#and apparently she never really felt that way and he was just straight up delusional????

[clownjacket]

So apparently this was Elias the rest of their childhood together??????

[kellyvela]

I'm unable to fathom the logic of J0nrya shippers. I recently got into a twitter altercation with a couple of accounts and oh my god, I totally forgot how terrible they are ! I have all of them blocked on here but they must be on twitter as well, I even recognised some of the users. It's just awful energy all around; all of them despise Sansa, no matter what she says and does. And they are SO weirdly possessive of Jon. They claim that WE treat Jon as some trophy husband when it is actually them who are guilty of that! They even hate it when people make simple Sansa/Ned parallels because apparently Ned belongs to A as well? Never mind that Ned is also Sansa's father...smh.

Their copium is very loud and obnoxious. I wonder how they felt when GRRM straight up debunked the ship at Balticon. Calling J/A relationship by all accounts, quite simple - that the fans have given it more thought than he has etc. I would have just packed up and left after that and accepted it wasn't going to become canon. But alas, they get even louder than how they were before. Do they understand how weird they sound. They sexualise A so much and want her to become a courtesan and get her period. It's very obvious A is not going to be the love interest because GRRM has done everything in his willpower to portray A as a prepubescent child. But he has done the opposite with Sansa; He's made her tall, full-breasted, acting as a mother to a child, basically running the household in the Eyrie etc. sometimes I forget she's meant to be 13...

We all know that when someone is on the right track, GRRM will respond cryptically and give a short, sweet answer. He rambled when it came to j0nrya, that's not a good sign for the canon basis of their ship, especially when they have the nerve to call Jonsas delusional.

The truth is, I wouldn't still be here fully believing in the inevitability of Jonsa if GRRM debunked it in the same manner he did w J/A. When that Alexandragenesis person asked him about it back in 2018 and GRRM just responded with "not going to tell anymore than I already have" I knew that we were on the right track. If GRRM flat out ignored the question or responded with a simple "not the direction I'm going in" since he had no issue debunking another theory on that same chat...if I remember correctly, well I'd have left and accepted I just misinterpreted the text and saw romance where it wasn't meant to be. I'd still read fanfic about them and enjoy them in a fanon way, and I still believe all the brilliant metas hold merit, no matter if they're meant to be interpreted as romantic by the author.

But j0nrya's didn't let go of their stance and just cracked down harder on jonsas. I'm embarrassed for them. I don't care if they ship it in fanon, if they just enjoy it as a pairing and have accepted it won't become canon based on the author's blatant dismissal of any romance between them - but the way they have behaved in this fandom is really really childish and frankly, irritating. They actually dominate reddit as well, surprisingly. There's quite a few popular Redditors on there who get lots of upvotes and who are also big A/J0nrya bloggers on here. And sometimes there are posts about Queen A/J0nrya which is met with 0 criticism by the community. There's healthy discussions which receives heaps of upvotes and everything. But it's the opposite situation with queen sansa and Jonsa. Little to no upvotes and harsh criticism.

Are these people selectively blind? Is this fandom completely unable to understand subtext and implicit clues/foreshadowing? Do they get how fiction works? Do they get the different literary influences that inspired GRRM to write ASOIAF? His past works? His favourite authors? The themes of his series? The importance of omission? Unreliable narrators? Dramatic irony? Have these people never studied a text before and been made to pick apart imagery, sentences, parallels etc?

I'm just baffled by this fandom having such a surface level reading of the text. "BUT JONSA COULDN'T HAPPEN BECAUSE THEY RARELY THINK OF EACH OTHER!!" If they took the time to read our metas they'd actually realise... that works in our favour...the distance supports our theories...that's exactly what we are pointing out lmao. I'm utterly convinced that if Jon was mussing Sansa's hair and thinking of her as his little sister constantly that Jonsa would hold a lot more merit.

I mean, even just the implication that GRRM's response to Jonsa was clearly 'fan service catering' is so fucking disingenuous I have to laugh. Why would GRRM feel the need to appeal to such an incredibly niche fanbase and tell them what they want to hear when majority of the fandom wants Jon and D*ny to have sex and save the world together. And when you compare how GRRM responded to Jonsa vs how he has responded to R + L = J, it's so obvious that Jonsas are actually the ones who are making sound predictions. There's a reason a lot of us correctly predicted major beats in the show while the rest of the fandom were foaming at the mouth over Sansa being killed by one of her family members, queen d*ny, and the curtain of light theory ....

My Twitter account is locked for a reason. Somehow they always find you only to attack you.

Anyway, fave sister stans and fave sister/jon shippers are a funny bunch lmao I mean only them can write metas about fave sister being Lady of Winterfell *by proxy*, or that "official" Asoiaf fanart *confirms* that fave sister is the most beautiful human being on earth, or that fave sister and aunty wearing baby pearls means that they are the epitome of fertility and motherhood, despite them both hating those attires and quickly changing on masculine clothes 🤪 And I won't mention the training with a courtesan because that's sick 💀

I won't fight them on fave sister being jon's fave sister, that relationship can stay like that lol

I won't fight them on fave sister being Ned's fave daughter, that we can't change and there's reasons that vastly explain that.

They simply decided to ignore BALTICON, and they also do the same that cujo shippers do, they made up a narrative where GRRM knowing that they "rightly discovered" that their fave romance is *canon*, tried to mislead the readers to keep the susrprise factor when their ships happen . . . . ahxvasdhbshfbdfjsbdmjwd.alsdshadb

Did youk know that the Alexandragenesis was probably a hater from reddit trying to get GRRM debunking Jon/Sansa? Alexandragenesis is some fake disorder that gives you violet eyes born in the internet, so that name was targ coded. Also, after GRRM didn't give them the answer they were seeking they started to attack fave sister in favor of Sansa, so that person was definitely a Sansa hater/targie/fave sister stan failing as always lol

I think they read our metas and feel really dumb after that but they will never admit it, at least not in public, which reminds me of these two anon messages I got from them once:

. . . 🙈

They really said the GRRM answer to the jonsa question was fan service??? 🤡

I'm telling you, they are a funny bunch 😂

Anyway, I can't believe the curtain of light is a thing . . . . 🙃

Thanks for your message anon 💋

[a-crimson-dawn]

Kiss the Girl - Multi-Ship One-shot

Content Warning: Contains kissing, romance and cringe.

Genres: Romance, Comedy (?)

Pairings: Nozel x Dorothy, Yami x Charlotte, William x Mereoleona

Other characters: Nacht, Langris

Well, this was… awkward. 

Rather unexpectedly, they had found themselves in the middle of a lake, on a boat - that part, he could explain, actually, by the nature of their mission, the baffling part comes later - surrounded by singing birds. That too, would not have been out of ordinary, had they not been singing a rather dubious ditty, something along the lines of: 

There you see her

Sitting there across the way

She don't got a lot to say

But there's something about her

And you don't know why

But you're dying to try

You wanna kiss the girl

It did not help, that he couldn’t help but catch himself staring at her from time to time, unable to pull his gaze away from the red haired beauty before him for too long a period of time. There was just something about her, and about this location, and about, well… all sorts of things really, that drew his eyes towards her. And he’d been sure she would have noticed, as observant and sharp as she could be, trained to respond fast, quite possibly by all those years of survival in the wilderness. 

And as the birds sang, the fish leapt out of the water, the insects carelessly fluttered around in the air, and overhanging branches dipped into the water, enclosing them into something of a wooden cocoon, wherever the water was shallow enough, or wherever there were small islands of land, it felt as if this strange, twitterpating atmosphere was difficult to escape. He was also certain that he was very much doomed. That those piercing turquoise eyes of hers saw right through him into his soul and his flustered heart, as it beat nervously out of rhythm in anticipation of her rejection. His stomach performing all kinds of acrobatics in that moment did not help the matter. 

“Vangeace… do you know why those birds are serenading us right now?” He’d never known Mereoleona to be… awkward, and yet, here her voice sounded stilted and uncertain. And, perhaps it was the lighting, or perhaps his own wishful fantasies filling in the blanks in his vision, but he could have sworn he’d seen a faint blush appear on her face. 

No, he was definitely delusional. Mereoleona Vermillion did not blush. Surely. 

Yes, you want her

That didn’t mean the idea of her blushing didn’t have its… merits. Actually he found it rather cute - 

‘Focus, you idiot, you’re on a mission.’ 

Look at her, you know you do

At the back of his mind, a small voice chipped in: ‘since when do birds singing in the human tongue like so? Parrots perhaps, but these are definitely passerine birds.’ 

Another, louder voice, was far too busy swooning over the lady, completely ignoring her confused looks. He could feel his cheeks heat up; he did want her, and had for a long time, and perhaps had he not been such a coward- 

Possible she wants you too

“Any particular reason why you’re staring at me, Vangeance?” That almost sounded more as a tease than a question. 

“N-no - I am not- I-” 

‘Why can’t words form properly?’ His mind in chaos, at his head feeling rather warm and confused with all the conflicting and intense emotions, he could hardly think straight, let alone talk. 

There is one way to ask her

It don't take a word

Not a single word

Her eyes seemed to light up then, and briefly, she looked away to coast, only refocus on him a few seconds later. Really, the side view was just as nice as - 

‘Focus!’ But that cautious voice was already losing its strength. 

Go on and kiss the girl

Faster than he could think, with his clearest thought being that one last line, guiding him through something he would have ordinarily done, he leaned in

and kissed Mereoleona Vermillion. 

And so William Vangeance became past tense.

Except… 

he lived, apparently. 

Against all possible logic, against every rational thought in his mind, he kissed a woman who would surely loathe such an advance from him. 

And she kissed him back.

---

It was only natural that his colleagues would not believe him. 

Yami Sukehiro calling his retelling bullshit did not surprise him in the least. “Okay, first of all, Vengeance, how the fuck are you not dead? Second of all, why her? Third of all, you need to see a shrink, because there is no fucking way birds sing like that.”

Nevertheless, William still found himself embarrassed by the very idea. Granted, he’d made a lot of bad decisions, but they lived in a world of magic; he wasn’t sure why he would need therapy over something like this, as strange as it had been. “I think you may have a poor opinion of Lady Mereoleona, Yami… she’s no murderer…” At least, not when it wasn’t strictly necessary. Then again, he too had assumed he’d be dead by now… so it was rather hypocritical of him to judge. “Besides, I am sure you would have kissed Lady Charlotte two if you had gone there yourselves…”

“As, if,” Yami scoffed, glancing for a moment in the direction of the Blue Rose Knights captain. “Besides, Prickly and Sisgoleon aren’t even the same species. You weren’t kissing a lady back there, but a she-beast in human clothing. That was basically beastiality you committed, I hope you know that, Vengeance!”

“...” He raised a brow. 

“...” Yami shot him an intent look. Did he really commit such a terrible faux pas in his eyes? Was he jealous perhaps? 

“... That still wouldn’t be the most morally reprehensible thing I’ve ever committed,” William shrugged it off eventually. “Besides, Lady Mereoleona is clearly a woman… a human woman. A very human woman.” 

Yami choked on the bottle of sake in his hand, then shuddered. “There’s something disturbing about the idea of you screwing her -”

“We didn’t-!” 

“Something in the matter here?” a familiar voice boomed across the room even as a certain woman appeared beside them. 

“Whatever you say, you kinky, delusional, masked bastard. I’m gonna prove you wrong on those words, and when I do, you’ll have to fess up to your weird fetishes in the next meeting, Goldie Guts,” the dark haired captain turned away to take his leave. No doubt he would enjoy every moment of William embarrassing himself, and honestly, he had far too little time to think to respond to that proclamation. Then again… it wasn’t like had much to worry about. 

Even if he was suffering from auditory hallucinations, it wasn’t like he had much to “confess” about… 

Right? 

“So, about yesterday, Vengeance…” 

---

Dammit, why did Vangeance even go to such a suss looking lake. Everything about it just felt off. Even so, he tried to remain his ever-so charming and calm self in front of Charlotte. 

“So-er… Prickly… you… wanna get in the boat, or what?” 

He had to admit, he found it somewhat endearing to see the thorny captain so out of her element. Clearly, she much rather preferred standing on dry land, as she looked at the small rowing boat with hesitation and reluctance. Or… maybe she just hated the idea of sharing a boat with him. That didn’t really explain the faint red tint about her cheeks. 

“Are all men so impatient, or is it just you?” came an irritable retort. Well, that had taken her a surprisingly long time. 

Still, he brushed off the comment, and grinned back at her. Even if they couldn’t get along as well as he’d hoped, winding her up and getting her nerves could also be entertaining. ‘A life with her would never get boring…’ He’d give her that much. 

Finally she took a step into the boat, only to wobble - 

and send them both toppling into the boat when Yami lost his balance trying to right her. 

Smooth. 

Although, the view from down there wasn’t too bad-

Now's your moment (ya, ya, ya)

Wait, where did that come from? And what was up with all those damned birds surrounding them? Animals - except for his beasts - had never been particularly fond of Yami. 

He would have gotten up to check, but Prickly was still very much on top of him, looking flustered, confused, fumbling about, trying to figure out what to do, as if her brain had just short-circuited and somehow she didn’t know how to get back up again. 

Didn’t help that she had managed to push the boat off the bank and it was now slowly headed in the middle of the lake. 

Floating in a blue lagoon (ya, ya, ya)

Sure, there was nothing to fear for him - the lake was calm compared to the seas he was used to, and even if it were rough, he had now magic which he could use to protect them both, even if the boat toppled over - but it was more the isolation and… Charlotte’s… unhelpful panicking. 

“Cool it, prickly, we’re not going to end up sleeping with the fishes, anytime soon,” Yami found himself reassuring her. This of course, only made her blush more, before glaring at him. “Besides, that’s more Vangeance’s thing, apparently, than mine.” 

“I-I am not panicking. A good captain should always keep a cool head,” she insisted, in her haughtiest voice, pushing up against his chest as she sat up. Or maybe she had intended to hit him and then thought better of it. Who knew with women? “Don’t presume you know my emotional state,” she huffed, crossing her arms. 

He was sure it was supposed to look intimidating. 

Scolding and disapproving even. 

It probably wasn’t supposed to look hot. 

But he found that Charlotte’s alluring, fae like looks didn’t exactly lend themselves to “intimidating”. 

And so he barked out a laugh, much to the woman’s chagrin. “Sure. Cool headed. Whatever your say, Briars.” 

Boy, you better do it soon

No time will be better (ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya)

What was up with those damn feathered pests? 

He hated the idea of having to concede to Vangeance. Especially since he wasn’t quite done holding a grudge against him over that elf fuck up. 

Charlotte didn’t seem particularly fazed by the song though, and seemed to be looking at him more than at the birds, almost expectantly. Still, maybe it was because being so close to a guy was new to her? 

“Enjoying the view,” he teased. 

Turning a deeper red, she immediately looked away and would have probably stood up, if he didn’t capture her hand in his, holding her down. It was weird that she was looking at him with such a… lack of contempt, for one. She didn’t even respond with an insult that time. 

She don't say a word

And she won't say a word

Perhaps it was the song, weaving ideas into his head, but, with standard Black Bull impulsiveness he thought, maybe he could figure her out and end this awkwardness with a single move. ‘Until you kiss the girl.’ Though by the time his lips were pressed against hers, he was starting to wonder if listening to the birds had been a good idea. 

It wasn’t that her lips weren’t soft. 

Or that she’d stiffened against him, or in some other way showed a dislike towards the gesture. No, she seemed to relax actually, even parted his lips in invitation. He was sure she’d even temporarily embraced him, right until the kiss had ended and those arms pulled away.

It was just that at that point his mind was starting to clear up. And he was starting to remember Charlotte’s vicious streak. 

The sound of her hand connecting with his face in SMACK! as he pulled away made him blink. 

“Huh?” 

“That was for Spade kingdom,” she breathed out, glaring at him. In a whisper she added, “you reckless idiot.” 

Wait, what happened in Spade? 

“And this,” she then added, leaning in, and cutting off his confused response with a kiss. As she pulled away, leaving him dazed, she continued, “is for everything else.”

Nevermind Vangeance’s singing birds. 

Prickly was a far greater enigma. 

“You know… I wouldn’t mind you calling me an idiot if it were followed by a kiss each time,” he found himself saying, nevertheless… probably because he was drunk on their kisses and the resulting brain chemicals, or whatever Mr Overly Serious had claimed was responsible for this love-y dove-y feeling he was experiencing right now.

---

Nozel had no idea what Sukehiro and Vangeance were talking about. 

Something about talking birds, flying fish and women acting out of character… but somehow he got dragged into the conversation anyway. 

“Hey, Lord KillJoy, wanna check out this magical lake?” Considering Sukehiro had literally dragged him into the conversation - much to the royal’s indignation - he clearly didn’t have a choice to say no. Dealing with Yami was almost as impossible as dealing with Mereoleona. 

Except, to choose his cousin over Yami was infinitely more terrifying. 

“What ridiculous notion are you choosing to bring up in front of me today, Sukehiro?” Of course, he knew what he was going to suggest - he’d overheard more or less all of their talk and wouldn’t put it past Sukehiro to make a competition about just about anything, but still… a confirmation couldn’t hurt. 

Except, it could. 

It very much could. 

Especially when it involved spending time with a certain witch in the middle of a lake on a small boat, isolated with only his own confused feelings to keep him company. Feelings that didn’t seem to understand professionalism, or their status as colleagues, or the fact that he could absolutely not just fall for anybody he wanted to. He was royalty. Ultimately, he’d probably end up with someone of his father’s choosing. 

Those infernal birds weren’t helping matters. 

‘Keep a cool head. Don’t let feelings get in the way of what is rational and necessary…’ He’d tried to remind himself. 

Dorothy, on the other hand, seemed perfectly calm; cheerful even. She had no qualms about any of this. In fact, she seemed to be enjoying herself. Dipping her hands into the water, looking up at the sky… 

“Look how pretty this place is!” she stated the obvious, but this much went amiss with Nozel, who was focusing on something else that appeared far superior to the lake in its beauty. 

‘Her eyes look beautiful when they’re open and full of wonder like this…’ an intrusive voice commented. He wished it would go away, but that same voice had much else to say about the woman he was forced to share a space with.

‘They’re just eyes,’ another voice reminded him sharply. 

The music, however, didn’t seem to agree. 

Sha-la-la-la-la-la

Don't be scared (sha-la, sha-la-la ya, ya, ya)

You got the mood prepared (woah, woah)

And as the boat slowly moved through the water, he couldn’t help but relax, as the lyrics weaved themselves into his mind, forming a warm, comforting blanket around his thoughts, allowing only some thoughts to the surface. The irrational ones. The soft ones. The scandalous and impulsive ones. 

The ones that prompted him to regard the way her mouth moved too keenly. The ones that enjoyed her voice far too much. The ones that wanted to… 

Well… he wasn’t really sure what they wanted to do, to be honest. 

He’d never exactly given much time or thought to that in the past, and whenever something did pop up, he was normally quick to banish it. 

But now he couldn’t calm his fast beating heart, or silence those thoughts, and… 

…didn’t really want to. 

Go on and kiss the girl

As she smiled at him, so sweetly, he couldn’t help but consider it. Wonder about it. How it would feel. How it would taste. 

“Nozel-kun?” he saw her frown, as if in concern? For him? “Are you alright?” 

Normally he would dismiss her worries and move onto the issue at hand, pretending as though nothing had happened. He had far too much pride to admit that currently he felt like some adolescent youth experiencing his first crush. 

Sha-la-la-la-la-la

Don't stop now (sha-la, sha-la-la ya, ya, ya)

Don't try to hide it how

But he really couldn’t deny it, he was reminded by another intrusive thought, as his cheeks heated up. Besides, it was the perfect opportunity. No one else would see this. It was… just the two of them, really. 

You want to kiss the girl

Which was how he found himself locking lips with the petite witch, closing the gap between them as he slowly gave into those impulsive thoughts. 

Now that he had kissed her once, experiencing the sweet delight of it, along with her gentle touches, he wasn’t quite sure he wanted to stop kissing her. Or let someone else kiss her, for that matter. Or for her to disappear from his life. He couldn’t just let her go now. Now that he’d given in, he couldn’t lose her. He couldn’t lose another person. 

“Hehe… you didn’t tell me you were such a good kisser, Nozel-kun…” the little witch breathed out as she pulled away from the kiss. “Nozel-kun…?” 

He couldn’t help but pull her even closer, if that was even possible. 

“Don’t leave…” he said. 

“please.”

Her gaze softened, as their eyes met. “I don’t plan on it,” she promised, grinning. “You’re stuck with me for good, whether you like it or not!” 

---

“That was quite clever of you. I’m almost impressed, Vaude,” Nacht exclaimed, once that final scene had ended with Dorothy and Nozel returning to land, and the witch taking a detour to meet up with Charlotte while the Silver Eagles captain went to report to the Wizard King as though nothing had happened.  "I wonder how you'd managed to get those magical birds..."

“I’m not at all impressed.” The two men turned around to regard Charlotte’s annoyed look. “Must there have been a boat ride in your plan?” 

Langris only offered a mock apologetic expression. “Well, I apologise, but your nobleness seems to have forgotten to point out that she was afraid of water,” he drawled out, though he looked far too smug for this to have been an accident.

She looked as though she was about to murder him. “I am not afraid of water,” she insisted. 

“Well, I thought it was a wonderful touch, boys!” another voice chirped as Dorothy popped up behind them. “I’m sure your captains would be proud of your match-making efforts.”

“Or they’d try to kill us,” Nacht said with a strained smile, rather concerned for his well-being, what with the little witch possessing a big mouth. 

“Speak for yourself. Not all captains are uncivilised apes.” 

“I still disagree with your methods, Vaude, Faust… I don’t see where precautions could have possibly been taken with this- what if things did not go as planned?” 

“And that, Captain Charlotte, is why we did a test run…” 

“Well, that certainly explains why you two fools had insisted on dragging myself and Vangeance out to the lake.” Their conversation, it seemed, had been joined by an unexpected guest. A rather severe looking one. 

Dorothy giggled. “Enjoyed yourself, Mereoleona, dear?” 

The fire Vermillion crossed her arms over her chest. “I never signed up to be a test subject,” she glowered at the two men. It seemed to finally dawn on them how potentially screwed they were. 

“Oh, but the two of you made such a cute couple!” 

“You damn voyeur,” the older woman regarded the witch in annoyance, “don’t tell me you watched all of it.” 

“Only up to the part where you kissed him back!” the younger woman exclaimed as if that was in any way comforting. “It’s really quite fortunate that they managed to pick a suitable partner for you on such short notice. It’s quite impressive too - I mean, I half expected you to eat him, to be honest.” 

The lioness gritted her teeth. “Why does everyone seem to think I eat men?” 

“I gotta ask though, Sisgoleon, do you eat your men during or after copulation?” had been Yami’s words when she’d been considering potential hookups - safe to say that she didn’t go with Sukehiro. And not just because Lady Roselei had very obvious feelings for the man - although no one knew exactly why she did, she was sure. 

“In all honesty, I have to admit, I was impressed that Sukehiro even knew the word “copulation”,” Nacht commented. “Still, I was sure then that I definitely couldn’t use Sukehiro as a test subject. Otherwise, with his people skills we could have ended months behind schedule.” 

“Well, I did tell you that my captain was the best choice,” Langris exclaimed smugly. 

Mereoleona raised a brow. “Based on what factors?” 

He looked away. “Based on me walking in on him plucking petals off of a flower debating whether you hated him or not – the most awkward thirty seconds of my life as a vice captain.” 

“And that made us compatible in your mind because…” 

“Because I was there during your game of Marry, Kiss and Kill,” Nacht supplied, “considering I was concealed, I’m not surprised none of you three women noticed me.” 

Charlotte turned-lobster red. “D-does that mean -”

Nacht nodded, wincing. “It means I heard everything said during that lunch meeting.” 

“Everything-everything?” she squeaked. 

He shot her a serious look. “Everything.” 

“I regret nothing.” Everyone turned to face Mereoleona. “What? I’m not enough of a prude to deny I speculated about some… things.” 

“Things indeed…” 

“I still think Nozel-kun is the prettiest of them all!” 

And so, while Charlotte was too busy dealing with her desire to die a thousand times over having been overheard swooning over Yami’s best assets while quite possibly mildly inebriated, none of the three male test subjects - I mean, love interests - were any the wiser… 

---

“Well, that was a weird fucking experience. I guess neither of us are single now.” 

“... do you think that means she likes me?” 

“Seriously, Vengeance, go see a shrink.” 

“... everything I did was for nothing… my dignity is forfeit… I have ruined the name of the house of Silva…” 

“Guess I should book us a group therapy session, then.” 

“I mean, I know she kissed me back but maybe she just wanted to mess with me?” 

“... I shouldn’t have put her in danger… now we’ll have to elope, leave the country and change our surnames to Schmitz.” 

“Maybe she won’t want to see me ever again… I mean, she did say that she would rather not tell anyone about it yet. Maybe what she meant was that she didn't want to ever be associated with me-- it's not as though I can blame her for it...” 

“...should I dye my hair - it will most likely stick out…” 

“... what if we kiss again and this time the magic’s gone…?” 

“... do they speak a different language in the Land of the Sun? You might have to teach me that, Sukehiro.” 

“... how do you keep a woman interested in you, Yami?” 

“Well, that’s it. I’m never taking the two of you out drinking with me again.” He should have remembered those two were lightweights.

[inseparableduo]

Talk about me for Xaos please

Meme || Accepting!

Darla sighed as she looked up at the sky. Her hand idly running through Janne's hair as the other rested on his shoulder. He was kinda using her as a body pillow right now, but that was kinda the norm for them. His arms wrapped around her as he rested his head on her stomach.

"You know... you seem happier lately. Did you finally find another freak who likes your personalty as much as they like seeing your insides?" Janne asked, poking her forever exposed stomach.

Darla just swatted his hand away and suppressed a giggle. "No. I found a normal guy, believe it or not."

Apparently her statement was shocking enough, her best friend of years felt the need to sit up and pin her down. Resting his forehead against hers. "Are you feeling ok? No. Wait. You're being delusional again."

Darla just frowned and kicked him off of her. Well, there went her good mood. "I'm being serious here! I mean, think about it! If they were abusing me, you are the only person I could talk about it with, and I've never held back on you before. They won't even so much as yell at me." Part of her still couldn't believe it. After all this time, she was dating someone that didn't want to abuse her is some way. Or wasn't just trying to use her. Xaos just wanted her. She was finally starting to accept that.

"I guess that's true..." Janne sighed and just smiled at her. "So, what's it like being in a normal relationship." He figured the best way to try to fish out anything abusive was to just let her speak freely.

"I've actually been meaning to ask you... does your chest ever get really tight around your boyfriend? Kinda like you can't breathe? But in a good way? Or, like, umm, really warm and um like... uhh melty?" She isn't sure if she was describing this right but, she had to ask about it.

"No. That sounds like you need to see a doctor, actually." If he could, he would pat himself on the back here for keeping a straight face here.

"WAIT REALLY?"

Janne then burst into laughter. He felt a little bad for messing with her, but her reaction was priceless.

"YOU JACKASS. I'M ASKING YOU TO BE SERIOUS RIGHT NOW." Darla yelled at him as she grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him. People were probably staring at them now, but she didn't care.

@prettyboywarrior

[btsqualityy]

Blood On The Dance Floor: Chapter 14

Hoseok x Reader

Genre/Rate: 18+, established relationship, thriller, fatal attraction!AU (kind of, but with major changes), smut, angst, and fluff.

Summary: You and Hobi continue to deal with the fallout.

Warnings: mentions of murder and mentions of attempted murder.

WC: 1.3K

A week later, the time had finally come for you to be released from the hospital. Your concussion had gone away, your bruises had turned into ugly purple markings, and your broken ankle was doing as well as could be expected. 

Your emotional state though, was a whole other monster. 

After that first break down that you had the night you were admitted into the hospital, it seemed like all you could do was cry for four straight days after that. Hobi wasn’t necessarily concerned about that because he figured that you were just getting your emotions out. It wasn’t until you entered a radio silence on day five and continued it that he became really concerned. You barely spoke to him, the hospital staff or the police unless you absolutely had to, and even then it was short, one worded answers. 

Hobi didn’t blame you at all for how you were handling the whole thing because having someone go to such lengths in order to make sure that you were out of the way had to be hard on your psyche. He also figured that you were feeling at least a little bit of guilt, given the fact that Officer Ito informed the two of you that Choi Siwon, the guy who installed your security system, was found dead in his apartment from an apparent murder. The working theory that the police had was that Bora got the code to the security system from him and that’s how she was able to get into the house undetected by you. 

So not only had Bora tried to kill you, she had actually killed yet another innocent person and that was a hard thing to reckon with. Needless to say, it didn’t seem like things could get any worse.

“Fuck,” Hobi sighed heavily, running his hands over his face as he sat in his car outside of the hospital. Knowing how hard of a time you were having stressed Hobi out exponentially and not knowing how to help you made it even worse. 

