#also both parent-figures have my heart in a Grip and uGH

[kyeomniscient]

seventeen ao3 fic recs

other rec lists

pt. 2 (completed shorter fics, <10k words)

pt. 3 (incomplete fics)

so i recently got into reading svt fics and this is a compilation of a few of my favourites :) all recs here are completed (yay no cliffhangers)!

these are mostly minwon, but there are some other pairings as well and i'll be updating this as i go~

also props to anyone who writes!! both fics and in general bc writing is not easy and the creativity and flair that some of these authors have... simply unmatched

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all-time faves (last updated 9/5/2024)

as y'all can tell i love the longer fics bc they are j so immersive and memorable esp when the characters capture the essence and little quirks of svt so well sooo here goes

Catch the Stars (minwon, 150k words, completed)

this is often hailed as one of the top 3 minwon fics of all time and i wholeheartedly agree!! this might be my fave fic of all time - i really love the city boy x country boy trope, where the mcs form a connection in spite of their different backgrounds and life experiences hehe also random but some of the scenes reminded me of cmbyn (small town italy peachy summer vibes) lolol

Kalon (minwon, 200k words, completed)

my heart broke for wonwoo in this fic and it was absolutely worth the read :"") it's by the same author as catch the stars and her writing is just *chef's kiss* really loved how each conflict and setback was handled and built upon, and wonwoo's inner conflict due to his fear of relationships was really well-depicted and realistic, and the intimacy of them spending time together in the spectacle shop after hours was everything i could've asked for

Love Stuck (minwon, 200k words, completed)

don't usually read parent aus because i prefer stories where the mcs are closer in profile to the actual pair but this was very well-written!! loved how the author handled the struggles of single parent-child dynamics as well as the slow burn - each character was really fleshed out, the chapters didn't feel repetitive despite the fic being quite long and it was all in all a vv wholesome fic hehe

'til kingdom come (minwon, 160k words, completed)

this was a historical au and the writing was so poetic!! and exquisite!! not forgetting the tension and drama of it all, how the world-building was so intricately wrought out, the language so befitting of the period, the development of the entire war arc beyond the romance, each character so original yet still bearing hints that remain true to their persons, the chapters being well-paced, the epilogue that wrapped things up so beautifully... i can't even begin to fathom how long it took the author to come up with this gripping masterpiece askshdfjkdsf i'd give a million kudos if i could

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others (in order of descending word count)

the sun and the silver lining (minwon, 60k words, completed)

this one made my heart feel things :"") really loved this author's descriptions (the metaphors in this fic were unparalleled) and how they give nuance to the internal thoughts and feelings of the characters!! slight b99 vibes with policeofficer!wonwoo x paramedic!mingyu lolol

Like the Beginning (minwon, 55k words, completed)

this was heartbreak/comfort with a second-chance romance and slight hospital playlist vibes lol i relish in the pain of reading about wonwoo trying to go back to how things were, mingyu being torn between indulging him and wanting to keep his distance, that feeling of looking at someone you once loved only to realise that you never moved on in the first place ugh

in defense of the side character (minwon, 55k words, completed)

actor!mingyu x scriptwriter!wonwoo - super well-written and it even has art!! the scripts made it all the more realistic and i have a soft spot for fics on the entertainment industry bc the overall atmosphere is always a little different from the slice of life/school aus like there's this underlying tension of being under public scrutiny and the pressure of being public figures and i j love when the fics capture these nuances in the story hah

Change of Ends (soonwoo, 52k, completed)

tennis!au - this might actually be my favourite soonwoo fic ever?? loved how their relationship was fleshed out over the years with the use of a non-linear narrative to sprinkle in memories from their past between their moments at present, and wonwoo was so sweet and loving here and it was such a refreshing take on his character bc he is usually the colder one. also, the level of detail for the sport was incredible and made the reading experience extra immersive so highly-recommend!!

A Mighty Stranger (minwon, 50k words, completed)

a fantasy minwon au for a change! really cool concept for a fic and there was so much effort and research that went into this bc the story spanned across different continents and time periods so i'd recommend this to those looking for smth diff

The Times We Fell (minwon, 46k, completed)

this one definitely did things to my heart :"") loved the visuals of hockeyplayer!mingyu x figureskater!wonwoo, the development of their enemies(?)-to-friends-to-lovers arc, how their relationship remained strong and steady throughout despite being met with various obstacles and external pressures along the way, how Mingyu rekindled Wonwoo's love for skating not once but twice, just them being a healthy and supportive couple - a beautiful read!

cut to the feeling (soonwoo, 44k, completed)

this was a character study on emotional self-torture and every chapter was an absolute sucker punch to the gut - loved the sadness and pining for the drama but i also felt like plot-wise the events didn't really justify the intensity of it all as much as the author's other piece :"/ writing was still amazing though!!

gold fever (seokgyu, 43k words, completed)

archer!seokmin x weightlifter!mingyu in a college au - really liked the vibes and writing in this fic :) seokgyu fics are rare and i feel like it's bc their dynamics on-camera mostly revolve around teasing/bickering it's hard to picture anything else, but the slow-burn element brought smth fresh and new to their dynamics and it was such an enjoyable read!

just let me know (i'll be on the floor) (verkwan, 30k words, completed)

soft and sweet friends-to-lovers fic that made my heart so warm!! really loved how their relationship unfolded over time, how they took care of each other as roommates, with seungkwan's obliviousness and denial and vernon being so patient with him throughout - 'twas a lovely slice-of-life read that brought comfort and joy :)

A (Revised Guide to Lab Safety) (soonwoo, 25k words, completed)

askjfsds this was an amazing mix of soonwoo peer dynamics in a college au + science!! their lab partners-to-friends-to-lovers arc was really too cute so i'd highly recommend this to soonwoo enthusiasts

tu me manques (minwon, 26k words, completed)

this really captured the feeling of watching 90s & early 2000s romcoms (think before sunrise, chasing liberty, serendipity etc) and was written so beautifully i might cry :"") really loved the travelling aspect of it, the scenic descriptions of each city made the fic so immersive, like i was there along w them sigh

also wonwoo has slight manic pixie dream boy vibes and mingyu is just there lolol

snowflake, i'll catch you tonight (minwon, 25k words, completed)

this was really cute!! just soft and fluffy vibes in general and characterisation was super on point bc wonwoo is literally winter personified lmao

a mix of sun and clouds (soonwoo, 24k words, completed)

lovelovelove aus with interesting professions, and this time they're both working at a weather station! soonyoung being a weather nerd is such a delight to read, and wonwoo's emotional constipation + little acts of service never gets old hehe geguri is amazing

Paradise Lost (minwon, 24k, completed)

sad fics have a chokehold on me and this one definitely takes the cake... was left in tears and i would risk it all to experience it for the first time again

despite this being a post-apocalyptic au, the development of the romance arc was treated softly and gently, that the moments of tenderness between the mcs shone through the violence and ruin that surrounded them. it was a really refreshing take on domesticity, one that took me by surprise, and it's a pity that the author only has 2 works!! i need MORE

Bend (and Break) (seoksoon, 23k words, completed)

fwb-to-friends-to-lovers seoksoon?? another wholesome fic and i loved the build up in this fic, where the mcs are basically doing all but admitting their feelings for each other UGH so cute

175°C for 60 minutes (seokgyu, 23k words, completed)

vv cute baking rivals au!! love how little clues were sprinkled throughout the story and came together at the end to tie things up nicely hehe

Lie Again (gyuhan, 22k words, completed)

the best gyuhan fic (that i've read so far) !! aka the chronicles of one (1) emotionally-unavailable yoon jeonghan where he learns to embrace the notion of Having Feelings ™ ft some of my other fave ships seoksoo and soonwoo

stillness and motion (seokhao, 21k words, completed)

give me a fic about emotionally-repressed characters that yearn and do everything but communicate and i'll eat it up!! the tension built up between (former) teammates in sport aus are a different breed and i'm absolutely here for it

For Want of Glory (woncheol, 21k words, completed)

secret agent au! loved woncheol's dynamics here, and it's really endearing to read from coups' pov because i love the way he just PINES

you make me feel good (i like it) (soonwoo, 18k words, completed)

no spoilers but this was an absolute beast of a fic that DESTROYED me the best way possible :"") each chapter was succinct yet packed a punch, loveloveloved how the element of time travel was weaved into the storyline!! op you are a genius for conceiving and writing this

Storm Warning (wonhui, 18k words, completed)

jun as a manic pixie dream type here is everything!! ww's feelings are so valid bc if jun was my neighbour, i too, would fall in love right away HAHA

now i'm covered in you (soonwoo, 16k words, completed)

it's the art of dealing with grief and moving on in a sweet and tender fic - highly recommend!

full ten (minwon, 14k words, completed)

super adorable strangers-to-roommates-to-lovers fic!! i really loved that they each had their own lives (preferences, habits, jobs and interests) before they met each other, and coming to live together only made their lives better - there's just something about the intimacy of co-existing in the same space with someone, bonding over simple weeknight dinners, developing a shared routine over time :"")

favorite (minwon, 14k, completed)

this was a v lovely friends-to-lovers fic - really loved the timelapse of small moments between them from both perspectives!

helios (minwon, 13k, completed)

a literal masterpiece - great execution of a cool concept, and wonwoo's persona as an artist was really well-crafted!!

day ones all i keep around me (minwon, 12k words, completed)

established (secret) relationship where minwon tries to soft-launch their marriage but their fans are too dense to realise LMAO this was really cute, and i loved the dynamics between streamer!wonwoo x soccerplayer!mingyu hehe

Flowers In My Path, My Love (seokwoo, 12k words, completed)

this was the cutest college meet-cute aka hotpoetryclassguy!wonwoo x cutepoetryclassguy!dk - it really captured the moments of fumbling, awkward shyness when interacting with crushes so well and bonus points for describing dk as sunshine bc he really is the brightest boy!!

light the way home (and i'll follow) (minwon, 10k words, completed)

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feel free to rec any fics based on what i've shared!! would really appreciate it thank you hehe

[filmofhybe]

Chapter 9 - the one that dated him?

> pairing : Nishimura Riki x Female Reader

> genre : college student AU! , Pool Lifeguard AU! , smau , fluff

> warnings : SLOW BURN!! , swearing , bad humor jokes , kys jokes (die etc) , kissing , semi verbal bullying (no violence) , reader! injuring herself by accident , missing parent figure

> chapter synopsis : As break has ended, all student are finally back to school once again, which also means some new faces. Including Isabelle.

previous - next | masterlist

comment or reblog to ask be on the series taglist.

© filmofhybe on tumblr — do not copy , translate or share.

( I also just want to mention that this series is kinda slow burn, so if your not into slow burn or plot lines that can take a bit to develop than this story is probably not your cup of tea. But I do recommend checking out my other works if you want, enjoy!! )

Word count - 462

“oh my gosh intak just pick a shoe? It isn’t a fashion show.” Everyone was standing outside the boys dorm right now, all because Intak can’t pick his shoes because apparently his fit needed to be ��sandwiched”.  This would be a understatement right now because the school meeting at the hall would be ten times more important than some stupid shoe.

 

“Gosh I’m done let’s go!” Intak stumbles out of the door before locking it as the group walk towards the hall, chatting about what they should have at the restaurant after the meeting. The hall was crowed with people, with familiar faces all around once again. Lots of people went up to the group for a reunion hug and catching up. Y/n was distracted over Niki’s text, saying he would be waiting for her around the very back corner of the hall with his friends. Maybe I should go check?..

“Guys I’ll be back in a few. Please save me a seat.” y/n informed before stepping away from the group and walking towards the back corner of the hall. As she continues to walk towards the back, she sees a tall boy with black and blonde hair, wearing a loose plaid shirt and baggy stylish jeans. He was in a group, y/n assume it was his other six friends. She quickly walked towards him and tapped on his shoulder, which caused him to turn around.

“Omg hi y/n!” Niki heart was beating so fast, what do you mean this would be their proper first talk in real life? Y/n wearing that white strap top with a beige skirt and white platform but is still shorter than himself made him go feral. “Hi Niki! I’m doing well is nice to finally and actually talk to you.” Y/n chuckled before greeting the others until she saw the new girl. Wait isn’t she-

 “Oh this is Isabelle. One of my childhood friends And Isabelle, this is y/n.” Niki introduced. That’s when your mind clicked. Isabelle. You know who she is, the girl who got with the guy you used to like, all because she was pretty but also because she spread a really disgusting rumor about you, which made everyone dislike you.

 “Well don’t be so rude and greet me?” Her voice made you cringe so badly that you didn’t say much before shaking her hand with a firm grip. You can tell the boys feel the tension between you both. They have never seen you greet someone without a smile.

 "Well, is nice meeting you. I think it is my time to go. I’ll see you soon.” You said as you left, anger was building up inside of you. Because now you have to deal with another problem when you already have ninety-nine.

Niki’s POV:

When y/n left, the tension between everyone thickens. “Ugh how rude is she..” Isabelle said. But no one makes a remark about it. “Well me and Jay are gonna sit down now I’ll see you all later.” Sunghoon said before walking towards y/n group of friends. The others nodded as they follow on another.

“Do they not like me or something?”

“I just think they are tired. Is okay I’ll sit with you..”

“Aww your the best Riki let’s go!”

series taglist : @surefornext @spilled-coffee-cup @haechansgf @txtistheloml@skepvids @syuuji @oshakyao @haechansbbg @en-happiness

© filmofhybe on tumblr — do not copy , translate or share.

[keeps-ache]

:D

[comfortscripts]

Hi! Can I request fluffy prompt 6 (“You know you’re in love when you can’t fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.” ― Dr. Seuss) with Andrew Garfield?

Thank you for being a part of the celebration!!! And also for requesting my truest love.

Wisps of moonlight illuminated the quiet bedroom, contented breaths and the crinkled sounds of the duvet shifting between the lovers. The warm air encased the room, allowing the combined scents of your individual fragrance to dance amongst the draft.

Approaching the witching hour as the moon even shone a little sleepily, but not Andrew. His entire being fixated on the sleeping beauty that laid against his chest, their tired breaths cooling his skin as their warmth seeped through the tangle of limbs. Hair strewn across their peaceful features, framing what the actor deemed as perfection. Even asleep, that beautiful spark the two of you shared was burning brightly.

“You know, watching someone whilst they sleep is incredibly creepy”

The muttered words which tumbled from your mouth broke his adoring trance. The shift of your lips against his skin sent goose-bumps flooding and brought a small red flush to the brunette’s unshaven cheeks.

“How could I not? It’s as if an angel is sleeping in my arms” His voice rattled in the deeper baritone, otherwise known as his midnight voice, that sound alone could have your body begging to wake up.

Cuddling closer into his lanky figure, wanting the intimacy to match his sweet words. “I see someone woke up cheesy.”

“Well, technically, I haven’t slept yet, so I was always this cheesy”

As his words resonated, your body bolted to attendance and caused you to sit haphazardly against the cool wood of the headboard. Eyes narrowing on his as if scolding the man for missing his bedtime. “Andrew Russell Garfield, what do you mean you haven’t slept yet?”

The actor would be giggling at your stern tone, a mocking jest of you sounding almost like a parent, but he couldn’t focus on anything other than how a stunning person like yourself would care for something as silly as his sleeping habits.

Rising up the headboard with a shuffle to continue his entanglement with your body, never wanting to be without the feeling of your touch. “Why would I? Just wanted to bask in this moment for a while longer, staring at the person I love more than anything.”

Any anger at his actions had dissolved at that singular word. “You love me?”

“I’ve known for a while but tonight sealed it, you know you’re in love when you can’t fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams”

With a strong push, your body launched onto the unsuspecting man who captured your heart. Wrapping your shorter arms around his torso as he embraced the new level of closeness, pulling your figure onto his lap as his hands gripped the sides of your hips.

“I love you too. Ugh, I’ve been holding those words back for so long”

Pressing kisses against his smiling face, muttering hurried ‘I love you’s between each loving assault of tender kisses. Andrew’s chest radiating a childlike chuckle at your affectionate actions but savouring every time your lips collided with his skin, before capturing them on his own yearning lips.

Both hearts pounding in a symphony of truth as their lips moved as one, neither sure of what this new chapter will bring but both knowing it felt right. Loving each other was the right thing.

[animeomegas]

What do you think about iruka’s alpha coming into the picture after he’s adopted naruto already?

@queenondeezmatatas : Omg monarch I was just thinking, let’s say that iruka adopted naruto when naruto was around 3 or 4, and then when his alpha comes around when naruto is around 12 like in the anime, and they start getting together etc. I can imagine iruka getting worried about letting this person into his family and everything that comes with that, so when naruto expresses his approval of this alpha that iruka really likes he’s just like🥺🥺 and imagine some time later, the first time naruto calls you his parent as well🥺🥺ugh I’m soft🥰🥰🥰

(Hmm, well let’s say Naruto was adopted when he was 8, because that’s when Iruka would have turned 18 and been able to adopt him legally, and now he’s just turned 12, but yes, this is a very interesting idea! Iruka absolutely gets worried about everything to do with this and it's so cute! Let’s see!)

The main difference is that Iruka is a lot more cautious when dating or courting any alphas if he already has custody of Naruto because he knows how the general population feel about him. No one is meeting Naruto for months at least, they aren’t allowed anywhere near Iruka’s house, and Iruka will put up with no disparaging remarks about Naruto, none at all.

But let’s say that everything has been going amazingly between Iruka and a new alpha. This alpha is perfect for Iruka is every way, and, from their discussions at least, they seem to have no problem with Naruto.

But Iruka is still terrified of introducing them. Because it’s one thing to not say anything bad about Naruto to Iruka's face and it’s another thing to help raise him. Iruka is so in love, and he doesn’t want to lose this alpha… But he will if they can’t handle Naruto. Naruto is his first priority, always.

Much sooner than he’d like, the fateful meeting day is upon him.

He’s inviting his alpha over to his house for dinner for the first time (to eat takeaway Ichiraku ramen because Iruka’s cooking sadly leaves much to be desired), and Naruto is joining you both after he’s finished his D ranks for the day.

…

You watch as Iruka nervously plates up the takeaway ramen into fancier dishes and tries to set the table for three. He’s already dropped the cutlery multiple times and smashed a glass in the sink.

“Iruka, here,” you say, taking the next batch of cutlery out of his hands and moving to carefully start setting the table. “Don’t be nervous, everything will be fine.”

Iruka gives you a shaky breath and a smile.

“I know, I’m just…”

“Nervous?”

“Yeah,” he laughs. “That. It’s just that Naruto wasn’t happy when I told him I was courting someone, and I don’t want him to be upset or feel replaced or anything. He hasn’t said it in a long time, but I know he’s often worried that one day I’ll get tired of him and abandon him.”

You finish setting the table before you step forward and pull Iruka into an embrace.

“He sounds like a good kid,” you say firmly, rubbing your thumbs on Iruka’s hips. “And I’m sure we’ll get along just fine. And don’t think I haven’t noticed how nervous you are about how I’ll react to Naruto, too.”

Iruka jumps, blushing somewhat at being called out so directly, but before he can defend himself you hold up a hand to stop him.

“I don’t blame you for being nervous, ‘Ruka, I think it’s admirable, and not to mention sexy, how protective you are” you reassure and Iruka hits you lightly on the arm for the sexy comment. “I’m just trying to let you know that you have nothing to worry about, I’m not so closed minded as to blame a child for events that happened when he was a baby.”

“I know, I know, I’m just…”

“Nervous?”

“Shut up.”

…

Dinner had gone better than expected. Iruka’s idea of distracting Naruto with ramen had worked like a charm at lowering his defences and allowing for Iruka’s son and the person who he hoped would one day be his mate to start bonding.

Things weren’t perfect, Iruka could tell that Naruto was nervous about being replaced by this new person, and he’d never been the best at sharing Iruka’s attention (it had made the teaching Naruto’s class at the academy something of a challenge at times.)

But Iruka was now sure of his choice in alpha. They truly were perfect!

They had spoken to Naruto with only the kindest and most patient of voices, they had understood his boundaries and never pushed them, they didn’t hold the Kyuubi against him, and they appeared to be both dedicated to helping raise Naruto and also respectful of Iruka’s final say as Naruto’s father. They had taken every one of his concerns about them and obliterated them from his mind.

Iruka felt giddy.

He just had to make sure Naruto was feeling okay after everything this evening. He had been pretty enthusiastic in the middle, eager to have the attention and affection from someone new, but when he’d walked in on Iruka and his soon-to-be alpha kissing goodbye in the doorway, some of the enthusiasm and left him and Iruka couldn’t figure out what was going on in his head.

…

“Hey, you ready for bed?” Iruka asks softly, stepping into Naruto’s bright orange room without so much of a wince (practice after many years.)

“Mhmm,” Naruto hums affirmatively. He’s laying on his bed in his pyjamas, half-heartedly packing up his weaponry ready for training tomorrow.

“I know that must have been a lot,” Iruka tries to bring up this evening carefully as he perches on the bed next to Naruto. “How are you feeling?”

Naruto shrugs but Iruka can see that he has something to say.

“What is it, Naruto? You can tell me, this is your home too, you always have a say,” Iruka says, hoping beyond hope that Naruto hasn’t decided he hates Iruka’s partner.

“Will you get mated?”

“I-“ Iruka hesitates but tries to answer honestly. “Probably, if you’re okay with it and everything goes well.”

Naruto considers that answer for a moment before continuing.

“And then you’ll have pups, right? That’s what people do when they get mated, Sakura-chan said so.”

“It’s what some people do,” Iruka gently corrects. “And… I’m not sure yet, maybe, maybe not. Is that something you would want? A sibling?”

“They’d be my sibling?” Naruto asks, surprised. “But I’m…”

“You’re my pup, Naruto, that’s what you are,” Iruka says firmly and with no room for argument. He pulls Naruto in for a hug and Naruto immediately accepts the affection. He had always been a tactile person, and hugs were a good method for calming him down. “Any other children I may or may not have will be equally as important as you, and I will love them just as much as I love you, no more and no less.”

“Do you promise?” Naruto asks, voice muffled by Iruka’s shoulder. Naruto grips the back of Iruka’s shirt tightly in an effort to elongate the embrace.

“I promise,” Iruka says fiercely.

Iruka holds to embrace, wanting to let Naruto decide when to break it. And he doesn’t for several minutes, so Iruka just rocks him slightly, stroking his hair and placing kisses on the top of his head. Naruto’s insecurities are not unexpected, but they still break Iruka’s heart every time he’s confronted with them.

“Okay,” Naruto says eventually, pulling away from the hug a little. “Then I approve.”

“What?”

“I approve,” Naruto says again, firmly and with a determined glint in his eyes. “They’re nice and they like ramen and they… they make you smile and I’m going to be going on long and dangerous missions soon to protect princesses, so I won’t be able to make you smile all the time. They can do it for me.”

“Oh, Naruto,” Iruka can’t stop his eyes filling up with tears as he pulls Naruto back in for another embrace. His pup was so selfless and caring, how did he get so lucky?

“It’s okay, dad, don’t cry,” Naruto rushes to reassure, but apparently it’s the wrong thing to say because the second Iruka hears Naruto say ‘dad’, the tears double.

“I love you so much, Naruto,” Iruka says tearfully. “More than anything else in this world, you know that?”

Naruto laughs tearfully.

“Me too, dad, I love you more than anything.”

[hyunverse]

BUNGA (FLOWER) | FUSHIGURO MEGUMI

gender neutral.

summary; you’re megumi’s dream person.

note; i wrote this bcs my birth name is actually a type of flower ugh the self indulgence also i like butterflies. also inspired by a song called bunga by masdo. i recommend listening to the song while reading. bunga means flower in malay!! also pls open the gif for better quality.

YOU REMIND MEGUMI OF A FLOWER. white orchids; they symbolize purity. and that’s exactly what you are to him.

fushiguro megumi remembers this one day when he and tsumiki had went to a flower garden together. he didn’t know why tsumiki suddenly felt like visiting a garden, but he followed anyway. he observed as his sister looked at the flowers around them, a smile never leaving her face and her eyes were practically sparkling. it felt nice to see his sister actually enjoy herself, especially after their parents got up and abandoned them, leaving tsumiki with all the house chores.

“look at all these flowers!”, tsumiki caressed the petals with her fingers, thumb gently gliding over the flowers, “they look so nice, don’t you think so megumi?”

megumi didn’t reply, he opted to stand beside his older sister. tsumiki explained the symbolisms of the flowers she knew of. the raven head looked stoic, as if he wasn’t listening to any of her words but the truth is, he was. he found the symbolism behind the white orchids particularly interesting. it suited the orchids’ physical appearance. white and innocence just made sense.

as the siblings chatted (though it technically was one sided on tsumiki’s part), a cat walked towards the duo. the ball of orange fur purred and nudged it’s head on tsumiki’s legs, immediately getting the teenage girl’s attention. she kneeled down, her previous smile growing wider.

petting the cat, she looked up at her younger brother, “aren’t cats so adorable?”.

“yeah,” megumi uttered. a lie. he wasn’t a big fan of cats, he found them annoying. dogs are better, that’s what he believed in but he didn’t have the heart to say that to his sister. not when she looks the happiest she had been in a while.

“and the weather’s really nice today!”, she added, eyes glancing up at the sky. the sun was glaring right into her eyes, so her pupils shrunk. she didn’t mind however, she had always loved sunny days. the sunlight shone right above their heads, and megumi didn’t like it. he could feel drops of sweat trickling down his back, causing his shirt to cling onto his skin. megumi much prefers when it’s cloudy, shades of grey in the sky, the perfect weather for staying at home and reading books.

even so, he just nodded, “mhm.”

shortly the sun started to set, spreading orange hues throughout the sky. flocks of birds returned to their nests, and so the fushiguro siblings made their way back to their abode. on their way tsumiki stole glances at her brother, letting out a dry chuckle everytime she notices the lack of expression on his face.

“you should smile more you know, megumi”, she ruffled his erratic hair, “you won’t get much friends if you keep on frowning like that”, she teased.

he grumbled, “i don’t care if i don’t have friends.”

megumi thought it was ridiculous. why would it matter, anyway? he’s fine being alone. people are bothersome; they’re too loud and they stress him out. especially the stupid punks in school who thinks they could do whatever they want. megumi simply shrugged and pushed his sister’s words out of his mind. scratch smiling and being likeable.

yet here he is, smiling at you. over no particular reason too.

currently, he’s walking along a beach with you. you; dressed up in a white sundress, a pair of sandals in your right hand. the sand burns under fushiguro’s feet but he couldn’t feel it over the fast thumping of his heart, he couldn’t feel the heat when his whole skin is tingling. he trolls behind you, walking over the footsteps you made. your sundress flows to the rhythm of your walk, flying slightly up when the wind blows your way, exposing the plush skin of your thighs. fushiguro looks away from your figure, his fair complexion tinted with blush.

you’re his best friend, he’s not supposed to look at you like that.

