#and my whole being will just scatter in the wind

[txtmetonight]

Recordings of the Clock ✆

call summary ⋆ ★ The wallows of slipping time are hidden behind a camera that Kim Seungmin wishes to stop.

pairing *. * Kim Seungmin x Fem! Reader

genre⋆ ★ Angst, fluff

warnings *. Mentions of dying, mentions of a disease, bad grammar

call duration⋆ ★ 5.6k

a/n*. * something short I conjured up during finals season, forgive me for not being active uhuhuhuh i think i'm gonna fail my math final...oh well. ermmm i also got a bit lazy at the end but whatevs we ball.

taglist ⋆ ★ @kflixnet

25th of March 

The camcorder starts to whir alive for the first time, much to Seungmin’s delight. It’s quite big and sturdy and he struggles to hold it a bit from its awkward grip adjusting his fingers from time to time, yet he is very proud of his purchase–you could see it on his face. The lens of the device sits in front of a cake which is right behind it is you, gleaming in excitement at the curiously situated camera.  

You both don’t know it yet for Seungmin is still figuring out how to control the camcorder but it’s recording with the lens still unfocused.  

“Minnie... are you sure you actually know how to use that. You look like you’re struggling.”  

Seungmin scoffs at your comment but doesn’t say anything. The pads of his fingers play around with the various buttons and his brows furrow to your amusement and impatience. The candles are starting to drip onto the light-blue icing. 

“We could do it later y’kno–” 

“Oh, I got it!” Your husband cheers and suddenly the camera is pointed at you, running quite well in its glory. You smile cheeses at the lens and your husband tries to zoom in and out of your face, softly chuckling when you stick your tongue out at him.

He would say more, but you told him to play nice today since it was your first anniversary with each other and that he wouldn’t have married you if not for this day. He decides to comply with a small grumble.  

“Can I blow out the candles now?” You ask but before he can say yes, you do it anyway, laughing loudly at his expression, which is contorted into a faux annoyance.  

“Why would you ask, just to do it anyway?” He zooms into the cake with a little smile. He got the cake along with the camera just hours before as a surprise for you.  

You shrug, your voice becoming a little muffled through the audio. “Aren’t you gonna sing us a happy anniversary song?”  

“No.” 

But his actions defy his words as he carefully sets the camcorder down in a position where it could still capture the both of you as he rounds the table towards you. He takes a small swipe at the cake to smear your nose when he sits down next to you, but you do nothing in retaliation.

You just grin and lean a bit closer and that’s when he finally sings to you, and you start to fluster underneath his gaze. It’s loving and deep when his hands trail to your jaw and cup your face. He kisses your cheeks.  

“Happy anniversary lovely.”  

11th of April 

“Seungmin, look over here!”  

The passing wind whips your husband’s hair into his face as he tries to face you with a broad smile. You laugh at his misery as the camera subtly shakes in your hold, trembling at the skittering steps you take to meet a huffing Seungmin.  

The sun glares at the ground as people ranging from young to old scattered the small park on its threshold. The camcorder picks up the jovial energy through the recording and you’re satisfied with the clarity of it all. But your partner isn’t too ideal with your whole attention on this mere device. 

“Just marry the camera at this point. You look like you’re about to kiss it.” 

“Oh hush.”  

You roll your eyes and switch the camera over to face it towards you both. You’re squinting into the lens, but Seungmin looks down at you, pressing a softening smooch to your hair, just before he grabs the camcorder out of your hands. 

“Wait–give it back!”  

The sky is a bright blue, and it practically blinds the glass especially at the way that Seungmin points the camera up.  

“No way! We’re on a date! Your eyes should be on me. On your husband.”  

You snort but ultimately give up your fruitless attempts, knowing him very well enough that he wasn’t going to succumb to your requests with the mind that he was indeed right in his reasoning. You instead punch him in the gut, which he hunches over for in pain before you sit down on the picnic blanket laid out on the ground.

He follows soon after and the grass folds underneath the camera’s weight–just a bit out of reach from your fingertips, pushing it away just slightly when you make a lunge for it.  

Seungmin smiles smugly at your expense.  

“You’re so mean to me,” You whine pulling your hand away from his sneaky fingers, but his reflexes are faster (or rather you were just slower of purpose), but he catches your arm and intertwines your pinkie with his. It catches you warm and tingly inside at his affection, yet you refuse to show him that in the amidst of your (fake) vexation.  

Seungmin knows truly that you’re acting inside and so he lets himself open the small picnic basket he prepared for both of you and serves himself a sandwich...a sandwich that was supposed to be for you.  

