#You think tank doctors are so amazing you always bring a smile to my screen :]]

[hungline]

under the same stars | ch 2

pairing: monsta x ot7 (jooheon x everyone)  genre: angst, fluff, smut, soulmate au, rated e  warnings: explicit sexual content, sexual innuendos, double anal penetration  words: 9822 

summary: Nothing was set in stone and soulmates were complicated, but that didn’t deter five year old Lee Jooheon from questioning the soulmate system until he met his own. 

Jooheon, with all his charms, aegyo, and dimple flashing, met his soulmates by accident.

⇢ chapter two of under the same stars 

Jooheon was only slightly surprised of just how well Hyungwon slid into their relationship.

Though what may have been even more surprising was just how easily Minhyuk let Hyungwon into their lives. Minhyuk held absolutely no malice towards Hyungwon and quickly reassured the youngest that Hyungwon being his soulmate was just fine and dandy and Minhyuk couldn’t be any happier because finally, Jooheon's tattoo was finished, the forest was complete and Jooheon didn’t have to keep constantly looking over his shoulder. His trees had finally arrived and everything was settled.

Jooheon regarded this all suspiciously and when Hyungwon left after meeting all three of his soulmates (or more specifically, after meeting Minhyuk and Hyunwoo and skyping Changkyun), Jooheon and Hyunwoo wasted no time in confronting the newly hair-bleached Minhyuk.

“What was all that about?” Jooheon asked, his arms crossed over his chest as he shot daggers towards the older man.

“What are you talking about, Joohoney?” Minhyuk asked, eyeing both men in front of him warily.

“All the ‘yes, Wonnie’ and ‘anything you want, Wonnie’ was pretty over-the-top, don’t you think?” There was something about the way that Hyunwoo’s jaw was clenched so tightly that had Jooheon sweating.

Minhyuk shot the eldest a glare before he rolled his eyes. Hyunwoo stood there silently beside Jooheon, positively fuming, before he turned on his heel, grabbed his coat, and left their shared apartment. Jooheon and Minhyuk both watched him go and when Jooheon turned back to face the blonde in front of him, he didn’t miss the feeling of worry underlying Minhyuk’s half-assed glare.

“Hyung, you hurt his feelings,” Jooheon muttered.

“What the hell are you talking about?”

Jooheon sighed, running a hand over his face. “You honestly don’t get it, do you?”

Minhyuk only offered him a blank stare. The younger sighed and collapsed into the armchair that Hyungwon had occupied earlier during his visit. “Can’t you see that Hyunwoo-hyung likes you? He’s jealous and hurt, hyung. You can’t be in the same room with him without arguing and we thought it was because you resented him for being my soulmate too, that you didn’t want to share me.”

Minhyuk’s eyes were blown wide when he tried to answer, but Jooheon merely cut him off with a wave of his hand. “And now a mere stranger comes into our lives, another soulmate of mine, and you’re absolutely fine with it. You even like him and I don’t mean as friends, hyung. I mean as in you want to go on cute, amusement park dates with him and walk on the boardwalk while holding hands type like.”

“What’s your point, Jooheon?”

Jooheon bristled at Minhyuk’s tone, but answered his question anyways. “My point is, Hyunwoo-hyung is jealous because he wants you to feel like that about him too! Why do you hate him so much, hyung? Is it really because he’s so clumsy and spilling things on you all the time and ruining your clothes? You do know that I deal with that too and still love him just as much as I love you, right?”

“He’s your soulmate! Of course you love him, Joohoney,” Minhyuk groaned, his hands running through his hair. “But I don’t hate him. I’ve never hated him. He justー”

“He just what, hyung?”

“He makes me so angry!” Minhyuk shouted, his voice going shrill like it always did when he was frustrated.

Jooheon gave the older a few seconds to catch his breath before he asked in his most calming voice, “Why does he make you angry?”

“Because he isn’t mine! Don’t you see Jooheon? He’s your soulmate and so am I, but he’s not mine. Shouldn’t he be my soulmate too? So that I can just fucking love him freely without second guessing his feelings.” Minhyuk was crying by then and Jooheon had slowly crawled over to the elder who sat on the couch.

“You love Hyunwoo-hyung?” Jooheon asked, his voice barely above a whisper as he let his hands trail up and down the length of Minhyuk’s arms.

Minhyuk stared up at the younger and shot him an exasperated “duh” look. “Of course I do. Why the hell else would I put with him for so long and move into this apartment with the both of you? Joohoney, I love you both so much and I’m honestly just shit at this whole multiple soulmates thing.”

Jooheon used his thumbs to wipe most of the elder’s tears away. “That’s fine, hyung. Soulmates aren’t meant to make sense and just because hyung isn’t your soulmate too doesn’t mean that your feelings for him aren’t as valid as your feelings for me.”

“How can you be so calm about this?”

The younger laughed. “Because I’m still hoping you’ll tell me why you openly like Hyungwon so much, but can’t even look in hyung’s direction without seeing red.”

Minhyuk sighed and withdrew from the younger’s embrace. “Back in Gwangju, we were the best of friends and then we dated for a little while before I moved to Seoul. He started his modeling career soon after and then he started showing up to every one of my recitals."

“Why didn’t you mention this before, hyung?”

“I felt guilty. I didn’t know how to bring him up in a conversation without revealing that I still sort of had feelings for him and it felt like I was cheating on you in some really absurd way that didn’t make a lot of sense. So I just didn’t mention him and hoped he’d stop coming to my recitals.” The blonde man shrugged, his face still stained with dried tear tracks that flowed down his cheeks.

“Does he still come to your recitals?”

“Every single one. He hasn’t missed any of them.”

Jooheon laughed. “This must be like Christmas for you then, huh, hyung? Having your ex delivered to you on a silver platter because your boyfriend is such a soulmate slut.”

Minhyuk’s hands gripped tightly onto Jooheon’s wrists. “Don’t say that, Joohoney. You’re not a soulmate slut. You’re not a slut in any shape or form.”

“I was only kidding, hyung.”

“I know, but please don’t say things like that anymore. You having multiple people meant for you is honestly incredible. Don’t see it as something bad. It’s really not. If anything, I’m really happy that other people get to see you the same way I do, appreciate you the same way I do, love you the same way I do. You’re amazing, Joohoney. Having multiple soulmates isn’t bad or wrong because you brought all of us together and you keep us together too. That takes a lot of strength, dealing with so many people at the same time. But you manage it just fine and I’m so proud of you, Jooheon."

Jooheon blinked, a bit surprised, but then made up for it by leaning in and kissing the elder tenderly on the lips. “I promise not to joke about it again, hyung. I love you just as much, but I think there’s someone else you should probably talk to about your feelings too.”

Minhyuk sighed and nodded. “You’re right. Can you call hyung and see where he’s at, please?”

“Of course.”

When the younger finally got Hyunwoo on the phone, he realized that the snow had begun to fall heavily and tried to remember if the elder had taken gloves with him when he left earlier.

“Joohoney.”

Jooheon sighed in relief when the elder’s gruff voice greeted him after the twelfth time of trying to get a hold of him. “Hyung! Where are you? Are you alright?”

The younger put his phone on speaker and brought a finger up to his lips to signal Minhyuk about keeping quiet.

“No,” Hyunwoo responded, his voice breaking.

Minhyuk was at Jooheon’s side in a flash, his expression contorted with worry.

“Hyung, what’s wrong?” Jooheon asked.

And then the eldest sobbed into the phone and Jooheon felt his heart splutter. “Hyung?”

“Why d-doesn’t he like me, Joo-Joohoney? Do I d-disgust him? Am I that a-annoying?”

“No, hyung. You’re not annoying and Minhyuk-hyung isn’t disgusted by you. Don’t think that!”

“But it’s true!” Hyunwoo sobbed.

Jooheon shot Minhyuk a pointed look. “No, it’s not. Hyung, where are you?”

“Fountain,” came the elder’s sniffled response and Jooheon felt a hot flash of burning, white pain flare up in his chest around the area where his heart should be.

“I’ll be right there, alright, hyung?” Jooheon motioned towards the door and practically shot lasers out of his eyes when he stared at Minhyuk.

Minhyuk was already pulling his coat and gloves on when Hyunwoo answered, his voice devoid of emotion. “Okay.”

Jooheon watched the blonde leave, hoping that when he walked back through the door, his soulmate would be right behind him.

He looked down at the stag on his arm when he felt an all too familiar burn and froze because the stag had moved. Its head was down and the antlers had grown, touching the forest floor on which it stood. Jooheon smiled at the change, looking back up at the front door and hoping that his boyfriends would get back home safely.

“You’re not coming here for the uni?” Jooheon honestly wondered how he was even able to speak coherently at that moment when he could feel his heart dropping into his stomach.

“No. I’m going back to the States for school, hyung,” Changkyun’s tinny voice accompanied the pixelated image of him in a white tank top on the screen of Jooheon’s laptop.

“But, you saidーKyunnie, it’s been years. I thoughtーWhy?” Jooheon struggled to come up with complete sentences.

Changkyun sighed, the sound a bit distorted and robotic thanks to Jooheon’s shitty wifi. “Hyung, I’m more comfortable here in the States, at least school-wise. I know that if I come back to Korea and go to the uni there, I’m not going to finish getting my degree.”

“Kyunnie, Iー”

“It’s not forever. I’m going to get my bachelor’s here and then fly to you and work on my doctorate’s. My dad just has a lot of connections here in the States that are going to help me a lot in the long run.”

“But, it’s been years, Kyunnie. I haven’t seen you since you were six! And now you’re going off to the uni and I miss you like hell. Changkyun, I miss you so much.” Jooheon didn’t know when he started crying, but there was no mistaking the trail of tears that were flowing out from the corners of his eyes.

Changkyun’s voice was soft and Jooheon didn’t know if he was crying too, but the sniffling sounds that the younger was making seemed to point in that direction. “I miss you too. More than you realize, but this is about my careerーmy futureーand please understand that I have to do this, hyung. I want to do this, Joohoney.”

Even while crying, Jooheon managed to smile at the stupid nickname that he had once hated so much. “I do understand. I justーI don’t know how I’m going to survive another four years without you. It’s been so long since we played in my backyard and hell, do you remember the look on my mom’s face when you kissed me good bye?”

“Of course I do, hyung,” Changkyun was laughing and sniffling at the same time and Jooheon was only minorly concerned about how the younger’s airways were able to handle that. “It was like she’d seen God or an angel or something.”

“She was so happy… I was so happy. I was eight and you were six and we’d just found out that we were soulmates, but you kissing me felt right, Kyunnie. I-I just really miss you. Come back to me as soon as you can, yeah?” Jooheon felt dumb about crying and lifting his hand up so it looked like he was reaching out for the younger, but he smiled when Changkyun mimicked the action and smiled right back at him.

Because somewhere along the way, Jooheon and Changkyun’s friendship had turned into something else. Jooheon’s late night phone calls were Changkyun’s early morning calls. Their Skype calls were usually planned, but when they weren’t, neither of the two wasted any time in answering the other. They were there for each other. Changkyun gave his hyung advice on whatever he needed help on and Jooheon, in return, was understanding and supportive of Changkyun’s intended career in science. On those days when Minhyuk nor Hyunwoo could console him, Changkyun somehow managed. And when Hyungwon slotted himself into Jooheon’s life, Changkyun had still been there, had still been the only one who could comfort him when his other soulmates couldn’t. Changkyun had been with Jooheon the longest and somewhere along the way, Jooheon had fallen in love with his best friend.