“it’s so nice here, megumi!”, you call out to him as you stand at the edge of the sea. waves crash, they trickle up to your toes. with a smile you hold up your hand for megumi to hold.

bashfully, megumi walks up to you and takes your hand in his. he’s reluctant, for he dislikes his hands. they’re cold and filled with callouses. so when you grip his hand as though you didn’t intend to let go, when your thumb rubs against his, he feels less insecure of his hands. the sensation of your hand in his is hot, it burns; however it feels nice.

megumi fushiguro hates warmth, but if it’s your warmth, he’d enjoy burning in heat.

the sand by the sea doesn’t feel hot on your feet. the waves get bigger and bigger; till they reach up to your ankles. you giggle because it tickled, the sound of your laughs reaching megumi’s ears. he turns to his side to see you crouching down, collecting the water in your hands.

that’s when megumi concluded, your whole existence screams purity.

a week later megumi meets you again. sometime at 11pm, by an oak tree—your usual meeting spot. the oak tree is large, it’s impossible to miss it. you stand under the oak tree, allowing dried leaves to fall onto your head, getting stuck in your hair. you know megumi would get all the leaves out of your hair. he does it everytime. he’ll pick out all the leaves out of your hair while lecturing you, though his words enter one ear then out from another. no matter how many times he says “i can’t do this all the time”, even he himself knows he would.

from afar megumi watches his best friend run around the flower field, chasing butterflies. your hair gets swept away by the wind as your hands stretch up to the sky, desperately trying to get a butterfly to land on your hand. you’re wearing a jumpsuit, the white color of the material truly brought out your skin tone. your complexion is glistening, and it makes megumi’s heart throb.

“they’re scared of you, y/n,” he finally says, putting both your hands down. the butterflies fly away from your sight, and you pout.

“but they’re so pretty,” you sigh, watching as the butterflies choose to fly anywhere but on your fingers. and then one lands on top of megumi’s shoulder.

your eyes widen, holding the sides of megumi’s figure to make him stay still. megumi could see sparks in your eyes when you admire the blue butterfly. soft is the expression you wear on your face. he likes it on you. that cute expression of yours makes megumi fall five times harder for you even when he knows he shouldn’t.

“you’re like a flower ‘gumi. it likes you.”

ridiculous, he thinks. you’re the flower. it’s obvious by the way your body moves under the moonlight, and how insanely beautiful you are.

fushiguro megumi doesn’t say anything in return, as always. he rarely does. if possible, he wants to avoid you from finding out just how in love he is with you.

after that day, you never show up under the oak tree, a few minutes distance from jujutsu high. he’ll wait for hours long only to be disappointed.

--at least not until his birthday comes, about a few months later. his face turns pale once he spotted you. you wait by the jujutsu high gate with a wide smile on his face, as if you didn’t ghost him for three months.

"glad to see you doing okay," the apple of your cheeks seem more prominent when you smile, megumi feels an urge to kiss them.

"i haven't seen you in so long," megumi mumbles, "happy to see you here today."

you grin and hold up your hand for him to take per usual, and didn’t mutter anymore words until the two of you reach a café in the outskirts of tokyo.

“nice café,” the raven comments , glancing at you. you’re wearing a puffy sleeved white blouse now—honestly, do you only own white clothes?

“found it on instagram”, you mutter, “i thought you’d like it. happy birthday, megumi.”

megumi smiles for the first time today. as a jazz song plays, he eats the birthday cake you purchased for him quietly. the cake tastes delicious (to be fair, anything you buy him is perfect) because it’s not too sweet. the fact that you remember his preference makes his smile grow a little wider.

you hum to the song and rest your head on his shoulder. it seems like the two of you are the only ones in the café—a much needed privacy. you’re usually touchy with him, and he prefers affection to be private. typically they make megumi blush, and he doesn’t want people to witness him all flustered.

“did you miss me, megumi?”, he replies to your question by nodding and placing his hand on top of yours.

serenity is this feeling, megumi thinks.

at the corner of the café stands an antique grandfather clock. it’s sounds are so loud, they resonate the whole environment. megumi suddenly becomes hyper aware of the sound, there’s a pounding in his head. the sound becomes louder and louder, to the point where megumi couldn’t feel your skin under his. he shuts his eyes close, an impossibly bright light glares his eyes.

“fushiguroooo!”, an annoying voice yells. itadori’s voice, megumi is certain.

the pounding in his head slows down. his sapphire eyes flutter open, and he realizes the light he saw was sunlight rays peeking through his blinds.

“seriously fushiguro, we’ve been calling you for an hour now. hurry up, we’re going out to eat in five. to celebrate your birthday”, megumi looks up to see nobara standing behind itadori. 

they’re both leaning against his door frame. itadori is dressed in a yellow hoodie, while nobara rocks a coat over a turtleneck. the female sorcerer holds her toy hammer tight in her grip, her eyes boring through megumi’s figure. by her posture, megumi guesses she was about to hit him with the squeaky hammer if only he didn’t wake up sooner.

fucking menaces, they could’ve left him to sleep for a little more. he hasn’t seen you in so long, he wanted to sleep in to spend time with you.

finally rubbing his eyes awake, the boy looks at the vase of orchids sitting on his nightstand. he sighs before standing up.

megumi will find you someday, he promises. if you’re a flower, he’ll gladly be the butterfly.

✉ taglist: @aliteama @dearsukuna @cybergoo @hanniemilk @ariasann @soulasdarkascoffee @okusetomura @eidotheiapriv @maat-the-prescriptive @etoilezone @elipres @scarednekozz @iridescentkitsune @crapimahuman @nectar0sw33t @hq149 @bluedelphinium @bokutos-babyowl @behan @tdntu0 @sunaluvs @guardianangelswings @fairywriter-oracle @inu-makki @erinisbadger

tagging; @candleohappiness , @haru-senji <333

[alynomali]

Iwaizumi Hajime x Reader  “𝚏𝚘𝚗𝚍𝚗𝚎𝚜𝚜”

A/N : Hi hello i just got into tumblr and this is my first time writing a full on one shot in english because english is not my first language ;( so i’m sorry if there’s any error in my writing but i hope you guys can still enjoy the story :D anyway i’m on an iwaizumi hajime brainrot and i know y’all too so let’s just get into ittt ***** 

Genre : Fluff 

Word Count : 5k 

You woke up feeling lightheaded. You brought the back of your palm to feel your forehead that was burning hot hours ago. But after four hours of sleep and taking your medicine, the heat has subsided and was replaced by your normal body temperature. You sighed in relief but you still didn’t want to step up from your comfortable bed. Instead you rolled to the side to grab your phone that was laying on the nightstand, to get some info on school assignment, or any big news that you missed throughout today from your friends because you didn’t manage to go to school. When you turned off airplane mode, tons of messages from your close friend’s group chat rang loudly with multiple  ringing sounds, coming one after another. When the ringing finally stops, you open the group chat and skim through the chat bubbles your friends sent, curious to what they are discussing.

“Oh? They lost?” you murmur to yourself after getting an understatement. Today is the match of your school’s volleyball team against Karasuno High School. From the people who went and saw the match, it was pretty intense and they were neck to neck to one another. But in the end Karasuno won and they only a point difference from Aoba Johsai. The further you read the chats, one caught your attention

 I saw Oikawa toss the ball to Iwaizumi from the right end of the court and Iwaizumi got to spike it perfectly! That was crazyy

 Yeah, but even with that perfect toss and powerful spike, Karasuno managed to get it. Both team are crazyyy

 I saw Iwaizumi-kun cried In the hallway, poor him. He must’ve think that that one spike was important

 Aww no

 You slowly sat up from your bed, while still reading those lines over and over again. “Iwaizumi…” you mumbled to the air. You then checked the clock hanging on your bedroom wall, you saw that it was 7.56PM. ‘He should be home already..’

 You heard a knock on your door, and your mom peeked through. “Oh you’re awake! How are you feeling?”

“Great! My fever is gone”

“If that’s so, can you go to Hajime’s house? His mother and father are working late and he probably hasn’t had dinner, so drop these for him okay?” asked your mother while holding a nicely wrapped box probably filled with food.

 “Uh yeah okay. I’ll get ready”

 It is not a secret. To you, your close friends, and specifically Oikawa Tooru, that you have a crush on Iwaizumi Hajime. This has been going on for a long time, since the beginning of second grade. You got to be in the same class as Iwaizumi. At first you were a bit scared of him due to the somewhat tense atmosphere surrounding him, but turns out, he is the nicest guy you ever met. He spoke in a deep and gruff voice, but there’s so much tenderness in the way he speaks. His arms and hands are big and calloused from playing too much volleyball, but whenever he accidentally touches you, he is always so careful with his grip, or makes sure that he doesn’t touch you in an inappropriate way. His tall figure always towers over your 160 cm figure, but it made you feel secure. And there are many small acts he does to you that always make something in your stomach flip. You know that those are just the way he respects the opposite gender (from your observation), but it still made him so attractive to you. Plus he looks cute and manly although not you can call a worldwide handsome. Also  He probably hid a well toned body underneath the layers of cloth he wears. Before you got too far and deep into your thoughts of that man, you quickly shook your head to focus on your current mission right now. Iwaizumi probably is sulking as hell right now and you want to do something nice for him, or maybe just there to give him reassurance.

 iwaizumi’s house is just seven minutes walk from your house. Before you rang the bell, you noticed that the gate was not locked. “Did he forget to lock it?” you opened the gate and made your way to the also not locked door. You saw his training bag in the hallway entrance, meaning that Iwaizumi is home. But you were glad that there were no signs of robbery. “Iwaizumi?” you called him. The living room and dining room were clean and empty. Not even a slightest sound was heard. “He’s probably in his room”. You climbed up the stairs and saw that the door of his room is slightly open and you could see him inside drying his hair with a towel, back facing you

You knocked on the door and Iwaizumi jumped slightly. “y/n? How did you get in?”. You sighed, “You left the front door and gate open,”. “Oh.., wait here then I’ll go lock it,” Iwaizumi then went downstairs leaving you sitting alone in his room on his study chair. You’ve gone to his bedroom a couple times but this time it feels different. The room is filled with his scent of cologne and shampoo from his shower earlier. You carefully breathe it in and a blush crept to your cheeks, just in time Iwaizumi stepped back in the room “Okay wha- wait, why are your face red?”

You flustered, “What! N-No I’m perfectly fine! Maybe it’s because of my fever earlier, hahahaha.”

Iwaizumi raised a brow, “Okay? Anyway, why are you here?” he asks as he takes a seat on the edge of the bed, keeping his distance from you.

“O-Oh yea, um, my mother made you dinner. She said that your parents will be home late,” you said holding up the wrapped box in your hand.

“I already ate but i guess there’s still space for your mom’s cooking. Say my thanks for her,” you smiled at his words.

“Should I walk you back? It’s dark.”

“What? No, it’s not even 8pm and my house is just seven minutes away.”

“Okay then, thankyou again. Be careful on your way back.”

‘Wait? No no no no, I can’t just go home like this. He’s probably not going to eat his food and be sulking instead,” You stood up. Iwaizumi thought you were going to leave so he grabbed his phone on the nightstand and got comfortable on his bed with his back resting against the headboard. He didn’t sense your figure leaving his room so his eyes left his phone to look at you, “why are you still here? It’s not appropriate for a girl to stay in a boy’s room.”

“You did very well today, Iwaizumi.”

“huh?”

You clutched your fingers, “You did so well in the match today. I’m proud of you. Never think that you lost because of a big mistake. You didn’t make any mistake. You gave your best as you always do. Winning or losing is just a result. What matters is that even if you lost, you still gave all your might in the court. All of your hard work, your sneaky practices at the park in the late afternoon, it’s all worth it. Because you gave it all in the court today. Nothing goes to waste.”

Your voice was stern, but there’s a hint of tenderness in it. Iwaizumi just looked at you dumbfounded . After a while, Iwaizumi gave you a soft smile “Thanks, sorry we didn’t keep our promise to go to nationals.”

“Don’t mind me. That is your promise to yourself.”

“Right.”

After that, you still stood there. Arms crossed on your chest. Iwaizumi eyed you in confusion. “What…? Is there again?”

You then sat on the bed beside him, arms still crossed on your chest, “You’re gonna cry. I’m gonna stay here to accompany you until you’re done.”

“What?! No, I'm fine, you should go home now.”

“I’m not gonna let you be alone until you feel better,” you said sternly

“W-Wha- ugh..” Iwaizumi turned his face to the side, not facing you as he can no longer contain the tears that have been threatening to fall ever since he was greeted by the emptiness of his house. Because of the silence, replays of today’s match became clear in his mind. Every step, every move, every shout of frustration , every cheer of happiness, and the last whistle signaling the end of the game. It was awfully clear, every bit of it, and it made him feel hopeless. Like there’s nothing that he can do. His shoulder began to shake, and you could hear soft sobs. It’s like he’s holding back to scream because you’re there.

You never actually see Iwaizumi cry and now being alone with him is his weakest state flustering you. You did say that you’re gonna accompany him but now you’re confused as to what to do. You stayed silent, just watching him. He still doesn’t face you and his sobs became softer. You don’t like this, he’s holding back so much because you’re there. This is probably supposed to be his time, when he shut his door, turned off the lights, and curled under the blanket. Letting out all of his frustration into anything he can manage. But then you decided to come. You hate to admit it but you ruined his time.

But still, you didn’t want to leave.

So instinctively, you reached out your hand to touch the back of his neck. You can feel Iwaizumi tensed up a little. As he slowly turned his head to finally look at you, you and your hand up further to the back of his head, fingers buried in his soft brunette hair. Iwaizumi’s red and teary eyes looked at you in slight confusion, and you stared back at him with a pang in your heart. Seeing his hurting expression for the first time feels like something stabbed your chest. ‘So this is what it feels like.. when you care so much about someone..’

Without another hesitation, you lean your body towards him and let his head fall on your shoulder. The warmth of his body envelopes you and you can feel the sturdiness of his body. You wrapped both of your arms on his shoulder, trapping him in a hug. Your fingers stayed buried in his hair as you started to give it a soft scratch in an attempt to soothe him. “I said I’ll accompany you. So vent all you want. I’m listening.”

You couldn’t see iwaizumi’s expression. But you could feel his body relaxed to your soft touches and he began to cry loudly, “Damn it! Damn those Karasuno..! I-I too.. I want to go to the nationals too fucking damn it!! I want to go with my friends too… with my juniors.. damnit! Damnit argh!!” you  tighten your grip on him cause you feel like he’s going to burst. But you’re glad that he doesn’t move away from you. He was always so physical about these things, but now he just uses his words and emotions.

After some minutes, the hurtful scream and cry gradually turns into a soft sobbing. Your grip around his shoulder soften as Iwaizumi slowly moves away from you. “S-Sorry for ranting and um.. hugging you,” he sniffed and rubbed away the remaining tears leaking out.

You smile, “Don’t worry, but it feels good doesn’t it?”. He chuckled softly, “yeah.”

You fiddled with your fingers on your lap, “I’m sure everyone is feeling the same as you, Iwaizumi. I’m sorry I barged in into your supposed to be alone time. But I just couldn’t help it, I just can’t go to sleep tonight thinking about how you will have trouble sleeping. The others maybe will, but I won’t let you. Because you’re-- um..” you immediately stopped your words. Because just now you were just about to say the thing. Being alone with him and getting caught up in the mood urges you to, but you reminded yourself that you can’t do that, not when he’s in this state.

“What about me?” Iwaizumi tilted his head to the side, eyeing you in confusion.

You immediately shot up from his bed and gave him a wide smile, “Nothing! Anyway, enjoy your food. I should get going now,” you said while pointing towards the door.

“Uh? Oh yeah okay, I’ll open the gate for you,” you were tailing behind Iwaizumi as the two of you were heading downstairs. Luckily for Iwaizumi, you couldn’t see heat creeping up to his cheeks and he is starting to register what just happened between you two.

‘Nah, she can’t be…. Right?’

                              ~------------------------------------------------~

 The next day, you woke up from the ringing of your smartphone placed on your nightstand. You didn’t bother to look at the caller ID and just answer, “Ugh.. hello?”

“Did you just wake up?” Iwaizumi’s deep and gruff voice from the other line jolts you up from your sleeping position, “I-Iwaizumi??”

“I want to return the lunch box from last night. I had been ringing the bell but no one came out.”

“Ah right sorry. My parents left early to my grandparents house. I’ll be there wait a second”

When you opened the door you were greeted by the sight of Iwaizumi looking nice and neat in a pair of black jeans and a slightly oversized denim jacket over a grey hoodie. Your breath hitch at the sight of him until he starts talking, “Here” he handed the clean lunch box to you, nicely wrapped as well “The food was good, thank you”

“Yeah, you're welcome. Um.. are you going somewhere?” You asked while accepting the lunch box.

“I’m going to see Karasuno and Shiratorizawa match,” he said, putting his hands inside his pocket.

Concern filled your expression, “Are you feeling alright?”

He smiled softly, “Yeah, I can’t stay bummed out for too long.”

“That’s good then!” You beamed with a smile.

“I’ll be going then. When will your parents come back home?”

“Um.. maybe at night. They said they're gonna be there for a while.”

“And why aren’t you coming with them?” he asks again.

“I’m starting to prepare for the college entrance exam,” you said while rubbing the back of your neck .

“Ah, that’s nice. Well then, goodluck on it. Be careful, if anything happens, call me or Oikawa” he said, turning his back towards you. This soft part of Iwaizumi showing that he cares about you always makes your heart flutter and makes you fell deeper for him.

“Y-Yeah.. thank you..” and with that, you closed the door. You sighed as you tried to calm the loud thumping of your heart.

You mumbled, “Maybe.. I can do it today.. he seems to be in  a good mood.”

You looked down towards the ground, thinking hard, “Confession huh…”

                                     ~----------------------------------~

 Later that day, Karasuno vs Shiratorizawa match ended with Karasuno as the winner thus continuing to the national stage. Surprisingly to Iwaizumi he met Oikawa in one of the seats and now they are walking together out of the gymnasium.

“Hey Iwa-chan~, let’s go grab some food. I’m feeling like shit,” Oikawa said with a scowl on his face, his nose scrunched

“Then don’t come to see the match if you’re gonna be like this!”

“Stop being so rude and treat your best friend nicely for once will ya?!” Oikawa said with his arms folded on his chest.

Iwaizumi sighed, didn’t want to deal with Oikawa’s words any further, “Fine let’s go get something to eat,”

“Yay~! Let’s eat at a fast food restaurant!”

Along the way to the nearest fast food restaurant, Iwaizumi’s mind was wandering everywhere. Oikawa started to notice this because his friend had been bumping into stuff during their short walk. Oikawa bumped Iwaizumi’s shoulder to get his attention. He slightly jolted and he glanced at him, “What?”

“Is there something on your mind?”

“Huh? No, why?”

Oikawa sighed, “Really, Iwa-chan. You should be more honest. You almost stepped on a kid back there.”

Iwaizumi only huffed at Oikawa’s words.

“Is it a girl??”

“Can you shut up.”

“A girl it is!” Oikawa beamed, “Who is it? Who is it??”

“No I’m not thinking of that!” Lies. The truth is he was thinking of you. About what happened last night. About how you gave him the warmest hug he ever received. How you convey your words of comfort to him. He may have kept a dumbfounded face at that time but the truth is thousands of butterflies were raging inside his whole body. He didn’t know if it was because he has a thing for you or if it’s because he was flustered because you’re a girl and he is a boy. He never really thought of fawning over somebody. All he thinks about is just studying and volleyball. Yahaba and Kindaichi always prattle about how much they want a girlfriend but he’s never really into those kinds of conversation. But what if he’s finally getting his first ever love story now? He’ll be damned because he’s never prepared himself for these kinds of things, even though he’s almost 19 years old.

So he decides to swallow hard his ego and eyed his gaudy bestfriend intensely, before he forces words out of his mouth “Um.. O-Oikaw—”

“Oh! Is that y/n-chan?” Oikawa suddenly said as he pointed a finger to get Iwaizumi to also look at where you were standing. Oikawa is about to call you when Iwaizumi suddenly blurted out

“W-Wait! Don’t call her!”

Oikawa looked at Iwaizumi confused, but then his lips formed a cheeky grin “Humm?? What’s this?”

Iwaizumi's face turns beet red, “A-Ah! No I-I’m—Um..” Iwaizumi wanted to die instantly at that exact moment because now Oikawa is clearly holding back his laughter. A mischievous grin is plastered on Oikawa’s face as he ignored Iwaizumi and made his way towards you calling out your name, “Y/n-chaann~!”

Iwaizumi gritted his teeth while covering half of his face with his hand “Fuck that shittykawa,”

You were standing on the side, beside the trashcan as you are currently finishing your drink so you can quickly throw it onto the trashcan. Until the familiar voice of Oikawa beamed through the street, making you quickly snap your head to the side to see Oikawa currently walking towards you with Iwaizumi behind him.

“Oikawa! Iwaizumi!”

“Yahoo, what you doing here alone?” asked Oikawa.

“I just came from the bookstore. I’m looking for stuff to help me study,” you answered, throwing your empty drink into the trashcan.

“Me and Iwa-chan are going to eat right now, do you wanna come? Iwa-chan really wants you to come apparently,” Oikawa said wiggling his eyebrows at Iwaizumi.

“HUH?!” Iwaizumi was beating the shit out of Oikawa while you only stood there smiling awkwardly.

“Uhm yeah sure I’ll come.” You answered when they finally calmed down.

“Yay~ okay then let’s goo! And Iwa-chan stop being so jumpy and fidgety will you?”

“I’M NOT! Come on let’s go,” you eyed Iwaizumi worriedly, wondering if you did something wrong. So you reached Iwaizumi's side and asked him “Hey, are you alright?”

“Huh? Oh yeah I’m fine. Don’t worry about it, sorry,” Iwaizumi said as he averted his eyes from you. Iwaizumi is acting weird when you join their walk to the restaurant just now, you didn’t want to think too much into it yet you can feel slight warmth creeping up your cheeks.

“We’re here!” After five minutes the three of them finally arrived at the said fast food restaurant. You offered to find a seat while Iwaizumi and Oikawa went to stand on the line to order. You finally sat yourself down and got yourself comfortable. Unknown to you, Oikawa and Iwaizumi are having their own convo about you.

“Is there something going on between you two?” Oikawa asks.

“…no”

“And I will say this to you over and over again, be honest Iwa-chan.”

Iwaizumi pondered for a moment before talking in a much quieter tone, “Yesterday.. y/n came to my house.”

Oikawa blinked, “What? Why?”

Iwaizumi grunted, reaching up his hand to rub the back of his neck to somehow ease the heat on his face, “Um.. she actually came to give me food because my parents are home late. And um.. after that…'' Iwaizumi trailed off, hiding his face from Oikawa.

“What! Don’t leave me hanging!” Oikawa then gasps, “Oh my god don’t tell me---!”

Iwaizumi quickly retorts, “No shithead! She just hugged me because she knows that we lost the game yesterday. And um I don’t know how to explain it but at that time, everything feels so intimate and uh- I don’t know…”

“Ohh~ So you’re in love?” Oikawa smirks.

To Oikawa’s surprise Iwaizumi didn’t yell or smack him in the head but only eyed him, “I don’t really know. I mean, I’ve always been so flustered whenever she does something for me. But I don’t know if it’s just because I feel nervous of the opposite sex.”

Oikawa tapped Iwaizumi on the shoulder, “Well my man, it doesn’t matter if you both are the opposite gender. If you don’t feel anything towards her then you will be comfortable in any kind of situation. Don’t worry I got your back, because I know you’re suck at this so I’ll make the chance so you two can have a talk together,” Oikawa said with a wink at the end.

“Ugh.. I can’t believe I’m getting advice from you… you look a hundred times more annoying right now.” Iwaizumi muttered.

“Rude Iwa-chan~!”

Suddenly people around them were silent and started whispering while looking in a certain direction. Oikawa and Iwaizumi stopped their bickering to try and see what’s going on. Not long after, there are two staff coming out from behind the counter to go to a certain table

“Miss, are you alright?”

“We have a change of clothes if you’d like..”

Iwaizumi pushed himself through the people gathering around the scene and saw that it was you. Your outfit was drenched in supposedly a drink, some of the liquid even splat onto the table and on the floor under too, making a mess.

“Y/n!” Iwaizumi goes into full panic as he runs towards you with Oikawa behind.

When they got to your side, Iwaizumi immediately asked, “What happened?! Are you alright?!”

“Yeah.. just now a guy came up to me and tried to ask for my number. I declined it but he just kept pushing me to do so, and I pissed him off so he threw the drink he was holding at me..” you let out a small laugh.

Iwaizumi gritted his teeth and punched his fist onto the table “Where is he now, that jerk!”

“It’s alright Iwaizumi! He already left. I’ll just go and change now, it’s not like things like this never happen anyways,” you gave him a reassuring smile. Iwaizumi looks at you in shock, “I mean for a stranger to hit on me! They are usually never that aggressive. I'll change now okay.” You said standing up from your seat, following the staff to get your change of cloth.

Iwaizumi let out a deep sigh and began to help clean the mess on the table. He shot a glare towards Oikawa who was just standing on the sideline, “What are you doing standing there trashykawa!”

Oikawa only smiled and shrugged, “I just don’t want to ruin your moment. You’d be a good protective boyfriend Iwa-chan.”

Iwaizumi only grumbled in response.

 After all of that commotion, the three of you still sat down and enjoyed the meal. Even though the staff told you three that the food will be at service, you didn’t think it was necessary so you still have your peaceful lunch with Iwaizumi and Oikawa. The conversation you guys had quickly washed away the tense atmosphere. Oikawa and Iwaizumi talk about the match earlier and how pissed they were that karasuno won. But they seem to be a lot more chill than yesterday so you just laugh it off with them. After that the three of you left the restaurant and walked back to your neighborhood.

You were still talking with Iwaizumi and Oikawa along the way. You seem to not notice but you were talking and smiling towards Iwaizumi more, it has always been like that whenever the three of you hung out. You and Iwaizumi always seem to gravitate towards one another and it’s making Oikawa feel like he’s third wheeling. But he’s not mad though, he finds it cute. Now he’ll just have to give both of them a push.

Oikawa halted his track and cleared his throat, “Guys sorry but I need to go somewhere.”