“Wow, this looks so good right now. Maybe I’ll eat this one today.” Seungmin brings the food up to his lips, just hovering over his teeth with a smile that grows even bigger when you don’t even spare him a glance. You instead choose to stare at his own meal that he packed for himself. When you see him take a small nibble from the corner of your eye, you let a disheartened sigh leave your lips.  

You don’t see it immediately, but the man clicks his tongue and nudges himself a little closer to you, holding the sandwich up to your mouth now. You bite the inside of your cheeks to stop yourself from giggling at his antics. He’s cute–really and every moment you spend with him, you’re reminded why you decided to marry him. Your fingers seem to clutch your hands a little tighter, overwhelmed with the amount of love that thrives through your veins.  

“C’mon, I was just joking. Take a bite, I worked so hard on this!”  

“Hmmm fine. If only you buy me ice cream later.” 

He rolls his eyes but nonetheless agrees with your deal and with that, you take a bite out of the bread, taking it out of his hands with a meek chuckle. You find his beam that follows gorgeous.  

The silence that consumes the area is peaceful and serene, yet you're soaking in the pure warmth that your lover radiates. The trees that provide the shade sway back and forth and the distinct laughter of children from a nearby pair of swings entrances your attention.  

You’re stunning like this–Seungmin knows, has known for the first time he’d ever met you. But he’s still taken aback every single time, with a great surprise. The ring on your finger glimmers in his eyes. 

“We need to start packing to go to your parent’s house on Sunday.” Seungmin groans taking the empty plastic plate away from you and replacing it with a small bowl of strawberries. You gratefully take them but your face cocks to the side with confusion. 

“We’re going...to my parent’s house?”  

Seungmin snorts, “Yeah stupid. It was your idea remember.” He pauses for a second and then continues, “Or actually my idea because I’m such a great son-in-law.” 

“Yeah right. You argued with my dad over which baseball team was better. You really hurt his feelings that night.” You snort, slapping his arm.  

“Because it was a serious matter!” 

“Of course. I could never doubt you, Minnie.”  

He manages to shove the red fruit down your mouth to shut you up. 

29th of April 

“Say hi.” 

You roll your eyes and focus once more on the stack of papers on your desk. But you certainly don’t ignore his chuckles, a soft grin blooming on your face when he suddenly slams his hands on the documents. 

“Minnie don’t disturb me. I need to submit this by tomorrow.” 

“Why what happened?” He questions, looking closely at the random words that litter the page before he deems it too incomprehensible for his understanding. When you grumble, he innocently smiles at you.  

“I accidentally arrived at the meeting a little too late...and mixed up some of the forms, and you know how Mr. Cheong is.” You ruffle your hair in your hands in exasperation. “He got pissed and decided to punish me for my ‘unresponsible behavior!’. Can you believe that?!”  

Seungmin nods solemnly before he takes what he’s sure is the third cup of coffee that night. “Well, he’s an asshole...but I’ll leave you to it, I guess. Have fun!”  

You groan. “Seungminnn!”  

1st of June 

The loud humming of a commercial is loud in the background, but Seungmin pays no mind to it, not when his loud chuckling overpowers it with you standing in front of him in a grimace. You’re sporting an apron that’s covered in a multitude of stains that you reject to get rid of simply because it is one of Seungmin’s first gifts to you after he found out about your dear fondness to cook.  

Yet that sentiment to the pots and pans has brought you down for the first time in a while and you’re severely disappointed, to say the least. At least Seungmin’s having his fun and he’s talking to the camera as he’s at it, showing the lens the failed stew. 

“You don’t have to be recording this...” You say, glaring at the bowl in front of him. He shrugs his shoulders and says, “It’s one in a chance lifetime moment.” 

You’re not sure if you are offended or moved by his comment. 

“Seriously, I don’t know what I did wrong! I swear I did exactly what I usually do!’ You stress, going back to where all the spices lay near the stove, checking every single one of them. Seungmin who usually expressed his delight for your food, scrunched his nose right as the spoon touched his tongue, pushing you into a mess. 

“Lovely, which container did you use for salt?” He asks, looking over your shoulder, pressing a chaste kiss to your cheek to calm you down a bit. It helps a little, and you answer his question by picking up a fairly large pink container that was filled with salt. Or so you thought. 

“That’s...the sugar box. That’s why it was so sweet.” He takes the container out from your hands as you furrow your eyebrows, sighing deeply at your idiotic mistake. 