“Four years are going to fly right by, hyung. Just you wait,” Changkyun responded, his hands wiping the tears off his cheeks and Jooheon fingers twitched.

He wished he could just pull the younger through the screen and wipe his tears for him instead.

“I love you, Kyunnie. Be good and don’t let yourself get too stressed out over school, alright?”

The younger smiled and nodded. “I won’t, hyung. I promise to take care of myself. I love you, Joohoney.”

Jooheon smiled at the ridiculous nickname again and quickly bade the younger a farewell before an all too familiar burn flared up in the crease of his elbow. He looked down at his arm and used his other hand to wipe his remaining tears away so he could see better because Jooheon had just gained another fucking soulmate. From the purple flock of birds that symbolized his platonic connection with Changkyun, one single, black bird was now flying towards the trees instead of away like the others. Jooheon didn’t know how to react, it wasn’t common for platonic soulmates to recreate themselves as romantic ones, but it had happened. Changkyun was both his platonic and romantic soulmate now. And Jooheon let out a sigh a relief he hadn’t known he’d been holding all that time. Changkyun would be back with him soon, the black bird was proof. His bird would be home and all would be well for Jooheon again.

His phone chimed and he opened the KakaoTalk message to find a photo of Changkyun’s new, identical tattoo in the group chat. Jooheon snapped a photo of his own tattoo and waited as an influx of messages came in (mostly from Hyungwon claiming they just  had to celebrate and that he knew just the place, but there was also one single selfie from Minhyuk and Hyunwoo where both of them we’re giving a thumbs up to the camera). The younger laughed at his phone and agreed to whatever ridiculous plan Hyungwon had set up, only disgruntled a teeny tiny bit when the eldest two declined and claimed they had a lot of nights spent cuddling to make up for.

Although, he did regret it a few hours later when he and Hyungwon were standing in front of a strip club.

“Whaー” the younger spluttered, his voice failing him.

“I’m going to personally throttle, be-head, and exsanguinate Kim Namjoon once I get my hands on him,” Hyungwon growled.

“You got directions to a strip club from Kim Namjoon? Are you fucking insane?”

“Listen,” Hyungwon began. “I thought he was sending us to a damn spa! Not this place!”

“How the hell did you confuse a spa for a strip club?” Jooheon shrieked.

Hyungwon sighed and ran a hand through his perfectly styled hair. “Look, we’re here and there’s a bar inside and how about we just go in and I buy you some drinks and we ignore the men in thongs who are prancing around on stage?”

“Who’s driving us home if we’re going to drink?”

“You’re going to drink. I’m going to stay like ninety-five percent sober for the night.”

“Ninety-five percent?”

“You can’t expect me to say no to a good cup of soju.”

Jooheon sighed. “I can’t believe we’re doing this.”

Hyungwon let out a happy-sounding chirp and took the younger’s hand. He led them inside the strip club, flashing a megawatt smile and slipping some won towards the security guard at the door to let them in. “It’ll be fun and come on, we just have to celebrate! It isn’t every day that your platonic soulmate suddenly turns into your romantic oneーtrust me, I searched it up on Naver to make sure.”

Jooheon couldn’t help laughing or quickly pulling the elder in for a kiss before Hyungwon dragged him over to the bar.

A few shots later and Jooheon was absolutely fucked. Hyungwon had had one single beer before he switched to ginger ale and kept a firm hand on Jooheon’s thigh at the bar. Plenty of strippers had approached them, but Hyungwon had batted them away with one single, piercing look and Jooheon was too out of it to even notice the dark haired man in black briefs and a ripped white T-shirt that was slowly inching his way towards the pair at the bar.

“I’m going to the bathroom!” Hyungwon shouted over the thumping music. “Don’t move a muscle!”

“Aye, aye, Captain!” Jooheon yelled, drunkenly miming a salute before Hyungwon was pressing his perfect fucking lips to the younger’s and, alright, maybe Jooheon had let out a breathy, little whimper when the elder pushed in forcefully against him, but if anybody asked, he would vehemently deny that fact until the day he died.

“Be back soon,” Hyungwon spoke directly into Jooheon’s ears, the pressure of his hand on Jooheon’s thigh disappearing as he pulled away.

Jooheon watched Hyungwon leave, blinking in a daze. His drunken mind took what he hoped was fully detailed notes about the exact way that the elder’s hips swayed when he walked, then measured the exact length of Hyungwon’s long, long legs, and appreciated the slender body that helped Hyungwon be the successful model that he was. And with the success came connections. Connections that definitely would help Jooheon break into the mainstream with his music, but for the moment, he was content with the intense, underground rap battles that he absolutely conquered every other week or so.

And then all too suddenly, Jooheon felt the heat of another body beside him and slowly turned in his seat to meet the gaze of the dark-haired stripper who’d been slowly encroaching on him.

“Hello,” Jooheon’s voice was gruff and he didn’t know how he was even able to speak properly because everything was beginning to blur together and was the guy beside him gorgeous or what?

“Hi, sweetheart.” Fuck. Jooheon was so fucking fucked because the guy was shooting him a wide grin and Jooheon just wanted to lean and kiss this gorgeous random stranger on the nose and tell him how beautiful he was. “Can I talk you into a dance?”

Jooheon nodded, because fuck yeah this guy could give him a lapdance. Jooheon was way too drunk to be dealing with this type of crap and Hyungwon still hadn’t returned so the younger reasoned that he may as well enjoy himself, at least a little bit.

“No touching or my dear friend here,” the gorgeous man in the ripped shirt stuck a thumb out in the bartender’s direction who was shooting Jooheon the death glare. “Will chase you out of here at gunpoint. Got it?”

“Uh, yeah. A-Alright,” Jooheon stuttered and seriously how the hell was he even able to speak?

The world was bright, sparkly, and fucking spinning and Jooheon was about to lose his shit, but then the stripper straddled his thighs and Jooheon lost his train of thought for awhile. He most definitely had a semi in his jeans already and fuck, why had he drank so many shots? Why had Hyungwon let him drink so much? And speaking of Hyungwon, where in the fuck was Jooheon’s lousy excuse of a soulmate at and why hadn’t he came back from the bathroom yet? It didn’t take that goddamn long to take a fucking piss. And shit, how come this guy’s ass fit so fucking perfectly in Jooheon’s lap that it was downright unfair?

“Your thighs are honestly the best I’ve ever seen.”

Great, now a stripper was complimenting Jooheon on his thighs. Where the hell was Hyungwon?

Jooheon only grunted in response because Jesus fuck, the way this guy was working his hips should have been downright illegal.

Then the man reached behind him to grip onto Jooheon’s bare arms and Jooheon barely noticed the flash of light and the bang that followed. The man had gone completely still in Jooheon’s lap and Jooheon didn’t even feel the burn on his arm, but he knew what had happened. Somewhere in his fucked up state, his brain had recognized the signs and signals and gave Jooheon the simple output of it all. This stripper was another one of his soulmates and when the guy slowly raised their arms up to compare, Jooheon barely made out the moon tattooed in black ink that hovered above his forest.

“So, s-soulmate?” Jooheon slurred, his vision dizzy.

“I suppose so,” the man who sat in his lap answered, his voice barely loud enough to be heard over the music.

“Guess that makes five now,” Jooheon said to himself, or at least that’s what he had thought in his head and had tried to speak aloud, but had only gotten a gurgle instead.

“I leave for five minutes and you already got a stripper. Christ, Joohoney,” Hyungwon’s voice startled the younger, but the man on his lap stayed put and gripped onto Jooheon’s arm tighter to keep him in place.

Jooheon didn’t really understand what was going on in that moment, but he did make out the hand that belonged to Hyungwon as he reached out to trace the new tattoo on Jooheon’s forearm.

“Two soulmates in one day, you must be on a roll, Joohoney,” Hyungwon laughed as he moved his hand to hover over Jooheon’s new soulmate’s arm. “May I…?”

“Wonho,” Jooheon’s soulmate said, then nodded his head in response to Hyungwon’s question. “Well, actually it’s Hoseok, but Wonho is what every one calls me here andー”

But Hoseok never finished his sentence because as soon as Hyungwon had let his fingers brush against the pale skin of his forearm where the new tattoo lay, another flash of light and bang rang out around them. Jooheon was drunk out of his mind, sure, but he still felt more than saw what had happened.

“No way.” Jooheon’s vision was absolutely fucked, yet his voice still worked enough to manage muttering out his disbelief when Hoseok drew his arm away from Hyungwon’s fingers.

A thicket of trees identical to the ones that decorated Jooheon’s own arm now were inked onto Hoseok’s forearm and a moon hung over the trees on Hyungwon’s arm.

“Do you mind coming back to our apartment with us? There’s a lot we need to talk about,” Hyungwon held his hand out for Hoseok to take.

“I’d love that.” Hoseok took it without question and stood up from Jooheon’s lap, then looked towards the bartender who was shooting them concerned glares. “Tell Jae I left early. Soulmate business.”

The bartender nodded and Hoseok drew his attention back towards Hyungwon who was helping Jooheon up from his seat.

“Yeah. We would love thaー” The rest of Jooheon’s sentence was cut off when he doubled over and threw up all over the floor of the strip club that Hyungwon had mistakenly took for a spa.

He only had Kim Namjoon to thank for that.

  Thankfully, Changkyun’s gift had came just in time for Jooheon’s graduation. And though it wasn’t what the elder truly wanted (he would have preferred a lanky, shy Changkyun with a pretty red bow on top), he still appreciated the new soundboard that Changkyun and Changkyun’s father had sent.

His graduation ceremony was boring, but when he was being escorted by his four soulmates to the new penthouse apartment that Hyungwon had been trying to get them to move into for months, Jooheon felt something rise in his chest. It was an inexplicable feeling, yet something about the way that his soulmates were looking at him with pure pride in their soft gazes made him feel warm. Jooheon was on cloud nine and he couldn’t help the feeling of giddiness that was engulfing him.

It was for that reason Jooheon didn’t object to Hoseok pushing him up against a wall and pinning him there with his hips while Hyungwon got to work on shedding him of his clothes. He didn’t object to Hyunwoo marking up his throat and Minhyuk slowly scissoring him open either. It wasn’t the first time that Jooheon had had sex with any of them, but that night was the first time he’d had sex with all of them.

Though the next day his ass was particularly sore and his limbs felt unhinged, body like jelly, Jooheon still thought that waking up in the new, enormous bed beside his naked soulmates who were tangled together was something he didn’t think he would ever forget.

And then Jackson was banging on his front door, dragging Mark and Jinyoung into the penthouse after him as he made himself at home in Jooheon’s new, sparkly kitchen demanding that he and his boyfriends be fed. Life had a funny way of slapping Jooheon awake and the dreamy feeling he’d had when he woke up was gone when Jackson came yelling through his front door.

At least Hyungwon had the decency to wait a week before telling Jooheon that he’d hooked him up with an interview at a company called Starship Entertainment. Jooheon was suddenly shoved into adult life (and a nice outfit that Hyungwon had put together for him). The most embarrassing thing though was he was literally having his hand held during his first work interview (Hoseok had refused to let the younger go by himself since Minhyuk and Hyunwoo were going to be busy at Minhyuk’s new ballet studio and Hyungwon had pulled enough strings that allowed the elder to accompany Jooheon).

But the interview had gone well, better than Jooheon had even expected. Things were bustling inside the company, no one took a break. Jooheon liked that. He also liked the recording rooms he’d been shown and he also liked how welcoming the people working there were.

Though he probably liked the praise he received from a rapper with the stage name of Mad Clown even more.