You and Iwaizumi both stopped talking and stopped your track as well, “Why so sudden, Oikawa?”

“No big deal, I just forgot to buy something my sister asked for. You guys can go home!” Oikawa then lightly put his hand on Iwaizumi’s shoulder, giving him a thumbs up and a big smile, telling him through his head ‘Good luck Iwa-chan!’

 Iwaizumi’s eyes widened, mouth went agape, ‘Now?! Wait, I’m not ready yet!’

“Bye you guys~!” Oikawa sprinted to the other direction, leaving Iwaizumi and you alone. ‘Damn that trashykawaaa….’

“Let’s go, Iwaizumi ,” you said softly. Iwaizumi quickly became flustered, “Uhh.. yeah right.”

The two of you fell into a comfortable silence while continuing the walk. You were looking around as you walked while Iwaizumi on the other hand was in deep thought, thinking of how to use this situation to make his move. His train of thoughts were interrupted by the sound of your sweet voice calling out to him, “Iwaizumi, do you want to drop by the park? There is this small taiyaki stand that I want to try.”

“Sure,” Iwaizumi said with a small smile.

It was a quite chilly day and a gush of wind just so happened to pass through you and Iwaizumi. You didn’t have your long sleeved because it was wet from an earlier accident and was replaced by a short sleeved one provided by the staff from the restaurant. They apologize that they didn’t have a much warmer cloth but you reassure them that it’s fine because your house is close by.

In the midst of trying to keep yourself warm by rubbing the side of your arms, you suddenly felt warmth on your back as a jacket draped over your shoulder. You look to the side to see that Iwaizumi took off his outer jacket and gave it to you, “You look uncomfortable, wear this in the meantime,” Iwaizumi muttered softly, trying to press down his embarrassment.

You felt your cheeks heated up, “T-Thankyou..” you slid your arms into the sleeve to wear his jacket properly. It was obviously too big for you and his scent immediately envelopes you.

The two of you reached the park and your face beamed a smile, “Thank goodness not many people here, the other day the line was quite long so I didn’t get it. Come on, Iwaizumi!” you said as you ran happily towards the stand. He smiled softly at the sight of your small figure on his clothes and followed you.

You both sat on a nearby bench eating your taiyaki, “Ah, it’s warm..” you took a bite and hummed in delight. Iwaizumi's heart flutters upon seeing your cute gestures.

“This really worth 350 yen isn’t it, Iwaizumi---” You looked at Iwaizumi and saw that he’s actually looking at you. You froze and felt your heart beat faster at how Iwaizumi looked at you with such adoreness. You went silent for a few seconds, just looking back at Iwaizumi until you whispered. “Um.. is there something on my face?”

“Yeah.. you’re beautiful,” Iwaizumi said softly with no expression.

“W-What?” you were taken aback.

Iwaizumi sighed and looked down to his hands, he fiddled his fingers as he spoke, “I’m not good at this kind of things.. so um..”

You waited for Iwaizumi to finish as your heart beats faster every second making it hard to breathe.

Iwaizumi grunted and rubbed the back of his neck, “Y-You know how you said that you sometimes.. got hit up by a random guy on the street and um.. I was thinking maybe it’ll be easier to brush them off if you.. you uh.. have a boyfriend…”

Your whole face now is red, “O-Okay..?”

Iwaizumi finally faced you, staring into your eyes, “I-I mean to say—I’ll be your boyfriend!”

You went silent and you only stared at him with your mouth agape.

“I have always been so flustered whenever I’m with you, and without noticing I get jealous when a guy approaches you, like I was so mad earlier when a guy—no, I’ll get mad at whoever did something like that to you. So uh.. I’ll be your boyfriend.. if you’d like… so I can always be there for you..” he trailed off towards the end.

You were so taken aback that you just fell silent. Iwaizumi covered his face from embarrassment, “Argh.. that is such an uncute way of confessing, I’m sorry I don’t---”

Suddenly you let out a laugh, Iwaizumi removed his hand from his face to look at you with a pout, “Don’t laugh at me!”

“Sorry sorry! But you are just so cute. I can’t believe you can be this cute,” you said with a smile still plastered on your face.

Iwaizumi grunted, “S-So.. what’s your answer?”

“Hmm.. but I’m kinda upset that you beat me into confessing..”

Iwaizumi’s head snapped towards you, “Wait what?”

“Last night I actually wanted to confess to you, but I thought that the timing would be bad so I’m thinking when I should do it. But it turns out you confess the day after. So I guess I shouldn’t worry too much about you,” you said giggling.

“Well, I guess you do always made me feel better,”

You both fell silent again. Iwaizumi nervously spoke again, “So.. are you saying yes?”

You smiled, giving him a quick peck on his cheek, “Of course~”

Iwaizumi slumped down on his seat, face already overheated, “I guess I have to get used to this..”

                                       ~-----------------------------------~

a/n : arrgghh i can’t believe i finish this, more iwa-chan fics will be coming soon because he’s a precious man :D

[jimlingss]

Sugar and Coffee [19]

Chapter 18 - Chapter 19 - Chapter 20

➜ Words: 4.6k

➜ Genres: 99.5% Fluff, 0.5% Angst, Pâtisserie school!AU

➜ Summary: It isn't hard to be a pâtisserie chef, but it's not a piece of cake either. It seems like for you in particular, life keeps throwing in one wrench after another. It always finds ways to make your sweets bitter. The cherry on top is Jeon Jungkook — a rival with a sensitive sweet tooth who always finds ways to complain about you.

cr.

“You guys are together now?!”   There’s a high-pitched, deafening shout that has you flinching. On sheer instinct, you’re about to let go of his hand, but you feel Jungkook’s grip tighten on yours instead, squeezing your palm securely. You glance at him with your brows raised and he merely shrugs.    “What? This?” Jungkook lifts your interlaced hands up to your shoulders, showing it off right in front of Taehyung’s face. He teases, “Friends can hold each other’s hands.”   “You don’t let me hold your hand when I ask,” Taehyung argues with a scoff.    The tall brunette is left utterly confused and soon, Jimin is joining the trio. He greets all of you with a bright smile but almost immediately, his eyes stray downwards to your interlocked hands as well. Yet Jungkook shamelessly maintains it in spite of the obvious attention it's bringing, even to your classmates and acquaintances passing by the hallway.   Jimin’s grin widens. “Are you guys datin—”   “I already asked.” Taehyung cuts off. “They’re just being weird.”   “Oh.” The shorter man’s lips become lopsided with his frown and he sends an incredulous expression to Jungkook that only makes said man laugh. Jimin turns around anyhow. “Yoongi and Hoseok are already in the dining center. Do you guys have any classes today?”   “No, I think they’re just doing orientation for the newbies.”   “You weren’t this excited to tell your parents,” you lean over to whisper into Jungkook’s ear when the pair of you naturally fall behind the two boys.   “Well, they’re my parents. I’d rather spare the both of us from….that,” he explains and then smiles. “But is it such a bad thing if everyone here knows? It’ll stop people from making moves on you.”   “Moves on me?” You scoff. If anything, it should be the opposite. Jungkook’s always been popular with everyone without even having to try. But you suppose it would be rather helpful if everyone knew that he was taken. It might just save you from a lot of headaches. So you don’t protest further.   Yoongi and Hoseok are easy to find in the dining center. They’re at the usual table and it’s like time hasn’t passed whatsoever. Yoongi is picking at his food and chewing gingerly as if it's exhausting for him to do so while Hoseok is tapping on his phone.    They look up when you approach.   “Long time, no see.” Hoseok grins as Jimin settles beside him with an equally warm smile.   “What are you talking about? The group chat has been blowing up because of this guy.” He hitches his thumb to Taehyung who is wholly offended.   “It’s not my fault I want to share the cute dogs I come across with everyone.”   “Haven’t you muted the chat?” Jimin asks Yoongi with a small laugh, not expecting an answer when he already knows it.    Taehyung is exasperated that no one answered his messages during the last week of the break and that Yoongi could possibly have the heart to ghost everyone — accusations the sleepy man doesn’t even respond to. In the meanwhile, Jungkook sighs at how his friends are already making a loud ruckus and ruffles your hair as he gets up from the table. He asks what you want for breakfast and then returns shortly with two trays of food.   It’s when he sits down that Yoongi raises his head again.   “So, how long have you guys been together?”   “We’re not together—” Jungkook answers without missing a single beat.   “Cut the crap,” Yoongi deadpans, halting his chewing. “It’s too goddamn early for this bullshit.”   “What?” Jungkook’s grin is swelled across his face. “Can’t best friends kiss each other sometimes?”   Hoseok’s eyes are enormous, having no idea where this is coming from. Jimin is sitting on the edge of his seat, anxious for the transpiring events. Taehyung is utterly befuddled but Yoongi, on the other hand, wears a completely blank expression. The lethargic man is wholly unimpressed.   Jungkook bursts out laughing. “Okay, okay. It’s true. We’re dating.”   Immediately, there’s an uproar. But it’s mostly from Taehyung. “I knew it! I knew it!”    Jungkook laughs and argues back with a ‘no, you didn’t’.    At the same time, Jimin is smiling tenderly and giggling at his friend’s reaction. Hoseok is grinning as well and even the corner of Yoongi’s mouth quirks. The latter man mumbles that it’s about damn time and you’re sheepishly smiling as your face heats under the attention.   Jimin curiously asks, “When did this happen?”   “In Tahiti,” you answer. “Somewhere along there…”   “So it’s been like two months and you never thought to tell us?!” Taehyung is once again exasperated, shaking his head like he can’t believe it.   “It’s only been a month and a half,” Jungkook says as he throws a fry into his mouth, chewing in his cheek. “We wanted to see where it would go and stuff…”   “Obviously it went well enough that you two are still together,” Yoongi points out.   “I think it’s going well.” You turn to Jungkook. “Don’t you?”   “It’s been going awfully,” he remarks in sarcasm, making you scoff. Laughter bubbles out of his chest and he leans over to gently knock his head against yours. “I’m kidding. Kidding.”   “Wait, does this mean you two are going to be cute and gross together now?” Taehyung’s face wrinkles into a frown.    “Of course they are,” Hoseok laughs. “It’s a requirement.”   “No, we won’t make things weird,” you protest. “Promise.”   “They’ve always been gross together,” Yoongi mutters with his mouth-full, pointing his wooden chopsticks at him and completely ignoring what you’ve said. “Haven’t you noticed?”   “Congratulations, you two,” Jimin speaks sincerely with his eyes crinkled into half-moons.   “Thanks.” You laugh, leaning into Jungkook. “I lucked out, really.”   Your boyfriend clicks his tongue in annoyance. “I’m the one who lucked out.”   “Ugh.” Taehyung’s nose wrinkles and he feigns disgust. If anyone looked any more satisfied right now, it was him. You suppose to outsiders, your relationship with Jungkook was a long time coming. “They’re being gross already. Go get a room.”   You scoff at him and turn to Hoseok. “Is Aeri coming?”   “She isn’t,” he says simply without looking you in the eye, “She and I broke up.”   “What?” Several heads whirl over, the focus now brought onto him.    This was new news too — information that was much more bitter.   “Yeah, it happened during the summer.” Hoseok offers a tiny, reserved smile. He keeps his head down low and that’s only when you notice the darkened circle underneath his eyes, the sickly colour of his skin and his disheveled hair. “It just….didn’t really end up working out.”   “Oh.”   “Why didn’t you tell us?” Jimin asks gently as Taehyung automatically puts his brownie onto Hoseok’s food tray in an attempt to make him feel better.   “It just happened a week ago. Honestly—” He sits back. “—I’m still trying to process it, so yeah.”   Yoongi reaches over, stiffly patting him on the back. “It’s going to be alright, dude.”   The corners of his lips pull a bit. “Thanks.”   You could’ve never fathomed it. They got together long before you and Jungkook did, but you always thought that they would work out. Someone as bubbly as Hoseok with someone as kind and timid as Aeri, it seemed like a match that you wouldn’t think twice about.   To hear that they’ve split is shocking. But you don’t pry for details when it’s their personal business. You don’t try to figure out what exactly happened when it was the last thing you wanted to talk about when you experienced it yourself. But you’re also not sure how to feel.   And Jungkook picks up on it when you’re quiet for some time.   “Are you alright?” He syncs his slow steps into yours as the pair of you head back to your dorms together.   “Yeah, I’m fine. Just thinking.” After a beat, you turn to look at your boyfriend. Your eyes meet one another’s. “What happens if we break up, Jungkook?”   “Then we break up.” Jungkook takes your hand. “But we’d still be okay.”   “You think so?”   “I didn’t start off this relationship with being your boyfriend. Frankly, I didn’t want to be your friend at all—”   “Hey.”   “—but we were friends, so it’ll stay that way.”   You sigh, keeping your eyes trained forward. You squeeze his hand securely. “You make it sound so easy. It isn’t.”   “I know, but that doesn’t mean I won’t try to make things work.” He moves his fingers to interlace with yours and comforts your worries, “So you don’t have to worry. Every relationship is different, right? Ours is unlike anyone else's as theirs are not like ours...if that makes any sense.”   “No, it does.” You share a smile with him.   You don’t know if it’ll last — but at this moment, you want to savour every second with Jungkook.   //   You catch sight of a familiar girl across the dining hall during dinner, and with one glance given to your boyfriend, he responds with a reassuring nod, having already followed your line of sight.   So instead of sitting at the usual table, you confidently beeline straight for her. And you take your place across from the girl.   Aeri lifts her chin, surprise written across her expression. “Y/N?”   “Hey, how’s it going?” You smile, taking your utensils and beginning to eat. “I hope this seat isn’t taken.”   “N-No, it isn't.” She peeks over her shoulder for a second and then looks back at you, blinking several times. “It’s going well. How about you?”   “Same old, nothing really ever changes.” You backtrack when Jungkook sticks out in your mind. “Well….a few things, but anyway, how was your internship?”   “It was good. Great.” Aeri gives a softened smile that’s sad around the edges. She’s playing with her food without eating it. Her voice sounds thick like she’s been crying. “I learned a lot and the people there were pretty nice.”   “You worked at a restaurant, right?”   “Yeah.” She names it and some small talk is made about internships. Afterwards, you discuss your summers and how traveling went.    With time, Aeri seems to ease up again.   And when there’s a few seconds of silence, you decide to address the elephant in the room. “I heard you and Hoseok broke up….”   “Yeah, it was mutual.” The corners of her mouth move stiffly like she’s been training to smile naturally. Her eyes meet yours. “Thank you for sitting with me and keeping me company.”   “Of course I would. You’re my friend,” you reply earnestly. “Why wouldn’t I?”   “It’s just…” The girl shifts uncomfortably in her seat, not sure if she should utter the truth. “You’re friends with Hoseok too, so I thought you would side with him.”   You adamantly shake your head. “I don’t side with anyone. It’s not fair to leave someone out because of another relationship and plus, you were my friend first.” You place your foot down, fist slamming on the table and while it startles the girl, genuine laughter streams from her. “I know what it feels like too, so I would never do that to someone else.”   Aeri nods, eyes glossy. “Thank you.”   “It’s not a problem.” Your arm stretches over the table, hand placed on top of her’s. “If you ever need me, I’ll be here.”   It’s déjà vu. An out-of-body experience. To be sitting across from someone who’s gone through something akin to what you have, it feels like you’re looking at your past self. A reflection of you more than half a year ago. And you reach out to her as you wished someone did to you. As Jungkook had done to you.   You realize that he was there when you needed someone most and it makes you glad he became a part of your life when he did.

It’s another one of those days — of you and Jungkook lying on his bed, tapping away on your phones. The pair of you were cuddling until you each got bored and reached for your phones. And Jungkook got uncomfortable in his position and rolled over, so you’re both squished on his tiny bed, laughing every once in a while and showing one another funny memes or videos.   It’s a luxury that won’t last for long. Once you’re both into the semester, it’ll be textbooks in your hands instead of phones and you’ll be sitting up, scratching your heads, being driven crazy with theories that don’t make sense and forced to memorize countless recipes.   So you enjoy this sleepy relaxation while you can.   “Hey.” Your eyes stray away from your screen to his walls and your brows furrow as a question comes to mind. “Who do you like more? IU or me?”   There’s a long silence.   The silence draws on.   Your arm lowers and your head shifts onto the pillow to look at him. Jungkook is staring at the ceiling. And the silence continues. One second — ten seconds — thirty seconds...   Your brows lift. “Seriously?”   “What? It’s like asking me to choose between my mom and dad.”   “Did you just compare me to your mom?”   Jungkook laughs too loudly, too stiffly. “I-I’m kidding. Of course I would choose you.”   He reaches over to plant a kiss on your cheek, but you dodge, sitting up. You give him an incredulous expression, hovering over your boyfriend. “You’re a terrible liar.”   He grins, sitting up as well. “Are you jealous?”   “That my boyfriend would rather get together with a celebrity than me? Nope,” you pop the ‘p’ harshly, making him giggle. “Not at all. Why would I be?”   “Jieun’s been a part of my life for longer…..” Jungkook says, then laughs again and tries to backtrack. “But obviously I still love you more because you’re actually here.”   “But if she were here..?” you ask him and when it gets quiet again, you reach out to pinch and tickle his side. Jungkook squirms, laughing even harder while you grin.    It’s not like you were actually upset or irrational enough to be jealous over a celebrity crush. You’ve long known about his fanboying hobby and love for IU after all. It’s just fun to tease him. “You gonna ditch me for Lee Jieun, huh? You think she can put up with your shit like I do?!”   “Course not!” He grips your wrists so you can stop tickling him. “I love you. But if she were to kick down the door when we’re getting married, I might just have to go with her. Might.”   “Okay.” You relent. “Fine. I’ll admit, if she asked me to go with her, I’d go too, so she can be your hall pass.”   “Hall pass?” Jungkook grins. “Who’s yours?”   You hum, tapping your chin in contemplation. But it doesn’t take you long to choose. “Song Joongki. He’s handsome, he’s kind, he’s rich.”   “And how does that help?”   “Well, maybe he’ll fall in love with me and want to get married — then I’d get rich.” It’s his turn to be put in disbelief, but you have no reservations. “Song Joongki has great proportions too. Have you seen his legs? And have you seen his face? I wouldn’t be surprised if he was an angel who descended down on this planet to bless us all. He’s just so boy-next-door one second and then like handsome-handsome the next. I wouldn’t mind if he wanted to sweep me off my feet. He’s just so charming in everything he does, like—”   “Alright, Alright.” Jungkook puts his hand on your face. “I get it.”   You peel his palm off with a pout. “Hey, you get your crushes and I get mine.”   “I know.” He pushes your shoulder lightly and you let yourself fall back onto his mattress. Jungkook moves to hover over you, smiling at your quiet obedience in spite of your defiant exterior. You’re all bark, but no bite.    “Jealous?” You cock your head to the side, lip pulling up to a smirk.   Jungkook scoffs. “It’s not like you’ll ever get to meet him.”   “Don’t ruin my dreams.”   Jungkook smiles, unaware of how wrong he would soon be. But for now, there’s not a single ounce of worry or concern in him. He knows Song-fucking-Joongki would never know how amazing you are. And it’s unfortunate since you might actually blow the actor away.    He’ll never have you smiling at him, pouting at him, underneath him and crying out his name. But it’s okay — Jungkook doesn’t mind taking one for the team and having you all to himself.   //   There’s a loud ruckus and it’s early too.    Jungkook has never felt more like Yoongi. He wonders if this is how the man feels every single morning. Tired and exhausted and having to hear high-pitched screeches only irks him even more and unintentionally puts him in a sour mood. It was just too loud and too much of everything.   “What’s going on?”   Taehyung turns to him, arms crossed. For once, the brunette is wholly unenthusiastic. “Dude, I was texting you all morning. Did you not check your messages?”   “I might or might not have muted you like Yoongi did.” There are girls gathered and a few boys as well, a whole crowd of people standing together and blocking the way to the dining hall. The sound of murmuring fills the corridor. “Is someone giving out something for free?”   “No.” Taehyung sighs. “You know the actor, Song Joongki? He’s here.”   “What?”   “Beats me.” The tall brunette shrugs. “Apparently he’s sponsoring the university and making a donation to promote culinary arts. It probably has something to do with the commercials he’s been doing. I don’t know. They were trying to keep it on the down low but someone leaked it over Twitter that he was visiting and now everyone knows.”   Jungkook is stunned.   For a moment, he wonders if you’re actually a witch. It was just too convenient considering the jesting conversation he had with you nights ago. Or perhaps it was the damned world wanting him to eat his own words. But whatever the case is, Jungkook isn’t able to dwell for long.   Suddenly, the sea of students split, gasps and screams echoing down the hall. There are professors leading the way with the Dean, ushering students to move aside. There’s one or two bodyguards as well, their arms stretched to keep the actor safe. But as Jungkook stands there at a distance with his friend, he manages a far away peek at the dark-haired actor in his black suit as he passes with a small, polite smile and his head dipped.    Holy shit. You were right.   He’s handsome — but even more so in real life.   “Oh my god. Was that him?! I didn’t get a good look.” — “That was him!” — “He’s so cute!”   Everyone is fawning over Song Joongki. And even Jungkook, who doesn’t have a particular taste for men, can appreciate the actor.    “My mom loves him. Maybe I should get her an autograph.” Taehyung thinks about it for a second and then shakes his head. “Nah. That’s too much work. Let’s just go eat.”   The crowd moves past and Jungkook catches sight of a very familiar mop of head in the midst of the horde of people — a girl whose eyes are wide and excited.    But his own damn girlfriend doesn’t even notice him.    Instead, you’re holding Aeri’s hand and hopping up and down. “C’mon, Aeri! We’ll get a better look up front.”   Taehyung bursts out laughing as the corridor finally clears. “Was that just Y/N?”   Jungkook sighs lightly with a sheepish smile. “Yep.”   The dining hall has never been so quiet and empty. It’s eerie, almost like someone bought the place out to have a private buffet of sorts.   Jungkook finds Jimin, Hoseok, and Yoongi already seated at the table — somehow they had squeezed themselves through the crowd. Everyone greets each other with raised brows, silence desirable after the whole commotion. But Taehyung, on the other hand, is enjoying Jungkook’s astonishment too much.   “Looks like Song Joongki is also Mr. Steal Your Girl. Guess where Y/N is.”   “She left you?” Yoongi is stunned and then starts chuckling.   “She didn’t leave me.”   “Well can you blame her?” Hoseok pipes up. “He’s pretty handsome. My sister was a fan of him in Descendants of the Sun.”   “Really?” Jimin nods. “I liked him more in Innocent Man.”   “I said she didn’t leave me,” Jungkook repeats in exasperation. “And it’s whatever, he’s her hall pass anyway.”   That remark surprises all his friends. “So you don’t care?”   Jungkook shrugs. The boy slurps up his noodles, not paying much mind. “It would be fucking impressive.” And he means it. If his girl can charm on Song-fucking-Joongki, he’d be impressed.   You should do whatever it takes to live your best life and he’ll always root for you. Meeting Song Joongki is probably your dream come true anyway, so he has no reason to stop you and doesn’t want to. “It would be a one in a lifetime chance, so why not?”   “Wow.” Hoseok nods, impressed at the carefree attitude and how secure Jungkook is.   “Speak of the devil….”   You appear in the dining center, running at full speed, grabbing some toast. At the last second, you spot Jungkook and your eyes light up. You sprint over. “Hey!” You plop a kiss at the top of your boyfriend’s head, making him grin. “Did you guys see him?!”

“Sure did.”   “We saw him alright.”   “I’m just grabbing some food for Aeri and I but he’s going to the kitchens later and Miss. Kang says she’s going to introduce a group of us as the baking students!” You’re shrieking for joy, jumping up and down. Yoongi winces at the noise and gives you a dirty look, but it makes Jungkook giggle. You turn to him. “You don’t mind, do you?”   “Why would I?” He grins and encourages, “Go get it! I believe in you.”   You nod, running along and he watches your backside with a softened smile.   Out of nowhere, Taehyung snickers. “You are so whipped.”   “Fuck off.” He continues to slurp down his noodles.   //   Song Joongki doesn’t stay for long — but it sure feels like it. All of his social media is flooded with pictures and clips of the actor being taken on a tour around campus, snapping a few selfies with fans, and real life updates every twenty seconds. Jungkook even gets a call from his aunt who caught wind of what was happening.   Jungkook, himself, is kind of over it. He’s not so starstruck and dazzled like he was earlier, but he still checks his phone every so often for your texts. It’s been silent for the entire day and he can only wonder what ended up happening.   Luckily, he doesn’t need to wait for long when nearing his bedtime, there’s a knock at his door. Jungkook opens it to see your sheepish expression and your body clad in your cotton pajamas.   “Hey, thought I would stop by.”   “Did you sneak in again?”   “It’s not sneaking when no one notices in the first place.”    He notices that you’re shivering from the chilly air outside and quickly ushers you into his small dorm room. The corner of his mouth pulls when you automatically crawl into his bed and pull the toasty covers up to your chin like you were always supposed to be there.   “So…” Jungkook turns around after shutting the door, curiosity ebbing away at him. “What ended up happening?”   “What do you mean?” You blink at him.   “Did you end up….you know….”   “No.” Your expression is blank. “I really don’t know.”   He sighs, having to explicitly word it. “Did you bed Joongki?”   There’s a long silence.    The silence draws on.    You snort. “What? You thought I was gone all this time cause I was fucking Song Joongki?”   “Listen, we agreed on each other’s hall passes. I won’t get mad. Trust me, I’d be pretty impressed, but I want to hear all the details.”   “Well, sorry to say, captain, but there isn’t any.” You pull back the corner of the covers, patting the empty spot beside you.    Jungkook doesn’t hesitate slipping into his small bed with you and he finds a comfortable position. His arm drapes over your waist, allowing the soft yellow glow of his bedside lamp to cast your shadows on his wall. There’s a beat of quietness and then you’re laughing again.   “What?”   “I can’t believe you thought I slept with Joongki.”   “So you didn’t?”   “No.” You give an incredulous look, exasperated at how dumb your boyfriend can be at times. It’s not like you were any better, but still. “You really thought I could get close enough to sleep with him? He’s an actor! He practically had twenty bodyguards around. I barely got an autograph in — which I’m framing on my wall, by the way.”   “Oh.”   “Sorry that a famous actor didn’t fuck your girlfriend,” your voice drips of sarcasm. “I didn’t mean to be such a disappointment.”   Jungkook scoffs. “Why would I be disappointed?”   “Well, you’re acting like you’re let down that I didn’t get to use my hall pass.” You’re fiddling with a loose thread at the neckline of his cotton shirt while your other arm is folded underneath your head. He stares at you. “I wouldn’t want to anyway, by the way. Thought I would just mention that. Some things are better left for fantasy. And I have you. Why would I want someone else?”   His arms curl around you, pulling you into his body. Jungkook cuddles your frame and you melt against him, smiling. “I’m not disappointed,” he teases. “He could never treat you as well as I do.”   “I don’t know about that,” you chime. “He was really handsome though.”   “Was he nice too?”   “Super. I didn’t really get to talk to him, but he listened to Miss. Kang’s entire spiel about ovens.” You pull apart a little to see him, eyes meeting. “Apparently there are rumours Joongki might come back. Who knows, he might fall in love with me this time and we might get married. You’re not invited to the wedding, by the way.”   The boy feigns offence, eyes glimmering in the low lights. “Why not?”