“Has it always been that box?” You weakly ask. You feel his nod and your lips tremble before you awkwardly squirm out of his grasp. As of recently, work has been cutting off your sleep and you find yourself more muddled than ever. You plan to call off work for the next two days and get your well-deserved rest. 

But right now, you need to find the spoons and taste the stew yourself–except you forgot where they’ve gone! 

“Where did we put the utensils again?!” You cry, frustration ripping you apart.  

“Hey, hey, calm down a little. It’s gonna be okay.” Grabbing your hand, he bends down and kisses you softly against the counter, slowly wiping away the tears that roll down your face. You can’t help but feel horrible though. 

“Oh, I’m so sorry. I–I just messed up dinner and–” 

Seungmin kisses you again and softly hugs you against his chest where you melt. His fingers thread through your hair and you can’t help releasing another choked sob. Everything has been so stressful recently and it feels nice in his arms. 

“And it’s not the end of the world, is it? We can still order something nice. How does pizza sound for tonight?”   

15th of June 

“Where are we at Mrs. Kim?” Seungmin queries, zooming into your face as you swat your hand at him. Your cheeks redden when a couple of onlookers shoot their gazes your way, but you sigh and stare up at your husband.  

“In the parking lot. Of a hospital.”  

“Because why?”  

You give him a look. “Because I haven’t been taking care of myself and got sick.” 

He nods and pinches your cheek. He supposes that you both look odd with a big camera in his hands, but he doesn’t find it in himself to care. He rather would watch these old videos with his future family with you, laughing at all the stupidity.  

“Minnie I’m not even that sick though–really! Maybe you’re overreacting a little.”  

“I’m not going to listen to a physically ill person.” He sings.  

You cross your arms and look away in annoyance. Sometimes your fingers itched to wrap around his throat to strangle him, and that tingle was very apparent now as his arms brushed alongside yours. 

“And that physically ill person is also your wife, who knows her body better than you do. You know this will just be another unnecessary bill added to our insurance.” 

“Yep. And I don’t care.... 'cause we’re already here. Say bye to our baby.” He lets you take the camera for now as you raise eyebrows at his claims, softly chuckling to yourself about his ridiculousness.  

“Our baby? Really?”  

He nods. “Yeah of course. Now say bye, and we’ll see him later after the appointment.”  

“Wait. Why is it a bo–” 

The damned camera now focuses on a small bird in her nest before it flips back to Seungmin’s face. 

“Alright, we’re back baby. Do you wanna tell our daughter how the meeting with the doctor went.” Seungmin coos at you to rile you up. And it works well because you’re especially snappy today when you twist the skin of his waist, making him yelp in pain. 

“Horrible. They took my blood. And Kim Seungmin, if you make me anymore angry than I am right now, I swear to fucking god, I will snap your head in half.”  

“Yikes we can’t have that now, can we?” He shakes his head and before he can get another word out, you (softly) slam the camcorder shut. 

19th of June 

“Hellooo! We are playing Uno and our dear Seungmin is biting the curb. He fucking sucks at the game!” Felix exclaims into the camera, his endearing freckles up close and personal to the camera. He pulls out his own cards and shows them secretly to Lens–his deck consisting of three two-pluses and two other random cards of blue and yellow.

He has the least number of cards out of the whole group playing and it’s evidently shown when he turns his hands around. And just as he said, Seungmin truly is horrible because he now holds what looks like half of the deck in his hands.  

Right next to him is you though who thought that it would be better not to play as you started to mess up whatever the hell you were doing with your cards. You blamed it on the influx of alcohol in your system as to why you were acting so dozy.  

“I’m so sorry Seungmin. But this is the only card I have!” Jisung apologizes (though you could all tell he definitely wasn’t feeling sorry) and proceeds to place a four plus in the growing stack of discard. It’s funny to see the man rage. 

“Fuck you.” He seethes but nevertheless succumbs to his defeat grabbing another four cards to add to between his fingers which causes a robust found of laughter from your group, Chan practically turning red at the face from the amusement. Minho laughs softly then turns towards you and offers another drink that you refuse with shaking hands and a gentle smile, pressing a kiss to your husband’s shoulder when he releases another fit of anger. His friends were certainly not playing nicely tonight. But it’s all fun and loud.  

“Hey guys...say cheese!” Felix shrieks when he finally places his last card down–a yellow six and Changbin gets berated by Jeongin after he promised him that Felix doesn’t have any yellow cards.   