“Please call me Dongrim-hyung,” the senior rapper had gushed after hopping into Jooheon’s interview when it was reaching its end.

Jooheon took the hand that Dongrim offered him and gave him a wide smile, much more relaxed now that his interview was over. “Jooheon. Nice to meet you.”

“Oh, it is definitely nice to meet you! Hyungwon-ssi asked me to accompany him to one of your underground performances last month and I was amazed,” Dongrim grinned and shook Jooheon’s hand longer than was necessary. “I’m one hundred percent sure you're going to get the job and I hope you enjoy working here.”

“Thank you so much, hyung!” The younger couldn't help but grin, then quickly ushered Hoseok forward when he caught sight of the pout that his soulmate was sporting from being ignored. “This is Hoseok-hyung, by the way. He's one of my soulmates.”

Dongrim reluctantly let go of Jooheon’s hand to shake Hoseok’s instead. “Nice to meet you. You must be very proud of Jooheon-ah.”

Hoseok gave the older man a dashing smile. “Oh, we all are. I trust you to take care of our Joohoney while he works here.”

Jooheon sucked his teeth at the dumb nickname and let out a groan when Dongrim responded, “I personally will make sure that Joohoney wants for naught for while working here.”

Hoseok nodded and gave the rapper a polite smile before tugging Jooheon more firmly into his side. “We should get going. The others are waiting for us back home. They want to know how the interview went.”

“I’ll see you soon, Joohoney! It was nice meeting you in person today,” Dongrim excitedly shook Jooheon’s hand again before he turned on his heel and retreated back into his own personal studio that Jooheon had walked past during his tour of the company.

Hoseok was quick to turn to Jooheon and give him a teasing remark. “Seems like someone else is already in love with you. Whatever shall we do?”

Jooheon laughed. “Hyung, stop it. Come on, let's go home.”

Hoseok grinned, pecked Jooheon soundly on the lips then led the way down the hall. “Still, you can't deny that he's absolutely starstruck by you.”

“I think it was more of just fascination, hyung. There's really nothing that would make someone starstruck about me.”

Hoseok gave a little tsk, and Jooheon forcibly motioned towards the two people who were walking towards them. A girl with short black hair, a much too skinny frame and a wide, smitten smile directed towards the man beside her who was plainly an idol, if the way he walked like he owned the place gave anything away. He was handsome, incredibly so, and short, but Jooheon found his height endearing.

“I could imagine people being starstruck by him,” Jooheon drew Hoseok’s attention towards the pair at the end of the hall. “I mean, even that girl obviously likes him, hyung. But I'm just plain me, I'm no star and I don’t really want to be one.”

“But you're my star,” Hoseok gave the younger a tender smile. “And I'm your moon. So we're even. Now shut up and enjoy the flattery.”

Jooheon laughed, but his laugh was overridden by the shrill laughter of the girl from before who was laughing dramatically at something that the man beside her had said. They were closer to Jooheon now, almost a foot away, so when the girl playfully pushed the man with just a bit more force than was necessary, Jooheon wasn't all that surprised to have the man be shoved into him.

He was surprised, however, when his hands reached out to steady the man by his elbows, his arms bare, and a flash of light and a bang rang out between them.

Hoseok was the first to react in the stunned silence that followed. He grabbed both their arms to compare the new, matching tattoos. In Jooheon’s trees was now a nest. The man before him had a similar tattoo, but not exactly since he was missing most of the trees. He had only the surrounding area of the nest filled with leaves and treetops in the background. Hoseok smiled at the nest tattooed in black ink anyways.

“Soulmates,” he proclaimed. “When Hyunwoo-hyung told me you're prone to picking up soulmates in the strangest of places, I only half believed him, considering we met in that strip club I used to work in, but now, yeah, I can totally see what he meant.”

Jooheon’s face was blazing red. “Hyung, shut up. You'll scare him away.”

The girl who’d been walking down the hall with Jooheon’s new soulmate spoke up, and Jooheon really wished she hadn't. “Of course, he’s gay. No wonder he wouldn't catch onto any of the hints I gave.”

Hoseok and Jooheon both looked up to glare at her for the malice in her tone, but she only shrugged then continued on her way down the hall and away from the trio.

“Well now that she's gone,” Hoseok muttered under his breath before shooting a dazzling smile in the man’s direction. “I'm Hoseok, and this lovely man beside me that you’ve just intertwined your entire life with is Jooheon. Call him Joohoney though, he loves it.”

Jooheon shot him a glare. “I do not.”

“Oh, but when Changkyun calls you it, it's totally and completely fine, isn't it?”

“Shut up, hyung,” Jooheon muttered under his breath.

“What was that? I can't hear you,” Hoseok teased in a sing-song voice.

Their banter was interrupted when Jooheon’s new soulmate let out a squawk.

“Hey, he's a bird!” Hoseok exclaimed excitedly. “No wonder your tattoos are a nest. The bird needs a home.”

Jooheon didn't miss the way that Hoseok’s gaze had turned soft near the end of his sentence. “Hyung, he's my soulmate. Stop trying to make a move on him.”

“Minhyuk-ah and Hyunwoo-hyung are also your soulmates, but I don't see you complaining when I'm sucking Minhyuk’s cock and fucking Hyunwoo at the same time.”

“Hyung!”

“What? I'm just saying.”

“Oh my god.”

“You do what?” The man asked, his voice hoarse and sounding strangled.

“I suck and fuー” Hoseok began.

“He does kinky shit. Just ignore him for now,” Jooheon clamped his hand over Hoseok’s mouth. “Um, can I know what your name is?”

“Yoo Kihyun.”

“Kihyun,” Jooheon smiled, fighting to keep his hand over Hoseok’s mouth. “I'm Lee Jooheon. This is my other soulmate, Shin Hoseok. He doesn't know when to keep things to himself.”

Hoseok managed to get Jooheon’s hand away from his mouth. “On the contrary, if he's your soulmate, that means he’ll be around often, also meaning that out kinky orgies just got kinkier and bigger.”

“Hyung!”

But Kihyun only laughed and nodded his head. “He does have a point.”

“Not you too!”

The eldest laughed and threw a companionable arm over Kihyun’s shoulders. “Come on. Come back with us to our place and I’ll show you exactly what I mean.”

Kihyun gave a nervous cough and shot Jooheon with a pointed look. Jooheon was quick to dive in between the two.

“Hyung, Kihyunnie is my soulmate. You will not disturb his innocence until he is one hundred certain about it,” Jooheon stared daggers at Hoseok, then turned to look at Kihyun who was blushing a furious red at the endearing name Jooheon had just called him. “But would you mind coming back to our place? We have a lot to talk about and I'm sure the others would love to meet you.”

Kihyun gave Jooheon a dazzling smile. “I’d love that, Joohoney.”

Jooheon groaned at the old nickname.

“Jackson’s going to have a field day with this one,” Hoseok teased.

“Shut up, hyung,” Jooheon smiled and quickly gave the elder a peck on the lips before Kihyun took his hand and started to lead the way down the hall.

“I think my life just got a bit more interesting,” Kihyun shot over his shoulder.

Jooheon smiled. “I think ours did too.”

  Living with five other people might have been a burden if someone didn't have a person like Hyungwon as one of their soulmates.

Hyungwon was overly kind and generous, at least when he wasn't acting cold or aloof. Through his modeling career, he’d gained many connections and a lot of wealth. Most of the time, he never hesitated to use them. This was old news to Jooheon, but he still wondered almost daily how his life would be if he didn't have Hyungwon.

For one, he wouldn't have a bed or a living space big enough to fit all of them. His refrigerator wouldn't be chock full of food and he wouldn't have gotten his job as a producer at Starship if it hadn't been for Hyungwon either. Minhyuk and Hyunwoo wouldn't have been able to kick start Minhyuk’s ballet studio if it hadn't been for the investment from that dance company Hyungwon used to work for before becoming a model. Hoseok would still be taking night shifts at the strip club Jooheon had met him in if it wasn't for Hyungwon offering to pay for Hoseok’s classes at the uni. Kihyun would be living off ramen and other microwaveable foods instead of the fresh fruits, vegetables, and meat that Hyungwon specifically stocked their kitchen with for Kihyun alone.

Suffice to say, Hyungwon was their backbone and it was clear why he had gotten trees when Jooheon had met him. He stood firm and his connections to others help Jooheon hang on.

Then there was Hoseok, Hyungwon and Jooheon’s soulmate. He was different from Hyungwon in many ways. Jooheon liked to lean on him the most when he felt that his negative thoughts and feelings were trying to suffocate him.

Hoseok was light and airy and he never failed to shed some light on a difficult or dark situation. Jooheon liked him. He was kind. He was sweet. He was very open about his feelings, but he was overly subconscious about his body.

It took months for Hoseok to talk himself into getting a job as a stripper. He did it for the money. But he hated how he looked. He complained that he was just too big. He liked his muscles and pecs just fine, but when it came to his abdomen and his lanky limbs, Hoseok shied away from remarks made about them. It was generally why he always insisted on wearing baggy T-shirts with everything. Jooheon didn't push him about it. Everyone had things they weren't completely confident about. Hoseok’s thing just happened to be his body.

But it was fine. Jooheon and the others had made it their mission a long time ago to get Hoseok to understand how much they loved him and not his body. When the others began to make grand gestures about dwarfing their own bodies, Hoseok caught on to what they had planned and trumped them all by taking to walking around the house naked.

Afterwards, he quit his job at the strip club, not because the others had pressured him, but because he finally had the money to start his law classes at the uni.

By then it was clear that the light which Hoseok shined depended upon the light of others, like how the moon depended on the sun to shine at night.

Minhyuk was similar to Hoseok in a few ways. They were both kind and understanding and they both were skilled in dance. But by then, the similarities ended.

Jooheon’s first boyfriend was as delicate as he was sturdy. He was graceful and fought for his own. He was both socially and sexually dominant and when it came down to it, he was ready to fight whenever one of his loved ones was being threatened. Minhyuk was a force of nature and Jooheon felt very protective of him.

Minhyuk was exactly like the stag that decorated their forearms. He was strong, he defended his own, and he stood his ground, the ground being Hyunwoo.

Hyunwoo was the eldest of them all and with that title came the responsibility of taking care of them all. Everyone centered themselves around the eldest. He was calm, cool, and collected. It was this that helped him make important business decisions concerning the ballet studio that he had opened up with Minhyuk two years before.

In the years that Jooheon had known him, Hyunwoo had only cried five times. The first time when he’d broken down and begged Jooheon to fuck him senseless, the second time when Minhyuk welcomed Hyungwon with open arms, the third and fourth time when Minhyuk and Jooheon graduated and he was overwhelmed with pride, and the last time when Minhyuk had bottomed out in him for the first time, balls deep in the elder.

A lot of things didn't affect the elder emotionally, but it was because he was scared. If he broke down, everyone else would come crumbling down with him too. He couldn't afford to let his emotions run free. Hyunwoo grounded them all and without him they’d be a mess.

Kihyun, though new, was something they’d been missing. Whenever he wasn't busy with his idol duties, he was cooking dinner for six in the kitchen, he was cleaning four rooms, and he was nagging at the others like a mother telling her children to pick up after themselves.

Kihyun had been with them for over a year already and he was clearly adept for home life. Jooheon could even see the elder child rearing, but he didn't expect for Kihyun to give up being an idol any time soon. His voice was amazing, it was wonderful, it was filled with emotion and Jooheon couldn't see Kihyun having a career that didn't include singing in it. Singing was Kihyun’s life.