After taking a few minutes to get himself together, Hobi grabbed the handle of the door and was about to get out of the car when his phone started to ring. Pulling it out of his pocket and looking at it, the call was coming from an unknown number. Choosing to answer it, he slid the button across the screen and put the device up to his ear. 

“Hello?”

“Long time, no speak, baby,” Bora’s voice purred through the phone.

“How did you get this number?” Hobi demanded to know. “I changed it after you tried to kill my wife.”

“Oh please, act like you know better,” she chuckled. “I got into your house so it shouldn’t be surprising that I was able to get your number.”

“You’re fucking delusional.”

“Ah, you never learn,” she scolded him. “Remember what happened the last two times you insulted me?”

“Look, why won’t you just leave me alone?” Hobi hissed through the phone. 

“Because I’m trying to get you to open your eyes sweetheart,” Bora cooed. 

“To what?”

“To the fact that you belong with me,” she said. “I know you felt that connection between us when we kissed and when we’d talk in the practice room. You’re just trying to deny it because you feel a sense of obligation to that woman.”

“That woman is my wife, and she’s the only woman that I’ve ever loved and will ever love,” Hobi stated firmly. 

“That’s just what you think but it’s not really true.”

“Well, I know that I’d never be in love with a murderer.”

“I’m not a murderer,” she tsked. “I only kill people if that’s what needs to be done in order for me to get what I need or want.”

“And that’s why you tried to kill my fucking wife?”

“Only because you won’t fucking leave the bitch,” Bora shot back. 

“Look, I don’t know what’s going on in your twisted ass head, but I want absolutely nothing to do with you,” Hobi fumed. “I will never want to be with you, or be in love with you, or even fucking see you. Stay the fuck away from me and my wife.”

“And if I don’t?” Bora laughed loudly. 

“You don’t know my wife,” Hobi chuckled ruefully. “You caught her off guard when you pushed her down those stairs like the coward you are but trust me, she will fuck you up so you better not let her get her hands on you.”

“Whatever,” Bora said before abruptly hanging up. Once the call ended, Hobi took a quick screenshot of his phone log for the police before getting out of the car and walking into the hospital. 

A few minutes later, he walked into your room to find you waiting in a wheelchair, biting nervously on your nails.

“Hi baby,” Hobi greeted you happily, pacing over to you and bending down to place a soft kiss to your lips. 

“What took you so long?” You murmured. “I was worried something happened to you.”

“I was right outside in the car,” he replied. “Bora called me.”

“...About what?” 

“Goading me, basically,” he shrugged. “I’m gonna tell Officer Ito later and maybe they’ll be able to track the call.”

“Oh,” you whispered before resuming your silence.

“Ready to go?” Hobi wondered and you nodded your head slightly, making your husband sigh. He grabbed your packed bag that had been waiting on the bed before stepping behind the wheelchair and pushing you out of the room. 

............................................................

“Come on baby,” Hobi whispered, not waiting for a response from you before he gently lifted up your left foot, resting your cast on top of the fluffy pillow. Once the two of you made it back home, Hobi had been pampering you with all the attention that you could handle. He had fed you, checked on your bruises, and gave you all the reassurance you needed that he had a new security system installed and this time, he had been the one to do it so that there was no third party involved.

“You need anything else, baby?” He asked and you looked up at him with teary eyes. 

“Hold me?” You whimpered and Hobi nodded, instantly getting into bed next to you and opening his arms, allowing you to scoot closer to him and lay your head on his chest. The two of you laid together in silence for a little while and Hobi thought you had fallen asleep when you suddenly spoke up.

“Maybe we should give her what she wants,” you muttered. 

“What?” Hobi questioned. “What are you talking about?”

“Maybe we should call it quits,” you suggested as you looked up at your husband. “She won’t stop until you go to her or until I’m out of the picture.”

“Y/N-ah, you cannot let this insane woman win,” Hobi told you. “Baby, I know you’re afraid and I don’t blame you but breaking up is the last thing either of us need. We’ve been through too much together.”

“I know but we don’t know what she’ll do next,” you whispered. “What if she decides to go after you next because you won’t leave me for her? My heart would shatter in my chest if anything happened to you.”

“Trust me, I know the feeling because when I came home and saw you on the ground like that, I thought I was going to die,” Hobi admitted. “I could never imagine a world without you right by my side and that’s the exact reason why I’m not going to let you go. I don’t know what or how, but we’ll figure something out and I won’t let that bitch tear us apart. I love you too fucking much.”

“I love you too,” you whimpered, leaning up and pressing an almost chaste kiss to his lips. As you laid your head back on his chest and began to drift off to sleep, numerous thoughts ran through Hobi’s head. He hated Bora, he hated what this situation had done to you, and he hated how this seemingly random ass woman managed to upend your entire lives. 

Hobi had no idea how it would happen but he found himself praying that it would all end soon, with the two of you making it out unscathed. 

[whisperlullaby]

Don’t Over Do It

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader

Words: 1766

Warnings: Violence, mentions of smut, mentions of disordered eating and over-exercising, explicit language.

Summary: Your boyfriend is an asshole. Bucky reminds you that you are perfect the way you are.

A/N: Listen apparently it’s sad girl Sunday over here. This is another story from a real life thing that happened to me with a Bucky twist! Thank you forever to @river-soul​ for looking over this story. I hope you guys enjoy and if I missed any warnings please let me know!

"Doll, you okay?" Bucky wondered. "You've been really quiet all morning."

When your eyes darted up, everyone around the table was staring at you.

"Yeah, I'm fine." You looked down at your soggy bowl of cereal. "Actually I'm gonna bring this back to my room. I'm a little tired." 

You got up and left before anyone could object. You made it to your room and almost had the door shut before a metal arm pushed through.

"You don't seem like yourself. Did something happen with Sean last night?"

At the mention of your boyfriend, you flinched. Letting out a sigh you allowed Bucky to step into your room. You placed the bowl on the kitchenette counter and turned to face Bucky.

"It's nothing. Just dumb relationship stuff really," you chuckled but it was a humorless sound. "I'll be fine tomorrow, I promise."

Bucky looked at you skeptically.

"Okay, but if you need anything you know you can come to me. I'm here for you."

Bucky placed a gentle kiss on your forehead before he left. When you heard the sound of your door click shut, you grabbed your bowl and dumped it down the sink.

///////

The next day you were sitting in the shared kitchen picking at a bowl of blueberries while scribbling notes in your journal. You heard a chair scrape next to you as Bucky plopped down and leaned onto the table.

"Whatcha writing doll?"

You felt your face flush with heat. 

"I'm just writing down what I'm eating. Making sure it's all healthy, trying to be better about what goes in my body, ya know?" 

Bucky cocked his head.

"That seems like a lot of extra work. I don't think you need to keep track of what you're eating." 

He paused, eyes roamed over your figure. 

"You look great doll." 

You snorted.

 "Yeah okay, Buck whatever you say." 

You closed your journal and stood up.

 "I'm gonna head to the gym. You can have the rest of the blueberries if you want," you offered, leaving before Bucky could say anything to you.

/////////

Three hours later Bucky slammed open the door to the gym where you were dripping sweat on the treadmill.

"Steve said you've been here for hours, doll," Bucky stated an edge of anger in his voice. "You are going to run yourself straight to the med bay if you don't pace yourself."

You turned off the treadmill in a huff and stalked over to Bucky on shaky legs.

"I know my limit, Sergeant. I'm fine. Why are you being so nosey about my life all of a sudden? Yesterday, following me to my room. Today in the kitchen. What's your problem?"

"Yesterday you never made it out of your room. Did you eat anything for the rest of the day?" Bucky’s voice seemed to drip with concern. "You didn't even finish that poor excuse for a breakfast this morning and you've been here for three hours."

Your eyes dropped to the floor. You shifted uncomfortably under Bucky's gaze before your anger spiked again.

"It's none of your fucking business, Barnes. I need to lose a few pounds and how I do that is absolutely none of your concern." 

You started to shove past Bucky but stumbled your vision blurring. 

Bucky caught you as you fell into him.

"Sweetheart let me help you to your room, please." 

You looked up at him and nodded. He helped you into your room and placed you on the couch. You watched him disappear into the kitchen and return with some water before sitting next to you and pulling you into his side.

"Doll, you need to tell me what happened. What's making you do this to yourself?" 

You took in an unsteady breath.

"Yesterday Sean and I were making out in his car. It was getting pretty, um, hot and I went to get on his lap but he pushed me away. He said I was too big to have car sex with, that if I lost a few pounds we could try but he would be uncomfortable with how I looked now. That he couldn’t even attempt to maneuver me in such a small space."

You picked at a loose thread on Bucky's shirt. You didn't realize he had stopped breathing until you looked up at him and saw how red he was.

"He told you to lose weight. Because he couldn't figure out how to fuck you in a car?" Bucky seethed.

You shot up. 

“I don't think he meant it like that. I mean I've been meaning to slim down anyway. I know I put on a bit of weight since starting fieldwork."

Bucky cupped your face in his hands. 

"You've put on muscle, doll. You need it to kick ass, lord knows you can knock me to the mat like a pro. Your body is perfect exactly how it is. You do not need to put yourself through any of that shit to slim down."

Bucky’s thumbs brushed away your tears as they fell. 

"He's not a bad guy Bucky I'm sure he didn't mean to upset me. He's coming over tonight.  I'll talk to him about it."

Bucky sighed and shook his head. 

"If you need me I'm right next door," he offered, placing a kiss on your forehead.

"Thank you. I don't know what I did to deserve having someone like you in my life." 

You looked into Bucky's eyes and saw them flash with adoration.

"Oh, doll, you don't need to do anything. You deserve everything I can give you and more." 

Bucky pulled you close and hugged you. You melted into his embrace with ease.

//////

"Hey, Sean! You're just in time. I just finished up dinner."  

"Smells great." He looked at the table full of chicken parmesan, pasta, and garlic bread. "This all for me?"

You laughed. "Well, not all of it silly. I'm going to have some too."

"Don't you think this is a bit much? I thought you were trying to lose some weight. So we could, ya know, have fun anywhere." 

When he pinched the skin of your hips you sucked in a deep breath, willing the tears that pricked your eyes not to fall. 

"I just thought maybe this would be okay? I didn't think I looked that bad."

"Not bad babe just, you can tell you've put on some weight. I'm just trying to help you, do you have a salad? Maybe that'll be better for you instead." 

Just as Sean made his way towards the fridge, your door burst open to reveal Bucky. His chest was heaving and his eyes were shooting daggers.

You looked shocked as you watched him rush over to Sean with malicious intent. "Bucky stop, what are you doing?"

Bucky paused his movements but never took his death glare from Sean.

"I was walking by and I heard what he said to you."

Before you could react Bucky had Sean dangling midair. 

"You are a pathetic excuse for a man and you're lucky I don't beat the shit out of you right here. Have you ever taken one look at Y/N? She is perfect. And you don't appreciate her, she's over here pouring herself over dinner to make you happy and all you can do is worry about her weight." 

You were stunned as you watched Sean struggling in Bucky's grasp.

"Babe, are you going to tell your guard dog to heel and let me down," Sean gasped frantically.

Bucky growled as you placed a hand on his shoulder. 

"Bucky let him go. He didn't mean anything by it.”

Bucky slowly placed him on the ground. Sean moved around Bucky to face you.

“Babe of course I didn’t mean anything by it. You look beautiful, I just thought you would want to lose some of the baby fat so we could be more adventurous.”

You heard the metal plates shift before you saw Bucky pull back to knock Sean out. You gasped as Sean collapsed on the floor unconscious.

“What has gotten into you!? You heard him, he didn’t mean it he is just trying to look out for me.” You pushed Bucky back. “Why can’t you just listen to him?! He’s right! I just need to watch what I eat. Once I lose the weight I’ll be...I’ll earn his love.”

You looked into Bucky’s eyes and saw his heartbreak in real-time. 

“Y/N. You do not need to lose a single inch on yourself. Sean is a delusional asshat who wouldn’t know a gorgeous dame if she punched him in the face. You do not need to earn a person’s love.”

You stared at Bucky for a moment before you crumbled to the floor sobbing. He rushed over and cradled you to his chest, soothing you with his hands, drawing gentle patterns along your back. Sean started to stir and Bucky gently pushed you off his lap to stand and grab Sean by the collar.

“You are gone. Don’t contact her again and if I hear you’ve been around I’ll make sure you stay out a lot longer than you were,” Bucky threatened before throwing him out of your apartment.

He returned to you and helped you up. You offered him a gentle smile.

“Why did you do that Bucky?” You held your breath while you waited for his answer.

Bucky looked softly into your eyes. 

“Because you are the most beautiful person I have ever had the pleasure of knowing inside and out. Hearing what he was doing to you, warping your perception of yourself into something dangerous, I couldn’t live with myself if I stood back and did nothing. I had to protect my best girl.”

He reached out and wiped a stray tear off your face. You smiled from ear to ear and grabbed his hand to press a soft kiss on the palm.

“Thank you,” you told him, eyeing the table of food. “Well I cooked all of this and it’s probably going to get cold if we don’t eat it soon.”

“You asking me to dinner doll?” Bucky smirked.

“Well, it’s a start to thank you for everything you have done for me over the last few days. Besides I’m starving.” You started to turn around to grab the plates off the counter when Bucky grabbed your arm spinning you into him. He kissed you breathless and you were quick to deepen the kiss. 

When Bucky pulled back he was grinning.

“Let’s eat, then maybe I can show you how real men are able to fuck in a car.”

[missymurphy1985]

The Rebel (Cillian X OC OneShot)

Warning - smut - and this IS only a one shot, I can't cope writing another series at the minute 😂

Request? Yep!

Taglist @queenshelby @margoo0 @being-worthy @peakyscillian @janelongxox @elenavampire21 @noctvrnalmoth @ysmmsy @cloudofdisney @lauren-raines-x @namelesslosers @misscarolineshelby @screemqueen @cilleveryone @darlingjaye

"The fuck does she get off?" Cillian cried, throwing his bag across the trailer he shared with Paul Anderson.

"Someone's a fan of my new love interest!" Paul laughed watching Cillian fume as he paced the small trailer over and over again.

"I knew casting her was a mistake, she's fucking delusional!!!"

"What's she done now..."

"Literally THREW her coffee cup at her PA because she put milk in it... THREW IT!!! At her PA!!! Poor girl was fucking terrified man!"

"She's hot though, ain't she?'

"What? Fuck sake Paul you ever NOT think with your dick?" Paul smirked, raising his eyebrows at Cillian knowingly. "Yes okay, she's a good looking girl, but that doesn't mean she can get away with trampling over people to get her own way does it?"

"Maybe she just needs a good, solid man to ground her a little, bring her back to earth a bit?" Paul smirked.

"Go for it man, good luck to you. Last fella she had probably still needs therapy."

"Oh I wasn't talking about me mate." Cillian looked at him suspiciously.

"What?"

"Oh for fucks sake Cillian, when was your last eye test? Can you not see what's clear as daylight, right in front of you??" Cillian's eyes widened, not understanding a word coming out of Paul's mouth.

"You've lost me."

"Wonder if she's part Irish. Or wants to be...." Cillian's face contorted.

"Don't use that line it's fucking cheesy... Never works either. What's your point?"

"Mate if you don't get in there quick, she's gonna lose interest and Finn will be at it like a shot!"

"You're having a laugh aren't you? I'm not even remotely interested!"

"Uh huh. Okay. Just don't say I didn't warn you eh?" Paul put his baseball cap on and headed out the door, still with a smirk on his face. Cillian took a seat on the sofa and ran his fingers through what was left of his hair, rolling his eyes. Yes, Natalie was fucking hot... But my god was she challenging.

Throwing that cup today was one thing. Telling the director she didn't like her character was another. Her original character was supposed to be Tommy's new 'plaything' behind Lizzie's back, but Natalie had apparently requested a change of direction - she wanted to be Arthur's new love interest, nothing to do with Tommy at all. That confused Cillian, and he'd had to think back to see if he'd ever worked with her in the past, obviously he'd pissed her off at some stage, why else would being his onscreen love interest be so repulsive to her that she demanded an entire script change?

Heading into the bathroom, he glanced at himself in the mirror. He wasn't exactly repulsive, surely? Yes he had a few more wrinkles now that he did in series one, but he was nearly 45 now...

He shook his head quickly - why did it even bother him whether she found him attractive or not?? She was 32, not that much younger than him but still way out of his league, and to top it off she was a fucking nightmare!

But those legs... Her eyes... Her lips... He couldn't help himself imagining those lips wrapped around his cock when he lay in bed in his Manchester apartment alone at night... Without thinking he found himself palming the growing erection under his jeans, feeling that familiar stirring in his groin. Shaking his head quickly, he splashed his face with cold water and rearranged himself in his jeans, calming himself down before he embarrassed himself. Once his erection had gone down, he headed back out of the trailer and over to his hire car, the driver ready and waiting to take him back to the apartment block.

Natalie opened her apartment door and crashed onto the sofa, exhausted. A full week of intense filming, she was more than ready for a soak in the bath and a glass of Shiraz. Opening the cupboard in the kitchen area she groaned - no wine. She also remembered the bubble bath she'd bought, and subsequently left in her trailer back on set...

She fished around in her bag for her room key again, and bit her lip. She knew exactly who would have a bottle of bubble bath... She groaned to herself, having successfully avoided him up until now but her aching limbs were crying out for some Radox. She left her apartment and knocked on the door across the hall.

Cillian answered a few minutes later with just a towel wrapped around his waist and his hair wet.

"Erm... Hey?" He asked, not opening the door fully, more hiding himself behind it.

"Okay um, this is random I know, but I was just wondering if maybe you had any bubble bath going spare? Please?"

"Really?" He laughed.

"Is it so surprising to you that a girl likes a bath now and again?"

"No actually, what's surprising is that you actually have manners."

"I beg your pardon?"

"You said 'please'. Didn't think you had it in you."

"Listen, you either have bubble bath spare, or you don't, it's a simple fucking question Cillian."

"Those tactics won't work with me love." Cillian

"Forget it, for fucks sake..." She turned to leave, rolling her eyes.

"Wait.. yes I have spare. Come in, I'll grab it for you." He pushed the door open so Natalie could walk inside, before heading into the bathroom. Coming back out with his jeans on, she couldn't help but be drawn to his toned chest and biceps, his upper body still damp from his own bath moments before she'd disturbed him.

Cillian caught her checking him out and smirked a little, handing over the bottle of Radox. She took it, smiling a touch herself.

"You smile too." She lowered her eyes and tried to hide the grin on her face. "You're not as hard faced as you try and make out, are you?" His arms were folded across his chest now, leaning against the kitchen counter.

Her eyes suddenly watered, and she bit her lip. Cillian frowned watching her well up and instinctively moved closer, taking her shoulders into his hands.

"Hey now... I didn't mean to upset you..."

"No... No I deserved it. God I'm so sick of this!"

"Sick of what?"

"I have this reputation of being a diva... With my career... I just like things to be perfect and when they're not I can lose my temper so quickly and it's fucking horrible and I make people hate me!" She choked back a sob, and Cillian pulled her into his arms, holding her as her shoulders shook.

"We all like things to be perfect Nat, but life doesn't work out like a fairytale, things just go wrong and that's okay?"

"I know, and I always feel so fucking guilty afterwards.. I can't stop now - my reputation is the only thing keeping me in the press, keeping me relevant..."

"You're kidding, right? So all this bitchiness, the demanding ways - it's an act?"

"Some of my best work has been off camera Cill." He couldn't help but laugh. He opened the cupboard and pulled out two small glasses, followed by a bottle of Irish Whiskey. Offering Nat one, she nodded, and they both moved into the lounge area.

They talked for a while - comparing stories of Hollywood, other actors they'd worked with, before Cillian cleared his throat. He needed to know the truth about her changing the script to be Arthur's love interest rather than Tommy's, and now she'd sank a few whiskeys, she was probably loose enough to tell him straight.

She hung her head, embarrassed. She knew he'd probably find out eventually, being one of the producers, but she hoped if she avoided him long enough she'd never need to reveal the truth to him.

"I also turned down Inception. And they offered me Thandie Newton's role in The Retreat."

"Okay..."

"I turned them all down when I found out you were in them."

"Ouch!" He chuckled nervously, "I don't think I want to ask why!"

"Because.. and this is awkward so don't laugh yeah?" He nodded as a promise not to, but his eyes widened when she revealed the truth. "Because I've had a crush on you since I was a teenager... And I didn't wanna make it awkward but I guess I just kinda did.."

Cillian was stunned into silence for a minute, or five. His silence made her nervous, and she pulled herself off the sofa to head out, realising how much of a fool she'd made herself. Making a mental note to blame the whiskey in the morning, she stood up, only to feel his hands suddenly on her waist as he stood up next to her.

"So that's why you didn't want to play Tommy's love interest, huh?" He held her in front of him, his hands squeezing her hips as he pulled her closer.

"Would've been too awkward.. for me at least.." closer still, their faces now inches apart.

"Does this feel awkward?" Their bodies met, her heart pounding in her chest. She could feel how aroused he was, pressed up against her, making her breathing heavier.

"No..." He leaned down, pressing his lips gently against hers, just ghosting over them.

"And this?" He whispered, his hands moving up, not quite over her breasts, just underneath them and round her lower ribs. She couldn't speak, just shook her head. Her breath hitching in her throat as a hand snaked back down, under her leggings and underwear, softly caressing her inner thigh and mound. Cillian glanced at her, her eyes closed and breathing deepening as his fingers traced her core, pushing a finger inside her to feel how much she was throbbing for him.

"Want me to help you with that?" She nodded again, and felt his fingers probe her, moving up slightly to brush against her clit making her hips grind against him and her fingers press into his biceps. His fingers moved slowly, circling the small bud.

"That feels good...." She panted, rocking her hips to ride his fingers, needing more.

He responded by moving his fingers quicker, pushing the small button harder. Her head fell against his chest and she groaned, her orgasm coming quickly.

"Gonna make a mess on my fingers, Nat?" He whispered in her ear, her breath coming in short bursts now. His other hand moved to her hair, pulling the bobble from it and letting it fall down her back, running his fingers through and tugging it to pull her head back. His lips on her neck, biting and sucking at the skin. Her hand resting on his arm, keeping him in place as he fingered her.

"Don't stop... Don't stop... Faster..." She gasped, and he happily complied. Rubbing her clit hard now under her clothing.

"Make a mess on me, cum for me..." She came with a force she'd never felt before, gripping onto his arms and holding his arm steady, riding her hips against his hand as her orgasm began to subside. He gave her a few minutes to catch her breath before pulling his hand away, bringing his fingers to his lips to taste her, groaning at the sweetness and pressing his lips against hers.

Bringing her close again, he backed her up until her calves hit the sofa, before laying her against the cushions and pulling her leggings down, her underwear with them. She spread her legs, biting her lip as his mouth kissed up her thighs.

"You want me to fuck you, Nat?" He lifted her t shirt over her head, her body completely bare now as she nodded.

Her fingers pulled at his jeans, and he unfastened them, easing his erection out before allowing them to fall to the floor, kicking them across the room. Natalie pushed him onto the sofa, sitting up against the cushions before straddling him, his hard cock now pressed against her soaked core.

"I'm gonna fuck you, that okay?" She smiled, her forehead pressed against his as she sunk down on his length, gasping at the sensation of being completely filled by the man she had fantasised about for years. His hands moved to her hips, before she moved them, putting them behind his head, taking full control. He smirked, before his mouth fell open - her hips riding him felt incredible. Pulling her body up, keeping the tip inside, she bounced gently, teasing him. Sinking down on him again, only to repeat the process. His legs were shaking from the sensations.

"Don't tease me, ride me." His blue eyes were like ice, and Nat sunk down so he was fully sheathed before moving her hips back and forth. She released his hands and gripped onto his shoulders for leverage, arching her body backwards slightly so his cock hit against her g spot deep inside her. One of his hands moved to her ass cheek, the other to one of her breasts, both of them squeezing and kneading at the flesh as her body grinded against him.

The hand on her ass moved round to circle her still sensitive clit, making her hips jerk faster.

"Cillian.... Cillian...." Her breathy moans of his name, the way her pussy clamped him, claiming him completely, the feel of her firm breast in his hand, the way her eyes fluttered closed as her orgasm approached... She was intoxicating.

"Baby.. I'm close..." He groaned, feeling that burning coil in his abdomen.

"Me too... I'm on the pill..." He grinned and held her hips still, pounding his hips up hard from underneath her. He had to cover her mouth to silence her loud screams, careful not to alert Paul in the next apartment. That only seemed to turn her on more, and she took two of his fingers into her mouth, sucking them, still tasting herself on them from earlier. The hand on her ass slapped it and squeezed it hard in response, making her cry out.

"That's it... Good girl... Fuck, I'm gonna cum..." Her orgasm flowed from her at his words, and she felt him shoot several streams of hot cum deep inside her as her walls clenched around him, milking him for all he had to give her.

Their foreheads pressed together again, both panting as they rode out the waves of pleasure.

"Does that live up to your fantasy?" He chuckled, groaning a little as she gave him a final clench of her walls.

"More than... Fuck that was incredible..." She gasped, gently rocking against him, not wanting him to leave her body just yet. She could feel him hardening again, in fact she wasn't sure he even softened.

"Don't stop, keep moving... Nice and slow.. Just like that..." He helped her hips move slowly, riding him gently.

"You're insatiable, aren't you..." She groaned.

"You feel too good wrapped around me, full of my cum deep inside you... You gonna let me fill you up again yeah?" She didn't answer, instead just allowed him to move her against him. He brought her hand down to rub her clit, needing to feel her cum again. She circled the bud gently at first, then feeling his cock start to twitch inside her she picked up the pace. He suddenly moved them so she was underneath him, his hips pistoning into her as he bent his head down to watch her fingers pleasuring herself.

"I'm gonna cum, Cillian...."

"I'm right there with you, come on..." A deep groan from both of them as they came together, him filling her up for the second time.

His body fell against hers as she held his shoulders, his face buried in her neck lightly caressing the skin with the tip of his nose.

"Fuck... Natalie... I haven't been able to do that for years," he laughed, hissing slightly pulling his sensitive cock out of her. Their mixed juices flowing from her onto the sofa cushion.

"I only came over for bubble bath.." she chuckled, her head laid back against the arm of the sofa as she caught her breath.

"My bath's probably still warm, might as well jump in with me?" He offered.

"No funny business in there, I think I need a breather..."

"Better make it a quick bath then. You're not leaving this apartment tonight. Or this weekend, in fact."

[stubbedbakutoes]

Promise Ring

Bakugou accidentally slips up amidst an argument with (y/n). The question now is, does he feel guilty? at all?

pairing: asshole!bakugou x fem reader

word count: 2.1k

genre: angst (i advise grabbing some tissues before proceeding with caution mwahaha)

part 2

masterlist

Whilst his hands held up the ring in the glistening light of the gradually rising sun, her movements halted, thankful she was mere seconds away from having the hot liquid in her mouth because she would more than likely be spluttering and coughing at the shock of what he had just said. Bakugou darted his eyes away from hers, because he’s embarrassed.

But then he’s just looking back at her again. Because he couldn’t not look at her. He licked his suddenly dry as hell lips, shrugging a shoulder.

“Fell for you hard and I don’t want this to just be some fling that we’ll get over in a few weeks.” The blush was rising on his cheeks and she found this self-conscious side of him adorable.

“Kacchan!” She kicked his shin under the table. “You’re asking me to marry you?” She asked slowly. 

“No!” He scoffed playfully, which soon turned into a laugh when she squealed out something along the lines of ‘Don’t look so disgusted! how was I supposed to react to that, huh?’  “I mean, you’ve had my dick in your mouth, I'd say we’re pretty committed at this poi-.”

“But you’re really not proposing?” She cut him off, not wanting to hear anything from his vulgar mouth anymore.

“Shut up.” He chuckled, mindlessly playing footsie with her under the table. “I’m serious about it though.”

“Marrying me?”

Bakugou sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose as a smile played on his lips, “About how we’re past the honeymoon stage.”

“What’s that?”  Lifting her mug of tea for the second time, she finally took her first sip of what was always a good cup of morning coffee when made by someone else, specifically Bakugou.

“You know... That period at the beginning  of the relationship when everything goes well and is free of problems.”

“Aside from arguing whether the toilet seat cover should stay up or not?”

Bakugou smiled fondly at her. “Sure.”

Their grins were far too wide and cheesy for this early in the morning but the feeling of giddiness they felt inside was too much to conceal and, without any further word on the subject, the rest of breakfast was served so the two could quiet down their grumbling stomach like a proper non-fling-type couple.

(y/n)’s trying the ring on her fingers, and when it only fits on her fourth finger (like he’d hoped), Y/N’s looking back at him. “I care about you too.” She smiled reassuringly. “And to prove it,” She began, stabbing a portion of Bakugou’s food with a fork. “I’ll have this piece of your pancake, thank you very much.”