20th of June 

You’re sitting alone on the couch curiously watching your husband busy himself making tea. It’s “teatime” he had told you after randomly watching a rather boring movie on TV that was for some reason making a delectable scene of tea making. You both decided to turn off that awful show and converse yourself into a debate about how to properly eat Bungeo-pang while drinking a nice cup of warm infusion.  

He’s fairly quick with his brewery skills and is out by you in no time, handing your mug to you (but not before he took a small sip out of it) and crouches down right in front of the camcorder. 

“What’s the proper way to eat Bungeo-pang–from the tail or from the head? Start!” He claps his hands loudly and you in turn laugh at his dorkiness but settle yourself comfortably to absolutely destroy your husband with your reasoning. Who in the world eats fish bread from the tail anyway? 

“Obviously the right way to eat Bungeo-ppang from the head. It’s just morally correct!” You argue, taking a sip of the drink in your hands. Your husband who couldn’t disagree more scoffs and rolls his eyes. 

“How is eating the head more ‘morally’ correct than eating from the tail. That just seems cruel!”  

“Because if you eat the head first, then the fish would already be dead and wouldn’t experience the pain of being eaten alive! If you start from the tail, then it’ll slowly die out!” 

“It’s not even alive, lovely. Eating from the tail is just more satisfying! It’s less messy too.”  

You tilt your head and raise an eyebrow. “But what if it was alive? Then what would you do then? Also, how is ‘less’ messy than staring from the head, Minnie?” 

“Because–” He groans before the phone cuts him off. It’s shrill and it catches you off guard for a second as you jump in your place on the couch. You both let the phone ring for a second only to have Seungmin get up to his feet and take the call after a recent event where you were hit with severe disorientation after taking a random call from a wrong number. You just remember rambling to the phone...even though the call had been cut. It was awkwardly weird. 

“I’ll be back. And then I’ll show you exactly why eating from the tail is better.” 

You shrug your shoulders and shoo him off (he didn’t exactly like that because he stuck his tongue out) but you hear his footsteps stumble at a loose floorboard. You huff at his clumsiness and turn to stare at the window, formulating more quarrels to use against your lover in a light-hearted discussion.  

Yet you forget them all when Seungmin comes back with a sour look on his face and his mood tense. He doesn’t say anything as he stalks over to you slowly, but his eyes climb through your features with such desperation that you have a sudden pain of ache in your heart and your fingers quiver on your thighs.  

“Who...who was that on the phone?” You poke, taking his sweet hands into yours. 

“Ah, it was the doctor. They got your tests back.” He sighs looking down at his cup on the table. 

“I see. What did Doctor Jung say?”   

Seungmin stiffly clears his throat and plays with your fingers–a habit that he enforces when he finds himself under stress. “Er–he said that you had some inflammation in your blood tests that were causing your...symptoms.” He winces right after though.  

You go quiet at his words. "Is the inflammation serious?”  

“I’m dunno.  Something about your immune system attacking your own tissues–I think.” Seungmin moves in a little closer and kisses the corner of your lips. “He said that you should go ahead and see a neurologist, lovely.” His pout deepens with the passing moment.  

Exhaling deeply, you take your husband off guard when you punch his chest hard. The way he was acting, you thought that you were going to die! But you would be lying that his solemness for your health didn’t make you feel a little warm inside.  

“I thought it was something much more serious!” 

“But it is serious!” He defends, hiding in the crook of your neck. “I suppose, but I promise you I’ll be fine!” You hold at your pinky for him to take, squirming at the way that he nuzzles his nose. 

Looking at your finger, he glances at you once more before he pretends to bite pinky off. But then he seals the promise off while grumbling about how you two babies weren’t anymore. 

22nd of January 

“Lovely, here’s your medicine for today,” Seungmin says and you mourn miserably and take down the sickly-flavored treatment. Your husband brushes his fingers over your cheeks as the heavy weight of the camera settles into a familiar grip now that he points it in your direction.

Whereas he used to film with it every day, this is the first time in months since he picked it up after having to take care of you after you got diagnosed with Autoimmune Encephalitis which severely affected your brain. Worst of his fears–honestly when you both found out.   

Going to cognitive therapy back home then to a hospital and then back home again on repeat has unquestionably taken up both of your time. 

“Minnie, I hate this so much,” You whine before you look up at the camera and tap it lightly on the lens. “Where did you get this from?” 

He hums and brushes a stray strand of hair from your face, “Hmm a while ago.” 

“Oh. Why’d you bring it out now?”  