None of the others minded that Kihyun had a busy schedule and sometimes left the country for a few weeks at a time before coming back to them. He hadn't officially moved into the penthouse with them, but his clothes were in the large closet that took up the entire room Hyungwon had redesigned. His yellow toothbrush stood beside the other five in the main bathroom. His toiletries were hidden under the sink so Hoseok wouldn't use them while he was away (he still did). There was a pillow with a Kihyun-shaped dent in it in their massive bed. And there were three pairs of extra shoes with the initials YK on the tags right by their front door. All that stood between Kihyun officially moving in with them was bringing whatever keepsakes he had back at the dorms he shared with trainees and another solo artist to their penthouse apartment and buying a bigger table to fit them all.

Kihyun had never really had a home to begin with though. His parents had abandoned him with his abusive aunt when he was a toddler and he had run away to the companies when he was twelve. He’d been a trainee for six to seven years, jumping from company to company until he finally debuted as a solo artist with Starship. Sometimes Jooheon thought that the elder would hightail his way out of their lives because he wasn't used to being in one place for so long. But Kihyun was home. He’d fought for his own since he was young and it didn't matter where he went because Kihyun was secure in the fact that home wasn't a place. Kihyun didn't need anyone else to be his home either, he was his own home. Jooheon cried silently when Kihyun had told him of his past, but when Hoseok and Minhyuk enveloped the idol in a tight hug that resulted in the others joining in, something warm swelled in his heart.

Kihyun might have been on the move for most of his life, but when Jooheon woke up to him cooking in the kitchen or vacuuming in the spare bedroom, he couldn't help but think that domestic life suited the elder.

And Kihyun, he was home for all of them.

Which only left Changkyun, the single, tiny bird who was fighting to get home. To get back to the nest.

Jooheon had a sneaking suspicion that when Changkyun finally returned in the year to come, he and Kihyun would be soulmates as well. There was no way that Jooheon could ignore the symbolism of his tattoos, and he couldn't ignore the fact that Changkyun was a bird and Kihyun the nest. It only made sense to theorize that they would be soulmates as well.

Changkyun was flighty. He was afraid of commitment and he had told Jooheon the very same thing years ago. But before being romantic soulmates, they’d been platonic ones instead. Meaning that before anything else, Changkyun was his best friend. They had stayed together for more years than Jooheon could count, even with the thousands of miles between them. That was something that neither of the two took lightly. Somewhere along the way they’d fallen in love and Jooheon had never looked back.

But Changkyun had. He didn't know what he wanted. Jooheon had tried to help him the best he could, yet in the end, it'd been Changkyun’s father who’d set everything straight. Jooheon had been informed of Changkyun’s father talking with the younger for an entire night. When morning had come, Changkyun had called him on Skype, sleep deprived, a bit delirious, and still as handsome as ever to tell him about his plans for the uni.

Jooheon understood though and that was finally when their platonic bond turned romantic.

He was still young and he had his whole life ahead of him, but Jooheon knew that there was nobody else. There were no other soulmates. It was him, it was Changkyun, it was Minhyuk, it was Hyunwoo, it was Hyungwon, it was Hoseok, it was Kihyun, and it was all of them together. Nothing more and nothing less.

He couldn't wait until his bird came home.

  “I'm gonna miss you like hell, man,” Jooheon was sort of kind of close to tears.

Of course if Jackson asked, he would deny it like the tough guy he was, but even tough men cried and Jooheon took comfort in that fact as he let only a few tears slip out from his tear ducts.

“I’ll miss you too, more than you know,” Jackson was bawling openly, his hands tangled into the fabric of Jooheon’s sweater.

Jinyoung and Mark stood behind Jackson, their bags in hand, and arms linked together as they waited for the younger to finish saying goodbye.

Jooheon swiped his sleeve across his nose. “I’ll miss all three of you. You guys wereーare some of the truest friends I’ve ever had. I’m sad to see you go.”

Jackson laughed and pulled Jooheon into his embrace. “This isn’t goodbye forever. You still have to come to the wedding. And when Kihyun-hyung is having tours in the States, you’re going to be with him so you can visit us at our place in LA with Mark’s parents.”

“And if I don’t?” Jooheon smiled through his tears, having given up on the pretense of pretending not to cry.

“I’ll murder your firstborn. Don’t test me. I expect yearly visits and if you don’t come to me, then I’m coming to you, you ass,” Jackson’s threat was empty and both men knew it, but Jooheon played along anyways.

“Why would you murder your god child? You are one heartless son of a bitch.”

Jackson slapped his arm playfully. “Shut up. I would never murder anyone, let alone my god chーOh my god. My god child . Are you serious?”

“Of course. Who else is going to teach my future child about the dangers of hair dye and not matching their clothing?”

“I love you.”

“I love you just as much.”

They stood before one another for a few silent moments until Jinyoung coughed awkwardly behind them and Jooheon pulled Jackson in for one last hug before he let go.

“I have to go.”

“I know,” Jooheon hesitated before continuing. “I’m sorry the others couldn’t make it. All of them were busy with something that involved the surprise that Changkyun got me.”

But Jackson only gave him an amused smile in return. “Oh, no. They’re here.”

“What?”

“Look behind you, Joohoney.”

When he turned, Jooheon wept harder than he ever had before.

Because there, waiting for him to notice them, were his soulmates. All of them.

“Holy shit,” Jooheon whispered under his breath, then turned back to face Jackson again with silent tears streaming down his face. “You knew?”

Jackson smiled and nodded. “We all knew.”

“I can’t believe you guys did this,” Jooheon shook his head, a wide grin plastered across his face.

“Well, believe it. We did it and there’s nothing you can do but go to them. I’ll see you at the wedding, yeah?”

Jooheon nodded and forcefully pulled Jackson into his arms one last time. “Thank you. Take care, Jacky. You’ll always be my best friend.”

“And you mine. Goodbye, Joohoney.”

Jooheon watched Jackson walk away. He watched as his best friend took the hands that his soulmates held out to him and Jooheon smiled because they were happy and that was all he wished for his best friend to have.

And then he turned and ran towards his own soulmates, throwing himself into Changkyun’s arms. Not reacting when an all too familiar flash of light and a bang rang out around them and Jooheon felt the telltale burn on his arm. He pulled back to compare their tattoos and cried because Changkyun’s arm already had the nest tattooed on it. Now the single black bird was perched in its nest, finally at home.

The others converged on them and then everyone was touching him. There was no flash of light or a bang, but they all felt the burn on their arms when they simultaneously touched Jooheon.

Jooheon pulled back to look at his arm and took notice of the new additions. There was a sky now in the background, littered with tons of tiny stars. It was him, looking over the others and making sure they all coexisted peacefully. His soulmates all had Jooheon’s tattoo, the forest floor, the stag, the trees, the moon, the nest, the bird, and the stars. Their tattoos were finally pieced together because together was when they were the most vulnerable, but it was also when they were the strongest.

And to think, all it had taken for them to be interconnected for the rest of their lives was for the bird to return back to its nest.

  Jooheon rocked his hips and relished in the moan that Changkyun gave out. He could plainly hear Hoseok and Hyungwon in the shower, having some fun, but the sounds of Minhyuk’s moan from the living room couch seemed to be louder. Of course it was understandable though, it was the first time that Minhyuk had bottomed, and he was doing it for Hyunwoo.

But at the moment, none of that really mattered because it was him and it was Changkyun underneath him, the younger’s fingers digging into his hips as Jooheon set up a slow pace. Changkyun’s moans were breathy, and quiet and they were oh-so-pretty and Jooheon bit his lip to keep from moaning aloud because all he wanted was to hear the younger slowly unravel beneath him.

Then Changkyun was pulling his chest down so they bumped against one another and whispered in his ear, “I want to hear you.”

So Jooheon obliged and let out the whimper that’d been stuck in his throat for the past half hour or so. Changkyun smiled at the noise, nosed a trail along Jooheon’s collarbones and rocked his hips, eliciting a drawn out moan from the elder.

Kihyun entered the room then, his shirt already off and working on his briefs. He climbed into the bed beside them and grabbed the container of lube that they’d discarded. He covered his fingers in it then leaned in close, curving himself around Jooheon’s back.

“Joohoney,” Kihyun practically moaned in his ear because the sight of Changkyun’s thick cock buried deep within Jooheon was such a sight to behold. “Mind if I join?”

“No,” Jooheon moaned, his hips moving tantalizingly slow against Changkyun. “P-Please do.”

Kihyun smiled and pressed a kiss to the younger’s shoulder blade before he leaned down to swiftly kiss Changkyun’s lips. He pulled back and settled himself on Changkyun’s calves, watching for a moment while the younger slowly rocked himself into Jooheon. He slid a lubed finger into Jooheon’s stuffed hole, right alongside Changkyun’s cock, and shivered when Jooheon let out the most delicious sounding noise he’d ever heard.

He curled his finger and practically drooled at the crude sound that Jooheon made. While Changkyun slowly oscillated himself into Jooheon, Kihyun gradually got three fingers into him working alongside Changkyun’s cock. Then he slipped in a fourth finger and Jooheon thought he lost his sanity.

Everything felt so good and he was so full. Tears leaked out of the corners of his eyes when Kihyun flexed his fingers inside him, scissoring him open and rubbing against his prostate with Changkyun’s cock beside them, driving deeper and deeper into him. He whined when Kihyun pulled his fingers out, but soon let out a choked moan because he could feel every, single centimeter of Kihyun’s cock as it in slid in beside Changkyun’s.

“Oh fuー” Jooheon cried, his hands scrambling for purchase on Changkyun’s shoulders, his ass poised in the air with not one, but two of his soulmates’ dicks in him.

They stopped moving for a moment, allowing Jooheon to get used to the feeling of them both in him then moved when Jooheon whined and forcibly pushed his hips down on them both.

Changkyun and Kihyun moaned when they moved at the same time and rubbed against each other. Inside Jooheon it was tight and hot and slicked up with lube, but it was all bare skin against bare skin and Jooheon’s veins felt on fire.

The two rocked themselves into him and set up a fast rhythm when they rubbed against Jooheon’s prostate. Tears were streaming down Jooheon’s face and he was so close, so fucking close he could just see it. He could see the orgasm that was waiting for him.

Changkyun came first, with a shout of Jooheon’s name. His eyes were pinched closed and his body felt like jelly as Jooheon and Kihyun continued to move, chasing their own orgasms.

Kihyun came right after, his eyes half open and a whisper of Changkyun’s name on his lips. His entire body was on fire and Jooheon was still moving, his ass clenching tight on both Changkyun and Kihyun’s cocks.

Then Jooheon came, seeing blinding white, and a mantra of both Kihyun and Changkyun’s names emitting from his lips. He was so goddamn in love with them, all of them and it was in these blissful moments after an orgasm that Jooheon really understood the depth of his love for them all.

All three men collapsed side by side, Changkyun and Kihyun curling around Jooheon, murmuring words into his ears. Changkyun cleaned them up and Kihyun took it upon himself to mark Jooheon’s collarbones with red and purples flowers.

“We love you so much. You did so well taking us both, Joohoney,” they spoke almost simultaneously and Jooheon was justーout of it.

“You brought us all together and we love you so much.”

Jooheon made a happy-sounding whimper and nuzzled himself into Kihyun’s chest.

The world was bright and he was happy and then his other four lovers were crawling into the bed beside them, kissing him, hugging him, touching him. Jooheon smiled and knew that his plan for dinner was going to be the most biggest and best decision he would ever make.

Even with knowing that it was what he wanted, Jooheon was still a mumbling, shaky mess that had whispered his question at first.

“What?” Minhyuk asked.