“Where’s the correlation?”

“I just wanted to steal some food from you, sorry.”

“You’re not very good at being sly, aren’t you?” Bakugou giggled, playing with the matching ring on his pinky finger. “ I just. I love you, you know? And, like. I know we’re still young, so it’s obviously not an engagement ring. I like to consider it a promise. Something to keep your finger warm till I get you a proper ring.”

//

“—so now what? You just wait for me to leave so you can— what? Cheat on me?!” Bakugou slammed his open palm down on the wooden table, eyes alit with a fury so strong that even (y/n)'s terrified because she's never, ever, seen him this angry before. She's had fights with him before, of course she has, they've been together for over three years, but she's never seen him this determined to win an argument– to the extent that if they were in a cartoon show, he'd probably have smoke puffing out of either side of his ears.    

But this is no time for her imagination to be running wild because she's pissed, too. So much anger flooded her veins that tears accumulating in the corner of her eyes are almost spilling out — that's the worst kind of anger.   

(y/n) gaped at him. “Are you fucking serious right now? I had one single conversation with that guy and and you— you think I’m cheating on you?!” 

And what's filling her with rage is that what they're fighting over is stupid, good Lord, it's so fucking stupid.

It started with (y/n) telling Bakugou about how she's finally found a dream, something to chase, because she's spent most of her life without having decided what to do for herself or wanting anything in her life. That dream involved her going to a school, outside the country, and that turned into a tiny misunderstanding, which blossomed into something else, followed something else after that, and then both Bakugou and Y/N were yelling at each other and calling each other names and it was all a horrible sight to see. Both of them have no idea what brought it on to this extent. All they're certain of is that they're pissed at each other and have, apparently, been pissed at each other for a long ass time.

Bakugou grinned. A grin that she loathed, because Bakugou’s grins are usually with mischief, with playfulness. Not this malice. He outstretched his arm on either sides of him, like he’s showing something off. “Well, I don’t see anyone proving me otherwise.”

She huffed, glaring right back at him. “What the hell is your problem?”

“What’s my problem?! What the hell is your problem?!” Bakugou yelled back at her, not even bothering to try to keep from shouting. He pointed out the door, “You were fucking flirting with that two-faced asshole right in front of me! You're the problem!”

"Are you fucking kidding me right now?! That was months ago, you've had that stupid excuse of a grudge on me ever since, huh?!" (y/n)'s eyes narrowed and crinkled – not in a way that Bakugou's used to seeing. "I haven't done anything wrong! All I've done is fucking been there for your stupid ambition to be the number one hero-

"Stupid? Stupid?!" Bakugou repeated incredulously, eyes widening as he quivered with anger. "I'd watch my words if I were you. This is my fucking life goal and something I want for myself that you're calling stupid."

(y/n) was nearly suffocating on her fury, her laugh void of any happiness leaving a bitter taste in her mouth. "I am aware of what I'm spewing out. Your fucking dream was delusional and far fetched but I supported it, didn't I?! I watched every single match, patched up your hands when they bled from all that training, made you delicious bentos to fuel you up for the day – "   

"– And now you say it was all stupid," Bakugou laughed mirthlessly, glaring at her so hard that (y/n)'s knees start to tremble. "How romantic can this get?" He raised his voice, arms stretching out before clapping obnoxiously loud, "I hope shitting on your boyfriend's dream has given you some sort of satisfaction."   

"And you've got some nerve to pull all of this shit with me about suddenly wanting something for myself because I've met someone else and that I'm cheating on you," (y/n)'s lips tremble, her voice practically shaking with anger as she spoke, a finger going to point accusingly at him, "You're not my boyfriend. You're just one big hypocrite!"

"You fucking are, though!" His voice was laced with venom as he practically spat the words in the woman's face. "You're definitely planning to elope with some hunk city boy! I'm not fucking good enough for you, huh?!"   

And that’s— that’s the final straw. 

Relationships are about trust, and Bakugou obviously didn't fucking trust her. If he wasn't so much of a prick in how he reacted to her telling him her future plans then they'd probably be cuddled against each other, asleep, and Bakugou would be the first to start apartment hunting for her — for them, because he'd even move with her, since he knows he couldn't properly function without her.  

But before she even opened her mouth to inform him that she's done with this toxic relationship, he beat her to it, “Good thing I never fell in love with you, then.”

(y/n)’s face changed from cocky to puzzled then to heartbroken. As his words made her world crumble, Bakugou took pride in the sight of the bewildered woman before him, not planning to take his words back anytime soon since he saw this argument as a game of who can devastate the other first. And the prize was looking back on this fight one day and thinking, wow, I won that. It didn't matter what had been said and done in his book.

But (y/n) and Bakugou are two sides of the same coin; she simply wanted to have her point reach his end, so that they can both agree to put this aside and go back to their normal, non-fling-type couple selves.

“So all of this,” She motioned between them, interrupting his train of thought “meant nothing to you? You never even loved me?” She asked with what seemed to be a mixture of hurt and sadness but mainly anger. Before he could even blink, she was over hitting him on the chest with her tightly clenched fists, trying to let out her pain, “I hate you, you're the worst! You told me numerous times you loved me- that you’d never even make me feel like shit! What’s changed, Bakugou? Why can’t you love me anymore?” Her voice cracked, nonetheless she was smoldered with rage.

"Are you deaf? I said I never did. I was lying the whole time, whenever I told you that— that I did."

Bakugou took every hit she was giving him because he stood firmly on his feet, unnecessarily adding fuel to the fire, as if (y/n)'s miserable state wasn't enough to satisfy him — to drop his guard and tell her he wanted to take it back. That he wanted to say I didn’t mean that, I’m sorry, I love you, I didn’t mean to say that— but then (y/n)’s letting out a laugh that sounds so bitter, it made Bakugou flinch.

“Fine,” she breathed out, then she’s scoffing out another harsh laugh. “Then— we’re done. Wouldn’t want you to waste your time and effort in a relationship that you never thought was worth it. I don’t want to waste my time and energy being with someone who clearly doesn’t feel the same kind of love towards me.”

And she turned on her heel, ready to head straight out the door, purposefully ignoring the faint, “Wait, (y/n)—” from behind. Her opposite hand subconsciously grazed the promise ring she shared with Bakugou, and she realises something.

At one swift movement, she pulled at the said ring and threw it at him with more force than necessary. 

“What a fucking nonsense 'promise' that was,” She said out loud, and it rang through Bakugou’s ears, because he made a pathetic whining sound that's never been heard before, because this moment couldn't have a bigger emotional toll on him than anything else.

"Y/N, hear me out," he sniffled. "I'm so so sorry, I didn't mean an ounce of what I said. I know you're not cheating on me, baby, I'm sure of that. I was being a dickhead for that and I'm so fucking sorry. Fuck, I'm so sorry. I love you, Y/N. God. I need you so much, and I was lying when I said I never did. When you're not with me, I'm not... me. And I just," he sighed, pulling the ends of his hair aggressively. "I'm sorry, I really am."

Y/N’s got a hand on the door handle, but there were fingers slowly wrapping around her other wrist. She yanked her wrist out of his hold like his touch burned, causing Bakugou's lips to shake. It's hitting him now, the fact that he's losing the girl he courted and spent so much time with. The girl who kept him wide awake at night because of how much she clouded his mind. Not to mention, the ring which symbolizes their commitment to each other, is being thrown away like it's nothing.

(y/n) peeked at him through her eyelashes, "Give me a break. I obviously don't have a place in your heart, you've made that painfully clear to me. So do me a favor and fuck off."

He very nearly heaved with his next breath. He held a hand up, ring between his pointer finger and thumb. “I meant it when I said I wanted to get serious with this relationship. I still do, and that'll never change. I know I don’t deserve your forgiveness, that you should be with someone— someone better in every fucking way possible, I want to be the one to marry you. That wasn’t a false promise. That was— that is the promise that I swear to God I’ll be keeping until my last breath.”

[spencerhotchner]

Alternative {spencer reid}

Chapter 2

summary: Since quarentine was announced, Y/N decided to rewatch all seasons of Criminal Minds. On a lonely night she wished she could be in that universe instead of this. What happens when she wakes up in 2008 in Quantico?

warnings: angst, a very confused reader, regular cm stuff and my grammar (if you find anything else pls lmk) 

word count: 2.1k

a/n: ok, i am really excited about this series. and really thankful that y'all are liking it. also, i hope you will enjoy this chapter as much as y'all did the last one! it didn't end up as long as i wanted it it but ig its ok right.

series masterlist

part 1 | part 2

You could hear some familiar voices on the background as you began to regain conciseness, voices you could identify anywhere. You kept your eye shut for a while, feeling the tiredness and dizziness your body was screaming at you despite the fact that you have been unconscious, and on the floor apparently. Even though you're head was still too slow to think straight, you noticed that your face mask wasn't on you anymore. 

“Who is she?” you heard the familiar voice of Shamar, or Morgan, given the circumstances. 

“Apparently she knows me.” that was Spencer’s turn to speak. 

“I met her this morning.” JJ states, you could only imagine the faces they would be making at her, wondering how and why. “I bumped into her walking on the street, she seemed pretty confused but yet she still knew who I was.” 

“Well, that’s weird.” Emily said.

When you finally decided to open them, you felt like you were still dream. Once again you found yourself asking what was going on. Why was the whole cast of Criminal Minds standing there simple staring at you and why were they acting like their characters? Out of the two explanations that came to your mind at the moment, only one made any sense. I was a tv prank, it could only be. There would be no other logical reason to it, other wise. 

“Are you ok?” Hotch asks, offering a hand. 

You stared at him trying to figure out what to say, but without saying a word you took his hands and got up. The whole team was looking at you, with weird expressions. You felt almost like you were an unsub, you hated being stared. 

“Yes, I mean, no!” you say. “Is this a prank of something? Because, damn, you guys went too far down with it. Fuck!” you say, finally snapping. 

“I’m afraid I don't know what you are talking about.” Rossi said. 

You tried not to but as soon as you realized you already had a big sarcastic expression on your face. How wouldn't they? They were tv stars and they were clearly acting, you've seen it. 

“Oh, you're not?” you said, as sarcastic as you could be. “Ok, let me enlighten you all, since you ‘don’t know what i’m talking about?’. I woke up in this freaking random apartment by myself wearing the exact same thing I was wearing the night before.” 

“...and where is the part we fit in there?” he replies. 

You ignored him, sighing and trying to push your anxiety down. 

“As I was saying, I was wearing the exact same thing and I was in Bellevue, in Washington state. I have no idea who decided to pull this off but as much as I love the show, I am not enjoying this.” you say, looking around trying to find cameras. 

They all kept staring at you, Rossi was the only one who didn't seem worried about, it was like he thought you were on drugs or just delusional. You were even starting to believe in that. JJ and Spencer kept staring at each other, possibly trying to figure out what was going on, and how you knew them. 

“You believe you were abducted, then?” Hotch finally says something. 

You sigh again, trying to be patience. All you wanted was to go home, when you said you wanted to meet the cast - all the hundreds of times you said it, you didn’t mean this. You closed your eyes, because suddenly all you wanted to do was cry. You couldn't count how many times you imagined this happening and it was being just awful. You hated being confused, lost and being pictured as crazy. 

“No, Agent Hotchner” you spilled his name, sarcastically. “I am sure.”

He looked at you without much expression - as usual, but you could tell he was superseded you knew him, just as much as the team. Morgan step forward, walking towards you. You stared at him, trying to remain calm. 

“Listen, we can't help you if you don't let us.” he said. “Can you tell us your name?”

God, don't they realize this is funny? I do not wanna be acting, some pictures would do the job just as fine. 

“Y/N Y/L/N” you say as you watch Rossi give Garcia a look making her nod and direct herself to her ‘cave’, certainly to search you up. 

“Alright, you have someone we can contact with?” JJ asks. 

You nodded, yes you did. But they wouldn't pick up the phone, as you tried multiple times this morning on the old cellphone. What if something happened to them? This was all so confusing. 

“But she won’t pick up the phone, I tried.” you said.

Once again, you caught yourself wondering what was going on. And that was the moment you kind of got what was happening. Would it be possible that you shifted to this universe? Maybe this wasn't all a prank and your wish had just became true. You probably should've thought about it before asking for it. At once it hit you, what you said to your friend just last night. 

“What is something you would want to do right now?” your best friend asked you, leaning a bit towards you, laughing drunkly.

“Um, I’d really like to be in Criminal Minds right now.” you say laughing as you best friend rolled her eyes. “No, listen! I’d love to meet Spencer Reid and I don't know, it just sounds better than quarantine.”

“Yeah, sure, because serial killers are just not bad at all, huh?” she laughed. 

Maybe this was true, maybe you did shifted. And if you did, you sure sounded like a crazy person, and probably a stalker. You looked around trying to figure out if you could sit somewhere, it all became took much for you mind at that moment. 

“Can I sit... Can I sit somewhere?” you asked, probably looking as ill as you sounded.

You watched as Reid rushed to bring the chair. You set down trying to figure out how you'd leave there, and how you'd shift back. Staring at them you felt your heart warm a little, you dreamed about this for so long - as it was all it was, a dream, until now, at least. 

Before you could say a word you watched Penelope come back and whisper in Rossi’s ear, probably what she found out about you. Which, maybe was everything, since you had no reasons to hide a thing about your life, which was quite boring, in fact. 

“Who are you?” Rossi says, like he’s ready to arrest you.

“I-I already told you.” you answer. “I’m Y/N.”

If you needed any proof about what was going on that was it. It was like you did not even exist, like you weren't real. She probably didn’t find anything because you’re not from this universe.

“Alright. What can we do for you, Y/N?” Morgan asks.

“I need to go home.” you let it out. “I don't know how I ended up here in Quantico.”

Garcia stares ate you, almost like she felt pity about your situation while the rest of them kept a suspicious look at you. It’s not like you blame them, anyways, you would think it’s weird for somebody to come out of nowhere knowing your name and claiming to be pranked. 

While you were sitting there, with all those eyes at you, you thought that maybe giving up and trying to figure it all out by yourself maybe would be better. How would they help you, anyways? It is not like they could send you back. And it is also not like you didn't actually wish for this. 

There are some wishes that are entirely rhetorical. 

“You know what? I’m good.” you fake a smile, obviously. “I’m just gonna go.” 

You stoop up fast, not giving them much time to contest you. Spencer looked confused, more than any of the others, for some reason. Maybe he was just curious on how you knew him, or JJ. Either way, you wouldn't know. 

Hotch looked at you, wondering your action. Why were you so desperate at one time and tried to pull off as if it was ok? It was definitely not ok. Your smile looked fake, your body seemed tense and your eyes looked as lost as he could think someone could be, as he has seen a lot of lost eyes. 

“Thank you, for your attention, though.” you say. “I’m sorry for taking your time agents.” 

You stormed out of there, not even realizing that you left your jacket in there. How could you? Not when you ran out of there as if your live depended on it. You let a sigh out as you got out of the building, not even noticing when the tears started to come down at your cheeks. 

At that moment you didn't care at all about where you were, you set on the floor, letting the tears roll down and the sobs come out. You never wished to be away from your reality, it only seemed nice in your dreams. Right now, all you wanted was to go home and hug your parents, or even just see them. You felt lost, as lost as a five year old who can't find his mommy at the park. 

You got scared as you felt a big hand touch your shoulders. As your turn, to see who was it, Spencer looked as nice as you could ever picture him to, or see on the screens. His face resembles worry, like he was actually wondering what happened to you and why where you there. 

“I believe this is yours.” he hands you your jacket. 

You stare at him before.

“Yes, thank you.” you wipe the tears away. 

“No- No problem.” he said, sitting by your side. “Are you ok?”

“Yeah.” you answered looking away. 

“You don't have to lie to me.” he said, as you looked back at him. “I wanna help you, but I can only do that if you cooperate with me.”

Why would he?

“I don't know where I am. I mean, I do know but I don't know how I ended up here. I understand what is going on, I did after a while but I don't know how to change this situation. I don't know how to go back home.” you said. 

Not like he’ll understand, anyways.

"Maybe... Maybe me and my team could help you figure it out?” he tries. 

“I doubt it.” you shake your shoulders. “I know that you guys are awesome at your job, don't get me wrong, to be honest I’m quite the big fan.” you laughed a bit. “But it’s just out of hand.” 

He stops, looking at you. Gave up offering help, you were not accepting he felt it. No, he knew it. It was his job to know what body language was telling him, anyways. He didn't want to stare at you, but he felt like he needed to. He was stuck at your looks, so pretty, yet so lost. 

“If we can't help you, is there anything I can do for you?” he asks. 

You looked right into his eyes. Thinking, if you should say it. Maybe so, it wouldn't kill you, it was not like it was the real world of something, well maybe it was but you couldn't care less. All you wanted was somewhere to stay this night and figure out how to get back.

“I do need a place to stay tonight.” you say, smiling little at him. 

He had a weird look on his face when you said that, like he wasn't expecting it. Because he wasn't. That moment he considered himself a crazy man, because he knew the risks and yet was up for it.

“Uh, ok.” 

Taglist: @feverdreamreid @andromedasstarship @paulaern @theetherealbloom @thatsonezesty13 @reidsalvez​ @pieceofreid @nymeria-targaryen​ @greeny-kitten​ @peppermintnight @notebookgirl30​ @2sarvinem @holding-on-to-my-youth​ @mggsprettygirl​ @iifloweringnightsii​ @iidontgiveafuckuniverse​ @mcntsee​

[jeranasblog]

Morgan’s Dad

Hi, I’m back with a new Starker OS. Thank you Starker Asylum for all of your smutty ideas <3 Warnings: Anal Sex and a bit of feminization. Peter is 18 in this!!!

~*~

Peter had a crush on Morgan’s dad since he could remember. Back then, when he had met the girl in preschool, Peter had looked up to her dad because the man drove a cool car and wore fancy suits. As he grew older, Peter’s crush grew as well. He started to admire the man, his ability to care for Morgan as a single dad, and his impressive career as an engineer. One day, Peter wanted to become an engineer as well.

 When Peter turned seventeen, however, his crush started to change. Suddenly, it wasn’t only the brilliance of Morgan’s dad that he looked up to. Suddenly, Peter noticed how perfect the man looked, his strong body, the playful smirk on his lips.

 Peter had just turned eighteen when Morgan invited him to a movie night with her dad. It was the first time Peter saw her dad dressed in casual clothes. A worn-out shirt and thin sweatpants that did nothing to hide how much the man was packing. That’s when the fantasies began.

 Once everything started, Peter couldn’t stop it anymore. Every night he spent at Morgan’s Peter wished that he could crawl in her dad’s bed. He fantasized about what it would feel like to be held down and fucked by the man until he couldn’t walk straight anymore.

 Peter didn’t tell anyone about his crush on Tony Stark. The man was more than twenty years older than him, successful and rich. There was no way he was interested in someone like Peter. For a while, Peter was content keeping his feelings to himself. He watched the man from afar and spent his nights thinking about Tony while he stroked his cock and fingered himself. That was until one day Morgan found out.

 It was already late. They were lying in Morgan’s bed, a respectable distance between them. She had never been uncomfortable being too close to Peter, knowing he wasn’t into girls anyway. Even though both of them were tired, they were still talking way past midnight.

 After a few minutes of comfortable silence, Morgan suddenly spoke up. “I know you’re into him.”

 “Huh?”

 “My dad. I know you want him to fuck you.”

 Peter blushed and he was glad it was too dark for Morgan to see.

 “Not true.”

 She chuckled and Peter could see through the darkness that she was raising her brows. “That’s why you’re staring at his crotch every time he enters the room?”

 Peter’s blush intensified and he was sure not even the dark was protecting him from Morgan finding out anymore. He had never been a good liar, especially if it came to his crush on Tony Stark.”

 “And what if I am? Into him I mean,” Peter asked warily.

 Morgan didn’t answer immediately, choosing her words carefully. “I wouldn’t mind. No, that’s not true. I do mind. I would support you. Peter, I know my dad wants you, he’s looking as much at your ass as you’re looking at his crotch.”

 “He does?” Peter had never noticed before and the thought sent a tingle down his spine.

 “God, Peter. Sometimes you’re really delusional. Yes, he does. I know I should be fighting it, hell, he’s twice your age, but the truth is, I don’t care. Dad hasn’t done anything for himself since mom left us. I just want the two favorite men in my life to be happy.”

 Peter couldn’t stop himself from cooing and hugging his best friend close. She was a real friend and he was glad she was supporting his crush. They talked until the sun was already rising, making plans and discussing their feelings. When they finally fell asleep, Peter had a smile on his face.

  The late-night talk with Morgan changed everything. Suddenly, Peter noticed that Tony was staring at his ass. The man was lowering his gaze almost immediately, shame written on his face, but Peter knew something had been there. Tony wouldn’t act on his feelings if Peter didn’t take the first step.

 In the end, it was Morgan who had the idea. She called her plan ‘seduce Tony Stark’ and Peter blushed as she introduced him to the first steps of her great idea.

 “Just promise me you won’t fuck him anywhere in the house despite his bedroom. And don’t make out in front of me.”

 Peter grinned at her. “I promise. I don’t want to fuck him anyway. I want him to fuck me.”

 Morgan groaned while Peter started to laugh.

  The day Morgan and Peter had picked for their plan to start was a Friday. Usually, Morgan and Tony would have a father-daughter movie night, but it wouldn’t be the first time for Peter to join.

 An hour before Tony would come home, Morgan pulled Peter to her room and they started to get him ready. A tiny bit of lipgloss, a too-short skirt, and a pair of panties Peter had bought in the mall a few days ago. Morgan had told him how much her dad liked men in lingerie. She had accidentally found his porn history when she was younger, and even though the videos had traumatized her younger self, now she was actually glad he had forgotten to delete it.

 When Tony came home from work, Peter was still waiting in Morgan’s room while father and daughter were setting up the living room for a comfortable evening. Pretending to do homework, Peter buried himself in his favorite engineering textbook until Morgan came to tell him they were ready.

 “Don’t do anything before I leave the room,” she threatened and Peter answered with a laugh. Then he followed her into the living room.

  Tony looked perfect sitting on the couch. He wore the thin sweatpants again that didn’t hide the bulk between his legs and emphasized his thick tights. To make it worse, his t-shirt was a size too small, showing off his strong arms, and his hair was disheveled from a long day at work. Peter wanted to crawl onto his lap immediately.

 Instead, he pulled himself together and sat down on the couch next to Tony, close but not too close to be suspicious.

 “Hello, Mr. Stark.”

 Tony’s eyes darkened when his eyes fell on Peter’s outfit and his hands twitched with the need to reach out for Peter. The man’s hungry eyes made Peter squirm and he could feel his cock hardening in the thin fabric of his panties. It was going to be a long night.

 When Morgan sat down, she made sure to take up a lot of space so that Peter was pressed closer against Tony’s body. Peter could feel the heat from the man through his clothes and a small whimper left his lips. Tony had definitely heard him because his gaze darkened further. Before anything could escalate, Morgan started the movie.

 The evening was torture. After a while, Peter had shifted and pulled his legs under his body. He was leaning slightly towards Morgan such that his ass was pushed against Tony’s body. Every time the man moved, Peter could feel pressure against his cheeks, and the skirt rode up further and further until he was barely covered.

 He started to sweat. His dick hardened and he wanted nothing more than to jump the man next to him. Sitting so close to his crush was driving Peter crazy with arousal. He needed to be fucked today, he would do anything necessary to sit on Tony’s cock.

 After half an hour Morgan excused herself. She faked a phone call and disappeared into her room, only to wink at Peter before she left. Thankfully, Tony was too distracted to notice.

 As soon as the door closed behind her, Peter couldn’t hold back anymore. He had waited so long, had imagined so often how it would feel to ride the man’s cock. Before Tony could even react, Peter crawled onto the man’s lap and pressed his entire body against Tony’s. Immediately, a thick bulge was pressed against his ass. Delicious.

 “Peter what are you doing?” Tony’s voice was wavering, so uncommon for the usual cocky man while Peter’s hands pulled up the man’s shirt.

 “What does it look like? Seducing you of course.”

 “But what about Morgan?”

 Peter paused, his hands stopping midway on their mission to get rid of Tony’s shirt, and his brows twitched in confusion.

 “What’s up with Morgan?”

 “Aren’t you two, you know…” Tony didn’t finish his sentence and it took a while for Peter to catch up. As soon as he understood, Peter laughed loudly.

 “I’m gay, Mr. Stark. Morgan is my best friend. Besides…” He leaned closer until his lips were almost grazing Tony’s ear. “She told me to fuck you until you’re smiling again.”

 Peter had expected Tony to be angry with him because he had talked to Morgan about his crush, he expected him to laugh or tell Peter he’s just a child, but apparently, Tony was too far gone to care about anything else but the half-naked man on his lap. He ripped Peter’s clothes from his body until he was wearing nothing but the new pair of panties.

 “You’re such a tease,” Tony growled, his hands wandering across Peter’s body until they finally found their place on Peter’s ass. “Showing off your cute little ass whenever I enter the room. Tell me what you want from me, Peter. Tell me what I should do to you.”

 Peter moaned, Tony’s deep voice sent shivers down his spine and he arched his back to be closer to the man. Big calloused hands stroked his ass, pulling his cheeks apart and slipping between. He would die if Tony didn’t fuck him right now.

 “Need you, Daddy. Need your cock. ‘M feeling so empty.”

 Tony didn’t need to be told twice. He stood up with Peter still clinging to him, one hand under Peter’s ass and the other one buried in his hair. Without even breaking a sweat, Tony carried them to his bedroom while Peter rubbed against him like a bitch in heat. The man’s strength would break him one day.

 Finally lying on Tony’s bed, Peter watched the man as he fumbled for a bottle of lube in his bedside drawer before crawling back between Peter’s legs.

 “Open up for me, baby,” Tony coaxed, his hands pushing Peter’s thighs apart. “Show me your sweet little pussy.”

 With a whimper, Peter arched his back, pressing his ass closer to Tony until he finally felt a thick finger tapping against his hole. Tony didn’t even get the chance to move before Peter pressed his hips against the man’s hand, taking the finger in one stroke. He was used to much thicker things like the dildos he bounced on while he imagined being fucked by Tony. One finger had never been enough and it only made his pathetic whimpering worse.

 “You can’t get enough, can you?” Tony asked while he pressed a second finger inside. “I’ve never seen someone greedier than you. Even a whore doesn’t need it as badly.”

 Peter was too far gone to even try to hold back. He only spread his legs wider, begging for the man’s cock. He wanted so badly to clench around something thick, wanted so badly to bounce on Tony’s length until he was coming untouched.

 When Tony didn’t make an attempt to fuck him anytime soon, Peter stepped up his game. “Fuck me, Daddy. Show me that you belong to me.”

 Just as he had thought, Tony was losing his control immediately. He turned Peter around until he was presenting, his ass raised high while his chest was pressed onto the mattress. With a single thrust, Tony buried himself in Peter’s hole.

 The sensation was maddening. Peter had never been fucked by a cock as huge as Tony’s and he whimpered and cried as Tony started to move in earnest. It was almost embarrassing how fast he was racing towards his orgasm.

 Tony didn’t take it slow. He was hammering into Peter until the boy saw stars and his thighs started to tremble. Every thrust brought Peter closer and closer to the orgasm and it took a single stroke against his prostate for Peter’s world to explode in a thousand colors.

 His hole clenched around Tony’s cock while his cook was shooting his load onto the mattress. There was nothing more that he needed except to be filled and marked as Tony’s.

 “Come inside me, daddy. Fill me up and make me drip your seed for days.”

 Peter wasn’t sure if his words or the desperate clenching of his hole sent Tony over the edge, but as soon as the last spurt of come had left Peter’s cock, Tony filled him up. Being marked and owned felt like he was in heaven and Peter relaxed into the mattress while Tony rode out his orgasm.

 “You’ll be the death of me,” Tony cursed when he finally came down. “One look at your tight little ass and I’m done.”

 Peter smiled and turned around so he could pull Tony into his arms. “I don’t mind, daddy,” he chuckled, a satisfied smile on his face. “As long as you fill me up afterward you can fuck me whenever you want.”

 Tony groaned, but he let himself be pulled into Peter’s arms. Peter immediately knew this wouldn’t be the last time they were going to fuck. This man would be completly his in less than a week.

[miraculouscontent]

Luka confronts Alya for abandoning Mari on Chameleon

Sometimes, Luka hated being perceptive. With how quiet his sister was, he had to learn to read subtle movements, learn a person’s tells, and figure out how to act without pushing any buttons. He liked helping people, so one might think it wasn’t a problem, but it could be hard reading someone’s emotions before they’ve had a chance to really figure it out for themself.

And clearly, Marinette had a lot to figure out.

“So, that’s what happened,” Luka said slowly, piecing together the vague details that she had shared with him.