“It’s weird if my ex is there. I’m sure Joong-bear wouldn’t like it.”   “Joong-bear?” He raises his brows.   “It’s an inside joke,” you playfully taunt. “You wouldn’t get it.”   Jungkook scoffs, then laughs. “You best believe I would kick down the doors to the chapel and object to the marriage.”   “And what if IU showed up?”   He hums. “Polygamy is underrated.”   You giggle. “So all four of us in one marriage?”   “Sure.” Jungkook shrugs. “Even if it’s just Joongki, I wouldn’t mind if it was us three.”   “Me too. Joongki, Jieun, and me. It’s perfect.”   “I meant me.” He starts to tickle you, laughing when you do. “Did you forget about me?”   “What?” You squirm against him. “Can’t hear you.”   It’s an absolutely absurd scenario, completely unfounded and ludicrous. But Jungkook loves to be ridiculous with you.   He holds you and his eyes stray upwards onto his wall. Beside his IU’s posters are pictures of you and him — polaroids taken throughout the summer to the one bigger frame that holds the photograph at the wedding. The one where you and him are staring at each other mid-laugh after he caught you in his arms.

[iwaisa]

request. trynna think of a request for u rn 🧏‍♀️ how ab tsukki w a best friend who’s so grade conscious bc ppl have high expectations of them n one day she breaks down bc she b afraid of failure n he’s like .......ok ill comfort them bc theyre my best friend but im also secretly in love w them trope😝 definitrly not because this reminds me of a certain someone who is not myself and i definitrly dont need to hear this😭 - @tsukisemi​

a/n. sue you are a GENIUS I LOVE YOU AND YOUR BIG BRAIN. i absolutely adore best friends to lovers/childhood friends to lovers tropes they make me so happy ugh once again THANK YOU

► now playing...

- pairing. tsukishima x female reader (pronouns not specifically stated, but there is ma’am lol)

- warnings. make out session! lol oops. suggestive content

- word count. 1.8k+

it was a friday evening, and you found yourself studying at kei tsukishima’s house. again. no matter how many times you tried to convince him to do other things while hanging out in the warmth of his bedroom, he always insisted that academics came before baking and movies.

the two of you have been friends since your last year of junior high, after yamaguchi was too busy looking up at his tall companion to realize another figure was about to collide with him. the two of you made contact with the ground, before jumping up to apologize quickly.

tsukishima found himself instantly infatuated with you - you were gorgeous. your breathtaking eyes, the way your school uniform seemed to fit just perfectly, the way he imagined your smaller hands and fingers slotting in between his - he was absolutely intrigued. yamaguchi would say love at first sight, the taller male would call him ridiculous.

the three of you instantly clicked, with you and yamaguchi being the more talkative ones of the trio. tsukishima acted as a parental figure, scolding you two constantly for doing things you weren’t supposed to.

upon overhearing a conversation with sensei that you would be heading to karasuno for high school - the same place tsukishima and yamaguchi were planning on going - he let out a breath he never knew he was holding in. he continued listening to sensei urging you to plan on going somewhere more academic based - like shiratorizwa or fukurōdani. you put it simply that you would rather go somewhere more balanced. sensei was hesitant before he approved of your plans.

you had always been good at doing homework and classwork, but you weren’t so good at taking tests. they intimidated you, making you worry that you would end up receiving something lower than a B+. tsukishima and yamaguchi knew of course, since the two of you held frequent study sessions at each others’ houses. this tradition carried on even when the three of you made it into karasuno, just not as frequently due to the boys’ volleyball practices.

today, however, yamaguchi was helping yachi teach kageyama and hinata english since tsukishima blatantly refused. the two of you headed back to his house, and instantly began flipping through your textbooks. he was quietly scribbling words and numbers on his papers, seemingly flying through assignments. you were sat on his bed, stuck on one section in particular.

“why the hell is ap chemistry so hard?” you sighed, scratching your scalp. tsukishima turned his head to see you rubbing your eyes, which adorned deep blue bags underneath. he sighed, putting his pencil down as he walked to sit on the edge of the bed alongside you. he looked over your shoulder, reading the complex chemical equations. “you know this one, l/n. you got it.” 

you shook your head quickly, “no, i don’t tsukki. i have no idea what i’m doing and sensei literally didn’t even teach us this. see, this is why i’m glad i didn’t end up going to an academy because this would be ten times harder. i hate that people are always assuming i can handle this with ease. i can’t.” you finished, blinking back tears.

tsukishima sighed, rubbing his eyes underneath his glasses before readjusting them to focus on the question. he began rubbing his finger over the numbers, slowly explaining each process. you were surprised he was being kind, but you didn’t want to take this soft moment for granted. you simply nodded your head, hurriedly scribbling down what he was saying in your notebook.

“tell you what,” he turned, looking into your eyes. “if you can do these next four questions by yourself, i’ll give you something i’ve been meaning to for a while.” you tilted your head, “tsukki, my birthday was months ago.” he chuckled, getting up to sit in his chair, which was now facing you. “i’m aware.” the two of you stared at each other for a while, before you turned your attention back to your textbook.

using tsukishima’s explanations and whatever strategies you learned from sensei, you flew through two of the questions with ease, getting stuck on the third one. tsukishima explained once more, telling you to use a different equation for the next two. you nodded, finally understanding.

the next two questions were hard to figure out, but you finally got through them. you placed your pencil in between the crease of the pages, looking up to tsukisima expectedly. when he didn’t move, you were confused. did he just trick you into doing homework?

tsukishima gulped, attempting to calm his erratic heart and shaky legs. was he ready for this? no, he wasn’t. but even as yamaguchi said; he’s been putting this off for long enough. he knew he liked you, but had no idea just what to do about it. he knew he would be jeopardizing your friendship in some way, but tsukishima couldn’t deny that he wanted some sort of affectionate skinship to happen between the two of you.

he released his lower lip from his teeth before shaking his head. he stood up, walking towards you with slight hesitation. he plopped himself next to you, your shoulders brushing against each other. tsukishima lifted his glasses off his nose before leaning forward, pressing a quick peck to your lips.

your mouth fell open, and your eyes widened more than you believed they ever could. your face exploded with heat, and you began spewing out incoherent words. he stood up, returning to his seat. “tsukki?” you asked in disbelief. “yes?” he responded, seemingly unphased. “w-what was that?” he watched you run your middle and forefinger over your lips, “my gift.” your jaw dropped open once more, earning a rare chuckle from your blond friend. or maybe, not a friend anymore.

“if you finish the next four questions, i’ll give you another one. if you want,” his last words were muffled by the back of his hand. you smiled at the sight; tsukishima, the most stoic boy you’ve ever met, was embarrassed. nonetheless, you were going to earn another kiss from your friend, not to mention the boy you’ve been in love with for the past two years.

you were quick to pick up your pencil, reading the questions as quickly as possible. “and don’t rush either, idiot,” tsukishima jested. you stuck your tongue out at him, feeling your heart flutter as he let out a soft chuckle.

you made sure to complete each question thoroughly, wondering if you would get extra points for doing more work. tsukishima stood over your figure, eyes scanning over each question. he pointed at one, “the equation was right, but check your calculations again.” you sighed, turning back to the book. 

tsukishima bent over, pressing a light kiss atop your head, making you jolt in surprise. he staggered back holding his chin, and you stood up waving your hands frantically. he held his hand up to stop your word-vomit, letting a light chuckle escape his lips.

you pressed your lips in a line, sitting back down. you began calculating the equation once more, finally coming up with the right answer. “there you go. see? you only have four questions left now.” you lifted your chin expectedly, watching him squat in front of you. you pursed your lips as he began to lean in, pressing teasing kisses to both of your cheeks. you groaned in annoyance, before sandwiching his face in between your palms. “stop teasing,” you muttered sternly. “yes ma’am,” he joked, finally closing the distance between you two.

this kiss was a tad bit more passionate, the two of you moving your lips together excitedly. it would’ve been a make out session, if tsukishima had not pulled away with a grin. “last four questions.” he smirked at you before standing up, returning to his chair once more.

these questions were possibly the worst. there were multiple equations in each separate question, and it left you wondering why someone would ever want to major in chemistry. tsukishima watched your face contort into borderline anger, your lower lip between your teeth. he swiftly stood up, placing himself next to you on the bed. he reached his arm around you, rubbing circles into your lower back as you continued writing the wrong equations.

“here,” he spoke up finally, removing the pencil from your grasp. he began writing in a clear fashion which numbers were to be plugged in where, and it finally clicked for you. he glanced at your profile, watching your mouth fall open. he smiled to himself as he watched you solve the equations with ease, his hand never leaving your back.

you finally finished, looking up at the blond with long-awaited anticipation. “you’re eager,” he whispered, his eyes becoming soft. his gaze flickered between yours and your plush lips - the one’s he’s been waiting to feel on his for so long. and the feeling wasn’t disappointing. they felt amazing, and he was on cloud nine. a little voice that sounded like yamaguchi resonated in tsukishima’s head saying, “finally.”

the two of you began moving forward at a slow pace, until you gripped onto his shirt pulling him into you to finally close the gap. this kiss was definitely not like the last ones. this one was ferocious; two pining friends finally earning exactly what they’ve been patiently waiting for. 

tsukishima’s right hand made its way to your hip, prompting you to lay down. he hovered over you, not once pulling away. your tongue brushed against the seam of his lips, and he eagerly allowed your tongue to meet his. your hands began roaming, feeling tsukishima’s pecs. they slowly moved down to his abs, which were rock-solid, much to your surprise.

you gasped as he pulled away to press open-mouthed kisses on your jawline, moving down to your neck. your hands gripped his hair as he sucked on a particular spot that elicited a whine from your throat.

he pulled away, looking down at you with golden irises filled with lust. his gaze fell on the newly formed red spot on your neck, and he sat up pushing his glasses back to rest on the bridge of his nose. “sorry about that,” he whispered, his voice filled with nerves. “don’t be. i liked it,” you smiled, watching his gaze soften for the umpteenth time that day.

“do you like me?” he asked hesitantly. you paused, your eyebrows furrowing in mock confusion. “you know, for one of the smartest in the class, you’re pretty dumb.” he opened his mouth to protest, before you sat up to give him a quick kiss. “yes, i like you.”

his arms wrapped around your waist, pushing you back down onto his bed. “can we cuddle,” he said it as more of a statement than a question. you chuckled, wrapping your arms around his back. “can you be my boyfriend,” you pretend to mock, causing his head to snap up. he nodded hastily before burrowing his face into your chest once more. 

“i love you,” he said, his words muffled by your shirt. “i love you too, kei.” you smiled as you ran your hands through his golden locks, hearing a content sigh escape his lips.

[aerynwrites]

Husband - Javier Peña x Reader

Author’s Note: Ugh I LOVE Perdo Pascal, and his role in Narcos has me WEAK. so here is a little one-shot? fic? idk what you would call this lol. But here you go, I hope you all enjoy this little request I got! Love to hear from you all as always! (Sorry for any grammatical errors, I’m writing and posting this in between classes so I didn’t quite have time to like triple check lol)

Request? Yes! based off this request: How about a one-shot where Agent Pena or Agent Whiskey (your choice) takes injured reader/partner (who is secretly in love with him) to hospital.  He lies and tells them he is her husband so that he can stay with her.  When she wakes up, the nurse says something like, "Your husband went to get coffee, but he held your hand all night and kept telling you how much he loves you."  (Requested by anon)

Word count: 3.2k

Warnings: blood, violence, fluff.

/////

While you had been an agent for the Drug Enforcement Agency for almost 10 years now, you were completely caught off guard for what awaited you at your assignment in Columbia. Not only was there bribery, treason, and just down right morally questionable circumstances, there was also Javier Peña. When you were assigned to move to Columbia to help the DEA take down Escobar, you had met Steve Murphy the minute you stepped foot into the country. He was kind enough to escort you back to the Embassy and give you the official tour, as he called it. Everything had been going well, but then Javier Peña showed up and, as his presence usually entails, he dampened the mood.

“Another rook?” he said, hands on his hips as he looked you up and down, eyes filled with disapproval.

Murphy let out a sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration, “Javier, meet (Y/N) (L/N), Senior DEA agent.” He said pointedly.

You squinted your eyes at the man in front of you, completely turned off by his hostile and frankly rude demeanor, and you opened your mouth to speak, but Javier cut you off.

“Well she’s not a senior agent down here Murphy,” he looked from Steve to you, “And I don’t need another person to babysit and translate for. One is enough,” he all but hissed.

You took a threatening step forward ignoring Murphy’s hand on your upper arm, “I’ll have you know Agent Pen͂a,” you emphasized these words, your Spanish accent shining through as you said his name, “I grew up in New Mexico, and my parents are from south America, so I think I can handle myself just fine. With or without your help.”

Your words were dripping in venom, and Javier had to keep the surprised look on his face at the revelation of your background as well as the fluttering of his heart as your accent slipped through. Not that he fond that attractive or anything…just surprised. Yeah, just surprised.

Javier hadn’t moved in in, hands still on his hips as he let out a sigh, “Whatever. I’m just going to go ahead and assume you’re all in on this operation,” he relents, “We have a lead on the whereabouts of some Narcos connected to Escobar, we have a possible safe house location.”

You didn’t waste a second before you were grabbing your holster and leather jacket and brushing past the two men towards the door, “Well what are we waiting for, let’s go!” you called.

Your eagerness to dive into your work had Javier and Steve casting a glance at one another before shrugging and following you out the door.

* * *

That was forever ago. At least it felt like it was as you fell from the second floor of one of Escobar’s known homes and plummeted to the ground. It had been several months, almost a year since you had joined the hunt for Escobar in Columbia, and you all had made considerable progress. Despite several setbacks with M-19, the police, and even Escobar himself, you all were closing in. And along with your continued search for Escobar came the inevitable close relationships with your partners. You had grown to see Steve as somewhat of a brother to you, weekly dinners with him and Connie becoming a regular occurrence. They helped ease the pain and homesickness you felt being away from your friends and family for so long. It also provided an environment in which you all could just relax and forget about the days work, opting instead for wine, local food, and beer, a familiarity you had missed since moving. However, your relationship with Javier was nothing but confusing. He had slowly but surely accepted you as his partner, acknowledging your capability in the field and fearlessness when it came to doing more questionable parts of the job. However, that was as far as it seemed to go, which was difficult for you because you had grown to feel more for the man than just a platonic relationship. As horrible as it seemed to you, the feeling of love and adoration slowly crept its way into your heart the more you were around the hardened DEA agent. You had been hard pressed to reject his more intimate advances one evening when you all were at your apartment eating pizza and just relaxing after a hard day’s work. He had flashed you one of those toothy charming grins, and less than subtly suggested what he wanted. However, you, not wanting to get trapped in a meaningless friend with benefits relationship, turned him down. No matter how much it pained you, and he never asked again. However, he seemed to distance himself more after that, and it frustrated and saddened you. Was that all he saw you as? A conquest to take, and once he found out you weren’t giving it up you were worthless to him?

For some reason that night, the night with the pizza and hasty rejection, was the only thing playing through your head as you fell through the air and hit the ground with a painful thud. The Wind was knocked from your lungs and you knew instantly you had broken several ribs as you could not draw in a full breath. You and Javier had climbed the stairs to the second story of the house and when checking the last room a left behind Narco had burst from the closet with in, and before you could react he had fired a shot directly into your shoulder before roughly shoving you through the open balcony doors. You vaguely registered a panicked shout of your name followed by another gunshot before you tumbled over the railing and to the ground below.

Which is where you were now.

Blood pooling around your neck and shoulders as you lie gasping for breath on the warm dusty ground of the backwater property of Escobar’s mansion. Your head was throbbing painfully along with your chest and leg. You couldn’t even think properly to try and figure out what had been injured in the fall. You just kept struggling to breath as tears slipped from your eyes, both from the pain and the now ever-present fear of death. You hear two sets of rapid footsteps approaching you and opened your eyes to see the faces of Javier and Steve hovering over you, expressions of panic and fear creasing their features.

“Jesus Christ,” Steve muttered as he knelt down, “What happened?” he demanded from Javier.

“Steve just shut the fuck up and get help over here now!” he exclaimed.

Steve just nodded and ran off to make a call as well as request help from the police there with you all. Javier knelt next to you and pulled your hand in his own, brushing your hair back in a comforting manner, causing you to close your eyes at the small distraction from the pain.

“Hey, look at me,” Javier gripped your hand tighter, and you opened your eyes to look at him, “Don’t go to sleep,” at this point he had started to remove his button up shirt, leaving him in only a white undershirt, and pressed it firmly to the still bleeding wound in your shoulder.

You let out a cry of pain as more tear’s escapade your eyes, the pain was excruciating and your eyes were getting almost too heavy to keep open, but you did.

You looked over to Javier who was now trying to asses your other injuries, “I’m sorry,” you mumble, “I should’ve been paying attention.”

At your words Javier snaps his gaze back towards you his heart clenching as the words left your mouth. You just got thrown out of a window and were currently bleeding out, and you were the one apologizing? He just shook his head and returned his hand to the side of your face, brushing the tears away with his thumb.

“You don’t have anything to be sorry for. You just stay awake – stay alive,” he insisted.

If you weren’t half unconscious, you would have sworn you heard desperation and a slight fear in his voice as he said those words. But before you could dwell anymore on the fact, Steve ran back over to the two of you.

“Come on Peña, we have to move. Medical help is no where to be found, so our best bet is just driving her there ourselves.”

“Fuck,” the man above you muttered before looking down at you apologetically, “I’m sorry (Y/n), but we have to move you.”

Those were the last words you heard before you felt him slide two arms underneath you and life you from the ground. You didn’t even let out a cry of pain before darkness consumed your vision.

* * *

“Hey! We need help! We need help right now!” Javier called out to the staff as him and Steve burst through the doors of the hospital, your unconscious form still held firmly in his grasp.

The next few moments were a whirlwind of commotion as the nurses and doctors jumped into action, quickly moving you onto a gurney and rolling you into the back after listening to what happened from Javier. He watched, for once feeling completely helpless, as he watched you be wheeled past the doors and into emergency surgery. Both him and Steve sat in the waiting room anxiously waiting to hear something about your condition. Javier could hardly keep himself in his seat as he switched from sitting to pacing, then sitting again, then standing and asking the nurse if there was any word, then sitting again. It was making Steve even more anxious.

“Will you sit the hell down?” Steve finally blurts, “Please? God, you’re making me more anxious pacing around like that,” he finished, leaning his elbows on his knees and letting out a sigh.

Javier turned on Steve ready to make a snarky remark but stopped himself short when he saw how awful Steve looked. He was being selfish. He wasn’t the only one who cared about you, he knew very well the sibling-like bond you and Steve shared and felt himself deflate slightly as he plopped in the chair next to his partner, running a hand over his face.

“I’m sorry, I just- “he stopped himself, taking a deep breath, “I’m just worried about her.”

“And you think I’m not?” Steve shot back, “She’s not just your partner you know.”

Javier let his hand fall from his face and onto the armrest of the chair, “I know that, it’s just that I- “he stopped himself, pursing his lips to keep the words from coming out. He wasn’t sure he was ready to reveal those feeling yet.

“You what?” Steve pressed.

Javier opened his mouth to respond but the entrance of the doctor stopped him short.

“(Y/N) (L/N)?” the doctor called out your name, which prompted both Steve and Javier to jump from their seats.

“Is she okay?” Steve asked frantically.

The doctor gave them both a kind smile and tucked a clipboard under his arm, “She is going to be just fine,” both men let out sighs of relief and wait for the doctor to continue, “She had three broken ribs, but they didn’t puncture her lungs so it will just be uncomfortable to move and breath for a few weeks. However, the gunshot wound to her shoulder and her broken tibia will keep her out of commission for at least a few months. That means no field work agents, I mean it.” The doctor look pointedly at both men.

“Can we go see her?” both of them asked simultaneously.

The doctor adjusted his glasses and looked down at his watch a frown tugging at his lips, “Well unless either of you are immediate family, I can’t allow that. Visiting hours ended four hours ago.”

Before Steve could say anything, Javier took a step forward, “I’m her husband! Just married last week,” he smiled, hoping his usual charm will help him out in this situation.

“You’re her what?” Steve’s shocked words caused the doctor to give the men a suspicious look.

Javier just reaches an arm around Steve and pats his back more roughly than needed, a fake smile plastered on his face, “I know, I can hardly believe it myself,” Javier’s voice drips with faux happiness, as he squeezes his partners shoulder begging him to play along.

Before Steve or the Doctor can say anything else, Javier is walking towards the door and holding it open, “If you don’t mind, I’d like to see my wife now.”

The doctor gives one more cautious glance to both men before leading Javier back to your room. His eyes immediately fall to your sleeping form and he feels a lump form in his throat and his heart clench at the sight of you. He doesn’t even hear what the doctor says as he takes in your form. White bandages wrapped around your shoulder peak out from under the baby blue hospital gown as well as the sling that rests over your arm. He also notices your right leg is casted from just below your knee all the way down to your foot and is elevated on some pillows. By the time he has pulled a chair up to the side of you bed and holds your hand in his, the doctor is gone.

* * *

The dryness of your mouth is the first thing you notice when you wake up. followed quickly by the beeping of a machine and the shuffling of papers. You open your eyes more and take note of the dimly lit hospital room and your newly bandaged wounds and casted leg.

“Good Morning, sweetheart,” a feminine voice meets your ears.

Your eyes move to find the source of the sound and are met with a short petite nurse in green scrubs standing at the end of your bed flipping through papers on a clipboard. You open your mouth to respond but it’s so dry you can hardly get any words out. The nurse, who had looked at you briefly, seemed to notice your predicament and quickly poured some water in a little paper cup before handing it to you. You swallow the entire cup in two gulps, and sigh in relief as you lay back into the pillow, the movement flaring pain up the side of your neck.

“You are one lucky woman,” the nurse says as she takes the cup from your hands.

you close your eyes and try to adjust yourself to sit up more, “Yeah, I’m just glad it wasn’t any worse. Because trust me, I’ve had worse.” You chuckle dryly.

You glance around the room and are immediately aware of the absence of your partners, and you frown slightly. Had they not stayed? You felt your heart clench at the thought of your own friend not staying to make sure you were okay.

“Was there anyone that came in with me?” you ask, “Two men, a tall blonde and then a shorter brunette?”

The nurse’s eyes seem to light up at the mention of your partners and a large smile comes across her face…what was her deal?

“Oh yes! Your partner Steve said he was going back to fill out some reports and then your husband just left to get some coffee.”

Your eyes widen, and if you had still been drinking water you would have surely choked, “My husband?”

Her smile widens as she looks at you, pulling the clipboard to her chest, “Oh yes, he was a nervous wreck waiting to hear word from the doctor on your condition. And since he was let in the room, he hasn’t left your side,” she notes, and she leans in slightly to whisper her next words, “He really love you, you know. When I would come in to check your vitals and such he would constantly be whispering of how much he loved you and how he couldn’t lose you…” she lets out a forlorn sighs, “It’s endearing really, I wish my husband was like that.”

You couldn’t do anything but stare at the nurse as you soaked in the news, she just told you. but before your mind could catch up and respond, Javier walked back into the room, coffee in hand and the nurse excused herself, sending you a wink on the way out. Javier met your eyes and his own widened at seeing you awake. But he tried to keep his composure as he walked over to the side of the bed and sat in the chair still resting there.

“How are you feeling?” he asks, genuine concern in his voice.

You rest back into the pillows, not sure what to say. Because physically you felt okay, most likely thanks to the pain medication, but emotionally you were confused. Confused at what the nurse told, confused if she was telling the truth. So, you just shrug, choosing not to answer.

Javier doesn’t seem to like that answer because his hand falls to yours and he runs his thumb over your knuckles, “Are you in pain? Do I need to get the nurse back- “

“No. No Javier I’m fine, I just- “you paused not sure how to continue.

Javier sets his coffee down and leans back in his seat now, hand withdrawing from your own, “It’s just…. what?” he asks, a curious expression settling on his face.

You pick at the hospital blanket absentmindedly, not prepared to talk about this subject but knowing that it needs to be discussed.

“The nurse told me some things,” you begin, “Some things you said while I was out. Some rather…intimate things.” You finish finally, looking to the man sitting next to you.

He seems to freeze in his place, mouth dropping open as if saying ‘oh’, before it snaps shut and he seems to be at a loss for words. Which, for him, was very unusual.

“Did you mean them?” you ask quietly, not sure if you want to know his answer.

He’s quite for a moment, and you’re sure he’s about to reject you. tell you they meant nothing and that he was just afraid of his partner dying. So, your mouth starts to move before you can stop it.

“Never mind, that was a dumb question. I know you were probably just worried about me dying. I was so stupid to think that you could like me back. I know that’s not your style and- “

“(Y/N)- “

“in this line of work its never a good idea to- “

“(Y/N)- “

“get into relationships and I’m sorry if I-“

“(Y/N)!” Javier’s raised voice stops your rambling, “Stop. Just listen to me.”

You snap your mouth shut, lips pressing into a thin line as you wait for him to tell you off. But you unclench your jaw when you feel his warm hand gran onto your slightly cool one. You look up at him again and are shook by the soft and almost loving look he gives you as a small smile tugs at his lips.

“I was terrified when I saw you go over that balcony,” he admitted, “And I was even more scared when you passed out in my arms. I was so scared you were going to die in this hospital and I would never get to tell you how I felt,” as he stops speaking he brings your hand to his lips and kissed the back of it softly before placing his other free hand over yours encasing it in both of his still very warm hands.

You felt tears burn at the back of your eyes at the meaning of his words, you were so sure you had pushed him away and that he could never feel the same way as you. so, to here this, it was a lot.

You squeezed his hand gently as you looked at him, “You remember that night you brought over Pizza and beer?” he nodded, “And you tried to get into my pants?” you let out a little chuckle as he groaned and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly but nods again.