But Jooheon was frozen, he couldn't open his mouth. So instead he stood up from his chair at the table and dropped down onto one knee.

“Oh my god,” Hyungwon gasped beside him.

“Is heー?” Hoseok couldn't bring himself to finish.

“Yeah, he is,” Hyunwoo murmured, his gaze soft.

“Holy shit,” Kihyun let out, his eyes hilariously wide.

Except Jooheon wasn't laughing. He was sweating in his ripped jeans and black jumper. He was on one knee, staring expectantly at them all, his jaw locked and hands uselessly by his side.

“So are you just gonna keep kneeling or are you going to ask us to marry you, hyung?” Changkyun smirked, his gaze tender and tone teasing.

Jooheon’s arms moved by themselves, but he was relieved when the box he’d stored under the table was being dragged out by his hands. Then it was opened and there lay the seven rings Jooheon had bought.

Finally, he was able to speak again when he caught the gazes of the others.

“W-Will you marry m-me?” He stuttered, but he was sure there was nothing more he wanted than them.

“Yes!” Minhyuk practically threw himself over the table and into Jooheon’s lap, settling himself into the embrace of the first man who’d stuck by his side.

Jooheon looked towards the others, pulling out Minhyuk’s ring and sliding it onto the elder’s finger as he did.

Hyunwoo kneeled beside him and nodded, letting Jooheon slide his ring on his finger as well. There were tears in his eyes, but he said nothing as he kissed the younger breathless.

“Of course,” Hyungwon smiled, pressing his lips to Jooheon’s forehead as he sat down beside him, grinning happily when he got his ring.

“Fuck yeah I’ll marry you!” Hoseok jumped at them, his long arms encircling the four men on the floor and waited patiently for Jooheon to put his ring on him as well.

Then Kihyun stepped up and kissed them all before he nodded his head in agreement. “Yeah, I’d love that.”

After Kihyun’s ring was slid onto his finger, all six men stared at Changkyun, waiting for a response.

Changkyun fidgeted, shaking a bit with nerves, but the smile he gave Jooheon was soft and filled to the brim with affection.

“I don't know why we wouldn't marry you, but since you're asking, then yeah, of course I'll marry you, hyung,” Changkyun coughed out, his face blazing as he plopped down beside them on the floor.

When Jooheon slid the second to last ring onto Changkyun’s finger, the others struggled over putting the last ring in the box on Jooheon’s finger. Somehow they managed though and Jooheon, well, Jooheon was happy.

Though maybe not as happy as Jackson was when Jooheon facetimed him to inform his best friend of the engagement.

But still, Jooheon was happy enough and that was what counted.

  It was at age five that he first learned of soulmates.

It was at age eight when he met his first soulmate and at age twenty six when he met his last.

And yeah, people finding their soulmates was pretty rare. It wasn’t unheard of, but it did at one point almost vanish completely. And then it began back up again, different than the last time. People had different types of soulmates. Others had multiple. Some had none. Most still found their soulmate through the tattoo method, and the tattoo method still varied by person. Some people had their soulmate’s name tattooed across their ribs from birth. Some only acquired a matching tattoo, accompanied by a flash of light, when they met their soulmate. And others received a colored tattoo when they met their platonic soulmates. People could end up with a platonic soulmate, a romantic one, both, or none at all. Nothing was set in stone and soulmates were complicated, but that didn’t deter twenty eight year old Lee Jooheon from lying in bed every night with his six husbands who he loved so.

Lee Jooheon had met his soulmates by accident, sure, but maybe that was just how it was meant to be.

And Jooheon wasn’t going to complain because in the end, all of his birds were perched safely in the nest that was his heart.

[bonneibennett]

You should write a lil something for the pregnancy au you made recently for Bamon! Please please with a cherry on top 🍒!!!

Awww okay but fair warning, pregnancy au stuff is not my forte! Like I’ve never been pregnant before... so if anything is super off, just let me know. But anyway, here’s what I came up with. Hope you like how it turned out!

(For anyone who missed the gifset being referenced, it’s HERE.)

Sitting in the passenger seat of the Camaro, Bonnie uncrossed and then crossed her legs again, feeling restless. She had been vaguely nauseous all morning.

Outside, the scenery flew cheerily by. Inside the car, however, it was quiet. Tense.

Out of the corner of her eye, she watched Damon. He gripped the steering wheel just a little too tight. Paid just a little too much attention to the road in front of him.

His usual snark was MIA, his mood inscrutable. His lips formed a thin, rigid line.

He had been a little off ever since Bonnie had shown him that pregnancy test. The two blue lines were undeniable, as strange and tempting as it had been at first to deny it.

The pair hadn’t really discussed having kids. Honestly, who in their right minds would have thought it would even be possible? Damon was supposed to be dead, 150 years ago.

Not to mention, she’d been dead a couple of times herself now.

When he found her on that beach in Lisbon, two years after his divorce from Elena and almost a decade into her worldwide tour of self-discovery, they’d just been happy enough to exist. To exist together. Neither had thought much through beyond that point.

Things between them had always been like that. Natural, effortless in a way, even when it wasn’t easy. Even when she hated him and he mistrusted her, they could each read the other like a book. That was what was so scary in the first place.

But in the end, that mutual understanding was the bond that kept everything afloat, even at the times when the world was literally crumbling around them. And they were Bonnie and Damon from Mystic Falls, so in the years since that reunion on the beach, those times were not exactly uncommon.

But this? This was new, for sure.

Those two lines on that piece of plastic were more overwhelming than any supernatural threat, Bonnie thought. Those two lines were amazing, beautiful, and somehow… utterly terrifying.

Upon seeing them, Damon immediately dove into master plan mode. Within two hours, Bonnie was scheduled for her initial prenatal visit, books on pregnancy and parenting were ordered and being shipped by Amazon, and their trip to Bali that had been scheduled for what would now possibly be her third trimester was canceled.

Bonnie had sat, shellshocked, on the couch in the parlor of the boardinghouse. Meanwhile, Damon was a flurry of activity around her. She answered his questions numbly, and he desperately googled and called and bought and cancelled.

And here they were, the next morning, on their way to their first official prenatal visit.

She turned towards him slightly. “Damon?”

There was no answer, as the Camaro rumbled faithfully down the road.

She placed a hand over his on the gear shift, and he tensed.

“Yeah?”

She opened her mouth but couldn’t think of what to say. “Um, never mind.” She turned back to stare out the passenger side window.

Suddenly, the car swerved onto the shoulder and screeched to a halt.

Damon shifted the car into park and clenched his eyes shut, bringing a hand up to rub at his temple wearily.

Bonnie frowned. “What are you doing? We’ll be late for our appointment.”

“I dragged you out of the house a half hour early because I was scared we’d be late. We have time.” Damon opened his eyes and found Bonnie watching him. He searched her gaze, as neither spoke for a moment.

“Can we… can we even do this?” he finally asked, quietly.

Bonnie’s heart lurched.

“I mean, how the hell does someone like me being some poor kid’s dad NOT completely ruin that kid’s life?” He dragged his hands through his hair.

Bonnie shook her head, but he was already continuing on.

“My father didn’t do half the messed up things I’ve done, and he was a complete nightmare, a monster of a parent,” he said, slamming a hand against the steering wheel. “Shit.”

Bonnie took his hand off of the steering wheel and cradled it in both of her own in her lap. She rubbed soothing circles into his palm.

“I… I don’t know what to say. You know it’s not like I have any idea what having a mom is really supposed to be like either.”

He frowned at her. “Any kid would be lucky-“

She shook her head again, silencing him. “I’m fucking terrified, Damon.”

He stared at her, at last recognizing the tense cant of her smile, her antsy legs, her quiet non-answers to his questions the night before.

He dragged his hand up from her lap and gently cradled her cheek. A beat passed wordlessly as they stared at each other, their shared fear in the end finally giving way to some glimmer of hope.

He leaned towards her and placed a soft kiss on her forehead.

“Bonnie, whatever we do, we’ll do it together. And we’ll make it work, like we always do,” he said.

She smiled. “Like we always do,” she echoed.

—

After what felt like hours of poking and prodding, of blood draws and urine samples, of complex medical histories, Bonnie finally found herself in the ultrasound lab.

She lay on a patient bed with her tank top pulled up to reveal her abdomen, which had been slathered with cold (so cold!) gel. Damon leaned against the bed rail and watched her, his dwindling patience with the whole process wearing on his already frayed nerves.

The ultrasound tech pushed a wide wand over the gel smoothly, but with enough pressure that Bonnie was clearly uncomfortable.

Damon bristled as she grimaced, the cold gel spreading further across her skin with the movement of the wand.

He glanced up at their physician who was monitoring the screen while the tech performed the sonogram. “She’s been through a lot today already. Is everything going to be okay, Doc?”

Suddenly a heavy thumping sound could be heard from the speakers of the monitor, and the grainy image on the screen was moving.

The doctor smiled. “You and your wife have nothing to worry about. Your baby’s heartbeat sounds good.”

Bonnie gasped, and Damon sat up straight, staring at the physician and then to Bonnie in awe.

The physician continued, motioning to different parts of the screen with one hand. “See, here’s his head. And there goes a little arm. He’s really busy in there, isn’t he?”

“*His* head?” Bonnie asked breathlessly.

The doctor smiled again, nodding.

Bonnie turned to Damon, his rapt attention on the wriggling form on the monitor. She smiled broadly at him. “He’s a boy!”

He leaned forward with a grin and squeezed her hand, and together they watched the screen for a while longer. The strong, steady sound of their son’s heartbeat filled the room, crowding out any discomfort or fear for at least that moment.

[bob-giovanni]

I’ll Cover You - Part 4

Characters: Simon X OFC

Summary: Simon and Emily go on their date

Warnings: Cursing, Fluff

Notes: I know just posted the last part of this story but I’m really feeling this right now. I just had so many ideas I had to keep writing lol.

Emily was standing in her room, looking herself over in her full length mirror. She chewed her bottom lip as she turned and checked out herself from the back. She was going on her date with Simon tonight and was feeling a bit nervous. She sighed as she walked back to her closet to pick out a new outfit. She and Simon were going to dinner and a movie, nothing fancy. So it shouldn’t be this hard to pick out an outfit. She pulled on a pair of black skinny jeans, a black tank top, and a blue and purple plaid shirt along with a pair of black high top Chucks. She gave herself a nod as she looked at her outfit in the mirror. She finished up by putting her hair in a ponytail and putting on some lipgloss. She checked the time. Simon should be arriving to pick her up any minute now.

Simon was close to Emily’s house. He hand a knot in his stomach. It’d been a long time since he’d been on a date and he wasn’t sure if he still remembered how to do this. As he pulled up in front of her house, Simon looked himself over. He was wearing olive colored khakis, a brown polo shirt, and black boots. He had a lightweight leather jacket on as well. Suddenly he was second guessing himself. Was this a good idea? Was his outfit ok? Goddammit, this was gonna be a disaster. Simon parked and took a deep breath before climbing out of his car and walking up to Emily’s house. He took a moment before ringing her doorbell.

Emily jumped a bit when she heard her doorbell ring. She stood from the couch and grabbed her purse. She walked to the door and grabbed the doorknob, hesitating for a moment before opening the door. She smiled brightly as she stepped outside. “Hi, Simon!” She said cheerfully. “Wow, you look so handsome.” She said as she looked him over. Simon blushed a bit and smiled softly. “Nah. I look ok. I mean you…you look really beautiful.” Now Emily was the one blushing. Simon held his arm out for Emily. “Shall we?” Emily linked her arm with Simon’s. “We shall.” They walked to Simon’s car and Simon opened the passenger door so Emily could get in. “Thank you, sir.” She said with a grin as she got in and buckled her seatbelt.