“Yeah. That’s why I’m sort of…” Marinette fell back and laid on his bed, letting out a sigh. “really exhausted.”

He snorted. That was clearly the reaction she was hoping for, given the way she smiled at him.

“Thanks for letting me relax here for a while.” She rolled onto her side to press her face into his pillow. “My parents usually ask how my day went and I still have to think up what to tell them.”

The, “plus, my friends might show up with Lila,” went unspoken.

“No problem, Marinette.” He strummed a few notes on his guitar. “Juleka’s staying over with Rose, so you can rest for as long as you want.”

She hummed gratefully in response. He didn’t comment on it, but how comfortable she felt around someone not in her class was a huge tell. He loved her company, yet she was such an open book to him that it hurt seeing her like this. Maybe it was the fact that Juleka was so subtle; if he could read her, reading Marinette felt like listening to music at full blast.

The twitch of her eyebrows. The flex of her fingers against his pillow. Heck, the fact that she was in his bed at all like she was ready to be bathed in comfort…

He could only hope he was enough.

“Luka,” a voice suddenly called from the doorway.

Luka turned his head to his mother, who apparently wasn’t at all surprised about the girl currently laying in his bed.

“Got a visitor,” she explained. “She’s lookin’ for the lass here. Glasses, big hair, carries her phone around like—”

“Alya,” Marinette cut in, sitting up a little too quickly. Luka was pretty sure - no, he knew - that she hadn’t caught the disappointment in her own voice.

Luka looked back at his mother again, searching her eyes. Despite her craziness, she was readable in her own way, and he could tell that she hadn’t told Alya anything about Marinette specifically being there; probably mumbled something about “not knowing, but would check,” if Luka had to guess.

Marinette carefully swung her legs off the bed so as not to bump into Luka. “I should—”

Luka’s hand shot up, hastily grabbing her shoulder to stop her. It hadn’t been fully voluntary and she jumped at the gesture in surprise.

“Luka?”

“Do you want me to talk to her?” he offered, his tone calm but with a silent plea that she really consider what he was saying. “You should rest.”

Marinette blinked at him, then tilted her head. She legitimately couldn’t seem to comprehend the concern he had for her, but the way her brows furrowed indicated that she was acknowledging something she hadn’t before.

“…Okay. Thank you.”

Luka was up immediately, handing his mother his guitar as he walked towards the stairs. He heard footsteps coming the other way and wasn’t even halfway up the staircase before he saw Alya stopping at the top when she noticed him.

“Hey,” she greeted with a smile, as if the school day Luka had been told about hadn’t happened. “So, is Marinette here?”

She went to peek past Luka, but he side-stepped. It was only somewhat more voluntary than his earlier motion with Marinette.

Alya recoiled, thrown off by the movement, then raised a brow at him skeptically. “Uh—?”

“I…” Luka paused to consider his wording. “I don’t think you should see Marinette right now.”

“Why not?” she asked, slightly accusatory, the smile long gone since he’d denied her.

Luka supposed that, in a way, he and Alya had something in common. They both sought the truth, whether that was journalistically or emotionally.

The difference, though, was their method of getting there.

“I heard about what happened at school.”

Alya looked confused. “What do you mean? There was—” She glanced away in thought, then back at him again, gaze suddenly suspicious. “What did Marinette tell you?”

He remained calm, not answering. “I’m sure it’s easy to get swept up when someone tells you a lot of amazing things—”

Alya waved him off. “Look, you’ve got it all wrong. Marinette has been after Lila for a long time. Back when Lila first showed up at the school, she gave me an interview about how she was friends with Ladybug, and—what?”

Luka cleared his throat, uncovering his mouth from the snort he’d nearly let out. “Sorry.”

“…Anyway, Marinette saw it and started freaking out when she saw Lila starting to drag away Adrien. Ever since then, she’s been trying to catch Lila in a lie. Lila was getting a lot of attention since she just got back to class and she was sitting next to Adrien before the seats got moved back.”

He didn’t respond at first, not because he had a hard time replying, but rather to let Alya’s own words sink in with her. Finally, he asked, “Do you think that’s all?”

“What?”

“Do you really think Marinette would do that?”

“Oh, do a lot of crazy stuff over Adrien? Definitely.” She leaned in, half-whispering, “I know you haven’t really seen it, but when she’s around Adrien, she goes nuts.”

He thought it best not to point out that, when Adrien had arrived on the Liberty and Marinette hadn’t been under any sort of pressure, the worst she did around Adrien was stutter. “But you think she’d ruin that girl’s reputation, just for Adrien?”

Alya opened her mouth to speak, but seemed to realize how bad it must’ve looked on her to believe that her friend would do something like that. “Well… Marinette can be a little delusional. She doesn’t mean to.”

“And you think she’s lying about everything.” It wasn’t a question. “And that Lila really does know Ladybug?”

“Yeah?” she replied, as if it were obvious. “Marinette didn’t even have any proof when I asked her for it!”

“Did you?” Luka countered, not missing a beat.

She let out something akin to a strangled noise, not expecting to be challenged. After a moment of hesitation, she managed a, “Proof of what?”

She was playing dumb and he wasn’t sure if it was intentional or an unconscious way of protecting herself. “Proof that Lila knew Ladybug.”

Alya’s eyes briefly darted around the area, only returning his gaze when she replied, “She—she had a lot of stories about how great Ladybug was to her and it all sounded amazing! Ladybug’s the best, so of course she’d do all that for Lila! Lila’s really nice. It made total sense!”

Luka tried not to make his deep breath obvious. He didn’t want to look confrontational, but he’d be lying if he said it wasn’t frustrating to hear Alya talk in such a way. He didn’t know her on a personal level, but for someone who was supposed to be Marinette’s “best friend,” he wasn’t impressed.

Maintaining a straight face, he began steadily, “I’m sure it seemed that way.”

Alya sighed. “Not you too. You don’t even know Lila.”

“But I know Marinette,” Luka argued. “I know she likes Adrien, but she wouldn’t do something like that to another person. Lila might’ve given you a lot of hope, but that’s just what plays well. Maybe she did actually do a few of the things she’s telling everyone, but not all of them.” He paused for effect. “I know Jagged never had a cat for her to save.”

She shook her head. “So you’re saying I should just… not believe anything Lila says now?”

“No,” Luka replied, a little more firmly now that he could see how little she was getting it, “but Marinette deserves to be treated at least as well as you treat Lila. Why does Marinette need proof when Lila didn’t have any either?”

Alya looked hurt at that. “Because—it’s Marinette who’s the jealous one,” she retorted, clearly grasping. “Lila didn’t do anything.”

“Alya,” he began, “you didn’t mean to hurt Marinette, right? Of course you didn’t, but you sent her to the back of the classroom, alone.”

“I sat with her later!”

“Later,” he echoed. “But it doesn’t matter what you play when the concert’s already over. You were still okay with her sitting in the back and you asked her for proof when Lila didn’t have any. Do you know how that must’ve made Marinette feel?”

Alya didn’t respond, the fight seeming to leave her. She broke eye contact with him, now staring at the space connecting the floor to the wall. Her mouth twitched, gaze still sharp even if not as certain as before. “You’re pretty invested here,” she huffed.

Luka couldn’t tell if he was being judged or not. “Because you’re Marinette’s best friend. I don’t want to see your friendship broken up over a lie.”

Alya opened her mouth, hesitating, but her eyes darted to the side to look past him before she’d said anything. Luka turned, seeing Marinette standing there, staring at the both of them.

“Marinette,” he whispered. He turned to see Alya’s reaction, but the footsteps started and she was already running off. He decided to pay her no mind, instead walking down the stairs to meet with Marinette.

Already, he felt bad. He’d probably talked Alya down far longer than necessary, but he supposed there was still that protective instinct inside of him, courtesy of being Juleka’s big brother. Regardless, it was no excuse to meddle.

“Sorry. I know I should’ve asked you first. I didn’t want to get between you two, but you were so tired—”

A soft gasp left his mouth in place of words as Marinette stepped forward and hugged him. Out of all the reactions he thought she might have, that wasn’t one of them.

“Thank you,” she murmured against his chest. Giving him a squeeze, she sighed and added, “You were right. I really needed that—um… rest.”

He relaxed, then smiled, knowing exactly what she meant. Gently grabbing her shoulders to half-return the hug, he assured, “It’s no problem, Marinette. You deserve it.”

Her cheeks were a cute pink when she looked up at him, eyes fond. She smiled back at him, asking, “Can I listen to you practice for a little longer?”

He hummed, already hearing his mother making sure his guitar was tuned in the other room. “Of course.”

She held his hand on the way there.

[nataliedanovelist]

GF - Can’t Stand It

For @ho-ne-ye.

~~~~~~~~~~

Stan was having a bad day. Well, a bad week. Scratch that, a bad month.

It was March, a beautiful time out in the Arctic. For several weeks the Stan twins hardly ever saw the sun or didn’t see it at all. Closer to the holidays they traveled down south to Northern Europe, exploring the United Kingdom and the Northern Islands in order to enjoy daylight, but now that Summer was approaching and Spring was on their side, the Stan O’ War II was moving up to sail above Canada, breaking melting ice and meeting new creatures.

Today they had stumbled across an island covered in woods. The twins had docked to enjoy stable land, but of course it didn’t take long for them to stumble into trouble when they explored the island. Something about trespassing, Stan may or may not have been magically transformed into a small and cute version of himself, but then turned back to normal by a knocked-over potion. It was all a blur, and it all ended with Stan and Ford being tied together hanging over a raging fire as the clan of seal-people with war paint danced around them and singing a weird song.

Enough was enough. With a knife slipped out of a boot and a few left and right hooks, Ford and Stan managed to get away, now being chased by the angry clan and flying arrows. Stan dove on top of Ford to shield his brother from an arrow and they both scurried to their feet and ran deeper into the woods, heading for the beach, but their path was blocked by a giant monster, a half-spider, half-scorpion kind of creature with eight legs, pinchers, a sharp tail, four red eyes, and an angry kiss as it’s hairs vibrated.

Ford shot at it with his ray gun and that only made it angry. It dove for the six-fingered scientist, but Stan shoved him out of the way and soon Stan was thrown back to a tree and made very little attempts to get back up.

“STANLEY!” Ford cried out and shot at the monster again, this time hitting it in the eye. Temporarily blinded and distracted, Ford was about to grab a nearby spear thrown by a villager, pierce the monster, and leave it to bleed to death as he ran to his brother and knelt in front of him. “Stanley! Stanley, can you hear me? Are you hurt?”

“M’fine, m’fine,” The old sailor mumbled as he blinked a few times. “Just lemme catch my breath…”

Ford noticed how he had a hand to his side. He gently prided it away and was horrified to find blood. The monster must have pierced Stan. In one swift motion the eldest by fifteen minutes scooped Stan up and began to carry him to the shore. “You’ll be okay. I’ll fix you up, I can fix this.”

His brother grunted in response, his hands loosely over his wound, but Stan was losing his strength. Ford then noticed a bead of blood dripping down the back of Stan’s neck; he must have also hit his head perfectly on the tree. Ford swallowed, making his Adam’s apple bobble, and he firmly instructed, “Stay with me, Stanley. Don’t go to sleep. You might have a concussion.”

“M’tired.” He muttered in his twin’s chest. They were close, so close to home. Ford’s boots crushed the sand beneath them.

“Stanley Pines, stay with me!” Ford shouted, ignoring the way his brown eyes stung.

“Why should I?”

Ford’s heart threatened to stop. Stan’s voice had been so quiet that he had nearly missed it, but the old scientist heard every word. The wounds didn’t look that bad, Stan would be fine, he was too tough to be taken down by some pathetic monster like that, but the fact that Stan was even considering…

“Wh-Why?!” Ford repeated, mortified by his brother’s delusional question. “Why?! Because I need you! Don’t you dare think about giving up on me, Stanley, don’t you dare! C-Come on, d-d-don’t you wanna see Dipper and Mabel again? Don’t you wanna see Soos marry that Melody girl?”

Stan’s breathing was shallow against his twin’s blue jacket. “You’d be better off…”

“NO!” Ford screamed as he saw the boat farther along the beach. He broke into a faster run. “No, we wouldn’t! I swear! Stay with me, we’re almost there!”

But Stan wasn’t answering. He was very quiet. And a bit limp in Ford’s hold.

“Stanley?! Stanley! Lee! Lee, don’t you dare give up! Don’t you dare leave me, please! I… I can’t do it!” He shut his eyes at the thought and let tears flow down his cheeks as he climbed up onto the Stan O’ War II. “I can’t lose you again. Please, don’t make me.”

~~~~~~~~~~

It wasn’t fair.

Stan should be perfectly fine, he should be happy. He got his brother back, he had a real family for the first time in forty years, he was living out his dream with his best friend. He wasn’t alien to feeling this cruddy about himself, but at least back then he had something to work towards, something to keep him going, and something to distract him from the voices in his head. But now his thoughts were more apparent now more than ever before and they wouldn’t go away.

The fact remained that everyone would be better off without Stan. He was a mistake, the screw-up, a criminal, a con-artist, a dirty sailor, a worthless heap of flesh. No one really wanted him around, and the people who did would soon get sick of him. Dipper and Mabel called them less and less (which to be fair they have been very busy with exams on the way). And even if it was Ford’s idea to go sailing, how long would it be before he changed his mind? Or had he really meant what he said? Or had he only said what he said because he felt guilty?

No. There was no changing the old man’s mind. Everyone would be better off without him.

He walked down the dock with his hands in the pocket of his brown trenchcoat, his boots clicking against the wood gently. It was bright and shiny and beautiful without it hurting his eyes or requiring sunglasses over his regular glasses. The sun glistened on the water and a soft breeze made him comfortable. The only odd thing was that there was only one boat.

A small boat, actually. It had a sail, like their dream boat as kids, with a cabin down in the bunkers. It was plain and clean and new, with a golden pole and rims on the windows. On it sat a young lady, about early-twenties, with short blonde hair. She was odd, wearing a white Hawaiian shirt with golden palm leaves, white shorts, and had a golden watch on her wrist as she filed her nails, reminding Stan of a secretary from high school. This girl was sitting on the boat with her legs crossed, sporting white sneakers, and hummed a familiar tune, though Stan couldn’t pinpoint it.

The girl glanced up at him, put her eyes back on her work, and called, “You coming?”

Stan shrugged, his hands still in his pockets. “Depends. Where you going, sweetie?”

“Well I’m hoping to grant a handsome sailor his wish, but it’s whatever.” The woman said as she held up her hand to look at her nails boringly.

Stan smiled cockily. “Oh yeah, how so?”

“You think everyone would be better off without you, right?” The woman stood and gestured to her boat. “Wanna see for yourself?”

Stan blinked. Okay this was weird. Was he on TV? He shook his head like a wet dog and scratched next to his red beanie. “Uh… ‘cuse me?”

“You heard me. Wanna see if you’re right?”

“How are you gonna show me if I’m right or not?” Stan asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

The woman sighed as she glanced at her watch. “Look, I don’t have a lot of time, so here’s how it’s gonna go. I’m gonna go sailing to a timeline in which you were never born. Ford never had a twin, Caryn and Filbrick only had two sons, et cetera and et cetera. Then we can talk about where we’ll go from there. But whether you’re coming or not, this boat is leaving in thirty seconds.”

Stan looked away from the woman, down at the sea crashing against the dock gently. This didn’t make any sense. This was like something out of a cheesy movie. He didn’t have to go with this girl and see a world without him in it, but it might answer some of his questions. He just wasn’t sure if he would get the answers he wanted. Oh well, it’s not like he had anything better to do.

“Ten seconds.”

“Alright, I’ll bite.” Stan shrugged and climbed up on board. “Set sail, Ms… Hey, what’s your name, anyways?”

“You can call me Honey.”

“Okay, Honey…”

“Oh my God, he called me honey…”

“Wait wut?”

“Time to go!” The woman grinned for the first time, a sly foxy smile with sparkling eyes and beautiful lips curled upward. She stood from her seat, pulled her sail loose, and it suddenly jetted across the sea so fast it threw Stan back and he had to catch himself from falling into the ocean, meanwhile the girl in all white stood perfectly calm.

“So, where we going?”

“I told you,” Honey said calmly. “We’re gonna go see what it would've been like if you had never been born.”

“Yeah, but where?”

“First stop, Gravity Falls.” The sea around them was fading into woods and trees and dirt, and soon the bot came to such a sudden stop that Stan was thrown to the other side and sat his head on a pinetree, growling as he stood up straight on the sailboat and rubbed his forehead.

Stan looked around and recognized the woods. Yup, this was definitely Gravity Falls, but… something was off. It was gray and cloudy overhead. And they were in front of a big open patch of woods Stan had never seen before.

“What is this place?” Stan asked as he hopped off the sailboat in the mud.

“Gravity Falls.”

“I know that! I mean… I’ve never been here before.”

“Yes you have.” The woman said as she got off her ride and stood beside the old sailor. “You lived here for thirty years in another timeline.”

Stan’s eyes widened. “No… Is this where the Mystery Shack’s supposed to be?”

“You got it.”

“But…” Stan was racking his brain, thinking. “What, did Ford never come here? Cuz he went to that West Coast Tech school he never came here?”

“Nope. Ford never moved to Gravity Falls, which means no Mystery Shack.”

“I always thought there’d be a big mansion here or something.” Stan shrugged and said, “Okay, so there’s no rundown tourist trap. Big deal.”

“Eh, so you think.” Honey started to walk into the woods, giving no invitation for Stan to follow, making it easier for the conman to do so. “Do you remember what this town was like before the Shack?”

Stan shrugged with his hands in the pocket of his trenchcoat. “Not much. Just a bunch of paranoid weirdos who needed a good laugh.”

They emerged from the woods and Stan gasped at the town. It was even more worn down and cheap than it had been when Stan came thirty years ago. Broken windows were boarded up, pavement was cracked, and either ketchup or blood was splattered here and there.

“Whoa hey, what happened?” Stan asked as they left the woods and walked through the town, shouts and coughs being heard in the distance. “I know this place is a dump, but not this much of a dump.”

“Stan, do you really think your business was the only one to succeed due to the tourists coming in?” The woman in white asked. “What about the motels? Diners like Greasy’s? Stores and gas stations? All those out-of-state tourists didn’t just give money to the Shack. You’d be surprised how much one tourist trap helps the economy of one struggling town.”

“Okay, sure, but there’s no way the Shack helped out the town this much.” Stan argued, gesturing around them lazily.

“No, you’re right. Really, the town didn’t hit hard times until about five years ago.”

“Why…”

Screeching tires interrupted the old man. He and Honey watched as a very nice, rich-looking pick-up truck spun around the corner and came to a sudden stop in front of a grocery store. Stan’s jaw dropped to the pavement as he watched someone he barely recognized get out of the passenger’s seat.

Soos had a black baseball cap on backwards, wearing a cold, spiky, black-leather jacket, torn jeans, and a gothic, graphic t-shirt. His eyes were so cold and menacing, he seemed a bit taller due to holding himself up with so much pride, and when he snapped his fingers and pointed to the grocery store, five guys emerged from the truck and raided it like it was the end of the world.

“S-Soos?!” Stan gasped. “Soos, what are you doing?!” But he was ignored.

“No one can see or hear us, Stanley.” Honey said as they watched Soos’ gang drag a cashier out by her long hair and began to pumble her just because they could. Soos did nothing to stop it, even smiled a little as the girl screamed for help.

“I don't get it… Soos is a good kid! He’d never hurt a fly! Why in Moses’ name is he…” Stan couldn’t finish the sentence. He was frighteningly reminded of the Colombian gang he was once under.

“Oh, c'mon sweetie, connect the dots. Who do you think taught Soos to be a good kid?”

“His abuelita did.”

The woman chuckled and shook her head. “She tried, but as he got older it really began to hurt that his dad didn’t wanna be around him. And cuz you weren’t there to tell him otherwise… let’s just say high school never happened for him.”

“What?!”

“He dropped out of school in the eighth grade and joined a small gang outside of town. Eventually he made his way up the ranks and now his little gang terrorized the bottom half of Oregon.”

“B-But why?! All cuz I wasn’t there?” Stan asked, shaking his head. “There’s no way…”

“Stanley, who do you think taught him that he was worth something? Who taught him how to stand up for himself and give bullies left hooks? Who had him put all of his energy into hard work?”

Stan stared at his pretty tour guide. There was no way Stan did all that, no way. Sure, he liked the kid a lot, but he never actually thought he impacted Soos’ life this much. Stan looked back at this horrible version of Soos as his gang loaded the car with food and cash and they sped off, leaving the woman to bleed on the sidewalk and wipe the blood from her lips.

“C’mon,” Honey said and gestured onward. “We’ve got more people to see.”

“Okay so,” Stan followed her and racked his brain. Surely somebody benefited from him not being alive. “What about Wendy? Is she still around?”

“Nope. Without you to give her a job here in town, she had to move upstate to her cousin’s lodge, remember? She had to leave all of her friends behind and she was miserable. Still is, actually. Very quiet gal. Doesn’t say or do much.”

“Wendy? Quiet? I don’t believe you.”

The woman opened a door to a shop, but instead of the inside of the building they saw a black-haired Wendy sitting on her bed in her new room, criss-crossed, holding her pillow as she listened to depressing heavy metal.

Stan winced. “Yikes. She turned into a real Robbie.”

“That kid joined Soos’ gang, BTW.” The woman said as she closed the door.

Stan was having a hard time buying the idea that nobody actually got some good out of him not being around. "Wh-What about that lil' troll? Gideon?"

Honey snorted and led the way through town. As they walked, Stan was having a hard time buying this scenario. There was no way he made this much of a difference. Okay, sure, if he not being alive meant Ford never moved to Gravity Falls, and that meant Gravity Falls changed a bit, Stan could understand that, but there was no way this town turned for the worst all because Stan wasn’t there. There was no way the screw-up actually made things better. Right?

“Here we are.” The woman said to snap Stan out of his thoughts.

The car dealership looked mostly the same. A little more run-down, sure, and there was no Tent of Telepathy in sight, but Bud still wore that stupid straw hat with a baby-blue Hawaiian shirt and tan pants, but he didn’t look quite right, either. Heavy bags were under his eyes, looking a bit more like his wife, and the little bit of hair he had was graying a bit too early. He waved his customer goodbye with a smile, but the second they were gone he sighed tiredly and was frightened by a window being shattered by a rock.

“DADDY! GET OVER HERE!”

“Oh, boy.” Bud steadied himself and went back to the house.

“Hey, how come the little jerk’s business isn’t booming?” Stan asked, more interested as to why his biggest competitor wasn’t flourishing in a town that needed someone to believe in. “He’d do great here! He could’ve used his little camera to tell people when S-... when the gang was gonna strike, or…”

“Stanley, sweetie, how do you think Gideon started that tent?”

“I dunno, he decided to use his cuteness to get some cash?”

“Not quite. For a few years he was just a bratty kid, but then he found a journal in his playground full of mystical objects, including a magic bow-low tie. It was that journal that made him think of telepathy. Even if he was fake, it was Journal 2 that inspired him.”

“Okay, okay,” Stan held his chin. “So with no me there’s no Ford in Gravity Falls which means no journals which means no Tent of Telepathy. Fine, but the twerp’s gotta be a better person without that spooky book making him think he’s all powerful.”

The woman in white laughed and pointed to the house. “You’d like to think that, wouldn’t you? See for yourself.”

Stan walked up to the broken window and was mortified at the state of the house. Stains everywhere, chipped and torn furniture, cracked walls, torn carpet, and in the midst of it all was a ten-year-old lying on his stomach on the couch, banging his fists and kicking like a toddler as he screamed horribly. Stan winced, but then was completely thrown off to find Gideon’s hair not white and up Dolly Parton-style, but orange and cut short.

“I WANT IT, I WANT IT, I WANT IT!” Gideon screamed as if he was being murdered.

His poor mother was against the wall, holding her heart and breathing heavy; Stan noticed the signs of an anxiety attack.

Bud slowly approached his son and tried to calm him down. “Now, sugar pie, please…” But the human beaver was kicked in the jaw, leaving a bruise and making him bite his lip so hard he bled. Bud held his mouth as Gideon continued to scream.

“I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! YOU NEVER GIMME ANYTHANG I WANT! WHY YA HAVE TO BE SO STUPID?!”

“Yikes, how did not being possessed by a freaky journal make him worse?” Stan asked Honey as they walked away from the house. “I don’t get it.”

“Sure, Gideon wasn’t the best kid before the journal, but at least with the journal he had something to work towards, something to put all of his energy into, and he also had you.”

“M-Me?”

“Don’t you remember the first time you met him?”

“Yeah, he took my parking spot with that stupid van.”

“Actually, you met once before.” Honey chuckled as they walked back into the woods. “You were both at the grocery store when he was four. He was with his mom, bouncing in the buggy and demanding for candy. She gave in just to keep him quiet and tuned to pick some milk. You were across the aisle, picking orange juice, when Gideon dropped his chocolate bar while trying to open it. You noticed the candy and the boy making grabby hands at you and the candy, but you grinned, said ‘no’ firmly, picked up the chocolate…”

“... and ate it right in front of him!” Stan laughed. “I had forgotten… I didn’t know that was Gideon! I thought that was just some spoiled brat.”

“Well, it was. You were the first and only person who ever told that boy ‘no’, the only person who really challenged him and pushed him. Thanks to you, he channeled his anger and energy into trying to take you and the Shack down. But without you around to push him, he had no way to get his energy out, except his parents.”

Stan looked down at the dirt and they stopped walking for a second. “This… This doesn’t make any sense.”

“How so?”

“I’m just a screw-up!” Stan argued as he looked back up at the woman. “I’m the twin no one wanted! I’m just some loser of a conman! It doesn’t make sense that a guy like that could… it… there’s gotta be somebody to benefitted from me not existing! What about Lazy Susan? With no Mystery Shack that means no lazy eye, right?”

“Actually, Soos’ gang raided the diner and it ended badly when Susan stood up to them.” Honey winced. “She ended up not only losing her job, but her eye, too.”

Stan swore under his breath. “Fine… What about that McGucket dude? His life’s gotta be better than living at the dump with his mind all jacked up.”

The woman shrugged and led the way deeper into the woods. “Barely. C’mon, we’re going to Tennessee.”

Stan followed the mysterious tour guide back to the sailboat and this time properly braced himself for the sudden speed. Very suddenly they were racing along the sea, colors swirling by them, until they stopped very suddenly on a river. Stan’s jaw dropped to see a huge, beautiful mansion up on the hill by the river. The woman parked the sailboat by the dock and they started to walk up to the rich house, passing a weeping willow with a stone bench with a big crack in the middle.

“This is McGucket’s place?” Stan clarified.

“You got it, genius.” Honey gestured to the six horse stables, the lush garden, all of the nice cars and wagons, and at just how huge and nice and rich the mansion was. “Fiddleford still went to Backupsmore and met his wife, Emma May, and with no Ford to ask for help on a portal, Fiddleford became the inventor of not only person computers, or what’s commonly called laptops, he became the founder of the largest tech company in the country, Berri.”

The woman reached into her pocket and pulled out one of those smartphones the kids had, except the back had a little strawberry with a bite in it. “They went on to invent the first cell phone, BerriWatch, and right now they’re testing a self-driving car. Fiddleford found himself with more money than he knew what to do with and after he built his family their dream home, which by the way is the richest house in Tennessee, he simply expanded his company and made historical international deals. He’s also made huge donations to small run-down towns, like the one he grew up in, to create jobs and try to help out their economies.”

“Cool, okay, see.” Stan said with a smile, impressed by this hillbilly’s success. “One person got a good deal from me not being around.”

Honey rocked her hand side to side and led the way around the mansion, walking alongside the clear open space, passing the weeping willow and bench to move around the hill. “Just cuz he was successful doesn’t mean he was better off. Don’t forget, Fiddleford was never the greatest at handling his stress well. He invented that Memory Gun because Ford accidentally inspired him to, saying scientists have a way of creating solutions to their problems. So with no way to forget his stress and anxiety, Fiddleford drank to forget how worried he was about losing his company if he made a bad deal or if his newest invention or work or if he was putting out a good public face.”

“No.” Stan shook his head. “That goody two-shoes? No way.”

“Hey, he grew up around moonshine, he just couldn’t get his hands on it when he was living at the dump.” The woman shrugged and they came upon a stone pathway and walked down it to a small flower garden that formed a circle. “Anyways, Fiddleford was never violent, thank goodness, but he was drunk more than he was sober. He should be happy, with a wife and son and booming business to boot, but he wasn’t. He fell into depression and drank until he ended up here.”

Stan looked ahead and felt the wind get knocked out of him. There was a flat tombstone in the middle of the circle of flowers. He knew what was on there, but he still slowly approached to read what the stone said. “Fiddleford H. McGucket. 1956-2011. The angels now sing a whisky lullaby.”

Stan backed away, backing up farther than the woman was, shaking his head and even punching his forehead as he tried to think. “This… This doesn’t make any sense! Their lives were supposed to get better without me, not worse!”