“I thought I pushed you away,” you admitted, “I thought that you had only gotten close to me so you could add me to your list or whatever.”

“No (Y/N), that’s not what happened, I thought I had pushed things too far,” he explains, “I thought you wouldn’t want to be around me again because of that. I though its ruined things.”

You shook your head and squeezed his hand again, “Well, that’s good to know,” you smile, “Because when you quite hanging around me after that was when I realized…” you paused.

“Realized what?” Javier asked, heart pummeling against his chest at the words he expected to come from your mouth.

“That I love you, more than just a friend or partner,” you finally admit, eyes dropping from his own to look at your still intertwined hands.

Javier didn’t say anything at first, and when he pulled his hands from yours, your heart fell to your stomach. Did he not feel the same? But before you could voice your concern his hands came to the sides of your face as he leaned down to place a heated and desperate kiss to your lips. You kissed back instantly and, out of instinct, went to reach your hand up to card through his hair, but a sharp pain in your injured shoulder caused you to let out a gasp of pain.

“shit,” Javier pulled away instantly and looked over you worriedly, “Did I hurt you?”

You let out a pained chuckle as you rested back against your pillows, “No, I just got a little too excited, and I don’t think my shoulder appreciated it.”

Javier gave you a mischievous smile before leaning closer to you, “I can kiss it better.”

Before you could respond he placed a tender kiss to the bandages over your injured shoulder, then a soft kiss just below your ear, then finally a much gentler meaningful kiss to your lips. You responded and you both stayed like that for a moment before he pulled away and sat back in his chair, your hand held in his securely.

“Did it work?”

You smile and nod, “Yes, I think it did, husband.”

He let out a loud laugh at your little joke and scooted his chair closer to your bed, resting his hand near your head and stroked your hair affectionately.

“I think I could get used to that,” he whispers.

You smile and kiss him one more time before nodding, “Me too.”

////

Permanent Tags: @lord-wolfgen @petalduck​

[sasa-gay-yo]

Just Us (Chapter Three: Normal)

← Chapter Two

“A false sense of calm. Of hope. That’s all that it was.” 

Everything had been published in the papers rooting for the Scouts and people in the streets were also in high spirits when they heard they were coming back from a monthly expedition. People had lined up in front of the café and this time I decided to join them and not wait for the newspapers. I could see if Levi made it out alive by just stepping outside of my door. 

Jonas had given me the box he was standing on, yet I still had to go on my tiptoes to just get a look over everyone else’s heads. I had asked Jonas how people knew the Scouts would come back and he said they would just take the whole day to stand and wait. It was almost beautiful to see the number of people here to support them and it made me feel warm inside. I never forgot the look Levi gave me when I told them the Scouts gave me hope, but I hoped that this display from the people of Trost could convince him.

“They’re here!” There were soft cheers as the horses neared in everyone’s vision. This was the first time I got to see Erwin in person and the portraits of him gave his eyebrows no justice. Even from far away you could see his herculean presence. People cheered more and more and I searched around for him on as they came closer and closer. 

Then the cheering stopped. The first of the line to see what was behind Erwin shut completely up and I was straining so hard to see why. Erwin’s expression was unreadable.

“Elias, get on my shoulders.” I grabbed the little boy from Jonas and hoisted him up as a lookout, “Can you see why they stopped cheering?” 

The smile on the boy’s face dropped.

“Elias?” Before he could say anything, the crowd started for him. 

“I thought for once we had a chance! Now, look!”

“My tax dollars down the drain again.”

“Ugh, useless.” I felt Elias’s grip on my hand tighten as he heard the remarks. He was little and probably couldn’t understand the criticism of the people he wanted to be when he grew up. Even I couldn’t understand until I finally saw what everyone was muttering about. Scout after Scout limped by.

They had halved easily. They were filled with people who were bandaged, crippled, walking with no horse, or lying unconscious in a cart. This made me instantly seize up with worry. Where was Levi?

“Miss. Eva… Where did they all go?” His tiny voice was filled with so much sadness. I hadn’t been there to see them off like the rest, but I knew from the somber faces that it was bad. My eyes darted back and forth from the people in the carts to those on horseback. Shouldn’t Levi be near Erwin if they were both officers? That means he had to be walking somewhere. 

I handed Elias back to Jonas and pushed my way to the front. It was rather easy now that people were starting to turn around and go back home after the big disappointment of the Scouts. I didn’t care about the numbers now, I just wanted to see one soldier for who I had just bought more peppermint tea. 

When I reached the front, the sight was even more heartbreaking. I could see their eyes. I could see the sadness and fear. It was something I had only seen in the humans of the underground. Then remember why I had stopped coming to bid the Scouts a ‘Welcome home!’ It was too much for current and past me to see humans deal with. 

A hand went on my shoulder and I turned to see Jonas. His face was harsh and solemn. I knew what his judgment of the Scouts was. They all walked by and slowly a sense of dread filled me. There was no way… Humanity’s Strongest couldn’t have… 

“Where is he?” The line wasn’t long and there were little to no people left. The chance of him showing up in the next few seconds was slim, but I put my hands together squeezing. Hoping.

“Levi.” 

It was a mere, breathy whisper, but his head snapped over from on top of his horse. Once he met my eyes, he looked forward like he had before. Not sparing me another glance. He was at the very back of the line, probably to protect the weak from lingering titans. It was a sick joke of a formation, but my stress level instantly went down. He didn’t look hurt, there were no bandages on him, but his expression was darker than I had ever seen it. It was probably selfish for me to only care about him right now, but as they walked by and out of the gates of Trost, I just wanted him to turn around and come in for a cup of tea. I wanted to hear him explain to me what happened. I wanted him to not hear the townspeople who were hurling insults left and right, not caring if the Scouts heard them. 

Usually, we just get nasty looks.

No, Levi, my look wasn’t nasty. It was concerned, anxious, filled with stress; I wanted to give you some tea. 

“Come on. I’m sure people will want a pick me up after seeing that.” I looked at the ground, at the leftover wagon wheel tracks. I hope he didn’t think I was looking at him that way. 

“Miss. Flynn, I hope you have some coffee ready. Those of us who don’t drink will need it.” I looked over to see June and Elias’s father, a grim expression on his face too. Everyone’s emotions were putting me down too.

“Yes, sir. Right away.” 

He didn’t come in the rest of the day and the few days after that. I inquired with some people and learned that Scouts get a week off before they have to go back and the officers only a few days. Seeing some Scouts meet their parents again or come into the café made me doubtful of Levi’s return. Everyone was so dark and grim, and without Levi to come and break that, I started to sink into that emotion as well. So much so that a few people had commented on it. 

“A breakup with a boyfriend?” 

“Did you have a friend in the Scouts that died?” 

“You seem unlike yourself today, Eva.” 

It was those people who made my attitude worse. If only he would come in and let me talk to him, maybe I would feel better. The fact that he could be willingly not coming in was probably what made my thoughts worse. I even kept a kettle of hot water ready for when he came, but he never showed. 

“I know how much you revere the Scouts, Eva, but you can’t let that do this to you. A false sense of calm. Of hope. That’s all that it was.” I shook my head at Jonas as he wrapped my fingers with the balm treated bandages. I guess the atmosphere was making me physically deteriorate too. I was grinding coffee when the first part of my skin split. My right ring finger. I didn’t think anything of it, but as I worked and worked to suppress feelings, my hands started to suffer more and more. 

“It wasn’t false, Jonas. I still have hope in the Scouts. It was one expedition. It’s just the way everyone is acting is just putting me down too.” 

“We were all stupid to think that the titans had backed down, even for a little bit. I know it hurts, but it might be better to put your faith in other things… other people.” I pulled my hand away from him and stood up. What did he mean by that?

“My thinking is fine, Jonas. Don’t you have something to deliver.” That was his cue to stop talking and leave. It was nicer than I wanted to say to him, but I couldn’t be that rude to someone who comes back everyday. However, there were sometimes that I could yell at him or be short, but I didn’t care. Everyone deserved some hate for what they gave to the Scouts. That was my philosophy. 

I went about cleaning, making sure that every table was spotless, and taking extra care of his table. He was already stressed about death, if he came in, I didn’t want him to be stressed by dirt either. 

If he came in. 

The hours ticked by and I found myself still sitting in the dark café after closing. Today was the last day of the regular cadet’s break. Maybe they were nice to officers and gave them the same. That’s what I was telling myself. 

Finally, when the sun went down, I told myself it was time to go. I reluctantly grabbed the leftovers to put in a bag and put my coat on. Even if it was a short walk up some steps to get to my home, it was getting colder as the end of fall was approaching. The city’s atmosphere somehow made the cold more depressing. 

Turning to lock the front door, I heard some footsteps walking up to the café. 

“Sorry, I know it’s looked like we were open, but we’re closed for the day. You can come back tomorrow at six in the morn-”

“I didn’t come because I don’t want you to be burdened by me.” My eyes widened and I dropped the keys on the ground. Quickly, I composed myself and the beating of my heart.

“Burdened?” I picked the keys up and saw his figure standing on the side of the alleyway. He was in regular clothes, but it still didn’t hide his stature of a captain. Anyone walking by would know it was him.

“You said the Scouts gave you hope. Then, we come back and I see your expression. I couldn’t even look at you because I ruined that. I didn’t want to come here, just for you to look at me and feel hopeless and lost and all these negative emotions and-” 

“You talk a lot for someone who’s wrong.” That stopped his rant and admittedly that is the most he’s ever talked to me, but I needed it to end. He was digging himself into a bigger hole. 

“What?” It wasn’t harsh this time as all of his one-word phrases were. 

“Whatever look I had on my face, when you were all marching through Trost, it wasn’t me losing hope. It was me, worried about their wellbeing. It was me, hearing what people were around them saying, hoping that you didn’t hear them. I think the look on my face was from a place of concern or even pity.” He moved to lean against the brick, arms folded. 

“I didn’t want to come here because then I’d involve you in all… in all of the emotions and all the death. A civilian shouldn’t have to deal with a soldier. They should be kept ignorant so they can live happily.” 

“So what was it then? You didn’t want to ruin my hope or you didn’t want to ruin my innocence?” He took a deep breath in and I noticed some people looking our way. This was a great way to have rumors spread like wildfire. If I go back to the café, there were windows that couldn’t be closed. I’m sure Captain here wouldn’t want civilians to witness his “soldier emotions”.

“I don’t…” He glanced to the side as well, seeing the people who stopped walking.

“Follow me or at least try to get yourself onto the second-floor apartment if you’re worried about them.” I turned away from him and went up the stairs on the side of the building, opening my front door. To my surprise, he did just follow behind me. Another order I’ve gotten him to follow.

“Do you want tea, Captain? I only have green tea up here.” He just stood by the closed door and stared at me. It’s like he was scared about coming into my house. Was this the first time he’s ever come home with a woman? There’s some humor in this situation I guess. 

“No… I’m fine.” I put the bag of bread on the kitchen counter and pulled out the tea leaves. I’d make him one anyway. 

It was quiet again, but quiet like the first time we met. It was full of awkwardness and questions we wanted to ask. The air was too thick to swallow. To think, this is only the third time I’ve met him and he’s in my house. Maybe it’s just entertaining for him to see how civilians live. That’s why he followed.

“So, I’ll ask again. You didn’t come because you didn’t want to-” 

“I didn’t come because I was scared to face you.” I stopped stirring the honey into my tea. I even let go of the spoon to look up at him, still standing by the door. So he was scared of me. Captain Levi was scared of me? No, that couldn’t be. He just didn’t know how to define what he was feeling. 

“Scared?” He nodded and leaned against the door frame, pinching the bridge of his nose. It was like he was mad at himself for saying all of this. Maybe he was. Revealing those solider emotions again.

“When I came in on my horse, I saw your face and I saw the face of the boy next to you. I didn’t care about him, but yours… I thought that my failure on this expedition had broken the hope you had for the Scouts. If I came to your café, you would just treat me like everyone else does? Just like everyone treats the Scouts. I had found someone who understands the underground and who seems to understand the Scouts, and then that look on your face… it was like it was over.”  

“My look was concern. I told you that.”

“But in a town full of people looking up at you with anger and hatred in their eyes, how do you tell the difference?” I’d give him that. I was surrounded by people swearing and glaring up at him. I was just a bit hurt that he misread my emotions after I told him what I thought. He wasn’t scared, but he was bad at precepting people’s feelings. That could add to the rumor of him being emotionless. He wasn’t emotionless, he just didn’t have to ability to deal with the mass amount of emotions he gets.

You’ve only talked to him one and a half times, Eva. How are you talking like you know him?

“What made you come here then? You came when you knew I had closed. Was it to avoid everyone?”

“I was here earlier, I just didn’t have the courage to face you and everyone in that café. Especially that one boy you always have next to you.” That made me laugh out loud. Humanity’s Strongest was annoyed at Jonas and scared of me. What kind of power do I have over him? The tea he likes? Why was he so worried about Jonas? 

“That boy’s name is Jonas and he’s a delivery boy for Reeve’s Company. He’s around me a lot because he’s the delivery boy for that area of Trost and he likes to talk a lot. He also lives around here too.” 

“Your hand?” He reached out a slim finger to point at my bandages and I held my hand up. He had probably seen Jonas bandage it again today. 

“My skin splits from being so dry. I get it from work. I haven’t found a good balm to heal it though.” He closed his eyes.

“I come back from an expedition and you’re the one who’s hurt.” That hit something in my core. I looked up at him from the tea and his eyes were staring again. No look to the side and not from the peripheral. It was like when I was cleaning the tables. This feeling… with a Captain of the Scouts. That was dangerous for my sanity. I wondered if he felt the same.

I walked over and sat down on the couch that was facing him and set the tea down, one cup across from the other. 

“Again, to make sure you understand in that over-calculating brain of yours, Captain. My hope isn’t broken. There will be bad expeditions and there will be good ones, but to me, having bad ones will always be better than not having any. My look was concern for you. You were at the very back, but I thought you would be near Commander Erwin. I couldn’t find you anywhere, so I was the one who was scared. When I saw you, the way that you looked, I was concerned for how you felt, physically and mentally.” That made him lower his gaze to the ground again. I wished I swept last night. 

“Who are you to feel concern for me?” If I didn’t know where he came from, I would have been offended by his question. Truthfully, I was a little hurt that he said it that way, but I knew what he meant. In the underground, those who cared about you were those who used you or were in the same boat as you. I wasn’t a Scout and he knew I couldn’t possibly use him in this situation. He was confused why I had given him any thought, as his normal life would have nothing to do with me. Why didn’t I shy away from him and revere him as an scary, emotionless Scout?

“I’m someone who cares. Someone who’s still confused about you, personally. Why did he come into my café? Why does he keep coming? Someone who knows only a fraction of what it’s like to live in this world and someone who knows nothing about what you have to go through everyday. I’m not a Scout, I’m not a soldier, hell, I don’t think I could punch anyone hard enough to hurt them, but I do know what it feels to lose people and what it feels like to be judged by them too. So, I guess I’m someone who’s game for understanding you, too. You’re concerned about me too. My hands.” He didn’t answer, he just kept looking at his shoes on the floor. What’s so interesting about them? 

“I am concerned, yes. I don’t know why I feel so concerned about the opinions and condition of someone I’ve only talked to on two separate occasions. I’m not a civilian, nor do I live a normal life, but I guess I’m someone who is also game for creating normal. Starting with your tea. I went to your café on a recommendation from a friend and I came back because you gave me some thread of normalcy to hold onto. Sitting here and in that café, I don’t feel like Captain Levi. I just feel like Levi, whoever that is. No titans, no paperwork; just tea.” I smiled up at him and maybe my cheeks were a little warm too. It was just the tea being too hot, that’s what it was. 

“Well, Mr. Levi. Come drink some tea and sink into normalcy. We can talk about anything you want.” He stood up from the wall, contemplating if he was to join me on the couch. If he did, he knew he’d just signed himself up for a lifetime deal. He’d have to come to the café every month at least and he couldn’t die. That would ruin his normal and my understanding. I wasn’t all that surprised when he sat down, but still my heart felt like it was going to burst. Maybe for the first time in his life, he picked to sit instead of to stand. 

“Tea. I don’t know much about it, but I drink it from habit. What teas are good for what? You recommended me mint tea that first time.” I moved my legs up so I could sit crisscross and comfortable. 

“You’ve just asked a very, very loaded question, Levi.” 

We talked late into the night about tea and owning a café. Many cups of tea had kept us up and I had completely gotten lost in conversation that I forgot he would’ve had to leave. He didn’t leave that night, but I don’t remember who slept first or when. He just sat there, leaning with one arm of the back of his chair and one leg crossed, listening and commenting on the various teas I recommended and on what I should do to change the cafe’s layout for a better person-per-square-meter ratio. 

At one point, we had just stopped talking, each taking sips of our respective cups. There weren’t thoughts of titans, of the Scouts, or of failed exhibitions. I also got a lesson in math, so it let me understand that even without a proper education, Levi was a genius at certain things. We sat there soaking in the present. That’s probably why he forgot he had to go back to HQ or why I forgot to prep the starter dough for the morning. We didn’t care much for the future consequences. 

When I woke up, he was gone. The blanket I had given him, saying I’d go sleep in my own bed, was over me and the tea cups were clean and hung up on their rack. It was satisfying to wake up like this. Everything was light and peaceful again as opposed to waking up with Trost’s grim atmosphere. It was seven in the morning, and I was late to open the café, but I didn’t care or feel any rush. As I walked out of the door to a, probably, annoyed crowd, I felt a note in the breast pocket of my coat.

Left at 5AM to get back to HQ. See you after the next expedition.

                                                                                   -L 

Chapter Four→

Chapter Masterlist

[mymoonagedaydream]

Only the Good Die Young (Part 5)

Summary: You were torn. Bucky had let you down, but maybe you were expecting too much of him.

Pairing: Biker!Bucky x y/n

Word Count: 2.2k

Warnings: Language, anti-religious sentiment throughout, harmful relationship with parents, implied domestic violence

Author's Note: Back on the wagon with ‘You May Be Right’. I’m sure everyone else is definitely as invested in this whole Billy Joel thing as I am...

---

Bucky’s grip on your hands tightened to the point of being slightly painful. You could almost hear the cogs whirring in his head as he tried to figure out how he could make everything better.

‘You know I’d never hurt you on purpose, right?’ You took a deep breath and nodded in response, eyes still fixed on the ground. ‘I didn’t even think, I can’t believe I did that to you.’

‘You know, you really don’t owe me anything Buck. Just please don’t let me rely on you if you can’t handle it.’

The two of you sat in silence for a minute, hands still tangled together. You hesitantly flicked your gaze up to his face, only to see him looking completely dejected, staring at his thumb as it brushed gently over your fingers. Seeing him like that hurt a lot, but you were determined not to let your heart win out over your head again.

He broke the silence with a timid half-whisper. ‘So what d’you wanna do?’

‘I don’t know, I need time to think.’ You paused and gave a despairing laugh. ‘God I’m so fucked, I told my parents I was going out to talk to the pastor.’

‘Don’t go back there. Please don’t.’ The sudden desperation in his voice shocked you a little, he was digging his thumbs into the tops of your hands. ‘You can still stay with me. I’ll give you space, whatever you need. I’ll sleep on the couch or even on the fuckin’ stairs. Just don’t go back.’

You hesitated for a second, gently tugging your hands away, before agreeing. He was right, you knew he was. Nothing Bucky could ever do would compare to a childhood of isolation and religious brainwashing.

As long as you had a choice, you’d never go back to them again- even if this was the only alternative.

---

By the time you reached his flat, you’d readied for a pretty tense evening together. The walk back had been awkward enough.

Glancing around the place, you could see that your hastily gathered clothes from the initial house escape were still piled up in his bedroom, but it looked as though he’d washed and folded them all whilst you’d been gone. The rest of the place looked a little better too, far tidier than when you last saw it. Christ, had he hoovered?

He offered you a beer, which you eagerly accepted, and suggested that the two of you try to unwind in front of a couple movies. You were exhausted and had planned to go straight to sleep, but switching off in front of a film sounded good too. Besides, with how you were feeling, you could probably use the company. Even if the circumstances weren’t ideal.

It turned out to be surprisingly nice, just sitting silently in each other's presence, eyes fixed on the screen. He was true to his word, giving you space by sticking to the armchair while you curled up on the sofa. You still felt relaxed around him despite the slight awkwardness, his flat was safe and comfortable and you were so grateful that he was letting you stay.

Bucky finally piped up during the credits.

‘I don’t think I made a very good first impression with your mom.’ He caught you off guard, causing you to involuntarily chuckle. ‘I hope she wasn’t too pissed.’

‘I think pissed is just her default emotion these days. They were both very fucking smug when I went back though, so thanks for that.’ You raised an accusatory eyebrow at him.

He grimaced slightly. From the look in his eyes, you could tell he was inwardly weighing up whether or not to vocalise his next thought.

‘My bad. But, y’know...’ This should be good. ‘Now I’m even more determined never to do it again, cause I really don’t want to give them the satisfaction.’

You rolled your eyes and sighed, turning back to face the TV. ‘Bit late for that one Buck.’

He flicked through a couple films but you decided it was probably best to call it a night there. Despite insisting that you take the sofa, a couple minutes later you found yourself tucked into Bucky’s bed on your own, trying to fall into anything resembling sleep.

---

The next morning, as you stirred awake, the first thing you noticed was the smell of Bucky on the sheets. The faint mix of aftershave, motor oil and cigarettes made you smile to yourself before you remembered why you were there, and why he wasn’t.

Yanking the sheet up over your head, you tried forcing yourself back to sleep, but noise from the front room made it impossible. It sounded like a mumbling woman’s voice. Ugh, Bucky must’ve had the TV on loud.

You gave up after a minute or so. 

Your senses were still adjusting to being awake as you sat up and swung your legs out of bed, rubbing your eyes. You had half a mind to bang on the wall in protest at the noise, but there was no chance of you going back to sleep now. Crossing the room to where your clothes were piled up, you concentrated on the sound more and started to hear Bucky’s voice interjecting.

So, either he’d completely lost it and started chatting back to news anchors, or there was someone else here.

You quickly got dressed and pressed your ear to the door, listening to the faint mumbling, trying to make out any of the words. From their tones it sounded like she was upset and he was comforting her, but you couldn’t hear what about.  

Christ, if this was one of his crazy ex-girlfriends or something that’d be the final straw. There wasn’t much more of this you could take.

You timidly opened the door and stepped through, catching Bucky’s eye and prompting him to stand from the sofa. He walked over to you, rubbing the shoulder of his guest tenderly as he passed her. You could only see the back of her head.

‘Hey, you sleep alright?’

‘Uh fine, yeah. What’s going on?’ Your eyes flicked between him and the visitor.

He gestured for the two of you to step back into the bedroom, closing the door behind him. ‘It’s my mom. She said dad disappeared a couple days ago and turned back up at the house this morning, looking like shit, ready to take it out on her.’

‘Cause of-’

‘Cause of me, yeah.’ You could see he was pissed, harshly rubbing the back of his head. ‘He took the fight to someone who couldn’t fight back, piece of shit.’ He kicked the wall as he said it, leaving a pretty sizable hole in the plaster.

You grabbed his shoulders and moved yourself into his eyeline, attempting to calm him down. ‘Hey, she’s here now, it’s okay.’

‘Look, I’m really sorry to ask, but could you sit with her for a while? I don’t have a first aid kit or anything here. The store is just a few minutes away if I run, she-’

‘Go. It’s alright.’

As you walked back through, his mother’s head turned in your direction. You couldn’t hide your shock, her face was mottled with bruises and shallow gashes. She looked like she’d been through hell.

You felt an immense wave of guilt when you realised how surprised you were that, underneath it all, she just looked like a nice, regular lady. All Bucky had told you about her was that they only spoke when she needed money. Because of that, you’d sort of assumed that she was an alcoholic or a junkie. Maybe that was unfair of you.

She gave you a wide smile and glanced over to Buck as you sat by her. ‘Is this your girlfriend?’

‘She’s just a friend, ma. She’s gonna sit with you while I run out for a few minutes.’ He pressed a kiss to the top of her head and shot you a smile before jogging out the door.

‘I’ve never met one of James’ girlfriends before.’

‘Oh, we’re not really- I’m just-’

She placed a hand on your knee. ‘I’m so glad he’s finally settling down.’

You opened your mouth to speak, but decided it was easier to just nod. If it made her happy then you were willing to go along with it. It was the least you could do.

‘You know, he’s the only good thing I’ve ever done.’ Her words took you back a bit, you were shocked at her frankness. ‘He’s been through so much, thank you for giving him a chance.’

Ah, shit. There goes another wave of guilt. You tried to convince yourself that you just felt bad for misleading her, giving her false hope, but you knew that wasn’t really the case. Cause she was right, he’d been through more than you could ever imagine, and you’d bailed on him the first chance you got.

‘Yeah, he’s a good guy.’ You really meant that.

The two of you chatted for a little while. She was so lovely, it made you wonder how on earth her relationship with Bucky could’ve broken down. She asked how the two of you met and all that but, when the conversation got round to it, she was pretty shocked to learn who your parents were. Apparently she remembered your mother writing to all the other parents in your grade about her disgust at the inclusion of evolution on the syllabus. Sounded about right.

The downstairs door clicked open, and as Bucky came up the stairs you could hear him talking to someone on the phone. He pushed it back into his pocket as he came into the room.

‘That was the cops, they’ve got dad.’

After patching her up, Bucky said he’d give his mother a ride home. You stood up as she passed you, slightly surprised when she pulled you into a tight hug and whispered in your ear.

‘Please look after him better than I did.’

---

You waited in the kitchen for Bucky, so many questions reeling through your mind. That boy was going to spill his secrets, you were determined to get to the bottom of his increasingly complex past. It wasn’t long before he got back.

‘Thanks for that.’ He moved towards you from the front door. ‘Although, she does seem to be under the impression that we’re all happy families over here.’

‘Yeah, sorry, it was just easier if I went along with it. It also seemed to cheer her up a little.’ He gave you a smug smile, leaning against the counter in front of you. ‘Buck, do you mind if I asked what happened between the two of you? You said you barely speak, but your relationship seems pretty good.’

‘It is. I just… choose to stay away.’ Christ he was fucking cryptic, it was like trying to crack the enigma code.

‘Oh right. Just, from what you said, I thought maybe it was drugs or something.’

‘Nah. I mean she drinks like a fish, but she’s not nearly as bad as my dad.’ He sighed, seeing you raise your eyebrows at him, prompting him to continue. ‘She just won’t leave him, no matter what he does. I’ve tried everything.’

