs before trudging out of the room, leaving a sighing Aizawa as he dreaded dealing with a bunch of chaotic teenagers. 

When Aizawa came out freshened up and dressed in his hero uniform, he was met with Y/n leaning on the kitchen counter in their pyjamas, sipping on coffee in their favourite mug and focussing on their phone. Y/n had a late start in the morning for their shift in the agency, so they tried making the most of their morning.

Aizawa walked towards them, placing both hands on the counter, confining them in between his arms. Y/n raised an eyebrow at his approach, placing their phone away and looking at him while having the rim of the mug on their lips as they took a sip. “Need anything?” A smirk played on their lips as Aizawa scoffed at their question, swiftly swooping down and placing a kiss on their lips. 

Y/n placed their mug on the counter, besotted in the affection their partner was showcasing. Aizawa brought his hands to their hips and helped them up onto the counter, slotting himself in between them with both hands on their thighs. Y/n ran their hand through his hair as they gazed at each other with deep longing and understanding. “You don’t have much time.” Y/n murmured, leaning their head onto his shoulder, placing a soft kiss on his neck, making goosebumps arise on the touched skin.

“I know, I’m enjoying while I can.” Aizawa sighed, grabbing the mug Y/n had placed aside and taking a sip from it. Y/n let out a sound of disapproval, “you have your own coffee right there!” They pointed at the steaming mug placed on the kitchen table.

“Just giving yours a try.” He shrugged, a smile on his lips as he grabbed his mug and leaned back against the counter in between Y/n’s legs. Y/n ran their fingers through his hair, untangling the knots he seemed to not have brushed out. “I have patrol till six today, I won’t be home when you come back from work.” Y/n spoke.

Aizawa had his eyes closed as he savoured the warm beverage and the calm feeling of his partner working on his hair. “That’s alright, be sure to eat dinner early. Stay safe.” Aizawa was upset that they didn’t even get weekends to spend together to do normal couple things, it was a rare occurrence for both their schedules to align.

When Aizawa did enter his homeroom classroom, facing the rowdy students of class 1-A, he stumbled upon a conversation between Mineta and Kaminari, “(H/n) is so cool! I can’t believe they aren’t higher up in the hero rankings, they have an amazing record of defeating villains!” Kaminari gushed. 

“Forget that! Do you see how sexy they look? With that sweet nature of theirs, I’m sure they must be so submiss-” Bindings wrapped around the short grape boy as Aizawa held a menacing glare, the class hushing with the sudden change in mood.

“It would do you good not to speak of my partner in such a vulgar manner.”

A beat of silence was held before the class erupted in excitement and confusion, “partner?!”

Ashido raised her hand up high and wiggled it around before Aizawa sighed and beckoned her to speak, “sensei! Are romantically involved with (H/n)?!” 

There he’s done it, Aizawa was aware of his class idolizing Y/n and now he’s gotten his privacy breached. “Yes, we are married.”

Ensue more shock and raised hands.

After a gruelling day of being interrogated by his students and teaching, Aizawa made his way home before he would start his nightly patrol. Shoving the keys in the lock, he opened the door and let himself inside, upset that he would be home alone for the remainder of his time.

“Ah, shit!”

Aizawa froze as he heard the sound coming from the bathroom, eyes glancing towards the clock in the kitchen. Y/n wasn’t supposed to be home yet. He rushed his way into the bathroom to come across Y/n with a gash on the side of their head which they were tending to.

“What happened?!”

Y/n jumped at the sudden loud noise, turning around and finding their husband with a worried gaze settled onto their wound. “Nothing serious, I got caught off guard because of that stupid birdbrain of a hero.” Y/n waved it off, scoffing when they mentioned Hawks. Aizawa held their face in between his hands as he inspected the wound, it wasn’t deep but it would need to be cared for.

As Aizawa cleaned the blood around the wound and disinfected it, he brought up the incident today. “My class also really wants to meet you.” 

Y/n was aware of how much Aizawa adored his class, despite not wording it and pretending they were a lot of work. “I’d love to meet them too! I’m free tomorrow if you’d like.” Y/n offered. Aizawa swallowed nervously, “tomorrow sounds good.” Y/n had never visited U.A. while Aizawa was working, and he was nervous about the whole ordeal. 

To say he was nervous was an understatement, Aizawa kept glancing at the classroom door as he was teaching, wondering when they’d come in and how things would go. It wasn’t like him to be nervous but perhaps he wanted to show Y/n how well he could handle kids like they could.

As he monitored the class doing their worksheets, the door slid open revealing Y/n holding a small bento in their hands. “It’s (H/n)!” The class were bouncing with excitement and squeals could be heard. Y/n gave a friendly wave to the class as they made their way to Aizawa, giving him a kiss on the cheek, riling the students up more, before placing the bento box on his desk.

“Hello class 1-A! It’s great to finally meet you!” Y/n gave their brightest smile as they were excited to meet Aizawa’s ‘problem children’. They seemed to be a lively bunch with unique appearances, it was very endearing to see teenagers with bright smiles and a strong heart. 

“How’d you meet Aizawa sensei, (H/n)?” Ashido had questioned, buzzing with excitement as she gazed over what the hero was wearing. “You guys can call me Y/n.” Y/n winked, “also we met back in high school, but we were acquaintances until he started working with an underground agency and I gained the courage to ask him out.” 

“If Aizawa sensei can get someone like Y/n, then there’s still hope for us!” Kaminari wailed, a glare pointed at him by his teacher.

Y/n snickered, “despite his rugged appearance, he’s quite the charmer.” They praised, causing the girls in the class to swoon at the sweet words. 

“So Shota, are you going to show me how strong your class really is?”

Ground Beta never seemed to get awfully torn down when Y/n was in U.A., but it seems that Aizawa’s class held destructive and strong quirks that left their mouth wide open at the power a bunch of teenagers held. Especially the three Aizawa had mentioned once or twice in passing; Todoroki Shoto, Bakugou Katsuki, and Midoriya Izuku.

“Here dear, let’s get you hydrated.” Y/n handed Uraraka a bottle of water as the girl looked nauseas from the overuse of her quirk. “T-thank you!” Uraraka bowed timidly before shakily grabbing the bottle, Y/n just gave her a gentle smile and ruffled her hair, “you were so cool Uraraka, and your hero suit is adorable.” A fiery blush erupted on the girl’s face at the compliment and affectionate touch.

“What do you think of my quirk?!” An overexcited Kaminari ran over to the two, seeing his idol praise Uraraka had him craving for approval from the hero. “It’s very powerful, Kaminari! You’re doing great with the limited usage as well to not overwhelm yourself!” Y/n pinched his cheek, a slight static grazing the pads of their fingers as the blonde was jittering with joy. 

“Stop hogging her Denki!” Jirou had shoved the blonde away, “Jirou! I’m so excited to be seeing more of your quirk in use! I love how calm you are while IN action!” 

“Y/n! Can we train together?”

“Yeah! I wanna see what it’s like fighting a real pro!”

Y/n grinned at their enthusiasm and agreed, all of class A seemed to have brightened up and tried their best to show off to their idol.

Aizawa was watching from a distance, a soft smile on his lips as he watched his partner interact with his students. They were always good with kids, especially teenagers, as they claimed all the kids ever want is someone to listen to them and understand their thought process. Maybe he would bring Y/n along often to training during their off days.