“Stanley…”

“The kids!” Stan gasped and looked up at Honey. “Where are the kids?!”

The woman looked sober and she gestured back to the sailboat to go to their next stop. “Back in California.”

Stan was anxious the whole trip, though it only took a minute to get where they were going, but soon they were on the side of the road in front of a middle school. Stan watched on the boat as the bell rang and kids started pouring out. He kept his eyes peeled for his kids and he grinned at the sight of two brown-haired twins.

Dipper wore a long-sleeved blue flannel over his orange t-shirt to go with his gray pants. He still had bags under his eyes and he still had that lucky star hat to hide his birthmark, slouching a little with his backpack, but he was still here, a brilliant thirteen-year-old. Stan was a bit worried to see him looking so down and upset, but both men soon smiled as a young girl skipped out of the school.

Mabel had her long hair up with a scrunchie today and kept back with a headband, still wearing her sweaters, today wearing leggings with her skirt, and she grinned at her twin and punched his shoulder before hugging him. “Hey bro bro! Wanna go to the arcade today? I hear they got some new prizes!”

“Sure, sounds fun.”

“There, you see.” Stan sighed with relief as he watched the kids walk down the sidewalk, passing the boat. “They’re fine, they’re happy. They still got each other.”

Just then, some big buy came around the corner and bumped elbows with Dipper, making Stan’s nephew stop, and the bully shoved him onto the concrete.

“Dipper!” Mabel cried out and looked ready to punch the bully, but a guy came up behind her and grabbed her around the arms, pinning her. Another guy joined the bully and they cracked their knuckles as they gazed down at their prey.

“If it isn’t the best punching bag in town.” The bully sneered. “Feel like fighting back today, Dipstick. It’s no fun having a sparring partner that doesn’t fight back.”

Dipper growled and made a flimsy attempt to stand and punch his opponent, but the bully grabbed his wrist and punched him in the gut and kicked him down, leaving poor Dipper to huddle on the sidewalk while the two bullies hammered on him and Mabel fought to be free and help but was powerless against her capture.

“HELP! HELP! SOMEONE HE-” And Mabel’s mouth was covered, but she still wiggled and screamed.

Stan couldn’t watch anymore. He had purposely waited to give the kids a chance to fight back, but sometimes you just need a little help. “I’M COMING!”

“Stanley!”

Stan jumped off the boat and ran to the kids to pull the bully off his niece and scoop her into his arms, but his arms went right through them. He frantically tried to shove the bullies off his nephew, but again his body went right through them, like he was a ghost.

The woman stood by his side and said calmly, “I told you, no one can see or hear or feel us.”

“I can’t just stand by and do nothing!” Stan yelled at her face.

“Why not? Everyone else has. No one had ever taught them how to fight back when the world fights them, except…”

“Me.” Stan finished for her with a sigh. He made himself watch as the bullies continued to beat Dipper up, finally stopping after the ring leader kicked him in the jaw, and Mabel was let go as they ran off to celebrate their victory.

Mabel crawled to her twin’s side and checked over his injuries as he carefully sat on his knees. “Dipper! Dipper, are you okay? What hurts? Show me what hurts.”

“Ow, ow, ow,” He whined as Mabel touched his swollen eyes and busted lips. Dipper spat out a tooth and held his chest. “I think… I think they cracked a rib.”

“Let’s go home.” Mabel carried his backpack for him and had him lean on her as they wimped onward. “Mom can look at it and take you to the hospital.”

“I don’t get it.” Stan said as he watched his kids walk away. “They’re good kids! Isn’t anyone gonna stand up for them?! What about their parents?! What about their friends?!”

“They don’t have any friends.” Honey said sadly as they watched the twins. “The only friends they had ever made were in Gravity Falls, which they had never visited cuz there was no family there. And Shermie taught your nephew to keep your head down to stay out of trouble, which he’s trying to teach his kids. Unfortunately, it isn’t working out for them, and what used to be bad nicknames and gum in their hair has escalated to fights and notes to kill themselves.”

Stan bit his lip. Not those kids. Not his kids. He wanted to believe things would get better for them, but if no one taught them that they were worth something, that they could stand up for themselves, he didn't have much hope and he didn’t dare ask what their future looked like. But something didn’t sit right…

“Shermie,” He muttered without looking at the woman, still looking ahead. “Y-You said he taught his kid to keep his head down.”

“I did.”

“Why would he do that?” Stan asked. “I mean, sure he’s always been a lame square, but that’s really bad advice, even for him. He taught me and… He taught Ford to stand up for himself. Crampelter was terrified for weeks when Shermie found out he had been breaking Ford’s fingers.”

“He and Ford didn’t see much of each other.” Honey answered quietly.

Something clicked in Stan’s head. While all of this was interesting or whatever, there was only one person that Stan truly believed was better off without him. His better half, the genius, the loved son, the author of the journals, the criminal of the multiverse. His brother. Stan turned to her and asked quietly, “Where’s Ford?”

For the first time, the woman looked scared. She looked away and said, “You don’t wanna know.”

“Yes I do!” Stan bellowed and grabbed the woman by the shoulders. “Please! Where’s my brother?!” This gal had been scaringly quiet about the one person Stan cared the most about.

“Don’t do this to yourself, Stanley, let’s just get back on the boat…”

“Only if you take me to see my brother! Where. Is. Stanford?!” Stan demanded darkly, his eyes pleading the woman to make his request.

The woman sighed and Stan let her go.

They slowly got on the boat and it zipped to the docks of Glass Shard. Stan blinked a few times at being back to where he grew up for the first time in forty years. Dark clouds covered the sky. Not much had changed throughout the years, but why on Earth was Ford still here? They hopped off and planted their feet on the sand, and Honey led the way as she spoke.

“Stanford was still born with six fingers on each hand. Your mother tried to assure him that it only made him special, but Filbrick did a good job of making it clear that that wasn’t the case, and things only got worse when he went to school. You weren’t there to beat up bullies, you weren’t there to tell him that he was special, you weren’t there to help him dream of a future where they would sail away and he’d be free.”

“Yeah but Ford was always a little genius.” Stan interrupted as they left the sand for dirt, the beach slowly turning into a small patch of woods. “He’d win a handful of science fairs and spelling bees and then at least Pa was okay with acknowledging that they were related.”

“But Stanford didn’t win a handful of science fairs and spelling bees.” Honey corrected sadly. “Stanley, you were the only person in his childhood that made him think that he was actually worth something. You were the only one who made him shoot for the stars and believe that he was worth keeping around. Without you to give him confidence, Stanford never expressed his intelligence and therefore never allowed it to grow at all. He did okay in school, but he wasn’t the top student. He never participated in science fairs of sleeping bees or math competitions because he didn’t have enough confidence to put himself out there. Sure he was smart, but teachers weren't going bananas over him because no one, not even himself, knew his potential.”

It started to rain, but of course the two didn’t feel it or were affected by it. “So… he didn’t go to West Coast Tech?” Stan dared to ask as they walked deeper down the dirt path, oblivious to where they were as he was thinking this through.

“No.”

“But… I thought you said he did.”

“No, I said he never moved to Gravity Falls. He never felt home.”

“So… what happened to him? What did Ford end up doing with his life?”

Honey bit his lip and refused to meet Stan’s eye. They walked on and Stan finally realized where they were. He felt ready to throw up. He waited for his guide to speak.

“Much like Dipper and Mabel, things only got worse as he got older. He got to a point where Stanford was stealing Filbrick’s boos and he even started to hurt himself. It wasn’t enough. It was all too much for him. He… He…”

“No.” Stan’s voice cracked and he was terrified when the woman stopped and motioned to a tombstone that laid among the others in this graveyard. “No! You’re lying! He wouldn’t! He didn’t!” He yelled.

“I’m sorry, Stanley.”

Stan finally made himself read the rock. He fell to his knees at the words that shined through the rain. “Stanford Filbrick Pines. 1956-1970.”

“NO!” Stan screamed and punched the ground beneath him as he gritted his teeth and shut his eyes. “NO! HE WOULDN’T! HE DIDN’T!”

“Ma found him dangling from the ceiling. She was never the same after losing her baby.” Honey croaked. “He was only fourteen.”

“NO!” Stan shook his head as he ignored how wet his cheeks and eyes were now. “NO! He… He… He never needed me. He never wanted me around.”

“Yes he did.”

“You’re lying.”

“Stanley, listen.” The woman said firmly behind him. “You said it yourself that family needs each other. I know it’s hard to believe that you’re actually worth something when there’s a dozen voices in your head telling you otherwise, but just like how you need them, your family needs you. Your brother needs you.”

Stan listed his fists up from the dirt, his eyes on the tombstone without seeing. “I… I just thought he’d be… they’d be better off I hadn’t been around.”

“No one knows for sure how they change things or how much they really impact others. But you do. And even if you forget all of this, you know your family loves you enough to tell you that they need you.”

Stan snorted. “Yeah, but what’s keeping them from saying that outta pity?”

“You can’t let yourself think like that, Stanley, you just can’t.” Honey said firmly. “Your family loves you. Stanford loves you. He needs you, and if you don’t believe me, just take a look at what he’s like when you’re gone.”

“Wait what?”

Honey got on her knees beside him and showed him her golden watch. The face changed to a scene, like a tiny TV, and Stan started to find Ford back at the Stan O’ War II, kneeling beside his injured twin who laid more dead than alive on the couch. With tears streaming down his face Ford was wrapping a bandage around Stan’s head and feeling his heartbeat and checking that the bandages around his torso were well and secure.

“Stanley, Stanley please,” Ford begged as he took Stan’s hand and squeezed it. “Please don’t leave me. I need you, the kids need you. Please.”

“Whoa hey, I’m not going anywhere.” Stan said, but then his eyes grew wide and he looked up at Honey. “Am I?”

“I dunno.” She asked as she lowered her arm and smiled at him. “Do you wanna go?”

“Go where?”

Honey chuckled. “On.”

Stan blinked at her. “No. No, I don’t. If… If that knucklehead really wants me around, then I’ll stay.”

Honey blinked her eyes dry and stood up. “That’s what I like to hear. I’ll get you home.”

Stan stood up and followed her back to the boat. “By the way, honey, why’d you do all this for me? What, wanted to earn your wings?”

“No, this was pure self-indulgent.”