You nodded and gave him a sympathetic smile. ‘I see.’

‘I love her and I help her out when I can, but it’s too hard to just stand by and watch how he treats her. I gotta keep a distance or I get sucked back in.’

‘Why didn’t you tell me before? It’s good to talk about these things.’

‘You don’t need all my shit piled on top of yours.’ He dropped his keys on the counter and went to walk away, but you grabbed his arm to stop him.

‘She’s really proud of you Buck.’

A beaming smile spread across his face. He reached out and took your hands in his, pulling you towards him, looking pleasantly surprised at your lack of resistance. 

He was definitely still in the doghouse, but you were ready to cut him a little slack.

‘I still can’t believe you got arrested.’ 

A little, not a lot.

He chuckled and cautiously wandered his hands up to your waist, ready to be swatted away at any moment. ‘You ever gonna let that go?’

‘Nope.’

‘I made it home alive.’ He slid his hands around your back and pulled you closer to his chest. ‘Maybe I’m crazy, but you might enjoy some madness for a while.’

‘You may be right.’ You smiled into his chest. 'But if you ever pull that shit and make me crawl back to my parents again I'll chop your balls off.'

'That’s fair.'

---

Part Six

---

@shawnie--jo @brilliantbellesoares @livingoffsavvyillusions @noiralei @bebeyeni @kingkassam @newyorkgoddess @sir-lili @im-squished

Let me know if you’d like to be added to the taglist

---

[infernalshadowtheif]

Synthetic Blood

After taking over her father's company, Lena Luthor spends her time trying to develop a safe man made synthetic blood for medical science and maybe for herself and her kind too of course. You see, Lena is technically human but she is also technically a vampire, well more of a half vampire that's more or less human except for her extra abilities and vitality. As she tries to develop a Blood substitute her brother Lex attempts to steer her away from the light and back down a dark path that has always beckoned her to walk down.

[Look, vampires are kinda cool and I've been meaning to finish this idea that I literally dreamed about last year so let me know if you guys like it, hate it, or have ideas for it yeah? I'll post it on Ao3 later.] Words: 3,036K 🙃

Lillian took the cold metal brush handle in her hand, making it up to her hair, and started to brush through the already smooth tresses of hair on Lena's head.

"On to more pressing matters, it seems we won't be hunting for a while, seeing that the humans are now more aware of our kind since your brother started his little war with the Kryptonians." The aimless brushing continued a bit rougher than before but not painful.

"How are we to feed then mother, how are you going to feed? I am obviously already prepared but I know you prefer straight from the source." There was a slight hesitation in the last stroke of the cold brush.

Lillian set it down slowly almost methodically as she turned away and towards the moonlit window behind them.

Lena looked after the older woman cautiously.

"Mother?"  Wearily she stood from the vanity mirror and closer to Lillian’s side. 

She received a click of a tongue as an answer before she sighed.

"I hated how it reeked on his body, your father I mean, I hated how the smell of artificial blood was always stuck to him, it reminded me of that awful white meat substitute that some humans love in place of real meat."

"Tofu mother," Lena added helpfully as Lillian sneered further at the window and crossed her arms over her chest in defiance. 

"Yes, that was it. He always smelled of his fake blood, you already adopted his tendencies to not want to drink from the source of what we need to survive, which is fine but I’ll never understand it." She turned her head to Lena almost puzzled.

“Well mother I know that this situation will be harder but I’ll try and figure something out for us. I'm sure I can maybe synthesize something more to your preferences if need be." 

Lillian wasn't the warmest parent compared to most others but after Lex went on with his blood-war with the aliens, she saw that Lena was more stable than she originally thought, especially compared to her son. So through great effort and shattered pride, she tried her best to bridge the gap between her and her daughter as best as she could, trying to make up for years of neglect and misplaced scorn.

With a defeated sigh Lillian finally turned to look at her youngest,

"Thank you, dear, I know you'll try no matter how many times I say I'll be fine. I just want you to  use that brilliant brain of yours for more than just little old me, I'm content with the choices and endless amount of repenting I have waiting for me when it's time." Lillian never smiled at Lena, at least not often, especially as a child, but the one she gave her at that moment was the best one she'd ever seen.

“I think we all do mother. Thank you for taking care of me and letting me wait out the sun for today, I lost track of time again.” Lena lightly skims her thumb over the still healing blemish on her arm, if she were a full vampire like the rest of the Luthors in her family she would have lost it or simply turned to dust as her father did.

“Any time dear, this is still your home too, no matter what your brother claims.”

Lena almost cries, such simple words that her past self would have never dreamed of hearing from the woman before her, Lena simply nods in acknowledgment and heads back out to her car to get back to her apartment.

The drive back to National City is quiet, the long highway back lets her mind playback the hellish day she had, to say she’s dreading the minute she has to see the cities resident Super would be an understatement.

She saw me, I know she saw what I’m capable of. Or at least that I'm definitely NOT human. 

Lena’s thoughts turn darker as she imagines the red-caped hero’s look of repulsion and utter hate when she does truly figure out that she’s a creature of the dark, or, at least half of one.

Her mind spirals further down the dark hole of fear of what she will do with her, so much so that she missed the new set of headlights quickly coming closer in her side-view mirror.

When it finally caught enough to slam into her back bumper she quickly snaps out of it and tries to keep her own car on the road and away from the sheer drop of the mountainside to her right.

“Fuck! Now, what!?” The vehicle sways again as the car behind her clashes into hers, she took one of her more pedestrian cars today so her usual horsepower she’d use to escape is severely lacking this time as another hit on her life is in motion again this week. 

So much for going incognito.

The shattering of her rear window makes her jump, the side of her car slamming right into the metal railing, seeing the lack of ground on the other side has her heart drop right into her stomach as she tries to get control again. 

Big nope to that.

Another pop was registered in Lena’s brain as she finally lost control of her car, her vision spinning just as quickly as the car itself.

“Fuckfuckfuck! I swear, I'm going to stake you myself when I deal with your pets, Lex!” Sweating out of panic, Lena decides that trying to outspeed them won’t happen while in her brick ford car, she figures that she just might have to use some of her power for this one.

Her car makes a sudden stop as the front end crashes through the metal railing at the edge of the road, she was lucky the car became wedged into the twisted metal otherwise she would have had a very unfortunate freefall over the cliff.

Dizzyingly, Lena pries her hands from the steering wheel, her death grip making her bones ache as she tried for her seatbelt next. The sound of car doors slamming shut jumpstarts her heartrate, flooding her system with adrenaline. 

The shadows in the headlights get closer, the sound of a gun reloading, four sets of boots crunching on gravel as they round her car on both sides. 

She is actually scared now, her right shoulder twinges painfully as she tries to rip out the buckle of her seatbelt, “Ah, shit.” They actually hit her it seems, her white blouse is starting to bleed red down her arm the more she struggles on the belt.

A balding man crouches down into her window, his eyes are glazed over, his face is twisted into a sickening grin. “Hello halfy,” He sneers. “Your big brother wanted us to check in on you this fine night, he was deathly worried for your health as of late.” 

His gaze snaps to her bloody shoulder fixated on it for a second or so as he takes a deep breath of warm fresh blood, his dull eyes start to pool red as he takes another lung full of bloody air.

Lena shudders in disgust tilting her face away from his, he reeks of death and rot, ghouls were her least favorite creature that her brother had in his employ.

“Enjoying ourselves are we?” She mutters as his eyes roll open again.

He hums in delight. “He did say your blood was more or less mortal, it's almost humanly sweet.” his smile widens, some kind of old meat seemingly stuck in his teeth and gums as he appraises the state of her and her battered car. “Shame you didn't drive your nicer car, we could have stripped it for parts, but ah, oh well. We’re only here for you tonight then sadly.” 

A creaking noise shook the car as he ripped her driver’s door clean off its hinges, Lenas heightened smell was shocked by a wall of death the bald man oozed when he leaned in to free her of her seatbelt and dragged her out of the car by the scruff of her blouse.

Still dazed and newly freed from the metal deathtrap, Lena saw this as her last chance to try and escape from her brother’s lackeys. “I may smell human but by no means does that mean that I’m weak like one.” Latching onto the ghoul’s arm with shaking hands, Lena uses his own weight to counterbalance them both into the loose dirt and flipped herself over again to grab for his throat. She hates to use it but her power has to be used now before what little blood she does drink wears off and leaves her completely defenseless, she’ll have to kill him quickly.

His body starts to convulse as she uses her hand to tear into his fragile throat, black rotten blood oozing over her fingers as his body finally stops thrashing about. She’s still aware of the three heartbeats of the other goons as she finally stands up, her glowing eyes lock onto a man with mousy brown hair, his own eyes are terrified. They all are.

These ones are all human, two are just boys compared to her own age, and they’re all frozen stock still like rabbits to a fox.

Lena is shaking, she doesn’t kill humans, she won’t stoop to her brother’s level. “Leave, go home and forget about this whole night, I don't want to kill any of you. This man was not human, he likely would have eaten you all after my death so take this as an act of mercy. Please.”

The youngest is seems to want no part so he tossed down his weapon and dragged the other two back to their vehicle, the older ones still frozen and staring at the rapidly decaying body of the now-dead ghoul. “Let’s get the hell out of here guys!”

The car ripped out and back onto the highway leaving a wobbly and drained Lena in the dust, “Ugh!” She shrieks in anger as she kicks the rotten body in her rage. 

Before she can take out more of her frustration on the dead ghoul she hears a familiar chime of her phone’s ringtone, or more specifically, Karas ringtone. 

“Shit. Movie night, I was supposed to be at Karas tonight.” Grumbling as she whipped her bloody hand on her jeans, she bent over to pick up her cracked phone to answer her friend.

“Lena?” Lena sighed, “Hi Kara, I'm sorry for not calling you back, I seem to have run into some car trouble on my way to yours.” Glancing over to her clearly totaled car she winced at the sight of it, “Well more like it's completely totaled now.”

On Karas’s end of the line, she heard a crash and rushing of footsteps, “Ohmygosh! Are you okay Lena?? Where are you, I can come to get you or send my friend to help? Please tell me you’re okay..”

The brunette felt her eyes well up with tears, she really didn't deserve this human known as Kara Danvers, she really didn't. 

“I'm off of creek falls and the main highway near the cliff drop, I'm no worse for wear sort of, I'm standing on my own two feet at the moment so I’d say ok, for now anyway, I definitely need a shower and a lot of sleep after this though.” Lena tried to joke but didn't hear Kara anymore, just a rush of air against the microphone.

Confused Lena checks the line, “Kara? Are you still there?” 

“Y-yeah Lena I'm still here, um, please don't be mad." Now that made Lena pause. "What? Why would I be mad at you?" 

The wind in the earpiece lighted up a bit, "I'm almost there, I'm picking you up, I called Alex she'll be on her way too okay? Was there another car involved or an animal run across the road?" Panic gripped at Lena, Kara can't see this mess! Let alone the rotting ghoul body at her feet, she wouldn't understand!

"Kara, wait, it’s alright I already called the authorities and everything, it'll take a bit but I'm fine right now, also don't drive while on the phone! I don't want to be the cause of yet another accident tonight." Lena hear Kara scoff into the phone, "Thank you for the concern, but I'm definitely not driving, I don't even have a permit." She chuckled at her own expense.

Another pause.

"I'll be fine, just promise not to be mad when you see me? Yelling is fine but don't hate me, please." Anxiety wasn't a common thing for Lena but right now she can feel it clawing up her throat and she swallowed down her guilt of having her sweet fragile Kara seeing what her own monstrous hands are capable of. 

She trusts Kara with her life, she'll have to trust her with her dark secret now. "Only if you promise me the same, it’s a mess over here and I'm certain that it'll be horrific for you to see why." 

Kara hummed in thought for a second, "Well duh, I could never hate you Lena, or any other bad emotion towards you really." She said carefully like if she said it louder Lena wouldn't believe her.

"Ah wait, I think I see you? Oh." Kara whispered then the line went dead.

Lena was sitting hunched against her busted car, looking around confused at the lack of vehicle, Kara nowhere in sight. Letting out a ragged breath Lena let her head fall back with her eyes closed, praying that Kara would listen to her explain the scene before her.

The brunette’s eyes snapped open when she felt a warm hand on her good shoulder, to say she almost shit a brick would be putting it very lightly because right before her was Supergirl, but in Kara Danvers' sweats, T-shirt, and a very red cape with no socks or shoes to top it all off. Being shocked would be a very light word for how Lena is at that moment. 

Super- uh, Kara is pretty much herself while she looks Lena over,  making soft cooing noises as she checks over each scrape and bruise, she all but balls her eyes out when she shifts Lena's shirt to check the gunshot wound. 

"Lena, Rao, I should have listened further out for you, if I was listening I could have stopped this." Lena was a bit slow to process her words but she quickly bounced back and stupidly asked, “Kara? You’re not human?” Kara stilled her hands, “Yeah. I'm sorry I kept it from you ‘till now, I just could never find the right moment to tell you. I was going to try again tonight if that’s  worth anything.” 

Kara did look nervous, wary that Lena was angry about her lying for so long, but instead of being angry Lena just full body laughed at their predicament.

As light tears started to form in Lena's eyes Kara nervously held the brunette's hand. "Lena? I don't know if laughing should make me feel nervous or happy right now." 

Lena chuckled a couple more times and pulled the blonde into a relieved hug. "I've been an idiot, I've been trying to bring up the fact that I'm not human either for the past year Kara, so right now I think it's a bit ridiculous that you've been worrying about the same thing." Lena definitely didn't miss the full bodied twitch Kara did after hearing her say this, she understood though, Lena is technically human but only partially. It was briefly a one sided embrace until Kara hugged her back with almost all her strength, leaving Lena only mildly squished but overall content.

Their little bubble was immediately burst when a black SUV pulled up to blind the two of them, a bedraggled Alex dressed in her own pajamas and combat boots holding a shovel, "Kara. Tell me why did you text me 911 please  bring a shovel! At 1 am Kara- WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT??" 

Alex is out of her car and right by Kara's side almost instantly when the once thought to be dead ghoul flips onto its side to drag its to Lena, grossly gurgling its black blood as it crawls over to the trio.

"That would be what's left of my brother's newest hit and sent to check in on me. He's a ghoul so I probably should have made sure to take the whole head off inside of ripping her throat out." Lena extracts herself from an equally shocked Kara and tugs the shovel out of Alex's limp fingers, "Please pardon me, I'll give it right back." 

Alex looks at her dumbfounded, Lena shrugs as she turns back to the ghoul clearly annoyed beyond belief. "I would say have a nice trip given that you're going straight to hell but I really don't appreciate what you did to my car, " she glances over at the once upon a time pristine white paint job and cringes at the many bullet holes and scratches.

"Actually I'm more pissed that I had to meet you at all, so, bye now." 

She raised the shovel as high as she could with her good arm and swung down with all of her might, the ghoul let out one last hiss as the head fell from his body. 

Exhausted Lena looks back at the gawking Danvers sisters, "Help me clean this up and I'll get you both whatever food you want and could eat for a month?" She was almost certain Alex was going to shoot her up until that offer was in play, both sisters bolted up and came over to help.

"You're also going to fill us in about whatever the hell that thing was and why he worked for your brother." Alex stated as she waved her hand in Lena's direction in an almost protective voice.

"And about the not human thing." Kara mumbled as she grabbed the creatures legs over to the deepening hold Alex was currently working on.

With a big sigh of relief Lena nodded, vowing to answer whatever her two friends asked her.

"Deal."

[johnkrrasinski]

𝐄𝐱𝐢𝐥𝐞

Chapter 5: Now I’m in Exile

full masterlist // series masterlist // commission open // support my work

Pairings: Dark!Steve Rogers x Reader

Word Count: 8,310 

Summary: Steve Rogers; a Hollywood A-lister and your clandestine occasional hookup. Best friends since childhood, but people change and friendships fall out. Now you were merely strangers with benefits. What happens when one day you stopped being his doormat to be a better man’s queen? The selfish Steve Rogers would not like it. How far is he willing to go to get his favorite possession back?

Warnings: smut, non-con/dub-con, dark Steve (in later chapter), angst, Steve Rogers is an asshole in this one, no redeeming qualities. (MUST BE 18+)

A/N: this series is dedicated to the lovely @belovedcherry​​​ who commissioned this story and developed the concept. thank you for being a friend when i truly needed it. i’m really glad that you trusted me to write this story for you. with all my heart, i sincerely hope you like it. this series will be updated every day.

The calling tone reverberated in your hand as the beaming grin on your face mirrored on the screen. With every passing second, your anticipation grew. You couldn’t control your fidgeting so you took a deep breath and-

“Hey, boo!” Natasha’s voice modulated.

You lifted your right hand to the front camera’s level, revealing the rose golden Cartier wrapped finger as it glimmered under the light.

“Oh my God! Did he…?”

“Mhm,” you nodded. “I’m engaged, Nat!”

Natasha put a hand over her mouth, “holy shit! Girl, I’m so happy for you! Congratulations!” the gaiety on her face was palpable, you could feel it through the screen. There’s a reason why she and Wanda were the first people you passed the happy news to. After your parents of course.

“Thank you so much! I can’t believe it. Eight months ago, I thought I’d be single forever but here I am…”

“Yeah, things escalated quickly for you! Now you are someone’s fiancee and seven months pregnant. It’s mind-boggling,” she spoke like a proud sister. “I’m beyond happy for you. Really, I am.”

“I know this is probably too soon but, will you be my maid of honour, Nat?”

“You know damn well there’d be no wedding if you didn’t ask me to. Hell yeah, I will!”

“Ah, yes!” you hurrayed in excitement. “Alright, I’ll catch up to you later, okay? I gotta call Wanda too.”

“Do whatever you want boo, it’s your day.”

You hung up the phone and went through your contacts list, then clicked the phone number under Wanda’s name. The excitement bubbled up in your chest as you pictured the smile on her face when she sees the new lustrous thing on your finger.

Eight months earlier…

“Hey, y/n. It’s me, Adrian. It was a pleasure meeting you last night. How is the dress doing?”

“She is going for a dry cleaner. It was lovely to meet you too, except for the drink-spilling stain of course.”

“Sorry about that. But it got me your number and I would’ve done it again if that’s what it costs.”

You smiled down at your phone under the warm glow of the morning sunlight. “You showed me pictures of your dogs and cat so it’s a win-win situation for us both.” Wink emoji.

“Perhaps you and I could chat more about my dogs and my cat over a cup of coffee?”

“Will you promise you won’t spill the coffee on my shirt this time?”

“You have my word.”

“I’ll consider it, then.”

“Next Friday, at 7 PM. Write that down on your calendar.”

“I didn’t even say yes.”

He sent an adorable picture of his pomeranian dog looking up at him with pleading eyes. “How can you say no to this face?”

“Say no more. I’ll see you next Friday.”

-

Two weeks after the date.

You regurgitated your guts out in the toilet bowl and held up your hair, trying not to let the vomit splotch a strand of it. This was the third time you had to run to the loo to spew the queasiness in your body. You felt dizziness clouding your head. What the hell is wrong with your body? This had been a daily occurrence for the past one week.

You sat on the toilet lid after everything you swallowed earlier was out. You recollected every food that had made its way into your digestion the past couple of days… Did you eat something inedible? Perhaps that ice cream in your refrigerator had passed its expiration date, but you only bought it three days ago at the grocery store and you swore it could still last for two more months.

Maybe that shrimp that you ate at the Chinese restaurant with Adrian last night was stale. Ugh, you’re gonna need to talk to Adrian about this but you didn’t want to make a big deal out of it. Perhaps, it was just another sickness caused by an unknown bad food.

But you also retrospected the shift in your body for the past couple of weeks. Your period was late this month… It should’ve started three days ago, what is happening? Could it be…? Oh no, there’s no way. You and Adrian hadn’t even moved it to the bedroom yet, so that means… If you are, then… It must be… Steve’s.

Oh hell no.

You recalled, the last time you and Steve met up for your weekly (sometimes more) hookup appointment was the day after you and Adrian met up for a coffee, which was your very first date with him. You didn’t know there would be plenty more to come so you went to what you had planted your soles so deep in, which was Steve Rogers’s penthouse in the upper east.

He had you on top with your arse facing him because he enjoyed the view better than your face. You struggled to bounce yourself up and down on his massive size. He could be such a sluggard sometimes but a man like him would always get his way, and if he needed to fuck out some tension, then he’d use you as a masturbation aid for as long as he wanted.

His grip on your hips was ruthless, you knew it was going to cause some bruises tomorrow but you couldn’t care any less. Not when he was pulling you down this deep that you could feel him penetrating your womb. His grunts filled your ears with eroticism and you picked up your pace to help him reach his climax. You shut your eyes with your mouth hanging open as soft moans escaped through your lips. You clenched around him and you felt his cock throbbed, you knew it was coming. Literally. Your coil shattered just a few seconds before he released his seed deep inside you. He pulled out and went to the bathroom to clean himself up and left you rumpled on the couch.

He left to Atlanta the next day to shoot a new movie. Something about an organization reinforced by the Nazi during World War II, and how the Captain leads an elite combat unit to the battle against an organization called Hydra. You didn’t know that until you looked it up on the internet.

You hadn’t received another booty call for him ever since. He was probably sleeping with twenty-something-year-olds models in Atlanta though.  

And you had made peace with the tragic reality you were stuck in. You had accepted the reality that you and Steve were like riding down a dead-end street. There was no making love on Sunday mornings and have brunch together afterwards. There was no settling down in a countryside house where your kids could run around barefoot on the front yard. There was no marriage vows and walking down the aisle in white for you.

But all that changed when you decided to take a pregnancy test and the result revealed that you were indeed pregnant. You took three more and the results were all the same. Fucking hell. What the hell are you going to do now?

You had to call Steve, right? He was the father after all. You couldn’t tell Adrian because he would despise you for sleeping with another man and possibly carrying his child and he probably would never want to talk to you anymore. He’d probably regret knowing you at all. And you didn’t want to send him away. You liked him, he was good for your heart and the more you explored him, the more mesmerized you become by his magnetic force.

You were distraught. You didn’t know what to do, you didn’t know whom to call, so you just sat there in the tenebrosity of your room, out of options and out of clue.

Eventually, you collected your nerves and you dialled Steve’s number. He didn’t answer. He told you once that he didn’t like being called unless he called you first so you never did, but this time, you had to speak to him. “Please, pick up…” you prayed while on the verge of breaking down completely.

You were directed to his voice mailbox.

“This is Steve Rogers and if I’m not picking up that probably means you shouldn’t be calling me.”

Beep. “Hey Steve, I’m really sorry for calling you this late but I really need to talk to you. Please, it’s urgent.”

Three hours later and there were still no callbacks. You had sent him twenty-eight text messages and his voice mailbox was full. If you waited one more goddamn second, you’d lose your mind. So you picked up your phone and bit the bullet and typed the words; “I’m pregnant and you are the father. Please call me back so we can talk about it.”

It was around 4.30 AM when you checked the time on your lock screen. You were fatigued; both physically and emotionally. You had to unwind from every quandary that impinged you today. It was a lot and you were at a complete loss, but you’ll figure it out tomorrow.

You didn’t sleep well that night, you kept waking up whilst it was still dark out, and you had to wake up at 7.30 tomorrow for work. You kept looking at the sleek device that was left unmuted on your bedside table in case Steve called back. He didn’t though. You only slept for an hour and you really wanted to take a day off but you’d lose your mind if you were left alone with your thoughts and no distraction. So you got out of bed, took a shower and prepared for work, with your thoughts filled with the future of this baby growing inside you and Steve. Why hasn’t he called back or even text at all? Does he really think so little of you?

The impulse to check your phone and call and text him every five minutes was adamantine. You tried to control the itch of sending him another text and voicemail but it failed until you read the words ‘not delivered’ in red under the last text message that you just sent. You tried to resend it over and over again and even tried to write a new message but it was the same result.

You moved to your call feature but after a single ring, you were diverted to voicemail. It took you a few seconds to realize that Steve had blocked you. You went to the last media to reach out to him and it was through his Instagram account. You didn’t even follow each other and you were certain that he received thousands of DMs and notifications every day from his obsessive fans. He had 39 million followers for God’s sakes, the hell is one message from you going to mean anything?

But you were despondent and you needed someone to go through this with, especially the father himself. You did it anyway without thinking twice and told him that you were pregnant and you needed to talk to him. You even sent a picture of those three pregnancy tests and attached it on your message. You couldn’t stop biting your lip and tapping your foot throughout the entire way to your work in the train. Man, were you really going to raise this child alone?

-

Three days later and still no signs of him attempting to return your messages. You had slowly accepted your fate that you were going to carry and raise this child alone. You still hadn’t told Adrian despite talking to him every day and it crushed your heart whenever you heard his elated tone. You could tell that he was really into you and he wanted to take this relationship further but sorrowfully, one way or another, you were going to have to tell him the secret growing in your belly and you were going to have to slaughter this exquisite potential. You wondered if the circumstances were different or you had met at another time or in another universe, would Adrian be the one you were meant to be with?

You made a promise to yourself that you were going to meet him tomorrow and tell him the truth. Delaying it wouldn’t make it any easier and it wouldn’t prevent the doom from happening. If anything, it would only elongate the hurt. So you picked up your phone after you cerebrated it on your mind and clicked on Adrian’s chat room; “meet me at the Drive Brew Cafe tomorrow? Got something I’d like to talk about.”

“Is it something really urgent or you’re just looking for an excuse to see me?” Wink emoji.

“Oh, stop flattering yourself. We really need to talk.”

“Usually, I’d ask a person the matter before I’d decide that it’s important enough for me to meet them in person but I’m giving you a pass.”

“Very generous of you. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Goodnight, y/n.”

-

You arrived ten minutes earlier than the time you both agreed to meet at. The cafe wasn’t too crowded, thank God, so you immediately ordered a cup of Machiatto for Adrian and a cup of hot chocolate to calm your nerves. After the barista called your name, you walked to the corner booth before anyone could occupy it first. You were going to need some privacy. You sat as your hands trembled from edginess. You couldn’t stop fidgeting and tapping your foot as the second passed by on the clock.

Exactly on 6.30 PM, a dashing brunet in a dark grey vest and rolled-up sleeves entered and you stood up to greet him. He just came home from work and man, it was impossible for him to ever look bad even for once, you were so lucky but life just kept finding a way to eliminate the people you cared about.

“Hey, you look good.” his British accent was thick. He kissed your cheek and embraced you with a warm smile.

“So do you. How was work?” You both sat on the opposite chairs of the booth.