Simon climbed in the driver’s side and buckled up before driving north towards the main road. “I hope you’re hungry. I’ve never been to this restaurant before but their pizza is supposed to be amazing.” Emily laughed softly. “I actually am pretty hungry and pizza sounds incredible.” “Good.” They drove to the restaurant in relative silence, making some general small talk along the way. Once they arrived, Simon parked in a lot across the street and got out of the car, walking around to the passenger side and opening the door for Emily. He held out his hand for her to help her out. She gently placed her hand in his as she got out of the car and stood.

They crossed the street and Simon opened the door of the restaurant so Emily could enter first. Emily walked up to the hostess. She led the pair to a booth and placed menus in front of them. “Thank you.” Simon said to her as she turned and walked off. Emily inhaled deeply. “Mm, it smells so wonderful in here.” Simon smiled and nodded. “Yeah, it does.” He took a few minutes to look over the menu. “What sounds good to you?” Emily bit her bottom lip. “Gosh, everything looks so delicious. But I’m leaning towards the white pizza with chicken, artichoke, and broccoli.” Simon licked his lips. “Mm, that sounds delicious. Do you wanna get a big one and split it?” Emily grinned and nodded. “Definitely.”

Their waitress came over and took their order. She returned quickly with their drinks. Simon took a sip of his water before looking over at Emily. She looked over at him at the same time, causing them both to laugh softly. “So, how have you been the past few days?” Simon asked. “It’s been busy at work but other then that I really can’t complain.” Simon nodded. “So, I know you told me about your job before but what exactly do you do again?” Emily sipped her soda before answering. “I’m a vet tech at an animal hospital. Basically I help the doctor with surgeries, do some grooming, things like that.” Simon nodded. “Is that what you went to school for?” “Sorta? I went as pre-med so you get all of the general coursework out of the way. I do want to eventually become a veterinarian.”

Simon smiled. “Wow, that’s awesome. I’m guessing it’s a ton of work though, right?” Emily nodded. “It is, but, I’ve dreamed about becoming a vet since I was a little girl. We used to live near a farm in Vermont. I would go there everyday after school and every weekend to look after all the animals. I’ve just always known that that’s what I want to do.” Simon nodded. “Not everyone is so sure so it’s great that you’ve always known. So you must be a real animal lover I guess.” Emily grinned. “I am. I just…sometimes animals are better than people, ya know? They don’t judge you. They love you unconditionally. They’re not mean or rude or nasty.” Simon laughed. “Yeah that’s true.”

A moment later the waitress brought their pizza out along with 2 plates. Emily grabbed a slice first and then Simon grabbed one for himself. He took a large bite and licked his lips. “Oh man…this was a great choice.” Emily grinned after taking a bite of her slice. “Yes it most definitely was.” They continued eating and talking about how their days had been since the last time they’d seen each other. Once they were finished, the waitress took the remaining slices of pizza and put them in a to go box before bringing the check. Simon grabbed his wallet and pulled out his credit card. Emily knew this was a date but the thought of Simon paying the entire bill made her feel weird. “Won’t you at least let me leave the tip?” She asked. Simon shook his head. “Nonsense. I asked you out. I think it’s only fair that I pay. If you ask me out then you are free to pay.” Simon responded with a grin and a wink.

Emily rolled her eyes and laughed. “Ok, fine.” Once the bill was taken care of they exited the restaurant and walked back to Simon’s car. Simon backed out of the parking space and headed towards the theatre. “You’re still up for a movie, yeah?” Emily nodded. “Yes, of course.” She smiled over at Simon. “I’m having a really nice time, Simon.” Simon quickly looked over at Emily and smiled a bit. “Yeah? Well the night is young. There’s still plenty of time for me to fuck it up.” Emily laughed. “Oh stop it. You’re a charming motherfucker and you know it.” Simon laughed. “Watch your language, young lady.” Emily smirked. “What’re you gonna do about it?” Simon quirked an eyebrow and looked over at her again. Emily realized how that sounded. “Oh my god, that’s not what I…I’m so sorry.” Simon shook his head. “I wasn’t complaining.” Emily blushed a bit and laughed.

Simon pulled into the parking lot of the theatre. It was pretty crowded for a Wednesday night so they wound up parking kind of far from the theatre. Once they were out of the car and walking towards the theatre, Emily reached over and grabbed Simon’s hand. He was surprised by the contact and looked over Emily. She simply smiled in return. Simon smiled to himself and gave Emily’s hand a gentle squeeze. She bit her bottom lip and grinned. She figured that she would have a nice time but not only was she having a nice time, she was feeling even more connected to him which was unexpected.

As they got in line at the box office, Emily silently cursed herself for not bringing a sweater. It wasn’t freezing but the material of her plaid shirt was pretty thin so she could really feel the slight drop in temperature. Simon noticed that Emily appeared to be shivering a bit. “Are you cold?” Emily shook her head. “No, no, I’m fine. Really.” Simon could tell she was lying. He quickly took off his jacket and draped it over her shoulders. Emily looked up at him. “What about you?” Simon shrugged. “I’m not cold at all. Don’t worry about me.” Emily smiled. She noticed that the sleeves of Simon’s polo shirt were tight around his biceps. That was unexpected. Usually he wore baggy shirts when they met up so she had no idea that he was that muscular. She blushed once she realized she’d been staring.

They finally got up to the ticket window and Simon purchased their tickets before heading into the theatre. Simon handed their tickets to the usher before walking into the correct theatre and finding seats. They had decided when they made their plans for tonight to see a scary movie. Simon was sort of regretting it because he hated scary movies and didn’t want to come off as a wuss to Emily. Oh well, it’s too late now. Once they were settled in their seats, Simon leaned over. “Are you good? Do you want a drink or anything?” Emily shook her head. “No, I’m good. Thank you though.” A moment later the lights went down and Emily subconsciously moved closer to Simon. She was a big scaredy cat and had no idea why she agreed to see a scary movie. It was probably because it was the first movie that Simon suggested and so she just agreed to try and impress him.

The first 30 minutes of the movie was relatively fine. There were no real scares. But Emily could tell something was coming because the music was getting more intense. Just then there was a jump scare that cause Emily to gasp and lean into Simon as she hid her face between his shoulder and the seat. Simon laughed softly and looked over at her. “You gonna be alright?” Emily whimpered and nodded. “I think so.” She lifted the armrest separating her seat from Simon’s and folded her legs under herself. She leaned against Simon’s side and picked up his arm, draping it across her shoulders. “Protect me?” Simon grinned and nodded. “Of course.” He gave her shoulder a comforting squeeze and turned back to the screen. Emily rested her head in the crook of Simon’s shoulder. It made it easy to quickly turn her head if she got scared. But honestly, she felt so safe with Simon that she barely got scared during the rest of the movie.

Once the movie ended, Emily sat up and let out a relieved sigh. “Well, that was embarrassing.” Simon looked over at her. “What? Why?” Emily laughed softly. “Because I can’t believe I got so scared! I really thought I was gonna be able to keep it together but obviously that did not work out. But…” She leaned over and kissed Simon’s cheek. “Thank you for keeping me safe.” Simon blushed and nodded. “It was my honor.” Emily yawned a bit and stretched her arms above her head. “Mm, I hate to be a party pooper, but I have work tomorrow.” Simon nodded. “No worries, I do too.” He stood and held his hand out to Emily. She placed her hand in his and stood before heading out of the theatre. It had gotten a bit colder since they’d gotten to the movie, so Emily shivered and used her free hand to hold Simon’s jacket closed as they walked to the car.

Simon opened the car door for Emily before walking around to the driver’s side and climbing in. As he pulled out of the parking lot and onto the road, Simon stole a few glances of Emily. “So, did you have a nice time?” He asked softly. Emily smiled and nodded. “I did. I really, really did.” “Well, that’s good. I’m glad. I hope you couldn’t tell how hard I was trying to impress you.” Emily laughed. “What? You don’t have to do anything to impress me, Simon.” Simon smiled to himself as he drove. A few minutes later he pulled up in front of Emily’s house and climbed out of the car before hurrying around to Emily’s side and opening her door, holding his hand out again to help her out. Simon walked her up the steps to her door. Emily unlocked the door and dropped her purse just inside the entry before slipping Simon’s jacket off her shoulders and handing it back to him. “Thank you for letting me use your jacket.” “Yeah, of course.” Simon said as he took the jacket from her.

They stood there in awkward silence for a moment before Emily spoke. “So, I guess since you asked me out this time, it’s only fair that I ask you out next time, huh?” Simon laughed softly. “I suppose so.” Emily smiled. “So…wanna do this again sometime soon?” Simon nodded. “Yeah, I would really like that.” “How about Friday? There’s an outdoor concert in the park at 7PM. The weather is supposed to be really nice.” Simon smiled. “That sounds really lovely. I’ll pick you up around 6?” Emily nodded. “Yes, please.” “Alright. Well I guess I’ll see you on Friday.” Simon turned and headed back to his car. Emily stood there for a moment and bit her bottom lip. She wanted to do something but needed a bit of courage. She took a deep breath before running after Simon. “Simon, wait!” Simon stopped walking and turned back to Emily. She stepped closer to him and put her hands on his broad shoulders as she stood on her toes and pressed a soft, chaste kiss to his lips. Simon was caught off guard but in the best way possible. He returned the kiss, placing a hand on Emily’s waist briefly before pulling back. Both of them blushed before they started laughing. “Goodnight, Emily.” “Goodnight, Simon.”

Emily walked into her house and shut the front door, leaning back against it with the biggest smile on her face. Who would’ve thought that her getting drunk in a club would have led to her going on the best date she’d ever been on with the sweetest man she’d ever met? It was almost too good to be true. She couldn’t wait to see her friend Amanda at work the next day and give her all the details. Simon got into his car and drove home feeling more optimistic than he had in quite some time. He’d had a really tough year and there were times when he felt like he’d be stuck in this state of melancholy forever. But after the past couple of months, after tonight, things were finally looking up.

@faith-lynn9 @collette04 @simons-thirst-squad

[sinsiriuslyemo]

Welcome to another season of Cuba v DR!! It’s going to be a wild ride. Fair warning...

EPISODE 1

“Oh my god I love school days,” you screamed as Nevada grabbed you, dipping you into a kiss. The two of you had spent the last few days cherishing the time you spent alone. You kissed back and tugged him until you both plopped onto the couch laughing. “Are you gonna come in with me to the doctor?”

The two of you had discussed a more permanent form of birth control than pills. You'd settled on the implant that would work for three years.

“Yeah, if you want,” he replied, shrugging and looking over at you. “When is it?”

“In two hours,” you said softly. It wasn't that you were nervous, you just didn't love the idea of someone staple gunning birth control into your arm.

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to, I told you that,” he replied.

“I don't want to have to keep worrying about a pill. Plus, it's important to me to let you know that I respect your decision. We either both want a baby or neither.” You kissed his lips and smiled. “You and the kids have always been enough for me.”

“Okay,” he answered. “What time the kids supposed to be back? You know?” he asked.

“Yeah they get back at five, so we have a few hours after the doctors. We just need to stop by Izzy's first to eat.” You tugged him close and kissed him before moving to grab your shoes.

“Sounds good. Let me just change my shirt, and we can go,” he replied.

Izzy settled herself against the headstone in the graveyard.