“Wait wut?”

~~~~~~~~~~

His head hurt. His side ached a little, but his head really hurt. That didn’t matter. He had no idea why, but he had to see his brother.

Stan forced his eyes open and found his vision blurry thanks to his glasses being folded on the end table. He smiled when he saw that Ford had fallen asleep by his side, kneeling beside the couch, holding his hand, and resting his head face-first into his own folded arms. Outside it was dark, which could mean it was seven in the morning of seven at night, given the fact they were up in the Arctic.

The younger, injured twin, snorted at his brother, which made the aged scientist sit up too quickly for it to be wise, wide awake, with his hair in a gray floof and his red eyes wide and alert.

“Stanley! Thank Moses!” He cried out and stood up to better look over him. “How do you feel? Any pain? How many fingers am I holding up?”

“Calm down, Sixer,” Stan chuckled weakly as he slowly tried to sit up, sensitive to the wound on his side. “My head hurts, but I’ll be fine with some painkillers, and you’re holding up two fingers like some dumb hippy.”

“Oh, thank goodness!” Ford hugged him around his shoulders tightly as his whole body trembled. “I know you showed no signs of a concussion and your wound is not nearly as bad as it could have been, but i didn’t know for sure if you would pull through or what I would do without you and…”

“Geez, relax, it’s okay, Stanford.” Stan shushed as he hugged him and rubbed his back. “M’fine, okay? I’m not going anywhere.”

“Good.” Ford said firmly and sat back, a hand still on his shoulder. “Don’t you ever think for a second that I don’t want you here with me, Stanley. I need you.”

“Yikes, where’s all this sappiness coming from, eh?”

Ford blinked at his twin and said slowly, “Y-You said you thought I’d be better off without you…”

Stan waved that away. “Ah, you say stupid stuff when you hit your brain too hard. I swear, Sixer, you’re stuck with me, as long as you’ll have me, anyways. Somebody’s gotta make sure you don’t kill yourself out here.”

Ford chuckled tiredly and shrugged. “I suppose you’re right.”

“I’m always right. Now do we have any stew left? I’m starving.”

[polar534]

Jersey Stealing Pt.2

Well. You all need to stop liking my stuff. It only encourages me. Anyways, Jersey Stealing is now at a 4 parter so I lied before apparently. I just got done writing part 3 so I’ll post the second part here now! Honestly it’s the most boring of the 4... so... apologies. I’ve said too many numbers now.

Also eventually I’ll learn how tumblr works and actually just... make a master post... or like link back to previous parts. Ah... dreams. Anyways, we meet a new character today. Apologies in advance, this do be the boring part out of the bunch.

***

“Ms. Noceda?”

“Can you tell me about Luz’s classmates?”

The dish dropped from the woman's hands. The sound of it clattering back into the sink echoed throughout the quiet house.

“I’m sorry!” Amity yelped as the sharp sound caused her to wince.

Camilla turned around quickly, holding up her hands with a smile on her face.

“No, no. It’s fine.” Camilla reassured her gently. “The last time I was asked that, it wasn't a pleasant talk.”

“So, it’s not good then.” Amity sank deeper into her seat at the kitchen table.

In all honesty, there was a part of her that already knew that the truth wasn't pretty. It was the same part that caused a painful twist of her heart whenever her girlfriend 'shut down'.

Camilla sighed. She reached over to the counter and grabbed a towel, drying her hands as she sat down on the opposite end of the small table.

"Well, I'm sure I don't need to tell you this but Luz has always been..."

"Odd." Amity finished for her.

The older lady nodded and suddenly the bags under her eyes seemed to darken. Camilla Noceda looked tired.

"At first, it wasn't such a big deal. Every little child starts off 'odd'." Camilla chuckled. "But eventually all the other kids grew up, while Luz's imagination grew wild."

Amity clenched her fists. She knew where this story was going. Knew how easy of a target a girl like Luz was. After all, it wasn't too long ago that she would jump on the 'odd' ones at school.

"She began to make her classmates feel... uncomfortable. Those who didn't go out of their way to avoid her, lashed out, especially because my daughter doesn't exactly know how to take no for an answer."

"That's an understatement." Amity laughed softly as Camilla cracked a small smile.

"Every school we tried her in had it's own problems. Eventually I think Luz finally understood how the other kids felt about her. That was about when we found a school that seemed to work... but of course there were still problems. And there was also Bryce."

Amity's ears twitched. Bryce? Camilla must've noticed her confusion as the older lady lifted her glasses and rubbed her nose tiredly.

"Bryce was, or rather is, a mean kid who thinks he deserves the world. And because he is the 'star athlete' of the school and is well liked by all the teachers... he usually gets it."

Guilt began to twist in Amity's heart. This sounded all too familiar.

"Him and Luz always got into it. He was the only person who ever managed to bother her. Everyone else she simply... ignored."

Camilla sighed heavily and looked at the table. Amity could tell it bothered her, the way Luz was treated. The witch wondered if Camilla was happier now that Luz had found so many friends in another world.

Or if maybe she was still just stuck in the past.

Amity pushed aside her feelings and Camilla's both as she tried to puzzle together what might have happened the other night. If it was just another spat with Bryce, well, Amity saw how Luz used to handle Boscha. That kinda fighting didn't get to her like this...

Even now, 2 days later, it was obvious something was still bothering Luz.

As Amity sat there, sinking further and further into her chair, another question entered her mind. One that she just had to know... even if it was painful.

"Was there anyone?" The witch blurted out after a short pause.

Camilla looked up at her quizzically.

"Anyone who was... nice to Luz? Or at least gave her a chance."

Amity's heart sank as Camilla shook her head sadly.

"I wouldn’t call the girl nice, but Luz always came home gushing about a Sasha. She was a fine enough girl, never joined the other kids in bullying Luz. I think that’s why Luz held on to the hope that one day they could be friends."

***

“Alright. What’s up with Luz?”

Amity turned as the team captain of the Otter’s skated up to her. The witch immediately turned her head back to look at her girlfriend, sitting quietly in the players box, scribbling something in her notebook.

Luz hadn’t moved all practice.

“Yeah, we noticed all right.” Lokte acknowledged Amity’s unspoken question as she turned back to them with a heavy sigh,

“I don’t know.” Amity answered sullenly.

The witch had nothing. Even the answers Camilla gave her this morning didn’t seem to help. Her shoulders slumped as Lokte lined up for their next shot.  

A loud crack echoed around the rink as the puck sailed straight into the goal. Amity’s eyes flicked up once again to Luz. Normally a shot like that would have her out of her seat and cheering.

Instead, the rink remained quiet.

Lokte kicked up some ice as they skidded back around to rest near Amity again. Leaning against their stick, they raised an eyebrow.

“You don’t know?"

"No." Amity growled, digging at the ice with her skates. "And it's getting worse..."

Lokte shifted, tossing their stick in the air flippantly. Amity could tell Luz's behavior was worrying them too. They were anxious to do something.

"All I know is that something happened at our game the other night. Luz ran into her old classmates."

Her captain growled, and Amity knew why. When the team first started to bond with both her and Luz, they wanted to know why they weren't enrolled in any local school. It was a fair question and Luz told them that they were too cool for school. Amity only told the truth to some of her teammates later. About how poorly Luz was treated and how she had decided to be homeschooled when she came back from 'camp'.

Lokte was one of the more vocally upset ones, having been treated similarly themselves for being who they were. Amity watched as their face changed into a slightly more hopeful expression.

"Wait, you said this happened the other night? My brother goes to Luz's old school, he went to the game with a couple of his friends. I'll bother him about it when I get home. See if the little weasel heard anything." Lokte grinned.

Amity could only stare at them, she glanced back up to Luz as her fingers curled tighter around her stick.

"Try to get names for me. I understand if Luz doesn't want to talk, but I'm looking forward to having a... conversation... with whoever is responsible for this."

Amity felt a gloved hand on her shoulder. Turning around she saw was met with the supportive eyes of her team captain.

"I'll let you know as soon as I know." They nodded.

***

- Is Luz home?

- Yeah she's asleep. Why?

- I'm coming over.

Amity stared at her phone. The short conversation with Lokte happened only a few minutes earlier. She didn't know where they lived, or how they knew where she lived. The witch could only guess it had to do with her girlfriend who was currently passed out, snoring, on her lap. Amity dropped the phone to her side and let her face sink into Luz's hair. In the background she could hear the movie that they had put on earlier, but she couldn't care less about it at the moment.

Amity loved the end of every night, when she was finally able to have Luz all to herself. Squeezing the human ever tighter, Luz sleepily snuggled further into her girlfriend’s arms with a large smile on her face.

The witch sighed as she heard a buzzing come from nearby. It was her phone. She felt a sharp flicker of annoyance, before gently kissing Luz's forehead and leaning back to check it.

Swiping across the screen she answered the call.

"Hey. I'm out front. You're going to want to hear this." Lokte voice answered, their tone guarded.

Amity glanced down at Luz who was still snoring away.

"Alright, give me a moment." Amity told them quietly, hanging up.

Taking a deep breath, she shifted Luz aside her on the couch. Her girlfriend groaned softly, but Amity simply grabbed the blanket and pulled it up to tuck her in, silencing any sleepy protest that would follow. Leaning down she swiped her jersey off the floor and gave it to Luz. For being almost entirely asleep, Luz snatched it quickly from Amity's hands, relaxing back into sleep as she buried her face into the material.

Amity smiled softly. She already couldn't wait to get back under the blankets with her. Grabbing a coat from the front closet, the witch opened the door and slipped out into the night. Standing on the front lawn, Lokte held a squirming kid by the ear.

"Come on, let me go already!!"

"Tell her what you told me!" Lokte ordered sharply, letting the boy's ear go and shoving him forward.

Amity raised an eyebrow. This must've been the little brother.

"Fine. Yeesh! Like I told my sibling over here," the boy turned around to glare at the hulking figure of Lokte before turning back to Amity, "I went to the game with a group of my friends. Sasha and Bryce left to go grab some snacks and when they came back Sasha was really shaken up and Bryce was pissed. They told us something about a really creepy delusional girl who was stalking you. Claiming to be your girlfriend."

Amity's eyes narrowed.

"I don't see why I'm in trouble! We were just watching out for Amity. I mean Bryce usually over exagerrates everything but this was serious. Sasha looked genuinely freaked out, and nothing EVER gets to her. They told the girl that they would call the cops on her if she came near you and then we left shortly after. That's it. That's all that happened. I don't even know what the creep looked like."

Amity's mind was buzzing with anger. She could feel her face going red and had to remind herself to breathe as she heard the two siblings begin to squabble.

"You little, THAT WAS LUZ! Amity's actual girlfriend!"

The boy's eyes widened as they shot between Amity and Lokte.

"Wha- I didn't, I didn't know that!! I swear! The way Bryce was describing her you'd think she was some sort of criminal!" He yelped as Lokte grabbed him by the scruff of his jacket.

"Go. Wait. In. The. Car." They growled. "We'll talk about your choice in friends later."

The boy shrank under his sibling's glare and Amity felt a small bit of pity. Lokte was no small person, they towered over pretty much everyone they met and had the muscles to match. Being on their bad side had to be terrifying, but in actuality that was nothing compared to the pure fury radiating off of Amity as the brother's words registered.

After they watched their brother climb back into the car, Lokte turned to Amity and immediately flinched in fear under the witch's furious stare.

"Looks like I'll be paying Luz's old school a visit tomorrow." Amity growled after a short pause.

Lokte's fear eased only a bit as their eyes lit up with mischief. "Let me know if you need anything."

"I'll see you tomorrow at practice." Amity nodded, ignoring the suggestion as she turned to walk back into the house.

She stopped with her hand on the door handle and turned around. Lokte was climbing back into their car. The teammates shared a look as Amity nodded.

'Thank you.' She mouthed.

Lokte gave her a small smile.

'Anytime.' They mouthed back, turning on the car and pulling away.

When Amity went back inside, she crawled back into Luz's arms, squeezing her close. Tomorrow, she would have to talk with Luz about what she had learned, but tonight?

Tonight Amity buried her head deep into Luz's shoulder, her anger draining rapidly under her girlfriend's warmth.

Regardless of how Luz was always somehow able to relax her, Amity laid there wide awake. Wishing she could do something, anything, to somehow fix the years of emotional abuse Luz had suffered.

All she could do however was hold Luz closer and wait until morning...

[kpop---scenarios]

Good Enough

Pairing: Byun Baekhyun x Reader 

Genre: Idol! AU 

Warning: Smut, Mention of Domestic Violence, Miscarriage, Angst, Fluff 

Word Count: 15.4k 

Summary: Ayn (another y/n) and her friends meet Super M from a contest they win. She's a bit of a disaster but he doesn't care. Even when life tries to keep them apart, it never works. 

“I’m sorry…,”you whispered to the man who was supposed to love you, who was carelessly and harshly dragging you along the path to your apartment. You would think by now you would know your limits with alcohol, the one thing you had a love-hate relationship with, but instead you hate yourself every time you get as drunk as you currently were. You should not have drank as much as you did, is what you tell yourself, again. Everytime. You knew it as always. Your body knew it and hated you for it, and so did your equally unimpressed fiance. "I can't do this anymore," he grunts carrying you into your apartment and down the short hall to the bedroom. Soyoung lets out a loud sigh, a sound of frustration and annoyance flying from his tongue, as he practically shoves you on your bed. His tall body, moving quicker than your eyes can in the dark of the room, you watch dizzily as he opens drawers and your bathroom briefly grabs something else, before coming back to stand over you. "Did you hear me?" Grabbing your cheeks and squeezing with one hand the other painfully grasping a breast, making you gasp,  before grabbing some stuff from your bedside table. "I'm done." He finishes, walking out of your apartment, slamming the door and leaving your very drunk self to pass out. You wanted to follow him, ask him what you had done wrong now. You were trying to cope, was that so wrong? You wanted to move but your body wouldn't let you, you were frozen to your bed in an unimaginable state of drunken paralysis. Thankfully all the thoughts drowning you shushed your mind to sleep. Before you knew it, a persistent old-fashioned alarm eventually registered, blaring through your ears. You rolled over in your bed, feeling your dress from the night before twist around you, making you frown in confusion. Usually, a night out of drinking with Soyoung leaves you naked and most times sore in the right spot, sometimes pleasantly so, sometimes not. Shutting the alarm on your phone off, you sent a dreary voice message to your fiance sweetly begging for medicine and his special hangover soup. You desperately needed it. You really shouldn't have drank so much, again. Laying back down, phone tossed to the side, you take several slow deep breaths, trying to not throw up the unfortunate amount of tequila you drank last night. Closing your eyes against the dim light in the room, a flash of memory hits you making you touch your jaw knowing that all the pain isn’t from alcohol this time. You struggle to hear the words he spit at you last night in your head, something important, but you just couldn't remember as you drift back to sleep. Ding Your phone wakes you up. Groggily, you grab your phone, checking your conversation with Soyoung, and he's read your message but the reply wasn't from him. Maybe he was on his way? Going to your other conversations, you see it's your group chat with your three best friends. Beth, Maggie and Lisa. [2:43pm] Beth: I can't breathe. Everything smells like Tequila. I want to die. [2:45pm] Maggie: Did I break my foot? Cause it kinda feels like I did. Fuck. [2:49pm] Lisa: So round two tonight!? Let's get ready to paaaarttyyyyyyyy. [2:54pm] Beth: Are you insane? I'm crying tequila tears right now. I cannot [2:56pm] You: Don't be a pussy Bethy. Let's do it [3:01pm] Maggie: I mean.. i'm in [3:05pm] Beth: Fine. But I'm not drinking [3:09pm] Lisa: The fuck you're not. I will drown you in a bowl of Tequila beth. Try me. You knew you could always count on your girls. With a smile on your face, you text your fiance again, letting him know you were going out again tonight, and asked him if he wanted to come out with you guys. Usually when you message Soyoung, it wasn't long before he replied, but now you had been waiting two hours and that was so unlike him. But you weren't going to be that fiancee, you figured he was probably busy with something, even though the nagging feeling in your stomach was telling you otherwise. ** That night as you continued to drown your sorrows in liquor, again, your mind lingered on the fact that you still haven't heard from the person who was supposed to love you and be there for you. The person who was supposed to be your person but wasn't. Thinking back to the voicemail you’d left, well voicemails, plural. And thinking on the obvious smudges on your breast and face, that you’d gotten too used to covering up.   "You okay?" Maggie asks you, taking a sip of her drink. "Yeah girl. All good," you say forcing a smile. You weren't okay; not even close and drinking was the only way you knew how to cope and there was a lot you needed to deal with but couldn't. You weren't mentally strong enough at the moment. You struggled internally with whether or not to unload everything on your friends, but you knew they had their own shit to deal with. You couldn't do that to them. "Come on," Beth slurred, slapping at the bar to get the bartender's attention. "Let’s close out and go! Next bar, up!" "Thought you weren't drinking tonight, Beth?" You slur, a knowing smile on your face. "Fuck off." She spits, placing a hundred dollar bill on the counter to cover everyone's drinks. Something the four of you often did. Someone would pay at one bar while another would pay at the next. The four of you finished your drinks, giggling as you walked out of the bar, walking to the next one. While three of you gossip, Beth lags behind, gasping at her phone. "What the fuck are tou foing," You slur, fumblimg your words and stopping the group. "Just shut up and keep walkin," she shoos you away, not looking up from her phone. Minutes later, you reach the next bar, Beth puts her phone away while she has a concerning smirk on her face. Do you confront her or ignore it? You choose to ignore, not wanting whatever it was to possibly ruin the night for everyone. Whatever your uwu girl was up to couldn’t be that bad. Beth wasn't one to stir up trouble or cause a scene. If anything, she likely ordered some more candles from Etsy. You all spent the rest of the night getting drunk and dancing on each other, without a care in the world.   Sunday morning you wake up, smelling Tequila everywhere. It was seeping through your pores. Your heart sunk, still no word from Soyoung. So you try to call him again. No answer. You tried again, and again no answer. You didn't understand. What did you do that was so wrong? You spent the entire day going through everything, old texts, playing in person conversations in your head,  trying to figure out how you might have fucked up in the last month or so, but nothing came to mind. So now the question you had was, what the fuck was his issue? You knew he didn’t like you showing up at his home unannounced, but at the same time this was past petty. The thought of calling his mother, who did not bother to hide her hate for you physically made you ill, you let your finger hover over her contact a little longer before closing the phone. You tossed it to the other side of your sofa, decisively picking up the remote to look for a movie to watch. Fuck him, you decide, just fuck him. ** After you had finished work on Monday, you still hadn't heard from him. When you woke up on Tuesday, again there was nothing. Everytime you called you were either sent straight to voice-mail or he just didn't answer. By the 3 week mark, you felt as though you might not even be together anymore. Three months later, you had heard nothing from him until your neighbour who was getting her mail had let you know he was out of town filming for a movie. She thought it was quite weird that you didn't know, and honestly, you thought the same but you weren't at all surprised, given Soyoung's past with you. Later that night, you had found out that night that when Beth was intensely looking at her phone, she had been entering a meet and greet with Super M, the band that the four of you were obsessed with. When she had gotten into the top five, she sent a video explaining who she would bring and why, and apparently they liked the way she represented you guys and how real you sounded. She should have told them you were all psychotic and loud because Super M was going to be in for a wild ride. At the four month mark, you still had not heard from him, and actively decided you were single. You took your ring off, leaving it on your bedside table. You didn't know why you tortured yourself like that, maybe you hoped he would walk through your door again one day, telling you that something had happened and he says so sorry before telling you how much he loved you, and would slide that ring back on your finger, telling you that's where it belonged and to never take it off again. Wishful thinking on your part. ** Finally Friday had rolled around, the night you were going to meet Super M. You had a hard time containing your excitement. All day you were a giddy mess, acting like a child who had gotten up early on Christmas morning to find a shit ton of presents. Friday afternoon, you had left work early to make sure you had ample time to get ready for meeting Super M. You unlock the door to your apartment, and walk in, being met with the face of your fiance, or the man who was now your ex. "Soyoung.. you're back?" You whisper, dropping your purse to the floor. "No I'm not. Just wanted to grab a few things.. and my ring." He says, sliding the ring off of your bedside table, and putting it in his pocket. "You're.. what is going on? Where have you been? Why did you leave? I thought we were happy?" You say. "Us? Happy? You're delusional." He laughs. "What? "I ended things four months ago." He deapans, hands in pockets with his feet braced apart. "Well thanks for telling me!" You yell, heart racing. "I did,"He shouts back. "Do you remember the night I dragged your drunk, embarrassing ass back home?" "No.. I had been drinking." You say, your chest tightening at the hurtful words you knew were going to come next. "Yeah you had, like usual. I ended things that night. I'm done. I have an important reputation to uphold and protect, and frankly your alcoholic, large self doesn't fit into it." He sneers. "Not to mention the vast difference in our status. Do you know what it's like being an actor with chances and then having an alcoholic teacher as my fiance? Fucking disaster." "I was coping. The loss of our baby was hard on me." You whisper, as it gets harder to breathe, tears freely slipping down your face now. "You know I've always wanted to be a mom." "Yeah well you losing our child was the best thing to happen to me. Imagine having a child with a low class whore. I can't believe any school would look at you and think you and that body, which is only good for one thing, should teach someone's kid. The universe knows who should be a mother, and you're not it." He continues as if her defense were nothing. "Also tell your friends that having them text me, asking me to check up on you while I'm out of 'town' is just fucking embarrassing." He finishes, sliding the ring into his pocket, and picking up his box before leaving. Tears fall from your face as what he said replays through your head, making you feel even worse. You didn't think that stuff like that was important, so it hadn't occurred to you that he thought that way. He had never mentioned anything to you, or brought it up, at least in so many words. Flashbacks play through yohr head, things he said during sex which should have set off some flags. "Fucking whore. You like getting your pussy rammed by a higher class man?" "Take that dick like the dirty low level slut you are." Did they make you uncomfortable? Sure, a bit but he had always been into dirty talk, so you chalked it up to that. Great to know he was being serious. Why did he have to show up tonight all night? The night that you get to meet one of your favorite bands, and your ultimate bias, Baekhyun. You couldn't look like a wreck tonight, so you dried your tears, took a few shots and put on your favorite song and started doing your makeup. ** A few hours after you were drunk and ready to go. A car outside beeped a few times, letting you know your friends were here. You locked your door, making sure to hold onto the railing as you walked down the stairs, not wanting to trip and fall. "Ladiessss." You slur, getting into the car, throwing your head back on the seat. "Let's go." "What happened?" Maggie asked, turning her head from the passenger seat to face you. "Apparently." You begin, clearing your throat. "Soyoung broke up with me when I was drunk four months ago and I don't remember, I'm in such a lower class than him and that's why I miscarried 5 months ago. Also that I'm a fat whore." You sniffle. Your lips begin to quiver as you remember the words again. You didn't want to cry, you couldn't but fuck it still hurt. "What the fuck." All the girls say in unison. "I've always hated him." Maggie spits. "Seconded." Beth yells. "Third..ed." Lisa partially answers, not knowing if that's a word or not. "Thirded is not a word, but thank you." You laugh as Lisa pulls you in for a hug. "We can cancel with Super M." Beth suggests. "Don't be dumb! Cancel on Super M? Who are you!?" You yell. "We don't cancel on kings. I'll be fine." You finish, taking a deep breath to shake off the sadness. "Are you sure?" Lisa asks, looking nervous that you might actually say yes. "Oh my god, no. We're not canceling." You laugh. "Lets go. I need a good distraction." 20 minutes later, the four of you sit outside the restaurant taking deep breaths. "I'm going to faint." Beth states, fanning herself with her hand. "Fucking Taeyong and Kai.." "Im going to meet Mark and Lucas." Lisa squeals. "Taemin, and Ten, my babies." Maggie groans. "And I'm going to meet Baekhyun. The only man I need." You say, a weird smile appearing on your face. "Fix that." Maggie says, pointing to your mouth. "You are not entering that restaurant looking like you're hiding a gun inside your vag, okay? Serial killer looks stay in the car please." She finishes, opening her door and adjusting her dress. "Less creepy. Got it." You say, hopefully smiling like a normal person. The four of you walk away from the car, your hands shaking as you make your way closer to the door. You felt like your heart might just drop right out of your ass when you walked through the doors. "We're here for the Super M meet and greet." Beth says, showing the man the confirmation. "Right this way." He says, motioning for the four of you to follow him to a private room. Whenever someone had told you they almost died when meeting their favorite celebrity, you never understood. Until today. When you walked in the room, all the guys were sitting at a table, four spots between them opened. Lisa sat in between Mark and Lucas, Maggie in between Taemin and Ten, Beth between Taeyong and Kai, while you sat beside Baekhyun with no one else on your other side. But you didn't care. Yes you loved the whole group, but Baekhyun was your one and you were in heaven. "Hi, im Baekhyun." He says with a gorgeous smile, holding out his hand. "Oh I know. I'm Ayn." You smile, shaking his hand. It was no surprise that it was soft to the touch. "Would you like a drink?" Baekhyun smiles, his eyes never leaving you. Call it crazy, but you absolutely felt something between him and you, and you could tell that he felt it too. "Tequila please." You laugh. "A Tequila fan? My kind of girl." Baekhyun smiles, waving over the waiter. Over the next few hours, you and Baekhyun talked about everything while the two of you took more shots. He asked you about your job, family, friends, ambitions, passions, everything. But you should have known not to drink too much, in order to not embarrass yourself in front of Baekhyun, but when he asked you if you were seeing anyone, you lost it. "I was engaged, but he dumped me when i was drunk, ghosted me for 4 months, told me I was a low class whore who basically deserved to miscarry and that I was fat." You sob. Everyone sits there stunned, mouths hanging open as you sob into a napkin that Baekhyun had given to you. "What an asshole." Baekhyun declares. "Like literally, I want to fuck him up. Who does he think he is? You are beautiful and I'm so sorry for your loss, you didn't deserve that. Where is he? Can I please beat the fuck out of him?" Baekhyun asks, rolling up his sleeves. "You're sweet." You giggle. "Honestly yes, you can beat him up. I hate him." "What's his name?" Baekhyun asks. "Kim Soyoung." You scoff. "That piece of shit!?" Mark asks from across the table. "Man we hate that guy already." Lucas mumbles. "Well there we go, now I have more of a reason to shit kick him." Baekhyun smiles. "But seriously, you're like a 20 out of 10. Stunning." He smiles. Your heart melts as his words replay through your head while he and the others make a plan for the rest of their night. "You guys down to come to the club?" Taemin asks, looking around the table. "Yes!" You all yell out in unison, excited for the next part of the night to begin. As you walk out of the restaurant, you pass through the dining room, where a familiar laugh rings through the room. You look around and see Soyoung sitting there, with a woman sitting across from him. "Wow, Kim Soyoung!" You yell, rage fueling your body with adrenaline. "Already engaged after you only left me 4 months ago?" You ask. "Ayn, stop it." Soyoung hisses. "Who are you?" The woman asks, standing up. When she turned around, your heart sank into your stomach, nausea consuming your body. She was at least 7 months pregnant, wearing your engagement ring. "It's not yours.. is it?" You whisper. "It's only been four months!" You yell. "She's got to be at least 6 or 7 months?" "Im 7 months, and we've been together for 3 years, what are you talking about?" She snaps. Tears fall down your cheeks as you try to piece together what she was saying. So were you the other woman or was she? You were engaged but now you're not, and she was having a baby, and you were not. "She could give me what you clearly couldn't. She's in the same league as me, unlike you. Get over it Ayn, I'm fucking done." "Oh I'm over it. I'm so done with you. Glad a pathetic piece of shit like you is no longer in my life." You say before he cuts you off. "You know what?" He asks, looking around the room. "There's always that one person in a group that doesn't quite fit in, someone they need to make the rest of them look good, that's you and you do a wonderful job at it." He smirks. "You're a miserable person, and a shitty lay. It was hard to feel anything when we fucked, considering you have such a small dick." You smile, Baekhyun grabs you by the wrist to drag you outside while Soyoung shakes with rage. He knew that if you kept going like he thought you would, Soyoung would probably do something that he shouldn't and you'd likely get hurt. "I'm sorry. That just felt so good to say." You tell Baekhyun, now sobering up from all the adrenaline. "It's all good." Baekhyun laughs. "I enjoyed it. Let's get out of here." Everyone climbs in two different vans, preparing to head out of the club. You began climbing when something stopped you and pulled you back out. Turning around you see a still fuming Soyoung, standing there with his fists clenched by his side.   "You think you can just say all that shit in front of my fiance and a room full of strangers and get away with it!?" He yells unclenching to grab the collar of your shirt, pulling you against him. "Why are you letting someone who is in such a low class bother you so much? Mhm? Maybe because you're not as high and mighty as you think you are? You're lower on the totem pole than I am." You whisper. Soyoung shoves you to the ground, raising his fist as if he was about to hit you. "I dare you." You say, knowing he wouldn't. "Hey!" Baekhyun yells, jumping from the van and shoving Soyoung back. "I always knew you were a piece of shit, but now you're an abusive piece of shit? Wow." Baekhyun snaps, staring hard at Soyoung, who sighs before walking away. "You okay?" Baekhyun asks, extending a hand to help you up. "I'm all good." You smile. "You sure?" He asks, making sure. "Positive. Let's party!" You laugh, climbing in the van. "She's amazing." He whispers before climbing in after you. ** Walking into the club, all eyes are on Super M as they glide past the dance floor, all of them looking like angels. They all head for the VIP section, which gives a perfect view of the dance floor. After everything that happened earlier with Soyoung, you were ready to forget everything with a few shots before you got lost on the dance floor. You, Maggie, Beth and Lisa all cheer your shots, each time you take one. After three, and a good song was finally playing, you all head out to the dance floor, finding a spot in the middle with an opening to view the VIP room. Your eyes lock with Baekhyun as you begin circling your hips, shaking your ass while running your hands over your body. You watch as Baekhyun licks his lips, his eyes trailing your body, watching you move so effortlessly. He takes a sip of his drink, his body slouched in his chair with his legs spread wide. You can feel yourself becoming more and more horny as you see the outline of his cock growing in his pants. As you continue dancing, you feel a pair of hands slide around your waist and a body press against you. Still looking at Baekhyun you notice his eyes go dark as he sits up, watching you dance with the strange man. He doesn't know why, but the jealousy he felt was coursing through his body. You break eye contact, turning to look at who you were dancing with and if you knew him. You didn't.  When you looked back towards Baekhyun he was gone. Had he left? Seconds later you feel the man leave from behind you, being replaced by another body. "You're a bad girl." You hear whispered in your ear. Shivers dip down your spine as Baekhyun grabs your wrist, taking you off the dance floor and towards the bathrooms. He pulls you into the men's bathroom, locking the door behind you, his eyes dark and needy. He grips your shoulders, pushing you against the wall, pinning your hands above your head. “If you wanted to make me jealous, it worked. Since the moment I first saw you tonight, I wanted you." he growled into your ear. His hands reach down to touch your thighs, slipping his fingers under your dress as you spread your legs slightly for him. Baekhyun glides his fingers across your clothed pussy, teasing you. “Please give me more” you whine as you buck your hips towards his already erect cock. “This is going to have to be quick." he smirks, unbuckling his belt and sliding down his pants just enough to allow his cock to spring free. Your mouth watered at the site of Baekhyun's thick and juicy cock. He backs away, letting go of your hands, allowing you to drop to your knees. Your hand barely wraps around his cock, pumping it a few times before you lean in to wrap your lips around it. Just as you reach the tip, a frantic knock comes from the other side of the door. It was Taeyong, and he only had to say one word for Baekhyun to panic and get the two of you out of there. "Saesangs." Baekhyun pulled up his pants, pulling you towards the only window in the bathroom. He sent a quick message to his group chat, letting them know to meet him at the van, asap. "I'm gonna lift you up and the climb up myself." He tells you, looking very serious but you can't help but laugh. "You.. you're going to lift me up? Me?" You giggle. "You're little." "Hey! I have muscles okay? I'm strong. Shut up." He grunts, just barely lifting you. "See." He says, his voice shaky and struggling. "Yeah okay." You huff, climbing through the window. "I can hear you on the struggle bus." You can't hear what Baekhyun's reply was, as you were too busy trying to drop to the ground. "Hurry up." He tells you, watching you dangle from the side of the building. "It's terrifying." You whisper shout. "It's like 4 feet. Get over it." He whispers back to you. "Before I peel your fingers off this ledge." "You do that and I will never give up this pussy." You say, not able to hear his mumbles. Taking a deep breath, you let go, dropping down not very far at all while Baekhyun effortlessly jumps from the window, landing gracefully as usual. Finally you confirmed, he was in fact just CGI and not real at all. There was no way a human could possibly be as perfect as Byun Baekhyun and not be fake. Just wasn't a thing. "Stop staring at me, let's go." He laughs, pulling you towards the van. "Baek we gotta go." Taemin says, rushing him. "Gimme your number, quick." Baekhyun urges. Quickly you write your number on his arm before he climbs into the van. "I'm sorry. I'll text you." He says before the van door closes and they drive off. "What the hell happened?" Maggie asked, walking up to you with Beth and Lisa. "We almost hooked up." You whisper, eyes wide. None of you can believe it, except Lisa. "Well he was watching you all night so I'm not surprised." Lisa tells you, raising her eyebrows. "We'll meet tomorrow for breakfast?" Beth asks the group. You all agree before going your separate ways to head home. Tonight had been a night that you would honestly remember forever. You really didn't have any expectations of Baekhyun to text you. He was a huge celebrity and you were, well a teacher with an alcohol problem. Not quite the catch you should be. When you finally got home,you stripped down into your underwear, hating yourself for wearing such sexy lingerie that no one got to see. You climb into your bed when your phone dings. A number you don't recognize. [3:08am] 4739272943: Hey, I had a great time tonight.. did you make it home? The smile on your face widened. You quickly added his number to your contacts before replying. [3:12am] You: I did, thanks for asking. I'm snuggled warm in my bed. [3:15am] Baekhyun ♡: I wish I was your blanket. Damn. I can't stop thinking about what happened in the bathroom [3:17am] You: Me either. I was excited. [3:19am] Baekhyun ♡: My cock is so fucking hard [3:22am] You: can i come over? [3:25am] Baekhyun ♡: (address) You crawled out of your bed and ran to your closet, putting on a trench coat over your sexy lingerie, and a pair of sexy heels. You rush down the stairs of your building, standing on the sidewalk to hail down a cab. Once you do, you begin telling the driver the address, double checking your phone to make sure it's correct. Sure it probably looked suspicious that you were going to a hotel at almost 4am, dressed like a hooker but if he knew who you were going to meet, he wouldn't judge. But he probably still would anyways. ** You stand outside the room number Baekhyun had given you, taking a deep breath before knocking lightly on the door. Before you could even knock a second time the door swung open, revealing Baekhyun who grabbed you and pulled you inside. "A trench coat?" He asks, trying to hide the smile on his face. "Why don't you see what's underneath before you judge." You say, glaring at him. Baekhyun reaches forward, unbuttoning a few buttons before you let the coat fall down your body, revealing the sexy lingerie you had on. "Yes, wow, good trench coat." He breathes. Baekhyun takes your hand, pulling you into him before pressing his lips to yours. Immediately you as though you’re melting into his lips. His mouth moves along yours, without any hesitation you open your mouth, just enough to allow him to slide his tongue in.  