“The ordinary. We had a meeting with a director of this historical film to get us to fund the project. How was yours?” The genuinely curious look on his face nearly changed your mind. Oh, how you wish you could hold on to this moment where you could still have him a little longer.

“Nothing new, just another day at work. This one’s for you by the way.” You didn’t know what more to say when your mind was cluttered so you stalled by passing over his drink.

“So, what’s so important that you needed to see me?”

“Adrian, you know, I really like you, right?” you took his hand in yours as you stared into his striking eyes. “And I’ll always be grateful that you were foolish enough to ruin my dress that night.”

He was perplexed. His eyebrows were furrowed. “As much as I enjoy your companion, I’m sure that you didn’t call me to meet you only to thank me for wrecking your dress, right?”

“Yeah, but um… I just, it’s been wonderful knowing you. And… Oh God, this is going a lot harder than I thought.”

He nodded. A dejected look on his face that you wished you could wipe out. “Let me save you the trouble… You are breaking up with me.” He didn’t say it as if he was guessing, he said it as if it was a declaration that he’d figured out before you could even formulate the words.

“Adrian… I’m pregnant. And you’re not the father, so don’t worry. I know when you first asked me out, this isn’t what you signed up for. So I’m setting you free. I’m sorry.”

You expected him to get up and walk out of the door, leaving you with your alienation but none of that was detected on his expression or his body language. “Who is the father?”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

“Try me.”

“Adrian…”

“Don’t I at least deserve to know who my girlfriend is sleeping with before I even took her to my bed?”

Girlfriend. Huh. Well, that’s first.

“Steve Rogers.”

“Steve Rogers the actor?”

“Yes…”

He snickered. That drew a mystification out of you. “What’s so funny?”

“So you’re into the arsehole type.”

“…How do you know what kind of person he is?”

“The movie that we had a meeting about today? He’s going to star in it and I’ve met him a couple of times at some parties. Not the nicest guy, eh?”

“I don’t… I don’t know what to say.”

He sipped a bit of his coffee. “How did you get involved with a bloke like him?”

So you told him everything; the beginning of your friendship, the fallout, the moment he took your V-card in your dorm, and how years later, he still had you on a chokehold. He didn’t seem to mind one bit that the woman that he had been seeing had a history with someone. He’d dealt with much worse scenarios in his former dating lives. He wasn’t going to let other man’s neglected baby stand in the way of what could be something beautiful.

“I’m not walking away.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m staying. I like you and I know you feel the same way too. We are going to raise this baby together. No child deserves to grow up fatherless. I’m going to be its father.”  

“Adrian, but…”

“No buts, we’ll get through this together. Now, let’s enjoy these tasty drinks before they get cold, yeah?”

So you nodded, too dumbstruck by the man before you. You drank your hot chocolate that was cooling down and let his presence soothe you better than the sweet drink on your tongue.

-

Steve went back to New York after spending nearly four months in Atlanta, shooting his movie. Man, he’d lost count on how many extras he had fucked in his hotel room but nothing felt as good as your pussy. He thought about your last text before he blocked you. You had claimed that you were pregnant with his baby. You must’ve lost your mind to think that he’d buy that shit.

So he picked up his phone, unblocked your number and pressed the call button. Three dial tones and a familiar voice answered. “Hello?”

“Hey baby, meet me at my place tonight.”

“Who is this?”

“Hillarious, y/n. I’m too fucking tired for jokes okay? Come here and suck my cock then maybe I’ll listen to your jokes.”

“Is this Steve Rogers?”

“Fuck yeah, it’s me, y/n. Who else do you think I am?”

A pause jammed the line. “I’m done, Steve.”

“What? The fuck do you mean you’re done?”

“I sent you thousands of texts and calls five months ago and you couldn’t even lift your fingers to answer.”

“I was in the middle of shooting, y/n. You know better than to call me while I’m working.”

“Oh, screw you, Steve. I’m pregnant and you didn’t even care? How much of an asshole can you be?”

“You were actually serious about that?”

“Of course you think I was joking. But don’t worry, it’s none of your concern now. We’re done. Don’t call me anymore.”

“Wait, wait! Y/N!” you cut off the line. “Ah shit.”

He tried to call five more times and you neglected every single one of them. In fact, you instantly blocked his number after the last phone call with him. You didn’t want to be associated with him anymore. You thought that Steve had forgotten about you since he blocked your number first so you never had to do it yourself. But of course, an entitled scoundrel such as he is would never stop taking and taking until you had nothing more to give.

It took you years of anguish, an unforeseen mishap and a beautiful stranger that ended up being the stupendous love you’d been looking for to open your eyes to the rotten core of Steve Roger’s heart. He ever only lusted for your flesh, he never gave a shit about you as a person.

You lived for the hope of it all, you cancelled plans just in case he’d call, and you never once suspected the pitfall, but you were no longer that foolish girl anymore. You had met a real man now and he led you to the path of love and happiness and Steve was no longer the most intrinsic thing on your mind.

-

Steve was going apeshit. He had never been rejected or denied before, he always had it so effortlessly. Especially by you. He thought he’d always have you by the palm of his hand, he thought whenever he asked you to jump, you’d always say “how high?”, he thought whenever you’d think about walking near to the door, you’d always turn around with a few sensual touches and sugarcoated words, but the renunciation that came out of your mouth sting like a bitch and he didn’t like his ego being trampled over.

He went to sleep later that night, dreaming about caressing you and kissing you as a lover would. Never once did he ever have such a dream about anyone before. Maybe he belonged to you more than he had realized all this time.

-

It was his fourth time this week of standing on the street of your apartment building after you returned his plenteous gifts that you certainly never even asked for or needed. Why would you? You could easily buy that necklace jewellery, that overpriced velvet dress, and those designer shoes with your own money. And even if you couldn't, your boyfriend could easily afford all those things for you too. But that motherfucker used his money to buy you shoddy gifts such as poorly designed accessories and tacky books and yet you happily accepted them? What a closefisted fool.

But who are we kidding? The sole reason why you didn’t accept those gifts is that you no longer cared about him. Those inducements didn’t work on you anymore. You were much happier with a better man now. What do you have to lose?

Rather than dwelling in self-pity and resentment, he hid in Range Rover in a black baseball cap and Tom Ford shades from the paparazzi and waited. Waited for her to come out. He had been religiously stalking every social media you had from another private account to track your activities. The last photo you posted on your Instagram was a picture of you and the scary college roommate of yours that he’d forgotten the name of. It was last Saturday.

“Always a delight to catch up with this one. Love you @natasharomanoff.”

under 281 likes and 32 comments. He scrolled through every single one of them and searched for any clue that might indicate your next move. Found one.

Wandamaximoff: “Don’t forget about me!! :(” so they are still friends apparently.

Natasharomanoff: “Same time next week? 💕”

“Absolutely,” you replied to the red-head.

Gotcha. He’ll be there.

So here he was, waiting for you to come out of that building to grab an Uber because he knew you weren’t so into driving. Except for that late-night rendevous of course, because he told you once that he’d hate for a single soul to know there was something going on between you and him. You were a secret and he’d like to keep it that way. Sooner or later, people are gonna talk and headlines are going to break the internet.

Two minutes later, you stepped out wearing a beige coloured cable knit cardigan and a grey jersey maxi dress underneath with a necklace around your neck. He couldn’t see it from this distance but the item had made a few appearances in some of your recent Instagram posts, and he already knew that you wore it wherever you go. It was an initial necklace of the letter ‘A’ in silver.

He hated the arising thought but he couldn’t help but think how ethereal you looked in your casual, maternal clothes. Perhaps even more than when you wore those petite dresses that always made you look uncomfortable whenever you wore them. You walked with grace and there’s this elegance that you just exuded without trying too hard. You could be wearing the most boring clothes or doing the most mundane things like looking down at your phone to text your Uber driver and you’d still look enchanting.

Man, how could he had been so blind all this time?

It shredded his heart even worse knowing that the growing fetus in your belly was his, but when that baby borns, another man would hold it instead of him and the kid would grow to learn that another man was its father instead of him. That motherfucker. He didn’t have any right in raising that baby. You were bearing his child. Not Adrian’s. You belonged to him. You always did. Fate had interlaced your paths long before you were given birth to this world. No one knew you better than him and vice versa. Not even that former roommate of yours or Wanda. Only him. He had to have you back. Whatever it takes.

He was so inflamed with debt and feebleness of his childhood that he turned into someone he used to loathe when he was younger. He strayed so far away from the path that his mom had paved for him to walk in and he wasted the one good thing in his life that kept him going when he had nothing. But he couldn’t turn back now, couldn’t cross out the mistakes that he did. The best he could do is make use of what he is capable of now and utilize it cleverly.

A scheme was formed in his head… He’d have you back in no time. One way or another.

-

Months went by and his patience emaciated. He had it all drawn out in his head but he had to be very careful. If he rushed or stepped on the wrong stone, he’d end up being decapitated and his career would burn to ashes. Especially with how the paparazzi and the media were always busting up his ass, like hunters with foxes. He couldn’t have that. He had worked too hard to see it all crumble beneath his feet.

He rejected all film projects and public appearances offered by his agent slash good friend, Sam Wilson. Sam was getting a little frustrated by Steve for being unreasonable. He was his most ambitious client, never one to say no to a good script and occasions that could advance his career and generate more profit for both of them.

But after he returned from Atlanta for his last movie, he had been shutting most people out. Sam was always his most trusted confidant, he was his agent, after all, it was his responsibility to make sure the client that earned him the most income was well in health and aptitude. But he was scratching his head trying to get Steve to open up to him.

Sick of Steve’s shortcoming, he called Steve and told him to come to the office.

“Fuck off, Sam. Why can’t you just talk on the phone?”

“Get your ass down here or I will come to your house myself.”

He groaned and hauled himself to Sam’s office, not in the mood for Sam’s garrulous nagging.

-

Steve knocked on Sam’s door and he saw Sam sitting in his usual black and white attire in his ergonomic chair. He had a frown on his face instead of his usual conceited womanizer charm. “What’s with the long face?” Sam asked.

“Nothing. I’m just worn out.”

“Cut the bullshit. Last time you got your ass to work was six months ago. What the hell is happening with you?”

“I just haven’t found any good script that interests me, Sam. And I told you, I needed a short break. I’ve been travelling nonstop for the past few years to shoot films and press tours, and now I just need to hit the pause button.”

“The Steve Rogers I know isn’t one to rest. He was power-hungry and always craved for more. You also rejected an Oscar potential role. Something’s going on and it’s deeper than just needing a break. C’mon, talk to me man. As a friend, not as your agent. Let me help you.”

It took him a few seconds to brace himself. He didn’t need to tell him the entire truth, he just had to ask Sam fora favour and then the Steve Rogers that made him millions would come back. “You know anyone who’s good at editing photos?”

“…What?” Sam was perplexed.

“Just let me know, Sam. You got any connections to editing experts? Hook me up.”

“What is fueling this?” Sam was bewildered. He looked at Steve like he had just grown two heads out of nowhere.

“Just trust me on this one, alright? You link me to a good editor and business will back as usual.”

“I know a guy.”

-

Your bachelorette party was fun. You, Natasha, Wanda and a few of your fellow colleagues were invited to the tea party at the garden of The Berkeley in London, which is the hometown of your fiance. You loved London and you always had such a good time whenever you paid it a visit with Adrian.

Now that the weekend was over, it was time to pick up little Nathan from your parents’ house. A beautiful baby boy was born three months ago and he was your parents’ joy. You never told them that the real father was the scrawny kid who used to lounge around on their couch every Wednesday afternoon when there was nothing much to do. Your parents loved Adrian as their own and it was all that mattered.

This baby is going to grow up with so much love from his parents and grandparents. From your chosen family who will become his aunties and uncles. He is going to be raised right in gentleness, affection, and sincerity. And it would never matter how he was conceived into this world in the first place.

You refused to leave this baby for more than five minutes but Wanda and Nat kept insisting that you needed some time for your own. One bachelorette party wouldn’t hurt. It’s only one weekend. Besides, your grandparents were obsessed with baby Nathan and they were going to take such good care of him while you were away, celebrating your single life with your girlfriends before you spend the rest of it with someone.

Now you were back home, you couldn’t wait to see your baby. You had been thinking about him endlessly in London and you missed holding him close to your chest. So you put on your coat and took your keys to drive to your parents’ house but you were stopped by a text message before you could open the door of your car.

“Enjoyed your bachelorette party?” An unknown number wrote.

Your eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “Who the hell is this?” your thumb typed and pressed the send button.

“You know me. Better than anyone, just like I know you too better than your fiance.”

Your heartbeat quickened. “Stop texting or I will call the police.”

But before you could hit the send button, a picture of your face popped on the screen. But what disarrayed your mind wasn’t your face, it was the body. You were stark naked with your knees on a mattress and your ears teared up, and your lips were wrapped around a shaft.

What. The. Fuck?

“Got plenty more.” the unknown number threatened.

Another picture of you lying on the same bed, except this time you were on your back so your tits were clear cut visible and your mouth was parted slightly like you were moaning. A hand was wrapped around your throat and yours were pinned above your head by another one.

You were frozen in place and the warm autumn air descended into zero degree celsius. Your breath hitched and tears started brimming in your eyes. Who could have these pictures of you?

“I’ve got many more if you’re curious just how much of a slut you can be.”

“Stop. What do you want?” your fingers trembled.

“Meet me at the New York State Pavillon tonight, at 11 PM. Alone. Bring your baby. If you dare to report this to the cops, I will send these pictures to your fiance and post them on every existing site on the internet.”

The words didn’t leave any room for argument or further questions. So you drove to your parents’ house to pick up Nathan for the last time ever.

-

Adrian was working late tonight. He told you over the phone that a big project was in the work and so he and his team had to stay a little longer in the office to get it done as soon as possible. You were a bit relieved because that means, you could save yourself from whatever was bound to happen when you arrive at the abandoned historical world fair.

“Don’t forget to drink water. I love you.” You reminded him.

You wrapped Nathan in a blanket to keep him warm and you placed him in the infant car seat next to you. Your mind couldn’t stop flashing back to those pictures. Who could you possibly have done so wrong that they thought exaction would be the most fitting comeuppance. It took about 35 minutes via Grand Central Parkway which was the fastest route so you took it. Your mind also couldn’t stop asking questions, so many questions… But most importantly, who could this person be? Could it be… No, no way. You knew him. That was the last thing he’d ever do. Not because he wasn’t a nefarious person but because the world was constantly throwing themselves at him, offering him dollars and women.

He had too much in his plate to look over to yours and wanted to steal what was in it too. After months of not a single contact made, he must’ve had forgotten about you right? C’mon. This is ridiculous. But if it’s not him, then who could it be?

You arrived at Flushing Meadows a half-hour later and then you texted the number. “I’m here. What do you want?” you kept Nathan inside, fearing that whoever the culprit is might hurt him. So you stayed inside as consternation overcame you.

A few minutes later he answered, “step out the car and bring the baby.”

“Don't hurt my baby, please. Take me, but let him return safely to his father.”

“He will. Now, do as I say or I will publish these pictures.”

You trembled. You unlocked the door of your car and stepped out of it deliberately holding Nathan to your chest. You were careful to keep him from crying. The crisp air sent shivers down your spine. You closed the door and waited. Your eyes roved to all over the desolated site. Until it landed on those familiar blue eyes that held more ice than the air.

“…Steve?”

The man you used to know was different now. His face that used to be clean-shaven was now covered in a glorious beard that made him indistinguishable. His dusty blonde hair was slightly longer and he dressed in dark clothes that amplified the sinister atmosphere circling him.

You held Nathan closer to you with one hand behind his head, trying to keep him quiet. “Don’t be like that, let me see my son.”

“No. He’s not yours.” You spat.

He scoffed. “Say whatever you want, sweetheart but it’s my blood running in his little veins. In fact, I think we can take a DNA test and send it to your fiance, how about that? Also, how is Mr and Mrs. Y/L/N?”

“Leave my parents alone, Steve.”

“Are you going to cut that attitude of yours or do we have to do this the hard way? Either way, I don’t mind.”

“I’ll be good. Just please, don’t involve my parents.”

“Good, I know the good girl I knew is still somewhere inside you. Now, drop your phone to the ground and smash it.”

“…What? No! How am  I going to-”

He furrowed one eyebrow at you and you instantly understood the peril if you repudiated him once more.

You took out your phone from the pocket of your coat and dropped it to the ground. You stomped it with your foot until the screen was cracked, but Steve wasn’t satisfied enough with its damaged state so he stomped it harder than you did until it was smashed into two.

He led you to his Range Rover that he parked in an empty street and opened the backseat door and you slide into it with Nathan still tucked under your neck. Then he closed the door and walked to the driver’s seat and drove away to God knows where.

“Where are we going, Steve? Nathan needs to sleep. He can’t-”

“Quiet. He’ll be home soon.”

You didn’t dare to ask more questions. The vacancy in his eyes that were reflected on the rearview mirror was petrifying enough as it is. You sat and stared out the window and think about Adrian. Was he home yet? Did he try to call or text you? What would he do when he realizes you weren’t home? You couldn’t help but think that this morning was possibly the last time you’d ever see Adrian. God, you missed him already. You prayed to whatever God was listening that he would save you and your son soon.

Please Adrian, please do something. I love you.

The soft hum of the engine made your eyes feel droopy. You tried your best to stay awake but it was nearing midnight and the jet lag was still encompassing you so the fight in you to stay awake resolved. You gave in to the lethargy with Nathan dozing on your lap.

You were woken up by a shake on your shoulder and you found Steve standing on the open door. “Get up, we’re here.”

In your still languorous state, you got out of the car hugging Nathan close. “Where are?”

The sounds of crickets saturated the ambience as only the faint glow of the moon illuminated the trees around you. There was nobody around except you and Steve -and Nathan if a three months creature counts-. You put two and two together… Did Steve take you into the woods?

“Steve, what are we doing here?”

He didn’t meet your eye or answered you but instead, he walked toward what looked like a mid-century modern wooded oasis perched on a sloping site and set on stilts. The trees blended with the wood side exterior and wraparound decks. You had no idea whose house this belonged to but it was enchanting.

“Go ahead.”

You approached the resident that was incandescent with yellow lights, giving you a little peek to the furniture inside. You hoped whoever owned this property wasn’t sleeping yet, it was literally in the middle of the night, what the hell was Steve even doing taking you to a stranger’s house?

“Steve, I really don’t think this is a good idea…” as you stood freezing on the terrace. “Can we go back now? I really don’t want Adrian to worry.”

He fumbled with a key and unlocked the entrance. “Get in.”

Your eyes scanned the room to make sure there was no one around that might bust your ass tot he police for breaching before you stepped in. Your eyes peregrinated to every corner of the interior, relishing in the smell of oak and firewood.

He then took you for a quick tour to every section of the house without saying anything that would actually straighten your befuddlement. The decorations were full of vintage and antiques. “You like it?” Steve asked.

“I mean… it’s lovely for sure.”

“Good, then that means we won’t have to redecorate.”

“Wait, wait… What?”

“I bought this house for us, sweetheart. I knew you’d love the cozy design and it’s a perfect place for Nathan to grow up in.”

“Steve, what the hell are you talking about?”

“We’ll work things out. I’ll stay here with you for the rest of the weekend and I’ll only leave when I need to work. You won’t have to worry about anything else, I’ll take care of it.”

“God, you are crazier than I thought. I’m going home.”

He stopped you by blocking the entrance door and glared. “You’re not going anywhere, sweetheart.”

“Steve, get out of my way.”

“You are mine. That baby is my son, you hear me? This is where you belong.”

“I’m gonna call the cops.”

“With what? Your phone?” He derided. “You don’t even know where the hell we are.”

“Adrian’s gonna come looking for me.”

“No, he won’t. Because I’ve sent those pictures of you to him and to your boss, who is it? Tony Stark? And you don’t have any life to get back to. This is your life now.”

Your heart sunk. No, no, he can’t be. He promised he won’t if you did what he said, right?

“You’re lying…”

“I did. I sent it while you were snoozing in the car. Shit, I’d pay a million bucks to see the look on that asshole’s face when he realized just how much of a dirty slut his fiancee is… Well, ex-fiancee now.”

“Why would you- you promised you wouldn’t if I did what you asked me to.”

“Well, that agreement has changed,” he said it so nonchalantly as if he hadn’t just pulverized the life you had built for yourself, the happiness you had stacked on a shelf that took you years to collect; a great job, a loving boyfriend, an adorable baby.

You wanted to lash out, you wanted to smack him in the face but you were too wounded by what you just heard. If you returned to Adrian and your work tomorrow, would you still even have them? Would they even accept you at all? You knew better than trying to report a powerful man such as Steve Rogers to the cops, he could bribe them, he could get a qualified lawyer. He could also make you lose the battle you never wanted to be a part of even if you were the victim, he could easily paint you as the mentally unstable woman that wanted to blackmail him for money.

The media had never captured pictures of you sneaking out of Steve’s apartment. Steve never took you for a stroll in the park or Sunday brunch because that’s all you were; a secret. Steve never wanted to be seen with you and Steve never wanted to share you with the world for whatever reason. Steve didn’t mind being photographed by models and other film stars, but not you. And now, he wanted to keep you in this little vault or calaboose so that you’d never escape and the traces of your history would be erased forever from the world’s memory.

Because Steve Rogers was no longer the man you used to ride around the bicycle with during the summer or the scrawny romancer you used to know, but he was a selfish man, a man with enough ego and ego to completely metamorphosed himself into whatever he wanted to be, no matter how ruthless and perilous that person he is. And now here you were, a mere object for him to assert his powers on, and you knew it wasn’t because of his love for his son or for you, but simply because he always got his way. Always.

“Now you can stay here, accept your new life with me and raise Nathan together, or you can face the disgrace that your fiance and your boss see you as. You think he’s gonna let you come back to his house? You think your boss is gonna shrug it off and let you come back as if nothing happened? No. You’re dispensable, and one way or another, you’re gonna come back to me. Even if you don’t, I’ll find a way to make you.”

“Why me? You could have every other woman in the world… Why me, Steve?”

“Because you think that you can repudiate me… You can’t. You think you can take away control from me… You can’t,” he gritted. “Not a single person in the world can.”

The tears in your eyes fell the floor as your legs wobbled. “Now, let’s not keep our son awake any longer yeah? Put him to bed. And then… You can be the good housewife you were meant to be and perform your duties.”

So he led you to the nursery room and you put Nathan in the crib. You wanted to fight, you wanted to reach that door and run… Even if you don’t know where you were going, as long as you could escape from this maniac. But you knew better than running away to in the middle of nowhere at midnight, in the cold with your son. You also knew better than thinking that Steve wouldn’t do whatever he could to get you back under his feet… so what was the point in countering anymore? Men like Steve Rogers always wins.

After you put Nathan to sleep, he led you to the master bedroom and ordered you to strip. The routine revokes old memory. “Get on your knees,” he commanded as he sat on the edge of the bed, like a king waiting to be served.

You did as he says and stood between his spread legs. “Take off my pants.”

You unzipped it and pulled it down along with his briefs. “Good girl, now, open.”

You parted your lips, wide enough to fit him and circled your tongue around the tip. Just like you used to because he liked the buildup and you knew it better than anyone. He grabbed a fistful of your hair and tugged on it harshly then inched himself back deeper into your mouth. You hollowed your cheeks to accommodate his girth as he hit the back of your throat each time he went back in.

“Ah fuck, I’ve missed that sweet mouth of yours…” He picked up the pace and you looked up to him. His face contorted in pleasure while you were feeling anything but. You feel repulsed, you wanted to push him away but you couldn’t. He closed his eyes, relishing in the feel of your mouth around him and threw his head back.

He moaned as he controlled your movement faster, trying to get himself off. Your eyes teared up as you looked up at him, and his cock throbbed. He climaxed deep inside your mouth as he kept your head down so every drop that he had was spilled down your throat. He kept you there until he had no more to offer and then he pulled himself out. “Get on the bed, ass up, face down.”

You followed his command and waited until you could feel him kneeling behind you. “Just like old times, huh?” He chuckled. You could feel the tip of his cock nudging your clit and then he invaded your body through your entrance. “Shit, you’re still so fucking tight. Did that asshole ever fuck you at all?”

You didn’t answer but moaned instead as you could feel him stretching you like he used to. And no matter how many times he had fucked you, you never truly got used to it. Adrian’s face came in flashes; you recalled how he made love to you, how gentle he would be with you and how intimate your lovemaking session was, a stark contrast to how Steve would treat you. You also compared their sizes, Adrian was average compared to Steve. Whenever Steve entered you, it always felt like an intrusion, an unforeseen attack, rather than your fleshes weaving into one.

He retracted himself and then pushed back in brutally and you whined. He held onto your hips in a bruising grip, as he pounded into you because he was never one for a tender start; he only had wanted to get himself off and that was it. “Does he fuck you this good? Bet you think of my dick when he fucks you.”

Your body jolted every time he jerked himself forward and he groaned and grunted. He hammered into you relentlessly and incessantly, causing you to clench around him. The wetness made squelching noises as you could feel your impending orgasm approaching, forming a dam inside you that was ready to break any second now. He sped up and he screamed in pleasure as the coil inside you broke, you reached your peak at the same time and he buried himself deep inside you, spilling every drop that he had deep in your womb.

“Bet that British asshole doesn’t even make you cum, huh? And I know you always fake it to get him off you.” He sneered as he detached himself from you and got off the bed to clean himself off to the bathroom.

You laid there in the same position, feeling voidness creeping up your heart like you once were; unwanted and alone. Steve had stripped you of your pride, dignity and honour once and even after you managed to climb out of that pit, he found a way to drag you back down once more and locked you under.

And there was nothing else that you could do except accepting your fate as his perpetual prisoner, living under the corruption and unforgiving authority of Steve Rogers. You could only hope that once Nathan is grown enough, you could somehow sneak him out of this confinement to live a much better life and eschew himself from turning into the monster that his father is.

[skullrock]

the party - Steve x Reader

pairing: Steve x Reader

prompt: “For your song prompts can you do one based on Sister and Tear You Apart by She Wants Revenge and whoever you think those songs would work best with”

word count: 3.3k

warnings: swearing, dancing, cute and cocky and sweet Steve, smut, fluff 

a/n: this fic is rly long but it is wholesome and I hope you enjoy!

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The party was in full swing.

Parties weren’t really your thing, but your best friend, Anna, had insisted that you come to Lisa Hopkins’ on Friday night. You’d been to a few parties before, but tended to skip them, enjoying a quiet weekend alone. But the promise of drinking and dancing and kissing after midterms was a little too tempting.