“Hi mommy,” she said softly, fingers running over the cold marble. “As of today it's been officially nine years. That seems like...a lot. I was married for a while. Her name was Lila, I really loved her. My art is selling, can you believe it?” She smiled, fingers tracing over the engraving as she sighed.

“You remember my brother and my sister. They're doing really well. Rafi got married. I know you wouldn't have loved him at first but you would have grown to love him. His wife is so incredible. My nephew, Eddie is my best friend. We live together now. He's been through some really hard times too so I think we're good for each other.”

She felt the first droplets of rain, thinking she should have brought a jacket or an umbrella.

“Things have been really hard this year mom,” she whispered, feeling her voice crack. “You always told me I was the strong one, but I know how you felt when dad left and...I don't feel strong at all. What am I supposed to do when the love of my life leaves?”

She sniffled, pressing her forehead to the grave as it began to pour down rain. It felt almost cleansing in that moment, the cold water washing away the hurt she felt. She had thought she was okay but she certainly wasn't, loud sobs and hiccups being drowned out in the rain.

“I don't know what to do,” she cried. “I don't know what to do…”

After a while, she got up and wiped her face, though the rain made the gesture futile, and walked toward the graveyard entrance. She quickened her step as she got closer to the exit, throwing her arm up in attempts to hail a cab.

By the time she arrived home she was met with Greyson, Eddie, Rafael and Roxie.

“Did you forget about lunch today?” Eddie said with a frown. He moved over to her and took his coat off the rack by the door, wrapping it around her. “You're soaking wet Iz. What the fuck?”

“Where’d you go?” Rafael asked, moving into the hallway and grabbing a towel from the linen closet, bringing it to her.

“See my mom,” she answered.

“I thought we were all going to go,” Roxie chimed, glancing at Rafael.

Izzy jerked her head to look away from them, moving towards her room.

“Izzy, change your clothes and give me the wet ones, I’ll put them in the wash,” Rafael called out after her.

Roxie frowned. “Should someone help her? I can't imagine losing someone I loved the way Izzy loved her mum. This must be so painful.”

“She's being a drama queen,” Eddie said with a roll of his eyes. “She didn't die yesterday she died nine years ago.”

“Still, it’s her mother,” Rafael said softly. “Roxie, would you help her get out of her wet clothes?”

Roxie nodded, moving to the bedroom. “Izzy, honey let me help you change, okay?”

“I’m fine,” Izzy called back.

“Izzy, let her in,” Rafael called out as he sat at the table again to wait for the wet clothes.

Izzy slowly opened the door, tossing out the wet clothes and slamming it again.

“You know, Izzy, I'd love to hear more about your mum,” Roxie said softly. “Do you have pictures or videos? I want to know what she was like, how she raised such an amazing girl.”

Izzy opened the door in pajamas now and rolled her eyes. “You don't have to pretend to care.”

“I am not pretending,” Roxie answered, handing Rafael the dripping clothes. “I truly want to know.”

“We all do,” Greyson offered. “It’s why we’re all here, to remember her.”

Izzy looked down at her feet before going back into her room, slamming the door.

“She just wants people to feel sorry for her--”

“Eddie,” Rafael said, coming out of the laundry room and shaking his head.

“What? She does. Drama queen.”

“Remember what the therapist said about trying to understand where people are hurting and empathizing with them?” Greyson said softly.

Eddie rolled his eyes. “Yeah I guess.”

Izzy came back out, moving to sit on the couch. She set a series of drawings on the table before moving to put a DVD into the player. “This is all I have of her,” she said softly as Roxie sat beside her.

“These are beautiful,” Roxie said, looking at all the drawings. “Rafael, look at these!” she called out.

Her husband came out from the laundry room and sat next to his wife, draping an arm on the back of the couch behind her.

“These are great, Iz,” he said, smiling.

“My favorite,” Izzy said softly. Tracing her fingers over the picture. Her mother was looking over her shoulder, one fishnet clad leg hiked up on a chair as she shot everyone a sultry gaze. She was incredibly beautiful.

“You look so much like her,” Rafael mused softly as Greyson and Eddie came to join them.

“What’s on the DVD?” Eddie asked.

“The only video I have of her...I listen to her voice a lot.”

She pressed play as a woman in a pink tank top with black lace came on the screen, her hair disheveled and messy but she was smiling at the camera.

“Are you going to be behind the camera the entire time?” She laughed and tried to cover her face. “Matias, I look like a mess.”

A toddler ran into the video, screaming and jumping right onto her mom.

The woman laughed and kissed her daughter's hair. “There she is,” she said softly against Izzy’s temple. “My beautiful angel.” She turned to the camera again. “Wave at daddy. Say hi!”

The toddler shook her head, hiding her face in her mom's chest.

“Come on, can't you say hi to daddy?” she coaxed.

Again the toddler shook her head.

The video cut out after that and Izzy remembered the beating that came from not listening to her mother.

Rafael had tensed a little, happy that at the very least his father hadn’t spoken a word, and gave Izzy a smile.

“She looked really happy,” he said.

“She was so beautiful, and funny, and sweet. She didn't wanna be a dancer forever. Someday she wanted to be a movie star.”

Eddie snorted a laugh, quickly getting elbowed by Greyson.

“I bet she could’ve been,” Rafael mused softly.

“She didn’t want to do something where she could use her PhD from Stanford?” Eddie asked sarcastically.

“Eddie, knock it off,” Rafael chimed, furrowing his brows at his nephew.

“Nah, she had always been someone who wanted to be on the big screen.” Izzy’s bottom lip trembled, eyes filling with tears. “I don't have anything but my sketches and that video. I don't remember her smell, how she sounded when she made breakfast. The way her hair felt between my fingers.”

“Did she wear perfume?” Greyson asked.

Izzy nodded. “Yeah she did.”

“What kind? Do you remember the name?” Roxie asked.

Izzy thought for a moment then shook her head sadly as there was a knock at the door.

Eddie got up and answered the door, smiling at you and Nevada. “Hey tio, hey tia,” he said, hugging each of you.

You hugged back. “Hey I'm sorry we can't stay, but I brought flowers, candles and some of my old jewelry for your mom's grave. I figured she should still be glamorous even in death.”

Izzy smiled and got up, hugging you tight, then Nevada. “I didn't think you guys would come…”

“Of course we came,” you answered, coming to say hello to Roxie and Rafael, then Greyson.

“What’re we watching?” Nevada asked.

“It was a home movie of her mom,” Rafael replied.

“Not the good kind,” Eddie mused.

“Eddie,” Roxie mumbled.

“Come on Eddie, stop busting her chops,” Rafael said.

“Do you mind if we watch it too?” you asked.

Izzy played the video again. You watched, looking the woman over, studying her, then Izzy.

You couldn't help but grin. “She's so beautiful. You look just like her.”

“Thanks,” Izzy replied, smiling.

“Well...now that everyone is here, shall we eat? Hopefully the rain will have let up by the time we’re finished,” Roxie suggested, standing up, smiling at everyone.

As you all sat down, you smiled at Izzy, holding her hand.

She smiled softly and looked at her siblings. “Thank you everyone for being here.”

Rafael smiled back at her before he looked at Roxie, taking her hand in his and kissing the back of it.

“Izzy, I know how much you miss your mom, and I know how hard this day has to be for you every year, but I hope this shows you that you still have people who love you in your life. I know it’s not the same, but I just wanted to say that we’re always here for you, no matter what. So here’s to Annabell Barba, may she rest in peace, and always be in your heart,” Rafael said, lifting his glass.

Everyone toasted to Annabell.

Izzy had never felt so loved in her life. She couldn't help it as she cried again.

After lunch, you and Nevada made your way to the doctors. You sat down on the table.

“We should set up a tent in the house and indoor camp with the kids later, they'd love it.” You said as you took your top off, sliding the gown over your top half.

“Indoor camp? Why not just camp on the roof?” he asked.

“Even better,” you grinned and smiled at the doctor came in.

“Alrighty, Mr. and Mrs. Ramirez. Always great to see you. Let's get started shall we.”

The doctor pulled a tray out from a cabinet, starting to set things up.

“So how does this work? You gotta open her up, or you just go in through the hole?” Nevada asked.

The doctor chuckled. “The implant actually goes right in her arm. Mrs. Ramirez if you can lay your arm down on the table for me. If you want to hold your husband’s hand, you can.”

You look to Nevada. You weren't too nervous. You'd been shot. But no matter how many injuries you'd endured, you still couldn't stand needles.

He offered his hand without a word and squeezed while the doctor shot the implant into your arm.

“Okay,” he said, cleaning the area and putting a bandaid on it. “That’s it. We’re all done. This is good for three years, and if you ever want it out sooner, you can just come in and get it removed. You can get dressed now, Mrs Ramirez.”

You nodded and pulled on your shirt, smiling at Nevada. “You owe me ice cream,” you said playfully. “Anyone who gets birth control staple gunned into her deserves ice cream, don't you think?”

“I told you I’d get snipped of you wanted me to,” he replied, smirking at you as he stood and walked out with you, settling the visit at the front desk before you left.

“I know, but this is less permanent. If anything changes we have the option. If not, and three years go by. We're gonna neuter you so I don't have to do it again.”

“Alright,” he replied, following you out. “So ice cream, huh?”

You nodded. “Chocolate, with sprinkles,” you whispered with a smirk.

“Alright, come on,” he mumbled, opening the car door for you and getting into the driver’s seat. “You okay? Never asked how you felt watching that video of Izzy’s mom...with your old man…”

“It was a lot,” you said honestly. “Not because of Izzy's mom. I feel so...bad for her. Because I know how that video ended. It was how any day with my dad ended. A fist.”

“He’s gone,” he replied. “He can’t hurt any of you guys anymore.”

You nodded and took a deep breath before holding his hand. “I love you.”

“Love you too,” he replied.

Rafael looked up from his place at the dining room table at Roxie, who was working on some new recipes in the kitchen. He’d been thinking a lot lately, about his career and his life, about he and Roxie’s life together.

Getting up from his chair, he went into the kitchen and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her against him until her back was flush against his chest. Pressing his nose against her hair, he sighed softly, dropping a kiss behind her ear.

“Hey,” he said softly, kissing down her neck. “I’ve been thinking,” he whispered as one hand grazed along her side, letting his fingertips drag her skirt up a little to touch her bare skin.

“Have you?”

“Mhm,” he hummed as his other hand moved to drift over her stomach, pulling her further against him.

“About?” she asked, tilting her head to one side as he dropped gentle kisses over her pulse point.

“Let’s make a baby,” he whispered into her ear, gently biting down on the lobe.

She moaned and giggled. “I know I'm a good chef but that's a tall order. It uses a different kind of oven you know,” she teased.

“I’m serious,” he mumbled against her skin as his hand ran up and down her leg.

“Really?” She smiled, turning and sliding her fingers into his hair and he nodded his head. “Alrighf, let's have a baby.”

Smiling at her, he bent to pull her up until her legs wrapped around his waist, kissing her as he carried her into their bedroom. Laying her down on the bed, his hand slid over her leg until her dress was pushed up around her hips while he kissed down her neck.

She shivered, moaning loudly. “Oh, we're making that baby now?” She tugged him closer.

“I thought I made my intentions pretty clear, but if you object…” he replied, head coming up to look down at her with a smirk.

She giggled and shook her head. “No, no by all means, put a baby in me,” she whispered and kissed him again.

Humming against her mouth, he ground his hips against hers while he kissed down to her chest, pulling her dress off and teasing first one nipple, then the other.

“I love you, Roxie,” he whispered, biting down on the stiff peak as one hand drifted to skim his fingers over the inside of her thigh. Kissing down her body, he pulled her panties off and kissed over her hips.