Every single worry you had quickly disappeared from your head. Every problem, insult, anything was gone. Baekhyun reaches down, placing his hands on the back of your thighs, giving a little push to signal you to jump up. You hesitate a little, but when he pushes even more you know he won't give up, so you jump up, wrapping your thick thighs around his waist. He walks forward and crashes you against the wall, deepening the kiss while pressing his body against yours. He removes your hands from going through his hair, and instead pinning them above your head. He breaks the kiss, placing small kisses along your jawline before moving down to your neck. You pant as he nibbles at your neck. "Do you want me as much as I want you?" He asks, looking you in the eyes. “Even more" you breathe. Baekhyun sets you down, reaching behind you tk unclasp your bra,  your nipples perk as the cold air of his room hits them. Baekhyun bends down slightly, taking a nipple into his mouth, giving it a small tug with his lips. "Fuck." You moan. He smirks as he takes your hand, leading you towards the bed. He lightly pushes your shoulders back, causing you to fall back onto the bed as he stands at the edge. His smile widens as he stares at your thick, beautiful body on display for him, and him only. He climbs on the bed with you, hooking his fingers into your panties, slowly sliding them down your leg. Baekhyun spreads your legs, memorizing every curve and crevice of your body. He licks his lips and smiles as he lays down in between your open legs, your pussy already dripping wet. He lowers his head slowly, spreading your lips open with two fingers before licking a slow strip up, his tongue stopping right above your clit. He moves his it slightly, using the tip to give you a few small kitten licks. Your hands grip the sheet of the bed as you let out a loud moan, your fingers turning white. “Fuck" you cry. It’s been too long since you’ve had someone take care of you. Never having been with anyone since Soyoung. Baekhyun moves his tongue faster, you buck your hips, grinding yourself against his face. “Shit that feels so good" you whine. Baekhyun picks up his pace, moving his tongue in every direction, your orgasm coming fast. “Please don’t stop. Just like that” you groan. Your breath hitches as his hands grip your thighs, steadying himself in-between your legs. “I’m.. I’m gonna cum" you cry, your hands moving from the bed sheets to his head, gathering a handful of hair and gripping it tightly. You move your hips faster, needing to cum now. A few more circles with your hips and you’re met with a delicious release as you cum, a wave of pleasure radiates through your entire body. Baekhyun looks up at you, smirking while he licks your juices from his face. You just lay there attempting to catch your breath as your chest heaves up and down. “Fuck me now” you breathe. Baekhyun's eyes go dark as he stands up off the bed, you maintain eye contact as he strips his shirt off, your mouth practically watering at the sight of his toned stomach. Yout mouth drools again at the sight of his thick cock, standing straight at attention. “It's not going to suck itself” he smirks, looking from his cock to you. A wide grin appears on your face as you sit up and begin to crawl towards him, you lay at the edge of the bed with your head level to his cock and mouth open wide. Baekhyun groans as he slides his cock into your mouth, pushing himself in as far as he can before you wrap your mouth around him. At first he starts out slowly, gently thrusting himself in and out of your mouth. With every pump, his thrusts become harder and faster. Tears begin forming in your eyes as he rams his cock down your throat, it burns, but you love it. “Jesus baby, your mouth feels amazing” he moans, his thrusts becoming sloppy. Almost as quickly as he moaned, he pulled himself out of your mouth, stumbling his way over to the wall. “Are you okay?” you ask, your voice hoarse. “Yeah, I was just close to cumming and I didn’t want to do it yet" he breathes. "You want to cum in my pussy, don't you?" You ask, feeling extra naughty. Baekhyun lets out a deep throaty growl as he stalks back towards you. You scramble to sit on the bed, with your legs clenched, the need for him to be inside of you so strong. “Get up and ride my cock “ he growls. The moment you move, he lays in your spot ready for you to sit on his cock. You move your leg over to one side of him, gripping his cock as you align yourself with him and sink down slowly. You clench yourself around him as you hit the base, your walls stretched. “Your pussy feels even better than your mouth” he grunts. You slowly begin to rock your hips back and forth, getting a rhythm you enjoy. Baekhyun rests his hands on your hips, pushing for you to ride him faster. Your hands reach down to rest on his chest, as you lift your ass up before bringing it back down onto him. After a few minutes you go back to slower thrusts, your clit rubbing perfectly against his pubic bone. Baekhyun sits up, bringing the two of you chest to chest before he slowly brings a hand up your back to grab a chunk of hair and yank your head back, exposing your neck. You let out a small moan as he places soft kisses. He smirks at you before changing his pace and flips you over to your back. He smiles as your legs are in the air and he slowly pumps himself in and out. “Fuck me harder” you beg. “Happily" he says before his face turns from a smile to dark. His thrusts are slow but powerful. He makes you shiver every time he thrusts in, hitting your G spot without a problem. Without a word, his pumps quicken as he consistently rams himself into your dripping pussy. “Play with my clit" you whine. Baekhyun removes a hand from your leg and places it in-between your thighs, spreading your lips and placing his thumb on the exact spot you need it. He begins to  rub as he continues to pound himself into you. “I’m not going to last much longer” he pants, his thrusts becoming sloppy again. “Choke me" you cry out. Baekhyun abandons your other leg, wrapping his large hand around your throat, giving it a tight squeeze. A few more thrusts and circles from his thumb, a stronger orgasm than before washes over you, pulsating through your body, leaving you breathless. A few hard thrusts and a few seconds later Baekhyun cums, soaking your walls with his juices. After milking himself, he half collapses on to you, the two of you breathing heavily. You both chuckle as he pulls out of you, laying his equally as sweaty body next to you. Just as you were about to say something, you're cut off by the sound of knocking on Baekhyun's hotel room door. "Shit." He whispered, looking at you with terrified eyes. He mouthed an apology to you before shoving you off the bed, leaving you naked in between the bed and the wall. "Come in." He says, clearing his throat, making sure he was covered. "Hey Baekhyun.." Lucas begins. "I heard some grunting.. just wanted to make sure you were okay?" He says, looking around the room. "Oh yeah, all good. Just working out." Baekhyun says awkwardly. "Naked. It's my naked workout time. Do you wanna join? We can not be naked. Unless you wanna be naked." He suggests. "Nah, I'm good." Lucas smiles, backing out the door. "Don't forget, flight leaves at 9am." He reminds Baekhyun. But he knew and he was trying to avoid talking about it or bringing it up for as long as he could. Lucas closes the door, and Baekhyun scrambles to the side of the bed you're beside. "Guess I should get going." You say, standing up and searching for your lingerie. "You don't.." Baekhyun begins before you cut him off. "It's fine. I get what this was. It was fun, you have to leave and go back to your life and I'll..go back to whatever mine is." You say. "It's fine. I knew this wouldn't turn into anything.. I mean look at the different worlds." You finish. "Are you done now?" He asks. You nod your head. "Finally. Look, I don't want to stop talking to you, or stop seeing you. I was going to suggest making long distance work until I can come back or you can come out there." He says, pulling his boxers on. "If you want." You stand there in your bra and panties with a giant smile on your face, trying to remain cool. "Yeah sure, I could do that." You say, shrugging your shoulders. "Don't sound so excited about it." He says, rolling his eyes.   The smile never leaves your face as you walk towards him, wrapping your arms around him, as he does you, holding you close for a few minutes. Another knock at his door breaks the two of you apart, knowing he now has to leave. "You go. I'll wait 10 minutes and then leave." You say holding back your tears. Yes you'd only met yesterday but it already felt like you've known him for a lifetime, things with him were just beginning and now they're ending just as fast as they began. "I'll text you." He says, placing a quick kiss on your lips before grabbing his bag and slipping out the door. Your heart sunk into your stomach at the thought of him getting on that plane and going back to Seoul, but you couldn't do anything. You had zero expectations of him texting you, and you sure as shit weren't going to text him first.   Just as you were leaving his room, your phone dings. Your stomach twists and turns with excitement as you see a text from Lisa, telling you where to meet them for breakfast. Thirty minutes later you arrive at the restaurant, after quickly running home to put on some clothes before going. "Why are you so happy?" Beth asks, referring to the giant smile on your face as you sit down next to her. "I'm just in a good mood." You laugh. A very good mood. "Bullshit. What or who did you do?" Maggie asks. "I'm not sure what you could be talking about." You murmur, avoiding eye contact. "You didn't." She gasps. "What?" You ask with an awkward laugh. "You slut!" Lisa screeches, making the other people turn to look at your table. "Oh ky god, what!?" You laugh.   "You and Baekhyun fucked didnt you?" Maggie asks. "When would that have even happened?" You ask, rolling your eyes. "You left us at 230am." She says. "Anytime after that." "I may or may not have gone to his hotel last night.." you pause, pursing your lips while they all sit there mouths hanging open. "Girls.. when I say he's big.. I mean he's biiiig." You smile, your facial expressions showing them exactly how big you meant. "Tell us everything." Lisa laughs. Leaning forward, you start from the beginning at the club, and how neither of you could take your eyes off one another. ** "You weren't naked working out last night, were you?" Kai asks Baekhyun, sitting next to him on the plane. "I was. I rather enjoy doing pilates.. naked." Baekhyun says, clearing his throat. "Really? I didn't know that. I also didn't know that you moaned like a girl when you worked out. Is 'fuck me harder' a part of thr pilates workout?" Kai laughs. "Actually it is." Baekhyun says, trying to keep a straight face. "Look, i don't wanna tell you what to do, Ayn seems like a great girl, but she seems to have a lot of shit going on." Kai says. "Just be careful." "We all have a lot of shit going on. That doesn't mean we're any less deserving of someone to care for us. I know what I'm doing." Baekhyun smiles. "Then I'm happy for you man." Kai smiles, closing his eyes, preparing to sleep for the long flight. ** You waited and waited for a text from Baekhyun, but nothing came. You understood when it was a few days, but after a week, you decided it was exactly what you expected. You had actually believed him when he told you it wasn't just a one night stand for him. When he told you he wanted more, that he would text you and facetime you. You knew people got busy and he was an idol but it didn't take too long to send a text, just a hey, how are you or something like that. The more you stared at your phone the more it made you sad that the last thing he sent to you was the hotel address. At least you would always have that night. Sitting in your bed, your blankets are wrapped around you as you scroll through the saddest sounds on your tiktok, tears welling in your eyes. Fuck this hurt. As you scroll, Maggie's name flashes across your screen in a phone call. "Hello?" You sniffle into the phone. "Come out." She tells you. "Beach day." That perked you up a bit. "Okay. Yes." You say, knowing it would be good for you to get out. You wiggle your way out of your bed, put on your cutest bikini and brush your hair before putting it up in a cute bun. You put on a little sun dress and your flip flops before grabbing a bottle of wine and heading to your car. When you're about twenty minutes away from the beach, your phone dings and since no one else is on the road with you, you decide to check it and see Baekhyun's name at the top of the text. He finally texted you! You smile down at your phone as you read the message. [1:23pm] Baekhyun ♡: Hey beautiful, I'm sorry it took me so long to text. Things have been crazy. But I miss you and I can't wait to see you again. Let's plan something soon, okay? You heart flutters, excitement taking over, until panic rushes in instead. You drop your phone when you hear the honking of another car, not realizing you had drifted into the other lane. Unable to get back into your lane in time, you go the other direction, your car crashing through the metal guard, the sound of metal scraping while you cry, trying to pump your brakes but they're not working. Everything happens so fast, one minute you're happy and driving, the next your car plummets into the water, sinking fast. You struggle to take your seat belt off, while also trying to kick out your windshield or even punch out your driver's side window. You can hear the people above, the people on land screaming and crying, begging someone to help you while you cry out yourself, pleading for someone to come save you but now it's too late, your car is completely submerged in the water. You wish you could breathe but you just keep sinking. Sinking. And sinking. Until the world fades to black. ** Baekhyun has his phone right beside him for the rest of the day as he actively waits for your reply. He saw that you read jt, but maybe you were just busy at the moment and couldn't reply, or maybe you were too busy fangirling to reply. Maybe you fainted? Maybe he took too long to text you? It's not that he didn't want to, but for the last week, from the moment he got off that plane, his schedule had been hectic. He had appearances, promotions, rehearsals, shows, and more. He barely had a moment to sit and breathe, eat or think. He wished he had messaged you sooner, just to let you know he was still thinking about you, that he hadn't forgotten. Great, you probably thought he used you for a one night stand type thing. He debated within himself if he should text you again, or leave it until tomorrow and send another message. Looking over at the clock, he decided that since it was so late he would wait to text you again, hopefully this time yielding a reply from you. ** That next morning he woke up, sending you a good morning text, but it didn't really go through. He thought it was strange that his text was green, but it didn't say not delivered. Maybe your phone was off or you forgot to charge it. [3:48pm August 23rd] Hey.. you're worrying me now. Are you okay? Please.. let me know. [11:54am August 24th] Seriously? Come on Ayn. Something, anything would be fine. He was trying to keep calm, trying to not think that you were ghosting him. But by the second week when none of his green texts turned blue and he hadn't heard anything, he felt like he understood now. You weren't interested anymore. You could have at least had the decency to tell him you weren't interested instead of ghosting him. Three weeks went by. Three weeks of him texting you and receiving nothing, not even a goddamn apology from you. This was it. He was done. He was tired of trying, of keeping his hopes up that maybe, just, maybe you'd message him back. ** Three weeks after the accident, you had finally woken up, and you were okay, for the most part. Your body wasn't like it used to be, considering you had been laying down for the last few weeks. Your muscles were weak, your body was sore, your left leg had a bit of a limp and you felt disgusting. This wasn't you. You weren't the girl who cried over her body, but you didn't recognize yourself anymore. When the doctor suggested you try Physical Therapy you were hesitant but Maggie reassured you that she would be there with you through it all. "My phone?" You ask, a few days later while stretching. "They're going to call me today. They're pretty sure they can back everything up." She tells you. Thank god. And they did. During the next three weeks of your therapy, you had four different tech guys working on your phone, trying to get your messages and contacts back but due to all the water damage, it was taking some time. Seven weeks after the accident, you were finally 98% percent back to your normal self, a few large cuts and bruises that still needed healing but mentally and physically you were feeling okay today. Today was also the day you got your phone back, contacts and messages and all. You couldn't wait, you felt terribly guilty for leaving Baekhyun on read like that for so long. You couldn't wait to message him, tell him everything that happened. You turn your phone on, and everything starts rolling in. Messages from Baekhyun, cute and sweet, and then they get frustrated and annoyed, and then he just gets mad. He goes from wondering if you were okay, to telling you that he thought you were different, to him telling you he thought Kai was right about you, and how he should have stayed away, that maybe you were too damaged for him. And then he's done. Your heart sinks but you can sort of see where he's coming from. You haven't messaged him in so long, but if he claimed to have liked you so much, then why didn't he try to reach out to anyone? Try to find out if something has happened to you? Regardless, you send him a text, trying your best to explain the situation in hopes that he understands. He should, who wouldn't? He didn't believe you? What did he mean he knows the truth? You were so confused. You tried to call him, multiple times but unfortunately for you, he denied your call each time. You got the hint. You weren't go8ng to be pushy with him, but it hurt your heart that he was acting like this. You had really liked him and now it seemed like he just wanted one thing from you that night and had no intentions of actually attempting to make things work with you. Just before you're about to walk away from your phone, it dings again, excitedly you look at it, hoping it Baekhyun but it's not. Instead it's from someone you want nothing to do with, Soyoung. Of course he was trying to get back in your life, unfortunately for him, no amount of apologies was going to work to get you to even talk to him. You had his toxic ass once, you didn't want it again. You'd rather get into another accident than deal with him. You turn on your TV, waiting for your show to come back on when an interesting commercial caught your eye. 'Become a teacher in Seoul. Live in South Korea for a year while you teach English.' This was it. This was your reason, besides trying to talk to Baekhyun for you to finally go to South Korea. 'Call 18004738234 now!' Picking up your cell phone, you dial the number with no hesitations. With the year you had, you needed a change in just about every aspect of your life. You were still coping with the loss of the baby you so wanted, despite who it would have been with, as well as your painful departure from Soyoung. Your meeting and falling out with Baekhyun, someone you really and truly could have seen yourself with for the long haul. The car accident, that even though you basically fully recovered, it took something from you and you didn't think you would be able to find whatever it was while staying in the States. "Hello? Yes, I'd like to apply for the job in Seoul. Yes I am a teacher." You smile. This was the change you needed. Three long weeks later you received your letter in the mail, the one telling you that you had been accepted into the teaching position and that you were to fly out to Seoul in exactly 1 weeks time. Squealing, you pick up your phone, making a call to your three best friends and asking them to meet you at your favorite restaurant. "So what are we all doing here?" Lisa asks, margarita in hand. "We are celebrating!" You announce. "Celebrating what?" Beth asks. "I was accepted into the teaching program in Seoul!" You announce, excitement plastered over your face. Beth and Lisa scream in excitement with you, while Maggie sits there, looking concerned about something. "Are you not happy for me?" You ask her. "It's not that. Just what's your reason to go to Seoul specifically? What do you think you'll find there?" She asks. "You know I've always wanted to go there." You say. "Yeah but are you going to see Baekhyun? I don't think that it's a good idea." She states. "What's with you? You were all for it in the beginning, what changed now? What if we're meant to be?" You ask. "You're not meant to be with him, okay? So just leave him alone." She spits, taking a sip of her drink. "What is your issue? I don't understand!" You yell. "My issue is that you're not ready for anything! You've been through alot and you were rushing! So I told him you weren't interested in him anymore." She whispers. (Flashback) Maggie sat beside your hospital bed, holding your hand as the ventilators breathed for you. Her heart ached for you while her mind tried to remain positive. She told herself over and over again that everything would be okay, that you would wake up soon. But everyday, that day never came. One day, she was scrolling through her Twitter when she noticed a DM waiting for her. As she opens it, she sees that it's Baekhyun, reaching out to her about you. Where were you? Were you okay? Taking a deep breath, she told him you were too nice to say it to him, but you don't want anything more with him. You got what you wanted from him and that was it and that you wished he wouldn't contact you anymore. Maggie felt terrible and Baekhyun never replied to her message, but she thought she was helping you, not hurting you. "When did you tell him?" You ask, trying to hold back the tears. "When you were first in the accident." She sighs. "I told him you only wanted him for the night and nothing else." "Wow." You laugh, no humor to be found. "And just what the fuck gives you the right to make those decisions for me?" "As your friend, I felt like it was my duty to help you when you couldn't help yourself. I wanted to protect you." She says. "Where was that when I was with Soyoung? He was so shitty yet you never said anything to me! And here I want to be with someone who is actually good and decent and you do that? Some fucking friend." You snap. "Where were you when he was threatening to hit me? I told you about that. Or when he yelled at me and talked down to me at the restaurant when we were out for dinner, you sat there silently. So don't try and act like you were protecting me from Baekhyun. There was nothing I needed protecting from. I needed you back then. Before he broke me down." You finish,walking out of the restaurant. ** For the rest of the week you spoke to no one. You ignored the calls from Maggie, the apology texts, and the texts from Beth and Lisa telling you to just take it easy on her. She was trying to be a friend. You hadn't planned on ignoring them until they took her side. You knew she was wrong, and so did they but they still took her side. You were over it. Your stomach was excitedly nervous as you boarded your plane. Sitting in your seat, your mind begins to wander, thinking about what you want. This was your chance to find out who you were by yourself. You had finally realized that you had no idea who you were or the woman you were supposed to be. You had always done what made Soyoung happy, bringing yourself down to lift him up, taking his abuse just so he would be happy and you have someone that told people they loved you. You had a hard time believing that you deserve any love because you weren't the smallest woman, the prettiest, the smartest, basically you serent good enough to be loved. But now that you have been alone, thinking about what you want and what kind of life you want you realized something. You deserve all the love in the world. You were an amazing, beautiful woman who was good enough. You were too good for Soyoung, and you were good enough for Baekhyun. ** When you arrived in South Korea, you knew you had a lot of work to do. First you had to find your apartment that you were sharing with another teacher, who had been here for a few months already and would be able to show you the ropes, and get settled in. But you also had to figure out how to run into Baekhyun. You just needed to explain to him what Maggie had done and how you had absolutely no part in it and didn't believe anything she had said. You tried to message him but he had blocked you on everything. Instagram, Twitter, Messaging, this was your only shot and this time you wouldn't blow it. You couldn't. You felt it in your bones that Baekhyun was meant to be your happily ever after. That you endured all you did because it led you to where he was, and where he was, was where you were supposed to be. ** Your first week in Seoul was.. well challenging. Gaining your students' trust, the beginning of teaching them how to speak English, it all started out a little bit rough. But as the time went on things became easier, your students began catching on, they started to feel more comfortable around you and you felt like you were finally home. This was where you were supposed to be, with these students, in this city, doing what you loved. As time went on and you stayed in Korea, you came to love yourself. Everyday you worked on yourself, becoming a stronger, happier version of yourself. Through the first year you were there, you made multiple changes to yourself. You dye your hair, started working out to feel better,  even made some friends who you went out with on the weekend. But there was still something in your life that you felt was missing. You hadn't dated anyone. Sure, there were a few guys you'd gone on dates with but for whatever reason they never worked out, or stuck and most of the time it was something about them you didn't like. Or they just didn't fit well with you, or the fact that they weren't Baekhyun. It had been a year since you spoke to him and he still crossed your mind at least once a day. You partially kept up with how he was doing through the tabloids but once it was rumored he had a girlfriend, you left it alone. Even though you'd been working on yourself, you didn't think you could handle it if there was any truth to it. Once your year working was up, you were offered full-time employment with your class, if you wanted to stay and continue to teach. You most definitely accepted it right then and there. That night you went out with some teacher friends to celebrate in Itaewon, which also happens to be a well known place that Idols like to frequent. You'd be lying if you said you didn't hope to even just catch a glimpse of his beautiful face in person instead of on a screen. After taking a few shots, you are dragged to the dance floor by one of the male teachers who you knew had a bit of a thing for you. The attention was nice, you were flattered but you were not interested and he seemed to have a hard time taking the hint that you didn't want anything sexual with him. He spins you around so your back is facing him, his hands on your hips trying to guide them to grind your ass on him. You turn around and tell him again, you're not interested in dancing with him like that, and he gets mad. "Why won't you just return my fucking feelings?" Kyungdo yells, grabbing your wrist to pull you into him. You try to pull your wrist from his grip, but his hand is holding onto you so tightly you can't.  "Please. You're hurting me." You whimper. "I'm not interested." You yell. Kyundo rolls his eyes, pulling you away from the dance floor, towards the door to leave the building, when you're stopped with a hand on your free wrist. "She said she wasn't fucking interested." A familiar voice yells, pulling you closer. Turning your head, you see the handsome man you had seen a year ago, his eyes dark, his lips pursed while his face even pissed off, was beautiful. "Mr. Byun. I'm a huge fan. Don't mind my girlfriend, she's just being difficult." Kyungdo says, bowing to Baekhyun who looks less than impressed. "Girlfriend?" He asks, looking at you. You shake your head no. Baekhyun peels Kyungdo's fingers from around your wrist, dropping his arm. "Leave her alone." He snaps, pulling you away from the now annoyed man. "Thank you." You say ask Baekhyun to pull you into a quiet, dark room. "Why are you here?" He asks. "I've been teaching here for a year. They asked me to stay so i'm out celebrating tonight." You whisper. "Fuck." He hisses, pushing you against the wall. "You shouldn't be here. It was easier when you weren't." "What Maggie told you.. wasn't the truth. I was in a coma for 3 weeks.. it happened the day you texted me. She thought she was protecting me." You say, needing him to know the truth. "So you never said any of that?" He asks. "No and I told you I didn't." You say. "I was mad. And confused." He admits. "I shouldn't have believed her." "No you shouldn't have." "I can't believe you're here. I've missed you." He breathes, his face so close to yours. Ring Ring Ring Baekhyun sighs, answering his phone frustrated.  "Hello?" He snaps. "Oh hi babe. Yeah I'll come over when I'm done. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Bye." He says, hanging up his phone. "You have a girlfriend?" You ask. "I do." He says, backing away from you. "Shit." "I mean.. old friends can catch up right?" You ask. "And talk." "You're right. Definitely. What's your KKT?" He asks you. You give him your chat ID before hugging and going your separate ways. Not even 10 minutes later he messages you, telling you how much he missed you and how often he thought about you in the last year. [2:43am] You: If I'm being honest, there wasn't a day that went by that I never thought about you too. It might sound creepy but I've been keeping up with you from watching things online. [2:46am] Baekhyun: Oh yeah no, that's not creepy at all. Hahah. It's good to talk to you again and it was good to see you.  You look great, minus the creep. Let me know if he bothers you again. [2:50am] You: unfortunately I have to work with him, so I'm sure he will be an issue. [2:53am] Baekhyun: Just let me know and I'll take care of it. [2:56am] You: i will. Good night Baekhyun. [2:59am] Baekhyun: Goodnight, beautiful. ** The next week you took your students out for a walking field trip, and imagine your surprise when you end up running into Baekhyun at the park. Of course, most of your female students start to lose their minds. "Guys, this is my good friend, Byun Baekhyun." You say, introducing them to him. The smile on Baekhyun's face fades away as you mention him as your friend. "Hello! Yes, I am Ms. L/N's friend." He says through gritted teeth. "It's so nice to meet you all." An hour later, Baekhyun had taken pictures and signed autographs for all the children in your class, leaving them beaming on their walk back to school. You can feel your phone buzz in your pocket, and you just know that it is Baekhyun. Opening your app, you were right, he was complaining about what you had called him. [11:13am] Baekhyun: Your friend?? So now we're just friends?? [11:15am] You: Yes we're just friends. Lol. You have a girlfriend, remember. [11:21am] Baekhyun: but still. You owe me. Date, tonight. [11:25am] You: if it's just as friends, i'm all in. [11:28am] Baekhyun: yeah sure, friends. The rest of the afternoon you spent trying to teach, but also trying to plan out your outfit in your head. You and Baekhyun were friends now, and that was good. He had a girlfriend and that was fine, because you were friends. But you didn't want to just be friends. You so wantex more with him. You wanted to kiss him, hold hands, cuddle, have him fuck you. But again, he had a girlfriend. You had to tell yourself that multiple times that afternoon as your thoughts would begin to wander into the dirty neighborhood, thinking about your first time together, the way his hands felt on your body, the way his lips moved against yours, the way your bodys meshed together perfectly. He had a girlfriend. ** That night Baekhyun picked you up in his Audi, playing a song that you'd heard on tiktok quite often, the trend of the men moving to their back seats. Your pussy instantly became wet. He had a girlfriend.   "So what's the plan?" You ask, getting comfortable in the passenger seat. "Ice cream?" He asks. With a smile on your face, you nod yes. Who could ever say no to ice cream? As the two of you drive to a stand way out of Seoul, Baekhyun rests his hands on your bare thigh, causing your clit to throb. He had a girlfriend. You could feel his thumb moving, rubbing your thigh in circles. Fuck. You wanted him bad and you wanted him now. "Stop the car." You say, taking a deep breath. "Everything okay?" He asks, pulling over to the side of the highway, parking the car. "You can't do that.. you can't rub my leg like that." You breathe heavily. "You're turning me on and you have a girlfriend." "Am i turning you on? I haven't even done anything yet." He smirks. "Stop it." You warn him, a hint of a smile on your face. "So you don't want me to do this?" He asks, leaning over, placing a soft, sweet kiss on your lips. You feel like you might faint. "N-no." You stutter. "Or this?" He asks, running his hand from your face down over your breasts, to your thighs, stopping at the hem of your skirt. "Fuck." You whisper. You look over at Baekhyun who slouched back in his seat, slightly bucking his hips, showing off his very large hard cock through his pants. You lick your lips as your body begins to move towards him, before your mind even realizes what you're doing. You reach your hand over, rubbing his clothed cock, his head thrown back against the seat, little moans escape his lips. "Shit." He grunts, bucking his hips once again. You reach your other hand over, working on undoing buttons and zippers. Baekhyun helps you by pulling down his pants, letting his cock spring free. It was bigger than you remembered, but just as thick. You get up on your knees on the passenger seat, leaning over to wrap your lips around the tip of his cock, slurping up the pre cum that had been spilling down. You wrap one hand around his length, pumping him while you twirl your tongue around his sensitive tip. "Oh my god." He groans, pushing your head down deeper, making you swallow his cock. You bring your head up, taking a breath before you begin sucking more harshly, Baekhyun's hand remaining on the back of your head, pushing you down. "Stop stop stop." He begs. You lift your head, letting go of his cock with a pop. "I'm gonna cum if you keep going and the only place I wanna cum right now is in your pussy. Back seat. Now." He demands. With a giddy smile, you crawl to the backseat of his car right behind him. Baekhyun sits in the middle seat, his legs spread wide with his cock standing tall, waiting for you to sink down on it. You hike up your skirt, moving your panties to the side while you straddle him, before lining yourself up and sinking down on his cock, stretching out your walls. You pull down your low cut shirt, exposing your perky tits. Baekhyun takes one in his mouth, gently sucking and tugging on your nipple, while you bounce on his cock. "I've missed the way your tight pussy grips my cock." He groans, helping you move your hips to ride him. Baekhyun reaches his hand up, grabbing a clump of your hair, tugging your head towards him, bringing your lips to his. Immediately he slides his tongue into your mouth, deepening the kiss. You quicken the pace, grinding yourself on his cock, your clit being rubbed the perfect way. "Oh god, yes." Yoh cry out, breaking the kiss. "Cum for me baby, cum all over my cock." Baekhyun grunts, lifting himself to meet your thrusts, holding you tightly. The two of you are too distracted and desperate for your orgasms, you don't hear Baekhyun's phone ring, two different times. "I'm.. cumming." You cry out, wrapping your arms around Baekhyun's neck, holding him tight as you ride through your high. He continues with his hands on your hips, bouncing you on his cock as he chases his own oragsm. "Fuck." He cries, grunting as he shoots his cum inside you, filling you up. The two of you sit there for a moment, catching your breath before you hear Baekhyun's phone ringing again. "Pass that to me." He says, his cock still inside you. You reach back, grabbing his phone and with the way you moved you can feel his cock growing hard again inside you. "Goddamn." He groans, thrusting into you again. He looks at his caller ID, and puts a finger to his lips, telling you to be quiet while he answers the call. "Hello?" He answers. You circle your hips on his cock. "Whats up?" He asks. You grab your breasts, pinching your nipples. "Yeah no that's fine." He says, clearing his throat. You let out a small moan. Baekhyun reaches his hand up, covering your mouth while you start to really ride his cock. "Look, they're calling me back. I gotta go." He moans, his hand still covering your mouth. "Bye." He says, hanging up the phone, tossing it back up front. "You're a bad girl." He smiles, pulling you in for a kiss. ** For the next few weeks you and Baekhyun would meet up and nine times out of ten, you ended up hooking up. Everytime before you met up, you told yourself you wouldn't sleep with him again but then he would give you a look, or say something that made you melt and give into him. Of course you felt guilty, but you couldn't help yourself. Baekhyun was like that addiction that you couldn't escape. He was the one thing in your life you didn't want to get rid of. "We need to talk." You say, panting as Baekhyun pulls himself out of you. "Do we have too?" He pouts, laying down next to you, his cock still hard. "Yes we do. You have a girlfriend. We can't keep doing this." You say as he sighs. "I know. I know we can't but I don't want to give you up, and it's not like her and I are really heading anywhere, anyways." He says. "Then why not end it?" You ask. "It's good for publicity." He says, pulling you in close to him. "When the time comes, things with her will be done and then you and I can announce our relationship." He smiles. "Are we in a relationship?" You ask. "I would like for you to be my girlfriend." He tells you. "She's my girlfriend on paper but you're mine in real life. You're all I've ever wanted." He smiles, rubbing his head. "Are you sure you want a low class teacher?" You ask. "I couldn't ask for anyone better." He smiles, holding you even closer. ** Dating Byun Baekhyun was hard. Much harder than you had actually anticipated. He was always busy with rehearsal, if not that then promotions, variety shows, interviews, concerts, meetings etc. The list always went on and on. Of course he did his best to make time for you, but at the moment, his relationship with his girlfriend was at its most important peak, so often you found yourself watching videos of them being out in public together, posing together, featuring each other on their social media. Basically doing all the things you wish he could do with you but is unable to. You did your beat to remain positive but the lack of seeing each other, the secluded dates and whispered phone calls were beginning to be a little too much for you. Especially today, when you checked your Instagram and are mey with a very romantic photo of Baekhyun kissing this girl. A kiss that looks sincere and serious. The next photo he looked insanely happy. Maybe it wasn't just for the press, what he had with this girl. Maybe he had real genuine feelings for her but did also for you and didn't know how to choose. Maybe you should just make it easier for him and end things now, before you get anymore attached because if you do, you will never be able to leave, no matter what happens. You want to take your time with this, really think about it before you make a rash decision. You left your apartment, going for a walk to clear your head instead. As you walk passed an alley, you're pulled inside and pinned against the wall by a scary looking woman. "Leave Baekhyun and his girlfriend alone, homewrecker." She shouts, slamming you into the wall before running off. Startled, you ran back to your apartment, calling Baekhyun immediately. "Hi baby." He whispered into the phone. "I'm done, Baekhyun.. i can't do this anymore. Someone just told me to stay away from you and Hwasa. It's just too much and I can't." You say panicked into the phone before hanging up. You toss your phone on the couch, not wanting to talk anymore to him. Your whole body is shaking as you turn on your shower. Shivers spread down your spine as you undress, stepping into the hot water, trying to calm your nerves. "It's okay." You whisper to yourself, taking a deep breath. Twenty minutes later you're still in the shower, sitting on the floor, knees to your chest when your bathroom door opens and Baekhyun walks in. "Baby. You can't do that." He sighs, taking off his clothes to join you. "I can't do this anymore Baekhyun. And it's not just the girl. It's the secret dates, no being in public, not seeing you. It's too hard." You cry. "I know." He whispers, pulling you up and into his arms, the one place that never fails to make you feel safe and secure. "All I want to do is make you happy, so that's what I'm going to do. I'll get this sorted out okay? You need to talk to me. I can't fix things if I don't know what needs fixing." He says. You knew he was right. But you were scared. "I'm all in. Are you?" He asks. You nod your head yes. "Good. I have an idea." He smiles. "Stay there." He tells you, pulling out his phone. A few minutes later, your phone dings, notifying you that Baekhyun was live on his Instagram account, and you felt nervous. You had a feeling you knew what he was going to do but you weren't sure. If there was one thing that you knew about Baekhyun, he was unpredictable and usually liked asking for forgiveness more than asking for permission. "Hello everyone! How are you?" He smiles. You watch him walk around your living room, answering some of the questions. "You're right. I'm not in my usual place. This is a new place. No, it's not Hwasa's." He laughs. "I actually have something to tell you guys." Your stomach drops. What was he doing? "Hwasa and I were never a couple, really. It was for sales for her new album, our managers thought it was good marketing." He says. "No, I'm not single. Guys, I'd like you to meet the love of my life, my beautiful Ayn." He says, grabbing your hand and pulling you close to him. "She and I met a year and a half ago at a Super M meet and greet. We've recently reconnected and I couldn't be happier." He smiles. You look absolutely terrified. You know Baekhyun stans and they could be vicious, vile and just mean. You managed to peek at the comments, and surprisingly they were mainly positive. 