It was fall now, the weather just beginning to cool. You decided to wear one of those velvet bodycon dresses, as uncomfortable as it was. You were excited at the prospect of meeting someone, despite the fact it would mainly be classmates.

You’re drinking from a plastic cup, some concoction of soda and juice and alcohol. It tastes like shit, but it gets the job done. You dance lazily in the corner, talking to some friends. You mainly just survey the room. Your eyes land on a tall, toned boy with long brown hair and dark irises.

Steve Harrington.

He had been checking you out for a while, both at school and this party. He knew you were quiet and shy, not talking to too many people outside of your group. He was a bit surprised to see you out, but even more surprised to see you in that tight dress. His jaw clenches as he watches you sway. He crosses his arms and leans back, eyes narrowing on you. When you look up at him, he smiles, and you blush and look away. He’s crushing, and hard, blushing along with you.

“What was that?” Anna asks beside you, nudging your side with her elbow.

“Nothing,” you laugh, consciously avoiding his gaze. “I mean - I don’t know.”

“Dude,” she says, grabbing your arm. “He’s blushing. You got the King to blush.”

“Ugh, please don’t call him that,” you beg. “It’s weird.”

Steve pushes off the wall and goes into another room to get another drink. If he’s ever going to get the courage to talk to you, he has to drink a good bit. As a new friend approaches your corner, Anna slips away, following him to the kitchen.

“Hi,” she says to him, reaching around him to grab a beer. He turns and looks at her.

“Hi?” he says.

“I’ll cut to the chase,” Anna says, leaning against the counter. “I saw you looking at Y/N. What’s the deal?”

He freezes, cheeks flaming red again, but he tries to seem non-chalant. “Well, you know. She’s pretty cute.”

“Yeah,” Anna replies bluntly. “So, either you go tell her what you think, or I will.”

He turns to look at her, glaring, and she smiles at him innocently. He should have shut up. Anna shrugs and walks away, back to the corner where you are. You furrow your brows at her as she walks up. Your eyes flicker behind her, where Steve is coming from the same direction, looking bothered. Your mouth drops and you whack her arm.

“You did not just talk to him,” you hiss, and she only smiles in response.

The staring game lasts a while longer, getting the both of you more and more excited. You watch as Steve talks to his friends, running his hand through his hair, watching his lips turn up into a grin as someone makes a joke. He’s watching you from the corner of his eyes, keeping tabs on where you are and where you go. Suddenly, a boy approaches you, asking you to dance. You figure why not? and make your way to where everyone else is dancing. Steve watches with a clenched jaw as your skin presses against the boy’s, how you throw your head back when you laugh, how you start to grind on the boy, a flushed look on your face. As you dance up on the stranger, you make intense eye contact with Steve. His hand clenches around his drink and his face flushes, watching your hips work. It feels downright sinful, and you suddenly realize how fucking hot it is in there.

“I’m going to get some air,” you tell the boy, and head off for the back porch. You secretly hope Steve follows you.

Sure enough, a few moments after you go outside, Steve follows. You hear the door creak open and turn quickly to look, feeling your stomach flip as your eyes meet his. You quickly look away.

“Hey,” he says, coming to stand beside you as you lean against the railing.

“Hi,” you whisper meekly, and he laughs lightly.

You both stay quiet for a while. Your heart is in your throat, hammering away, and you’re hot even out here in the cold.

Finally, he speaks.

“It’s funny,” he starts, laughing a bit. “I, um… I never would have guessed you could dance like that.”

You laugh in response, breaking some of the tension, but you can’t bring yourself to look over at him. “I guess I can be surprising.”

“Yeah,” he responds. “I always knew you as the quiet girl. I never woulda guessed you could dance like that… or wear something like that.”

You blush deeply and mentally kick yourself. “There’s a lot to me you don’t know, Steve Harrington,” you say lowly.

“And there’s a lot you don’t know about me,” he says casually.

“Like?”

He is quiet for a few moments, gathering his thoughts. “Like how for the past few weeks, you’re the only girl I can think about.”

You laugh loudly, head thrown back, and he looks at you in surprise.

“Do you tell that to every girl?” you ask, finally looking over at him, but you’re met with a grave seriousness that you weren’t expecting.

“Well… yeah, I guess I do. But I do mean it,” he quips, a small smile forming. “I think I’ve… uh….” He runs a hand through his hair, then tilts his head and gives you a signature lopsided grin. “Got a bit of a crush.”

You feel like you can’t breathe. “Are you joking?”

“No.”

You bite your lip and look away. You stay quiet for a while more as you mull over your thoughts. You did want a break from all the bullshit of the past few weeks, and maybe that break could be Steve. Would a single night of fun really hurt? Maybe. It would cause a reputation, sleeping with Steve, but it would also cause him a reputation, sleeping with the quiet girl. His bets are on you, it seems, however. But it’s probably purely carnal. But is that a bad thing?

All Steve knows is that he wants that dress off of you as soon as possible. It’s all his boy brain can muster right now, watching you stare out into the backyard, taking in your curves.

You swallow hard and decide fuck it.

You reach your hand out and brush it beside his, making his breath hitch. You both finally make eye contact, and it’s enough to take you out and make your knees weak.

“I think I’ve got a crush too,” you whisper, inches from his face, and then you both finally connect.

It’s an awkward kiss at first, feeling each other out. But you both quickly get handsy, running your hands over each other, your fingers going for the buttons on his shirt. He laughs and pulls your hands away, but they come back up, and who is he to say no to that? Steve snakes an arm around your waist and pulls you closer. As you grip his shirt and ghost your tongue over his bottom lip, something snaps in him. He brings a hand up to grip your hair and moves his lips down your jaw and onto your neck, making you sigh heavily.

“God,” he breathes. His lips come up and rest on your ear. “I want to tear you apart.”

Your brows furrow comically fast, and you still for a moment, a bit taken aback. But then you realize that’s exactly what you want. You want that rough type of sex, the kind you’d never had before, and the kind that you figure only Steve can give you.

You pull away and take a deep breath. “Take me home?”

He nods and digs through his pockets for his keys. You reach out and grab his arm. “Are you good to drive?”

“Yeah,” he says, looking at you with knitted brows. “Do you live close?”

“Like two streets over,” you say, licking your lips, looking at the chest exposed from the buttons you’d loosened.

“Oh. Well yeah, yeah, I can drive there.” He smiles at you, cockily, making you equally hate him and love him. “Look at you, caring about me.”

“Shut up,” you mumble, and he reaches around to pinch your ass before sweeping you away towards his car.

Anna watches you with wide eyes and a large smile, mocking a dramatic clap, and you roll your eyes and wave to her.

As you climb into Steve’s car, the apprehension comes back, biting both of you. Steve’s worried he’s moving too fast for you, or being too forward, and you’re worried about the same. You weren’t a virgin, but you didn’t do casual hookups. You worried you were in over your head. You check the clock on his dashboard – it’s already 2 am. Maybe you should just go to bed and sleep the tipsiness off.

You quietly give him directions, and he follows them hesitantly. As you pull into your driveway, he sits, unsure. You look over at him, and he looks back. Looking at him, his kind eyes, his boyish and pretty features, you are reminded of why you wanted him to take you home in the first place. You lean forward and catch his lips in yours again, relaxing him, and he cups your jaw in his hand.

You grab his hand and lead it down to your breasts, slowly, and he sighs in response, cupping one and massaging it.

“Such a bad girl,” he breathes, and the butterflies go from your stomach to in between your thighs. It’s a bit funny, hearing him say that about you, but you can’t find the time to care.

“No, I’m not,” you respond quietly. You smile. “I just wanted you to come tuck me in.”

He rolls his eyes and smiles back, catching your lips again, hands wandering. You start to giggle after a few seconds of this, asking, “Are you going to tuck me in or not?”

Steve gets out of the car in lightning speed, running over to open your door. You shake your head – why is he being a gentleman right now? – but take the hand he offers as you climb out. You stumble slightly and he catches you, kissing you again. You have to practically pull him towards your front door.

“You have to be quiet,” you say as you go to unlock it. “My parents are home.”

“A shame,” he whispers, pressing into your back. You can feel his erection against your ass and you sigh, pressing into it. “I wanted to hear you scream tonight.”

“While you tuck me in?”

You can’t see it, but he rolls his eyes.

After successfully sneaking your way into your room, you decide to give him a bit of a show while you were feeling confident. You push him away slightly and start to pull your sleeves down, and he watches with an open mouth. You shimmy out slowly, left in panties and your heels – no bra, as it wouldn’t look good under the dress. A wave of desire runs through Steve as he looks at you; he had never been with a girl that didn’t wear a bra. It would not have been a big deal to anyone except him.

You take your shoes off successfully and stand up straight, looking at him expectantly. He breathes out and whispers, “You are so beautiful.”

You notice your anxiety making you shake a bit and try to just focus on his smooth face and pink lips. “Tuck me in?”

He walks you backwards until you’re at your bed. He pulls the covers back and you lay down, goosebumps covering your skin. As he leans down (with a smile) to tuck the sheets around you, you pull him towards you, lips colliding, and he climbs on top of you breathlessly.

Your hands fly everywhere again. Your fingers run through his hair, gaining a moan from him, and you tug it lightly, making his hips buck. You smile at your discovery but continue your hands down. You tug his shirt and he parts briefly to take it off and chuck it. Your hands run down his toned chest, across his biceps, down to his jeans, and he bucks his hips again. He parts from your lips and kisses down your neck, sucking bruises into the skin, and you moan lightly.

“Are you sure?” he asks, coming up to meet your gaze. His hand cups your cheek and you see a tenderness in his brown eyes, one that you hadn’t seen with other partners. You trust him.

“I’m positive,” you pant. Your eyes glisten as they take in every feature. “Do whatever you’d like.”

He stills. “Are you sure? I mean – I don’t – I don’t want to hurt you, or anything –“

“Steve,” you whisper, cupping his cheek. “Shut up and tear me apart.”

He needs to further convincing. He is soon as naked as you, left only in his boxers, and he kisses down your chest and to your stomach. Your eyes flutter closed and you grip his hand, lacing your fingers through his. It’s a simple gesture, but one he had never experienced in bed before. He squeezes back and uses his free hand to rub your clit. You let out a strangled moan, careful to be quiet, and he dips into your folds to pump a finger in and out. After a few moments, he adds a second finger. His movements are gentle, and while you appreciate his tenderness, you want more. You whine and he seems to get the hint, picking up his pace, making your hips thrust and a hand flies up to your mouth. He reaches his thumb up to brush against your clit, and even though its awkward as his hand pumps in and out of you, you relish in the feeling.

You reach down and try to take his boxers off, but Steve pins your free hand to the bed. He unlaces his fingers from yours and reaches down, ridding them himself, and you can’t believe how good he looks. Well, you canbelieve it, as its all his exes would talk about, but you weren’t really expecting them to be truthful. You wrap a hand around his dick and pump as he moans sinfully, hands going back to work at your cunt, mouth wrapping around a nipple and biting and sucking harshly.

You press your mouth into his hair, moaning out his name, and he smiles around your breast, releasing it and going to the other one. The hand not pumping him runs through his hair and you tug, releasing another loud moan from him. He pulls away from you and you stare as his eyes squeeze shut, mouth open in an “o”. You continue to jerk him off and tug on his hair, and he swears he died and went to heaven, thrusting his hips into your hand and groaning, trying not to make too much noise. Eventually he pulls your hand away from his cock and he pulls you down to him.

“Condoms?” he asks. “I have one in my –“

You beat him to the punch, pointing at your nightstand, and he quickly gets one out and puts it on. He laces his hands in yours, pinned up by your head, and lines up with you. You feel like you can’t breathe, or maybe you literally can’t, and you pant up at him. His face his framed beautifully by his hair, and he looks like an angel.

“Are you sure?” he asks again.

“Positive,” you repeat, and he fills you in one thrust.

Steve starts slow but quickly picks up, eventually slamming into you so hard that your headboard slams against the wall. You wish you had the power to tell him to slow down, but you don’t. It feels way too good, to the point that you don’t give a damn if your parents question you in the morning. The feeling of him pulling completely out before plunging back in, his lips on your neck, pinning your hands down: it was all too much to handle. You bury your head in his hair again and he lifts his head to kiss you, drowning both of your moans out. You free a hand and pull on his hair and he whines sinfully, fucking into you even harder, spurred on by your touch.

His hands run down your body and he grips your thighs harshly, steadying himself. He makes a conscious effort to not cum too quickly at the feeling of you, the sounds you’re making, how slick and hot you are, the sheen of sweat and your hair fanned out around you making you look like someone out of his Playboy magazines. Steve finally reaches down and rubs your clit, and your vision goes black, head thrown back, and his lips clash against yours just in time to silence a loud moan.

“I’m going to cum,” you say against his lips, and he grins.

“Cum for me, Y/N,” he pants, fucking you quicker and harder than before, making you wander fleetingly how it’s even possible. “Cum all over my cock, sweetheart. You can do it, come on, let go.”

You cry out and his face buries itself into your neck, biting down as he has his release at the same time you do. You see stars, eyes clenched shut tightly, legs wrapping around his hips. His pace stammers for a moment before slowing down and stopping, panting into you. He rests on your chest and you play lazily with his hair, trying to catch your breath. He’s sticky and wet, but you can’t care, just enjoying how your hearts beat together, coming down from their highs.

Eventually Steve pulls out and disposes the condom in your bedside trashcan, laying down beside you after. His hand reaches for yours and your fingers interlace again – a silent gesture of trust.

“Are you okay?” he asks quietly, and you nod.

“My legs can’t stop shaking, but I’m great,” you say. “Are you?”

“I’m amazing,” he says, squeezing your hand, and you laugh.

You roll over to face him. “Do you still have a crush on me?”

He rolls over and faces you, too, eyes serious. “I do. And I can’t wait to see you on Monday.”

You bring his hand up to your chest, resting it above your heart. “I can’t wait, either.”

Steve pulls you back in and kisses you, gingerly this time, soft and slow and sweetly. His gentleness is dizzying.

After laying in silence for a few minutes, just staring at each other, you start to nod off, and Steve decides it’s time to go. He quietly gets up, pressing a kiss to your forehead. He dresses himself again and your eyes flicker open just as he is about to go.

“Steve,” you whisper, reaching your hand out. He comes and takes it, smiling down at you.

“I wish you could stay,” you mumble.

He nods, his content smile turning sad as his eyes turn downward. “I wish so too.”

“My parents –‘

“I know,” he responds. He gives your hand a kiss and releases it. “I’ll see you Monday.”

You smile dreamily. He walks towards the door again, wishing he didn’t have to go, leaving you in all your beaming glory behind. He shakes himself out of it and exits, quietly shutting the door on his way out.

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tags (message if you want to join <3): @harrington-ofhawkins​ @wolfish-willow​ @gothackedalready​

[taliaquinn]

Why Me!? Chapter 20

Authors Note:                                                                                                So hey guys!! A lot of you figured out my mini-Easter egg when I mentioned New York City. Kudos to you smarties. Let me tell you my tag list is open, because I adore you guys a lot.

“So where's Dick and Cass?” Marinette asked wondering where Dick disappeared off to. He was SUPPOSED to be there on the plane with them. However, once they arrived at the airfield Dick was nowhere to be found. 

Flinching Tim looked up from the business files in his hands. 

Hey while he was gonna be in New York City he may as well look into future business partners and get some more jobs in Gotham. 

“Well uh, Dick he uh decided to stay..home because….” side-eyeing Jason he quickly elbowed him.

Startled while reading his book he took a quick second to decide on a good cover story “because…his ribs still hurt and you know what Bruce is like all overprotective and stuff…so shes babysitting him....” Ugh Tim and Him were going to have to practice on coming up with good cover stories. The whole Keeping the family secret from the family was getting really annoying.

“That sucks, this is my first trip to New York City,” Oblivious to the awful cover stories Marinette continued sketching. She did plan for her class to have a field trip to New York City to tour around. But all those plans went down the drain once she left. Oh well, there loss.  “I'm even going to meet up with my friend Chloe at the hotel!!!” Marinette said excitedly. Chloe sent her an email a day ago about her vacation plans, (her revenge plans too). Marinette was over the moon when she found out that she was going to be there for the Stark Gala too!!!!

Mr.Wayne, her dad, even extended the trip a few days and got her a room, aka suite so Chloe could stay with Marinette more. 

Chloe of course was curious as to who exactly these relatives were. I mean come on they booked a suite at a five-star hotel, in New York City, for Marinette and a Friend.

 Marinette promised to explain everything to her when they were together. 

“She's….the Mayor's daughter right???” Jason asked, trying to change the topic.

Unbeknownst to Marinette, Jason and Dick, before Bruce and Dick fought anyways, convinced Bruce to get Marinette her own suite, so she could do the babysitting job without distractions. It was pretty easy to guilt-trip Bruce once they pulled the “Daughter who you never knew about” card. Guilt-tripping works.

At Marinette's excited nod he added “She’s frikin loaded right?”

“Jason, you realize we’re on a private jet, on our way to New York City, to stay in a five star hotel, to attend the Stark Gala?” Tim teased, flipping through business papers. Bleugh Lex Corp that's a definite pass on that business offer.

“ Yeah right, you guys are attending the Gala” Jason rebutted “I have my own stuff to do Timmers”.  

“Stuff” meaning a top-secret joint mission with Captain Rogers and Black Widow. Working together to take down a drug trafficking ring located in the heart of the city. Working with the Avengers every now and then exhilarating for Jason. Sure the Avengers worked more closely with the Government but they didn't have a universal; “No-Kill” rule.

Which was why Bruce hated joint-missions with the Avengers.

Extra icing on the cake for Jason.

“Excuses” Tim mumbled, upset that Bruce was forcing him to sit the mission out. Something about him being “overworked” pfft. He wasn't drinking coffee that much.

“Speaking of the gala, Marinette you have your dress ready?” He asked. Knowing that Marinette decided to make her own dress for the gala. 

“Yep finished the detailing last night, and have my jewelry and shoes ready,'' Marinette said, patting her suitcase. Mr.Wayne was nice enough to buy her a bunch of fabric and also gifted her a necklace and bracelet to match. He also gave her earrings but she opted out of them since she learned her lesson about taking off her Miraculous. Thank you very much.

“What's with the armbands?” Jason asked, seeing Marinette pack them earlier. He assumed they had something to do with her “babysitting” job. 

“Oh they were Alexei’s, they match with that I'm wearing”

“Your biological mom?”

“Yep, gotta ask Mr. Wayne more about her, I was only barely able to pry so much from my mom” Her mom would get too emotional sometimes when Marinette asked too many questions.  Eventually, she just gave up asking.

“Ha Mr. Wayne, you do know that annoys Bruce to no end right?” Tim joked, seeing Bruce's face of frustration every time Marinette refers to him as Mr. Wayne.

“I do, it's just…” she was still struggling with her Biological parents and having a bunch of siblings suddenly “Too awkward for me to call him anything else”

“Jesus you sound like Peter” he scoffed. 

“Who's Peter?” She asked with a slight scrunch of her eyes. That oddly reminded both Tim and Jason about Bruce. Bruce would scrunch his eyes whenever asking a question sometimes.

“Oh trust me you'll meet him soon” Jason answered going back to his book.

Dick was right the whole Wayne vs. Stark rivalry would be a perfect distraction. Oh if only Tim had his Camera.

......……

They finally landed, and soon Bruce was helping everyone off and into a car and heading towards their hotel. Once at their hotel, Bruce checked their bags in. Jason stayed behind to “rest” while everyone went to Stark Tower.

“Wait so Tony Stark is the one who is Throwing the Gala?” Marinette asked curiously inside the car.

 “Yep he’s throwing the gala to raise funds for hospitals and clinics all located around the world” Rolling his eyes Tim continued “Well that's the official reason anyway, right now he wants to out-do Bruce's Charity Gala from a few months ago” 

“As if that will ever happen” Bruce added. Ha, Stark wished he could outmatch his Galas.

“Talk about rich people's problems” she sighed.

“You're not wrong, One more thing, watch out Tony might try to take you as his own”

“What!?” Marinette squeaked out

Soon they arrived and made their way towards the suites. The elevators swished open to a smiling Pepper Potts and pouting Tony Stark.

“Pep, you see this? Bruce managed to get another one, you know what's the score now? 7-4” Tony complained once he saw Marinette. Bruce only glared back.

Ignoring them Tim stepped off and made a beeline towards Pepper and hugged her careful to squeeze her too tight

“Congratulations Pepper,” Tim said.

“Oh Thank you, Tim. It's great to see you after so long” Pepper said, hugging him back. She glanced around and noticed that a certain Red Hood was missing

“Where's Jason?” she asked frowning

“Unfortunately he stayed behind at the hotel to rest” he answered rolling his eyes. “But I brought someone better,” he said, reaching and pulling a startled Marinette forward.

“Meet Marinette Dupain Cheng,”

“Eeeep, uh Hi, I'm uh Mari-Marinette, but youalreadyknewthat, uh Hi” Marinette stuttered out. 

Completely starstruck at meeting The Pepper Potts. CEO of Stark Industries and Style Icon. Oh god, she wished she brought her sketchbook. Maybe she can do a quick sketch on a napkin

Pepper couldn’t help but smile at the sight of the Stuttering French girl, reminded of another awkward teenager. Hopefully, Tony doesn't try and claim this one. She was pretty sure that Bruce wouldn’t appreciate that at all, judging by the way Bruce was eyeing Tony.

“Brucie dear you adopted another one!?’ Tony teased Bruce swinging his arm around his shoulder

“She's my daughter Stark,” Bruce responded, glaring at Stark  “also what are you pouting about?  I hear you're going to have a baby soon congratulations Pepper by the way”.

“Brucie, you have your gaggle of children. I deserve one too!!” Tony complained, wrapping his arm around his Pregnant Wife's shoulder. Trying, yet failing, to conceal his excitement at getting another kid.

He turned to greet Marinette when suddenly his eyes went wide. Marinette only stared back.  A sudden staring match between her and Mr.Stark was happening apparently. What was Marinette's life? She remembered once being a normal girl. Maybe she should just blink.

“Wait HOLD UP!!!” Tony exclaimed suddenly ending the staring match, looking back and forth between Bruce and Marinette squinting.  “Are you sure this adorable child is your child?” 

“Oh for the love of go- yes I’m sure Stark” Bruce sighed exasperatedly. “Why does everyone ask me that”

“Cause she's adorable, sweet, and all Sunshiney, and well you’re….you” Tim answered. 

“Bingo, Don't worry Bruce I got a Sunshiney child too, matter of fact here he comes now” Tony comforted.

“OhmygoshMr.StarkI’msosorry” a soot-covered Peter apologized running up to him. 

“There was a fire in the lab,dummytriedtoextinguishitbutthemhesprayedhimself,

“Kid, Bruce Wayne is he-” Tony tried to cut in

“soIhadtoputoutthefireandcleanDummyUp”

Rolling his eyes he grabbed Peter's shoulders and twisted him towards everyone else

“Oh...uh Hi?” Peter squeaked out looking like a deer caught in headlights at seeing the three guests

“Hiya Peter,” Tim chirped excitedly standing next to Marinette who was awkwardly waving hello.

“Hi, Tim” Peter answered relieved. Thank god Tim, fellow tech geek, was here. He doubted he could handle Bruce Wayne on his own.

‘Anyways Brucie you remember my sunshiney kid, Peter, right?” gripping Peter's shoulders from walking towards Wayne. Nu-uh he wasn't going to risk losing Peter to Wayne.

“Mr. Stark I'm not your kid, I still live with Aunt May. I'm your inte-”

“Hush kid“ Tony ordered covering Peter's Mouth.

Marinette sent a silent prayer.  Bruce now had his hands protectively on her and Tims shoulders while Mr. Stark was doing the same to Peter. She would need a miracle to be able to survive this trip.

College Francis Dupont                                                                            Paris, France                                                                                                      2 p.m

“NINO!!!”  Nino couldn’t help but flinch, he’s been trying his best to avoid Alya all day. 

Luckily the breakup happened on Friday so he had the weekend to put himself together thanks to friends and icecream, lots of ice cream.

Surprisingly Chloe was the first to approach him after the breakup. After her, Aurore and Kagami came over to comfort him. They brought him some chocolate filled pastries. After a few hours of comfort, he received a phone call from an unknown number. When he picked up it was the voice of the sweetest girl on earth that greeted him.

“Hey Nino”

“Marinette,” Nino breathed out left speechless “Why, why are you even calling me?” 

“Don't be ridiculous Nino, I still consider you my friend, and right now my friend just got out of a toxic relationship” Marinette answered, yep she was happy for Nino when she heard that he broke up with Alya. Finally. “How are you”

“Who even told you?” he asked, still trying to get over the shock.

Releasing a slight giggle she replied “Chloe”

Nino couldn’t help but laugh through slightly watering eyes “Of Course”

At the reminder of Marinette, Nino mustered up the courage necessary and turned to face his ex.

Be brave Be Brave Be Brave B-

“Nino wanna explain to me why you’ve been ignoring me and Adrien since last week!!??” Alya yelled.

Channel your inner Chloe Bourgeois, he reminded himself. “We broke up, remember? I didn't want to hear your excuses”. That was all Alya ever did, make excuses. 

“Excuses?” screeching Alya took a step forward closer to Nino, instead of staying there took a step back trying to keep his distance away from him “Yes, excuses you always try to act like you never did anything wrong, or not even bother to apologize” “No I don’t” 

“You're doing it right now, jeez why do I even bother Marinette warned me” 

“Marinette” she spat out. Of course. She’s the entire reason why she lost Nino. Well, she wasn't going to let her win. She was determined to get Nino Back.

Oblivious to her anger, Nino explained. “Marinette warned me, as your ex-best friend she became well-acquainted with your “apologies”” 

“I don’t owe you an apology, you just overreacted” Adrien called her, and told her how Nino refused to talk to him and was instead talking to the class traitors “Matter of fact I’m here to give you a second chance, we can go and be a couple again and be happy”

“Yeah, sorry no dice,” He started to walk away doing his best to block out her screams. 

“NINO, DONT DO THIS!!!” 

A purple butterfly soon emerged from nowhere. Nino watched as it made its way towards Alya. Only one thought ran through his mind as he witnessed the butterfly merge with Alyas glasses and purple bubbles engulf Alya. 

Run.

Authors Message:                                                                                        Hope you guys enjoyed this extra long chapter. I can’t wait till I post the next chapter. Also I’m gonna start writing a series that focuses on Dick Grayson soon.  

I have part two of the Hamilton AU written out I just have to do this annoying thing called editing. Keep an eye out for that soon.

As Always stay Safe and Healthy Loves.

Taglist: (Still Open)

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