She whimpered, arching her back. “Rafael, you feel so incredible,” she whispered as he kissed along her inner thigh, making his way up to her center.

“So do you,” he mumbled, licking up her slit until he was honing in on her clit. His hands held her hips against him as he licked and sucked her core.

She relaxed against him, body feeling every sensation as she touched him. “I love you.” She arched her hips up a bit.

Moaning against her, he sucked the tender nub above her opening, finger coming under his chin, tracing her opening.

She shivered, trying to push herself closer to the stimulation. She tugged him a bit closer, lightly pulling at the roots of his hair as he slid his finger inside her.

Thrusting it in and out of her, he hummed against her, free hand stroking over her body.

As her breathing grew heavy, she started to twitch. “O-oh god, that feels...oh…”

Sliding another finger in, he moaned against her, moving them faster inside her before curling them forward to massage her gspot and sucking harder on her clit. His body was on fire beneath his clothes, throbbing, longing to be touched, and he groaned as he inhaled through his nose and caught a huge whiff of her scent. Doubling his efforts, he moaned against her again, beckoning her over the edge.

It took her less than a few seconds before she was coming hard, panting and blushing. He smirked against her, humming as he gradually brought her down and turned his head to lay wet kisses over the inside of her thighs before he made his way back up her body. Taking her lips in a passionate kiss, he let her roll them over until he was on his back.

She kissed him, moving down his body, looking up at him and silently asking if she could return the favor. Nodding his head, he reached for the hem of his shirt to take it off.

She tugged his jeans and boxer briefs down, leaning over and licking the head of his cock in amusement. “Mmmm, you're always so hard for me, Rafi.”

“Always for you, mi amor,” he replied, his hands stroking over the skin of her arms.

She took him into her mouth, slowly at first, licking her way down to the base before going back up. As she repeated the motions, she varied her pace, fingers tracing up his thighs and moving to his balls to give them a gentle massage.

Groaning, he arched and reached one hand to run through her hair, picking his head up momentarily to meet her gaze before he let it fall back against the mattress. Biting down on his bottom lip, he moaned and tried to keep his hips from rocking upward.

“That feels so good, Roxie,” he whispered.

She hummed around his cock, not pushing him too hard, she wanted to make love. Her eyes closed as she took him down again, trying to reach the base as best as she could before pulling back off to lap precum off the tip.

“You taste amazing,” she purred. “I can't wait to feel you inside of me, my love.”

“Oh God, Roxie,” he groaned, shuddering and arching his back again.

She waited until he was close before pulling back and kissing him hungrily, moving to straddle him. She moved his member to her entrance, making eye contact with him before slowly easing down onto him.

Groaning again, he pulled her down for another passion-filled kiss, rolling them over and beginning a slow, tender pace.

“I love you so much,” he whispered against her lips.

“I love you too. I want a baby with you, Rafael Barba.” She smiled, tears rolling down her cheeks, she was so happy.

“So do I,” he replied, smiling back and using the back of his fingers to wipe her tears away. “Let’s see what we can do about that,” he whispered against her cheek, kissing her neck and sucking a mark on her pulse point as he moved over her.

She felt every piece of him. Every touch of his flesh on hers. She felt so sensitive. “Oh Rafael,” she whined and pulled him closer.

He moaned her name against her skin, kissing her again while his hips moved steadily against her. Tucking his face against her neck, he moved slightly faster, hands gliding over her side before one reached down to pull her leg up, allowing him to sink deep inside her.

“You feel so good, mi amor,” he purred.

She panted, arching a bit. “I'm close, Rafi, I want to come with you,” she whispered. “Please.”

“Oh...okay,” he replied, moving faster to try and catch up with her. Looking down at her, he nuzzled his nose against hers and kissed her again.

She cupped his face, kissing him and breathing to slow herself down to match him. “I love you,” she whispered with a smile. “I love you so much.”

“I love you too,” he replied through a smile.

She kissed him again, wrapping her legs tight around his body as she gripped him tighter. Moving harder inside her, he moaned against her mouth, arching his hips up to stimulate her gspot. His moans were coming closer together as his arms wrapped his arms around her and held her close.

She screamed his name as she came, clenching tight around his cock as she kissed him. “Rafi, Rafi, Rafi,” she whispered against his skin.

He followed right behind her, coming and moaning against her neck, slowing his hips gradually to prolong both their orgasms.

“I love you,” he whispered, dropping kisses over her face. “I love you so much.”

She sniffled, hiding her face. “I'm so...happy, I love you and...” she hiccuped and hugged him closer.

“And?” he asked softly, letting his nose graze along her cheekbone.

“I'm so excited,” she said between shaky breaths as she hugged him.

“I am too, but let’s not get our hopes up just yet. The midwife said it may a few tries for you to get pregnant,” he replied, hugging her back. “But I want us to have a family together,” he added against her mouth, kissing her gently.

She nodded and kissed back. “We'll just have to keep trying till we get it right then,” she teased, kissing him.

He nodded his head, letting his forehead rest against hers.

“And we're off! Fast foot Fallon rounding the track with the assistance of her talented but less adorable mother, Amber.” Troy narrated with a grin as he watched Amber hold Fallon's hands and let her walk around the kitchen.

“Oh ladies and gentlemen it is a new world record, move over Usain Bolt.” Amber picked up the baby, pretending to cheer.

“The crowd goes wild!” Troy claps his hand.

“Hey, I never asked you--how'd that date go?” she asked, moving to grab Fallon’s baby food and sitting her in the highchair.

“Good,” he said with a nod. “How was your date?” He smoothed down Fallon's wild hair and kissed her head.

“Well, I don’t know if you can still call them dates if you’re dating, you know? But we had a good time, I’d never seen The Nutcracker live,” she replied, smiling.

He smiled back. “Was it interesting?”

Amber squinted a bit. “Yes..?”

Troy laughed. “That's not very convincing.”

She opened her mouth to speak but was distracted by the door.

“That must be Scott. He's going to spend the day with me and Fallon.”

Troy quirked a brow and stood. “Then I should take that as my hint to leave,” he teased as he opened the door for Scott. “Hey man,” Troy nodded politely.

“Hey Troy, how’ve you been?” Scott asked, holding out his hand to shake Troy’s.

“Good, the date turned out pretty nice, I'm gonna head out and maybe see if she wants to go to the shooting range.” He moved to Amber, playfully ruffling her hair before kissing Fallon's forehead. “See ya later, pip squeak.”

He moved to the door and nodded at Scott again before heading out.

Amber smoothed down her hair and moved to Scott, kissing him with a smile. “Hey handsome.”

“Hi,” he replied  kissing her back before looking at Fallon. “And hello to you, little lady.”

The baby stuck her little hand into her jar of baby food and stuffed it into her mouth.

“Fallon, mi amor, calmete, despacito,” Amber scolded as she took a cloth and wiped the babies mouth.

“I didn’t know you spoke Spanish,” he said, sitting at the table next to Fallon’s chair.

“I speak five languages, all I ask is Fallon speaks two.” She brushed a hand over her daughter's hair. “Her father is primarily a Spanish speaker, it's important to me that she learns too.”

The baby reached out for Scott. “Dadadada,” she babbled as she tried to stand in her chair. Getting a bit fussy.

“Whoa, careful there or you’ll fall,” Scott replied, picking up the toddler. “Are you all done?” he asked.

The baby waved both hands in a shaking motion.

“She's saying all done in sign language,” Amber said as she started to clean the tray off.

“I actually know that,” he replied, smiling. “I speak sign language, my brother is deaf so…”

“Yeah?” She quirked a brow. “I didn't know that about you.”

She smiled as Fallon snuggled against Scott signing the word for happy.

“Now you know,” he replied, signing back to Fallon. “So what have you ladies been up to today?”

“We practiced our walking, and then I had Troy watch her so I could shower before you arrived and now I have wet hair, no makeup and a baby who is very happy to be held.” She laughed when Fallon signed happy again.

“Wow, that’s a big day,” he replied, signing to ask Fallon if she was tired.

“Mami, tu quieres dormir?”

Fallon signed back and nodded her head and Scott handed her over.

Amber picked her up and carried her to the crib, kissing her hair and laying her in her crib.

“I love you,” she whispered to her daughter. “There is nothing in this world you can't do. Never forget that.”

Fallon just stared up at her before her little eyes began to drift shut, one hand coming to rub her left one.

Amber waited until she was asleep before moving to the couch. “So what are we planning to do, hmm?” She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him.

“I don’t know, I just thought I’d stop by and say hello. How’s the editing coming along? Nicole driving you crazy yet?” he asked.

“Yes,” Amber said seriously. “I don't want to work with her. Not that my other options are better. But she's driving me insane.” Amber shook her head. “I can't talk about it. I'll just stress.” She looked up at him and smiled. “How about you? How's work?”

“Usual. I have a client who is hell-bent on selling me novel about a reporter who gets caught in a zombie apocalypse so there’s that. Sometimes I wonder where these weirdos come from. I mean I know writers are weird, but some are just way out there.”

She snorted a laugh. “Are you sure he's not fucking with you? That's the plot to Dead Rising.”

“No, he’s not because that’s what I told him. He is absolutely serious,” he answered. “So Fallon’s walking, huh?”

Amber lit up. “Oh god yes, she's so fast now. She still needs a little help but she is a total speed demon. I can barely keep up with how fast she wants to go.”

He snorted, nodding his head. “I guess kids are like that,” he replied.

Amber blinked a few times. “They get so big, so fast,” she said softly. “I swear she was born...yesterday.”

“Time always flies, I can only imagine how much faster it feels when you have a child. How’s her speech coming along?”

“She says mom and dad. She's very fluent in signing but still not much verbal communication.” Amber smiled and kissed him. “Do you ever want kids of your own?” she asked curiously.

“I actually had a vasectomy when I was eighteen. I never wanted kids,” he answered honestly, shrugging a little.

“Eighteen?” She stared at him for a moment. “That's a big step to take at eighteen, wow.”

“Yeah, I just knew I wanted to enlist, and that even if I did settle down someday, I...I don’t know maybe it was the way I grew up with so many siblings, I just never wanted kids,” he replied. “Is that...a problem?”

“Of course not, I never wanted kids either. Fallon was a miracle but she was definitely unexpected. I'm not supposed to be able to have children.” She looked him over. It did concern her about a future with him. He didn't want kids. That was fine, she didn't want more kids either but what about her baby?

“And she’s great,” he replied, shrugging. “I mean, would you go back and change things if you could?”

“Never,” she said with a smile. “She's the best thing in my life.”

“Yeah, see?” he replied. “Life is sometimes funny that way, it hands you things you don’t expect that turn out to be amazing things.”

“Yeah, it really is funny,” she said softly, looking up and him. “I really wanna make us work,” she whispered.

He furrowed his brows a little, the corner of his mouth lifting. “I thought we are working,” he replied.

“We are, but I know me and I over think. I say stupid shit, I sabotage good things before they even get started and I'm so scared I'm going to lose you before we even really get started.”

“Well...try not to overthink,” he replied, chuckling. “We’re in a good place, I thought and we’ve only been seeing each other...barely a month. Just relax.”

Amber closed her eyes and took a few shaky breaths. “You're right,” she whispered.

“What is it?” he asked.

“Nothing,” she said honestly. She looked up at him and smiled.

“Okay,” he replied, smiling back. “So what do you wanna do after the little one wakes up?” he asked.

“She really likes the aquarium.”

“Sounds like fun, we’ll go to the aquarium then,” he replied, smiling.