'She's so beautiful' 'What a lucky girl!!' 'I ship it!!' Your heart melted at the fact that people were a tally supporting the two of you, something you never expected to happen. "Thank you for all the kind words but now I have to go and make some calls." He laughs, looking at his phone lighting up with texts from his manager, telling him to call him, now. "You didn't have to do that!" You say, after he ends his live. "I didn't but I wanted to. I never want you to feel less than in this relationship, Ayn." He tells you, making you melt. "But now my manager is losing his mind. I have to go. I'll call you later. I love you." He smiles, placing a kiss on your lips before answering his phone and leaving your apartment. Was this real life? Because it sure didn't feel like it. To think you had gone from Soyoung who rarely wanted to be seen in public with you, to Baekhyun who announced his love for you on his Instagram live, in front of millions of fans, was insane. The difference between a toxic relationship and a non toxic one was amazing and you loved it. ** Later that evening, Baekhyun had called you, asking you to come over because he wanted you to have dinner with him and the rest of Super M. Of course you said yes, they were basically his family and you wanted to get to know them better. You only had to knock once before the door was opened for you by Mark, who had a giddy smile on his face. "Nice to see you again. Baekhyun's in the kitchen..but" He pauses "Do you think I could have Lisa's number?" He asks right away. With a laugh you give him the number he desperately seeked, running off the moment he got it. Walking over to the kitchen, you open the door partially before you hear a conversation you're not sure if you should be interrupting.   "She's not good for you Baek." Someone says. "How do you know? You won't even give her a chance." Baekhyun responds. "Kai, i'm sick of this. Back off. I love her. I'm going to marry that girl." "You're going to make her life hard. Harder than it already is. She's damaged goods. You deserve more." Kai says. You know he's right. Even though you've been trying to work on yourself, you're a mess and you likely always will be. Did you want to put Baekhyun through that? Your random mood swings, issues with alcohol, problems with fertility. He probably wanted a family but you weren't sure if you could give him that. "Yeah I know I deserve more. I deserve a better friend who supports me." Baekhyun scoffs. "Don't talk shit about her again. There's nothing wrong with her. Everyone has baggage, everyone has issues, if I didn't want to be there for her and help her through the problems, I wouldn't have bothered. But that's what you do when you love someone. You're there for them regardless if it's good or bad, or you're mad at them or not. Her last relationship was terrible.. she was treated like dirt so yeah there are some problems." Baekhyun says. "But.." Kai starts, before being cut off. "But nothing. You're choosing to see the bad, when I'm looking at the good. She's beautiful, funny and smart. She's got a mouth on her like a sailor and drinks like liquor is going out of style, but she's also generous and courageous and loyal." He tells Kai. This man. This man makes your heart melt. "Im done talking about this. Don't bring it up again. She's my future." He finishes, opening the door to the living room, seeing you standing there with tears in your eyes. "Did you.." he pauses. You nod your head. "Shit. Im sorry baby." He apologises. "I'm too problematic for you." You whisper with a sniffle. "That's one of the many things I love about you." He laughs, taking your hand to drag you into the dining room. The rest of the night was filled with laughter and jokes between you and the rest of the guys. Kai was quiet for most of the night, not actively participating in the conversations. "What's wrong?" Taemin asks him. "I don't think it's a good idea." Kai says, glaring at you. "What have i ever done to you?" You ask him. You're tired of this. You've never done anything to Kai for him to dislike you this much. "I've become quite close to Soyoung, and he's told me quite a bit about you." Kai says. "I didn't want to tell you Baekhyun, but since you're not listening to anything else I guess I'll have too." "Tell me what?" Baekhyun asks. "Ayn here went crazy on Soyoung. He went out with friends one night, and when he came home she had trashed his entire apartment, was screaming and crying and threatened him with a knife. Is that the type of woman you want?" Kai asks. You are still there with tears welling up in your eyes. He wasn't wrong, but clearly Soyoung didn't tell him the full story either. "Do you know why that had happened? Did he tell you?" You ask, your voice shaky. "He said he didn't do anything. You just lost it on him." Kai says smugly. "Hah. Sounds like him." You sniffle. "So I guess he didn't tell you earlier that night before he left he had hit me a few times? Told me that I was stupid and useless and a waste of skin. Said that I deserved to be hit, that maybe it would knock some sense into me." You cry. "Did he tell you that when he came home he tried to hit me again, and that's why i threatened him with a knife? I fully admit to trashing his apartment but I think I had a pretty good reason. Same with threatening him. I was sticking up for my life. Remember there's two sides to every story before you start sticking up for a woman beater." You snap, standing up from your chair. "I'm sorry." You whisper to everyone, hurriedly leaving the room. "You're a piece of fucking work." Baekhyun snaps at Kai, leaving the table to follow you. While he walks away he can hear the rest of the members standing up for you. Baekhyun opens the front door and finds you crouched down, crying into your hands. "Come here." He whispers, picking you up and bringing you to his room. He lays you on the bed, arms wrapped tightly around you as you cry into his chest. "I'm sorry." You whimper.   "You have nothing to apologize for." He tells you. "You deserve someone not so fucked up." "I don't want anyone else. Just you. Past and all." He answers. "I don't think I can have children." You say. "We will figure it out when it is time to." He tells you. "I just want you." You fell asleep that night still wrapped in his arms, never have been feeling more safe. ** Over the next few months, Baekhyun had been hinting at a surprise he had for you, but refused to give you any details on it, telling you that you had to wait, that it called for the right moment. Then one morning, he called you at 7am and told you to get ready and be ready by 8am. Today was the day for your surprise. Baekhyun picked you up in front of your apartment, making sure to blind fold you before leaving anywhere. "Any guesses?' He asks, driving to a special destination. "Breakfast?" You ask, hungrily. He laughs. "No baby, sorry." "I don't know." You sigh, waiting for the ride to be over. A little while later the car stops and Baekhuun brings you inside a noisy building. You can hear announcements over the speakers, so you knew it was the airport. "Are we going somewhere?" You ask. "Nope." He answers, taking off your blindfold and making you face him. "Are you ready." He asks. You give him a look before he turns you around and you see your three best friends running towards you. The tears are instant as you run towards them, embracing them all at once. "W-what? How? Oh my god." You cry, holding them all tightly. "Baekhyun set it up." Lisa cries. Letting go of the group, you hug Beth first, then Lisa, leaving Maggie for last. You hadn't talked to her much, since you hadn't left things very good between the two of you. "I'm sorry." She whispers as he hugs you tightly. "I'm so so sorry." "It's the past. It's okay. Let's leave it there." You say, hugging her back. ** That night, the five of you went for dinner at a fancy restaurant and for whatever reason Baekhyun was very nervous. He sat there, his leg shaking as you four girls talked about everything. His mind seemed to be off in space, as he thought hard about something. No matter how many times you asked, he was always telling you that things were fine and that he was just letting you guys all catch up. After you all had eaten, Baekhyun stood up from his seat abruptly, looking you in the eyes as he got down on one knee, pulling out a ring box. You sat there shocked, with your mouth opened wide as your friend squealed and screamed. "Ayn L/N. You are the light and love of my life. Would you make me the happiest man in the world and be my wife?" He asks. You can't speak, just nod. So that's what you did. You nodded yes a million times, unable to even believe that he had just proposed to you. You got to spend the rest of your life with the love of your life. ** A year later, you're in a room with your best friends, while you wear a big poofy white dress. "Just do it after." Beth whines. "No I need to do it now." You demand. With a sigh, the four of you make the way into the bathroom. They all lift up your giant dress, letting you stick the small test underneath you while you pee on it quickly. "How long do we wait?" You ask, placing the test on the sink. "Three minutes." Maggie answers. Your stomach twists and turns as you wait the longest three minutes of your life. The doctor had told you and Baekhyun to not get your hopes up and that the chances of you ending up pregnant were slim to none. So when you missed your period and felt nauseous, you were skeptical but decided to take the test anyways and now was the moment of truth. You grab the test, turning it over and see two very bright pink lines. Positive. You do your best not to cry, not wanting to ruin your makeup before you get married. "Bride, lets go." You hear from outside the bathroom. Making sure you're okay, you head out, your new friend, and escort down the hall Kai waiting for you. You link arms as the grand double doors open, revealing Baekhyun waiting for you down the aisle while your friends and family fill up the room. "Welcome everyone. We have gathered her today to witness the union of Ayn L/N and Byun Baekhyun." The officiant says. "Before we begin, is there anyone who thinks this couple should not be wed?" You nervously waited for someone to say something but when it didn't come, you told him to continue. "The couple has written their own vows." The officiant says, letting the two of you speak. "I promise to always love you, even when things are bad, to never yell, or leave angry. I promise to always tell you how beautiful you are and hold you when you're sad. But most of all, I promise to always remind you that you are good enough, too good for this world and for me, and I promise to never let you forget it." Baekhyun whispers, holding back his tears. "I promise to always love you, be there for you through the good and the bad and in between. I promise to always support you in the decisions you make, and to always remind you how important you are to me. I promise to be your rock when you need it, your everything." You cry. "I now pronounce you husband and wife, you may kiss the bride." He says. Baekhyun pulls you in for a kiss, dipping you down before bringing you back up. ** Later that night, during the reception dance, you slide your test to Baekhyun, leaving him speechless. "Are you serious?" He asks. "Doctors appointment Monday." You whisper, crying again. "Why are you crying?" He asks, pulling you into him. "What if it doesn't stick? What if I'm not a good mom if it does?" You ask. "Baby." He smiles. "It will stick. You're perfect. You'll be an amazing mom, you know why?" He akss. "Why?" "Because you are good enough." For once in your life, you finally believed someone when they said that. You knew Baekhyun wouldn't say it if he didn't mean it. You always have and will be, good enough.

[mshermia]

LYKHIW Timeline - WIP Page

Welcome! This post records the status and progress of my work expanding my Post-Endgame (MCU) series to “Like You’d Know How It Works”.

I left the cinema post-Endgame incredibly mad and disappointed. After I aired my immediate frustration with the movie in two One-Shots, I decided for my own peace of mind, I had to try and salvage the mess that was Endgame somehow, because I simply like the characters too much, not to. A week after I started writing, I published the first chapter on AO3. About a year later, I felt the need to expand on the original fix-it. I have and will continue to add to this timeline, writing different adventures that will mostly focus on Tony Stark and Peter Parker.

Genre: MCU fanfiction

The Fix-It

Like You’d Know How It Works (completed)

Setting: sets in right after the battle at the Compound is over, supersedes the concluding events of Endgame.

Premise: Straight after the battle is won - or lost, depending on your perspective - Peter tries to convince the Avengers to save Mr. Stark by going back into the Quantum Realm.

Tropes: time-travel, quantum realm, protective Peter

Mood: grief & loss, hope, family

Someone had organized this room at Metro General hospital for them to sit and talk. Sitting was not an option for Peter though. He couldn’t bear to sit. He couldn’t bear to have anyone look at his injuries either, not when there were more pressing matters to attend to.

“You said that whatever we do in the past will not change our present!” Peter’s fist hit the table with a crash. They simply weren’t listening. His face felt grimy and tight in places where the dirt from the battlefield stuck to the tears he had cried over Mr. Stark’s body. Maybe he should have thought of washing the traces off his face before confronting a few of the Avengers and Doctor Strange. It might have made him seem a little more collected. A little more rational. “That’s what you just said!”

Chapters 9/9 | 42 K | Teen and Up

Follow-up Shorts and Multi-chapters

Just Outside The Door (completed)

Setting: Days after Tony was brought back from the multiverse

Premise: Peter did it. He found his mentor and brought him back, but sometimes it all just seemed too good to be true. Sometimes, his mind played tricks on him and he just couldn’t sleep, wondering if he had really brought Mr. Stark back or if it had all just been a desperate dream.

Tropes: nightmares, PTSD, protective Tony, Whumptober 2020: No. 23

Mood: fear, working through trauma, comfort

There was only silence in his room now unless you were to count the frantic beat of his heart and the deep shaky breaths he sucked in and blew back out. It hadn’t even been a nightmare this time, not truly. He hadn’t really fallen asleep in the first place. Exhaustion was tugging at the edges of his consciousness and that’s where his thoughts had started to spiral.

Mr. Stark was okay. Peter was… he was pretty sure of that. He had succeeded, had brought him back home and now he was okay. But there was a little voice in the back of his head that kept nagging, that kept telling him that maybe… maybe he was wrong. Maybe it had all been a delusional dream, too good to be true, Peter wishing something into reality that was unobtainable. He had seen his mentor die after all. He had died right in front of him, the memory etched into his memory, right there whenever he closed his eyes. Dimensions, time travel… was that really real?

Chapters 1/1 | 4.2 K | Teen and Up

Nothing Left To Lose (in progress)

Setting: 2 weeks after Tony was brought back from the multiverse

Premise:

The reversal of the Snap added an additional 3.5 billion people back to Earth’s population. 3.5 billion more people to house somewhere, 3.5 billion mouths to be fed, 3.5 billion people who return to a world that was not expecting them to ever come back.

Tropes: food shortage, starvation, looting, blurred lines of good and evil; Whumptober 2020: No. 3

Mood: anger, desperation, conflicted who to help 

Tony groaned, rolling his stiff neck from one side to the other as the gate clicked shut behind Pepper. “Remind me again… Why did we agree to this?”

Pepper didn’t bother to send him a scolding look as she wrapped the security seal around the gate’s locking mechanism. “Because we’re good neighbors?”

“We are?” He smelled like damp fur. When did wet fur and barn animals become his life? “Since when exactly? Was there a house meeting? Did I miss it?”

“Mh… do you need a reminder of the process of negotiation?” She took a step towards him, one hand twisted in his shirt pulling him close against her, their lips almost close enough to touch. “You smell like wet alpaca.”

He pulled in an affronted gasp. The hand that was still holding his shirt pushed him away from her, her lips stretched wide in amusement. “Come on, Cesar. Maybe I’ll remind you after a hot shower.”

Chapters 1/2 | 3.4 K | Teen and Up

Unnamed WIP (unpublished)

Setting: 4 months after Tony was brought back from the multiverse

Premise:

For months, Peter has been commuting between the city and the Stark’s remote cabin in the woods. But now that life in NYC has regained some normalcy, he really wants to show Morgan what the greatest city in the world has to offer.

Tropes: power outage, panic attack, PTSD; Whumptober 2020: No. 27

Nope. “Not going down that rabbit-hole, Parker,” he muttered to himself.

“What rabbit-hole?” Morgan was sitting opposite him, munching on the cookies Pepper had put out.

“Nevermind.” Peter scooped two tea spoons of sugar into his coffee, then added another one just to be safe.

“Mommy says coffee corrupts the soul.”

“Please, like you even know what ‘corrupt’ means….”

Morgan tilted her head to the side, just like her mom would do. “I know it’s not nice.”

Peter gave her a look. “Well, your dad says it’s the elixir of life.” And Mr. Stark would know. Peter gave his head one hard shake. Tony. Tony would know. One sip of the black brew and Peter’s teeth hurt. Definitely too much sugar. “Okay, remember what we talked about?”

Morgan sat up straight, her eyes wide. “Ask mommy first!”

“That’s right! Make sure you use those puppy eyes, too.” Morgan nodded along enthusiastically while he quickly nicked her glass of milk and poured a generous potion of it into his mug. “We wait till, you know, till Tony’s gone downstairs or something and then—”

“And then you’ll ask me what?”

Chapters -/2 | - K | Teen and Up

Christmas Eve - At Peace (completed)

Setting: 5 months after Tony was brought back from the multiverse

Premise:

Just a couple of months after they defeated Thanos, Tony and Pepper throw a Christmas party. Instead of a partying kid, Tony finds his Spiderling outside in the snow at the grave he has been trying to ignore ever exists.

Tropes: anger and grief, blame and fear, no prompt

Mood: wholesome, family, frustration

Tony narrowed his eyes at him. "I mean it!" For good measure, he took a healthy gulp from the cup, positively burning his throat in the process. But it wasn't until Harley threw his hands in the air and turned his back in defeat - for now - that Tony allowed his face to cringe at the sting. Those little trouble makers were not helping with his heart condition. Speaking of trouble... "Where is Peter?"

Harley crossed his arms in front of himself, his mind clearly brooding on a new strategy. "No clue."

Tony's next sip of the hot wine was a lot smoother than the first. "What do you mean, no clue?"

"It generally means that the person doesn't have any information about the subject that you are—"

"Alright, short stuff..." Tony's eyes were searching the room but the little spider was nowhere to be seen. "A bit less of the asshole routine please?"

"Listen, if you want me to babysit, same rules apply as they do for Morgan." Brazen in his brattiness, the little shit ladled a good helping of mulled wine into a new cup. "I'll need a heads-up and generous compensation that I'm happy to re-negoti— Hey!"

Harley tried to hold on to the cup that Tony once again just plucked from his hands. "You've had enough of this!"

"That one is for Rhodey," the boy scowled.

Chapters 1/1 | 3.8 K | Teen and Up

The Winter Air (completed)

Setting: 6 months after Tony was brought back from the multiverse

Premise:

Tony, Peter, and Morgan spent a winter day outside the Stark residence.

Tropes: accident, hurt Tony, hurt Peter, Whumptober 2020: No. 13

Mood: fun to fear, injury, accusations, blame

Well, it wasn’t that easy. Because things were apparently never just easy in the life of one Peter Parker. Turned out, there were still some assholes out there. Not the Thanos-kind. Not for now at least. The regular kind though and Peter for one saw absolutely no reason as to why anything should have changed in his responsibility to stop them from being assholes.

His aunt somehow disagreed more often than she didn’t. Annoyingly now though, she managed to drag Mr. Stark to her side a lot more than she used to, too.

Peter shook his head at himself. Tony. T-O-N-Y. It wasn’t that hard, was it? He still slipped up every so often. But as much as that bugged him, it was the others who bugged him even more. Colonel Rhodes and Hawkeye among them the most willing to tease Peter about it. Him, and Tony too, for his mentor never commented on it with more than a crooked smile. When it was just the two of them, that was often the only indication for Peter, that he had said it again.

It made the times when it really was just them so enjoyable. A new ease between them. They had never had this, this kind of bonding. Sure, they’d spent time together before everything had gone downhill on their little space adventure, in the lab or on a normal earth-bound mission. Not like this though, not like Peter staying over at the Stark residence for a few days at a time. Not like him sliding along-side Morgan on the ice on the lake, trying to catch Tony. Not like Morgan falling over and taking Tony right with her and the way Peter’s stomach hurt from laughing so hard when Mr. Stark’s sweet little Morguna drowsed him with two full hands of snow and he just hadn’t seen it coming.

Chapters 3/3 | 14 K | Teen and Up

Unnamed Multichapter WIP (unpublished)

Setting: picks up where The Winter Air ended, 6 months after Tony was brought back from the multiverse

Premise:

First time all of the Avengers come together after the Snap was reversed. With Tony retired, Peter has to find his place in the team and learn to work with the other Avengers without Tony. Tensions are running high with the events of Civil War still largely unresolved and lingering resentments stemming from Peter’s multidimensional rescue mission to save Tony.

Tropes: Avengers mission, mistrust, growing as a team; Whumptober 2020: No.7

Tony’s eyes went wide. Was it possible that…

“Hey, FRI?”

“Good morning, boss. It’s 10:16 am on February 5th, 2024. The temperature outside is—”

“Yeah, just… can you stop for a moment?” He waved her off. “Send Dory out to the lake, would you. There’s some stuff still lying out there on the ice.”

“Right away, Sir.”

Tony watched as the little blue drone circled the lake, getting closer and closer to what he was sure were the Spiderling’s clothes still lying out there, where he had taken them off to—

“Hey, what are you doing out of bed!”

Despite himself, he twitched as Pepper made her way into the room. She had pushed the door open with her hip, balancing his breakfast on a large wooden tablet.

“Here, let me—” Tony stepped towards her, arms at the ready to take the tablet but she held it out of his reach.

“What do you think you’re doing? Get back in that bed!”

Chapters -/- | - K | Teen and Up

There... And Back Again (in progress)

Setting: about a year after Tony was brought back to life

Premise:  The Starks drive upstate to the old Mansion where Tony grew up. To Tony’s horror, the trip takes him and the kids a lot further down memory lane than anyone could have predicted.

Tropes: time travel, Howard Stark’s A++ parenting; Febuwhum2021 Day 12 - Who Are You

“Pete, seriously…” Tony looked up into the review mirror trying to catch his eye. “Can you not? I don’t want Morgan up all night, terrified of some dumb ghosts.”

“Come on, it’s just a story, Tony. Morgan knows I made it all up, right?” Peter winked at her, then wiggled his eyebrows in a way that seemed kind of familiar.

“Yeah, daddy.” But Morgan was full-on ignoring Tony, her eyes on Peter trying to imitate the wink and wiggly eyebrows he had just sent her way. “It’s just a story.”

He could do little more than groan as Peter continued to spin a tale of spirits and witches, ancient pacts and promises that had to be kept, ransoms that the spirits had vowed to retrieve.

“It was a night very much like tonight,” Peter continued, his voice low and full of dreadful foreboding, “that the witches broke that pact they had signed with the blood of the innocent…”

“Morgan’s gasp morphed into a giddy giggle while Tony could only rub a hand across his brow and mumbled, "Blood of the innocent, give me a fucking break…”

Chapters 1/3 | 4,4 K | Teen and Up

Are We Out Of The Woods Yet?, (completed)

Setting: 4 years after Tony was brought back from the multiverse

Premise:

 Peter takes Morgan into the depths of a National Park so she can collect samples for a biology project.

Tropes: Peter & Morgan, protective Peter, hurt Morgan, hurt Peter, Whumptober 2020: No. 12

Mood: disappointment, mistakes, anger, angst, comfort

“There are so many reasons why online classes are better than going to school.”

Peter shook his head. “And there are plenty of reasons why learning in school with other students is preferable. How it helps retain the material better than—”

Morgan groaned without even looking at him, her nose in the air, eyes on the leafy trees above them. “You can learn the same things at home, only then you could have dinner at night with us instead of in your stinky room in Boston.”

“Hey,” he craned his neck to see where she went, then walked after her. “My room doesn’t stink.”

“It’s a boy’s room.” She said it like that alone was a valid argument, when it couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, the girl’s dorms he had been in—

He stopped himself. Not the time and place.

Chapters 2/2 | 8 K | Teen and Up

[cafedanslanuit]

✦ • ° *.  — Ｓａｅｒａｎ＇ｓ　Ａｆｔｅｒ　Ｅｎｄｉｎｇ —  . * ° • ✦

chapter guide  |  chat with me  |  maybe a coffee?

summary: Saeran has finally found MC and is ectasic to finally be able to enjoy the good ending his tumultous life has reached. But with Saeyoung still missing and Mint Eye around, his happiness may have to wait a little more. Was love really capable to win against his inner demons or will he have to learn to fight for himself?

chapter warnings: [check chapter guide for story warnings] mentions and/or descriptions of night terrors

c h a p t e r   f o u r   —   it’s not like me to be so mean you’re all i wanted

“Are you sure about this?” MC asked as she stepped into Jumin’s office. He closed the door behind her and sat on one of the sofas, inviting her to do the same.

“I already told you it’s more than okay. We have an interior designer but I… I am discontent with how this office looks. I want to change it and you need a job, what’s there more to ask?”

“I guess you’re right,” she replied with a smile, taking out a notebook from her purse. “I guess I was just worried you would have a problem with your father about hiring a different interior designer.”

“Not at all, I made all the normal paperwork C&R asks for a new employee, like a background check and some other revisions. You will also get the benefits freelancers get from our company, in case you were wondering.”

MC shot her eyes up at Jumin. He looked back at her, his eyebrow slightly raised. The silence between both of them became thick, the notebook on MC’s hands trembling slightly

“You’re worried about what I saw on the background check,” Jumin rationalizes, crossing one of his legs over the other one. MC nodded, her eyes darting from her notebook to the man sitting in front of her. Never before had she felt so vulnerable with someone from the RFA.

All this time, she believes only Saeyoung knew about it, since he was a hacker. She had done the best to hide her steps, never commenting on anything she shouldn’t have, knowing that even though Saeran was a better hacker than Saeyoung, he trusted her enough to not dig around her past and she planned to keep it that way.

She would tell him eventually, she had told herself. When she was ready.

“You shouldn’t worry about that. It’s not like you did something wrong,” the man in front of her said. “By your reaction I assume no one knows? Well, Saeyoung probably does. Does Saeran…?” MC shook her head. “I see. Well, he won’t hear it from me,” he assured her. “You can stop worrying about that.”

MC stayed in silence for another moment and then opened her small notebook with a long sigh.

“I’m guessing you’re going to want cats somewhere?” she asked with a small smile, to which Jumin imitated her.

“I actually do. I’ve been thinking about getting some cat pottery. I’ve found a couple of those at a designer website that seem to be a good fit.”

“Can you send me the link, please?” she asked, taking a note. “I will try to see if they still have them.”

The rest of the conversation fluctuated between casual conversation and ideas about Jumin’s new office. Even though she tried her best, she couldn’t shake the feeling of someone else knowing what had happened a few years ago. She wasn’t ready to tell everyone (and a part of her was sure she would never be) and now she felt as if Jumin was finally looking at the real her. The way he talked to her was the same, but she couldn’t shake the feeling something was bound to happen at any second, that if too many people knew about it, somehow history would repeat itself.

Jumin insisted she returned home with Driver Kim and, as soon as she jumped out of the car, she went straight to the kitchen. Distract yourself , had been the clear indication she had been told whenever her thoughts were too much. She put her earphones on with music on high volume as she followed the recipe.

Distract yourself , she repeated the words someone else told her before. No. She didn’t get to break down at something that didn't happen. Jumin didn’t question her about it. Hell, Saeyoung had never questioned her about it. Why would she allow herself to feel like this?

No, she deserved to feel like this. She had the right to feel scared, she had the right to feel whatever she wanted to feel. It had happened a while back, yes, but it was not going to happen again. She felt her chest tighten. It was not happening again. Just because people knew didn’t make it any different. She wasn’t in the wrong, she hadn’t done nothing to feel shame about what happened. It was okay, she was going to be okay, she was--

She felt a hand over her shoulder and screamed.

“It’s me, it’s me!” Saeyoung said, raising his hands in surrender as you took your earphones off. “I’m sorry, I asked you something and you didn’t listen. I’m sorry.”

MC shook her head. “It's okay. You just startled me, that’s all. Not used to you being without  the leg cast.”

“How did it go with Jumin?” Saeyoung asked carefully.

“Oh, it was okay. He has some ideas so maybe I’ll work on that later. I have to bring him a proposal by the end of the week,” she explained. Saeyoung nodded and waited for her to continue, but she didn’t. He understood.

“I was just going to ask what you were planning on cooking today,” Saeyoung said, his tone playful, trying to lift her mood. “Honestly, I’ve been so blessed since you started taking care of the food around here. God listened to his humble server and said: You! You deserve good food!” he joked, pointing at a corner in the kitchen. MClaughed. “And I was there, choking on a Honey Buddah probably, agog, aghast,” he said, running to the same corner and playing himself. “Thankful. Blessed. Touched by God’s light and MC’s cooking.”

More laughter erupted from MC as Saeyoung kept joking around. The door opened and they both saw Saeran entering the apartment, hands on his pockets and a dull expression on his face.

“Saeran! I made dinner,” Saeyoung beamed.

“I made dinner,” she corrected him, elbowing him on the ribs playfully. MC looked over at Saeran and smiled at him. “It’s going to be ready in twenty minutes or so.”

“I don’t want it,” Saeran muttered, leaving his keys on the small coffee table. Her smile faded and she did the best to bring it back up.

“Should I save you some for later?”

“No,” he said, avoiding her gaze and heading over to his room. The smile on her face finally vanished and she felt once more a hand on your shoulder. Saeyoung looked at MC apologetically and she shrugged, trying to rest importance to what just had happened.

“I’m guessing you do want some?” she asked and he immediately nodded with a smile.

“Please, I’m starving,” he sighed, putting a hand on his neck theatrically. You giggled and went back to your cooking, listening to Saeyoung rant about something he had seen on a movie the past week.

You had never been so thankful to have him.

…

Apparently, decorating an office with little cat motives while also maintaining a professional look was harder than MC had expected. She had been up all night in her room looking for new furniture and items she could add, drawing and drawing Jumin’s room in her pad and checking the photos and measurements she had taken earlier over and over again.

It felt good to finally be back to work again. After months of thinking only about religious cults and Saeran’s recovery, she knew she needed to get back on track. She had been without a job for about two months when Saeran had first contacted her to try out “an app”, and thinking she hadn’t many job opportunities before and rent wasn’t going to wait for her, she had taken it.

And now there she was, four months later trying to get back on the saddle.

MC clicked the next page on the website and a pop up of a blonde woman offering her help navigating the website made chills run down her spine. How long would it be until she could stop thinking about Rika? She took a sip of her coffee and let out a long sigh.

She still couldn’t believe Rika was found unimpeachable. Her attorney had brought a psychiatrist to the court who claimed to have assessed her as she waited for the trial. Apparently, Rika had been through her fair share of trauma as a child. Thanks to Yoosung, MC already knew Rika had been adopted by cruel parents and judging by what she’d seen at Mint Eye, she was sure Rika wasn’t in her best mental state. The updates MC read online didn’t provide any video of the trial itself as some subjects were private, but the source did confirm Rika was practically delusional. She had talked about a childhood friend named Mika, who she claimed has given her the idea for Mint Eye. But when Rika’s attorney tried looking for her, he discovered said Mika had died at the brief age of ten years, just a couple of years after being adopted.

Apart from the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder the psychiatrist had diagnosed Rika with, it seemed Rika couldn’t differentiate real life from her imagination anymore. The psychiatrist claimed she also had a complex personality disorder that could take time to correctly diagnose. The information presented on trial was enough for the judge to find Rika unimpeachable and sent her to a mental facility to spend the rest of her days.

The night she read those updates from the trial, as she rocked Saeran softly to help him sleep again after a nightmare, MC let herself cry again, torn between the feelings of wanting her to suffer and trying to understand she hadn’t been in her right mind from a very young age. As she looked through the window, she thought about V. She remembered Saeran mentioning V had been a victim of Rika as well and her heart broke by how much suffering he had been into while also being kind to her during the days MC spent at Mint Eye.

MC closed her eyes and wished V were healing as she was thinking about him.

A loud crash startled her, making her look at the door. Another crash and screams followed and she quickly stood up, recognizing Saeran’s voice immediately. She opened Saeran’s room and found him tossling on his bed, eyes closed and face damp with sweat.

“Saeran, wake up,” she whispered, standing on the edge of the bed. “Saeran, baby, it’s a nightmare,” she said in the softest voice possible, grazing his arm with her fingertips.

The door opened again and Saeyoung entered, his honey eyes widening at his brother screaming on the bed. He quickly jumped on the bed, ignoring MC’s protests and took Saeran by the shoulders, sitting him up.

“Saeran, wake up!” he said, shaking his shoulders. Saeran’s teal eyes opened and Saeyoung smiled again. “Hey, it was a--”

And that was when the first strike hit.

Saeran had punched Saeyoung in the face, who had fallen on the bed backwards. Saeran hit him once more as his brother tried to cover himself. MC gasped loudly and quickly latched herself on Saeran’s back, trying to restrain his arms the best she could.

“Saeran, it was a nightmare!” she yelled. She could hear Saeyoung’s grunts underneath his brother and she wished she had more strength than Saeran. “You’re safe! You’re not in Min Eye, you’re safe!” she assured him, using all the force she had to restrain his arms, stopping him from hitting Saeyoung any further. “Saeran, you’re safe!”

It took Saeran a moment to stop his movements. His body immediately tensed up and MC figured out he had noticed Saeyoung’s body underneath him. When she demeaned safe, she let go of his arms, which fell limp against his sides.

“Are you okay?” she whispered and looked at Saeran nodding slowly.

“What happened?” he asked in a hoarse voice.

Saeyoung got up from bed and MC noticed the faint stain of blood on his cheek. He put his hand over Saeran’s shoulder and shrugged nonchalantly.

“You had a nightmare, but it’s okay now!” he said with a grin. Saeran looked up with a grimace.

“I hurt you.”

“You didn’t.”

“I hardly doubt she did,” Saeran muttered, his head leaning to MC’s side. Saeyoung dismissed him, moving his hand.

“Don’t worry about it. Gonna get cleaned up, try to get some rest, bro,” he said, leaving Saeran’s room.

Without a word, Saeran got back into his bed and even let MC put the sheets over him. Her face was full of concern and he realized for the first time, she was quiet after one of his nightmares. She would usually talk to him, trying to get his thoughts to stop swimming around like they were in that moment.

“Did I hurt you?” he asked, making her eyes look at him. She quickly nodded.

“I held you back, so you didn’t hurt me,” she replied, putting a strand of his hair behind his ear. “But don’t worry about that now. Did you take your pill before falling asleep?”

Saeran nodded, watching MC’s lips purse.

“They will start working better soon, I promise,” she whispered. Saeran watched her lean down as she always did to leave a kiss on his forehead but stopped herself. His chest ached. “I’m still working on that Jumin project, so I’ll be awake for a while. Knock my door if anything happens, okay?” she asked him sweetly and he nodded once more.

Battling with her intense desire to stay, MC stood up and left Saeran’s room without looking back. There wasn’t anything in the world she wanted more than to stay by his side until he fell back asleep but she also knew he needed to get better without the need to have her around. He couldn’t depend on her, no matter how much she was craving to go back and snuggle up with him, trying to chase all his nightmares away.

There was also the lingering concern about Saeyoung.

She found him in the bathroom, trying to pour alcohol over the wound on his cheek. She stopped him and made him sit on the toilet gently, trying to assess the damage. Thankfully, his cheekbone didn’t seem to be broken and the wound on his cheek was small, so there wasn’t the need for stitches. MC started cleaning it up in silence with a cotton pad, taking her time.

“I’m sorry,” he muttered. She quickly shook her head.

“You didn’t know. But in the future, when he gets those night terrors… you need to wake him up gently. Works best on him or he gets confused and sometimes violent,” she explained. A move of her hand made Saeyoung hiss. “Sorry,” she whispered.

“Duly noted,” Saeyoung tried to smile, but failed. MC some cream on the other cheek, hoping it didn’t bruise too much.

“Just give him some time, please,” she asked him softly.

“Don’t worry for me, MC,” Saeyoung grinned. “I’m okay.”

MC wished she believed him.

previous chapter | next chapter [tba]