“Because I want to try something really quick” Seungmin painfully chuckles, pressing his lips on yours for a second before he grabs the remote next to you and changes the channel. 

“Hey! I was watching that!”  

“Sorry lovely.” He places another kiss that you chase after when he pulls apart. “But don’t you want to dance to our wedding song?” 

“Our...wedding song?” You quietly whisper, hesitantly taking his hand. The doubt in your voice breaks his heart, a sound that has slowly become habitual in his ears. It’s saddening but he can’t stop hurting himself for you.  

“I don’t know if I remember the steps.” 

He grabs your waist pulls you into him and softly sways the both of you. It’s tender and sweet with a note of bittersweetness as you stare at him, carefully watching his pupils tremble and his lips pressing together when he looks down at you. “That’s okay. Just follow me.”  

He clicks play on the remote and throws the device down onto the table, letting the faint melody play out from the speakers. You’re not sure if it’s familiar–you haven’t felt anything so intimate anymore as you dwindle into a tunnel of lost memories. But with your husband right near you, your body sinks into his. Horribly astray from the path of your past, you wonder how to stop your lover from hurting as his eyes brim with unspoken tears that you kiss away. 

The audio is faint through the camera even as the TV picks up its volume and leads into a stunning piece that you wobble and spin to with unsteady feet filled with calluses that you couldn’t recognize.

You want to imagine yourself in that white dress with heels that dig into your skin, with a veil that rocks to the wind as you both recite loving vows. You really do–but it’s opaque in your head even as hard you try to paint an image with colors. Any image that would fill that gap in your brain.  

It’s antagonizing as the camcorder records the melancholy of the dance, of what was supposed to be happy now turned depressing as Seungmin recites his promises of that fateful night and the tears he shed over in a beautiful you while he picks you and twirls you around.  

7th of Feburary 

The night sky is seemingly apparent filled with stars and the sounds of croaking frogs and chirping crickets are loud and echoing. It’s tranquil yet the moon cries. The camera shows its pearly tears that are luminescent with the glowing sky.  

“I love you,” Seungmin mumbles.  

“I love you too, Minnie...” 

15th of March 

The doorbell rings and from where you sit at the dining table, you perk up at it as you try to mouth some of the memory exercises that your therapist had given you to practice. Seungmin who was right next to you, helping you along with a small smile, immediately gets up to go answer the door. 

“Hey lovely, there’s someone here to meet you.”  

It takes you a second to register his words, but you curiously look up to find a nervous-looking man standing in the middle of your entryway, staring at you with wide eyes. Seungmin who stands next to him, pushes him along, chastising him for being so bizarre like he’s seeing you for the first time. But the man cannot stop ogling at you with a nostalgic look. 

You wave at him and accidentally nudge the device that was by your arms, which breaks him at of his daze.  

“It’s been a while huh?” Minho trails off and his stomach turns at the way that you glance over at your husband in a feverish glance. He doesn’t think you remember him, remember one of your best friends from high school and it casts a shadow over his eyes that you seem to notice and sigh throbbingly.  

“Uhhh um, I’m so–sorry. I don’t really...I suppose you’re...one of my friends?”  

Minho chuckles and puts down one of your favorite desserts (double chocolate chip cookies) in front of you. “Yeah. I am.” 

“You feel fam–familiar to me? Sorry, I don’t know your name?” You breathe, swallowing deeply when the man looks away at you. You hear his chest stutter, and you feel bad, but you try to listen closely to him when he utters his name. Your husband watches wistfully as you parrot it back to him carefully.

You’re not sure if it’s foreign on your tongue but it brings you great sadness that stabs into your heart with an ever-growing puncture.  

Minho chokes on his stammer at the way that your eyes pool with tears and the wails that you cry in misery.  

22nd of March 

“Do you wanna tell the camera what we’re dressed up as today?” Seungmin asks, rubbing your hair and cheeks with his thumbs. He’s gentle as he does it and waits patiently for you to answer. You’re blinking up at him slowly as you nod your head and ruffle that animal onesie that you both match in.  

“Uhhh a d–dog?” You say, sweetly grinning up at him when he places a tender kiss on your forehead, staying there and soaking in the moment of it all. His warmth is radiating, and you wrap your hands around him. Your husband then presses his lips to your ring finger where your ring lays, the same ring that you watch glinting in the sunlight as it shimmers at the love that he has for you.  

Your heart seems to beat faster, and you feel yourself dust in a sheet of red that Seungmin makes fun of you of, and he falls back into those mindless squabbles that you both used to share. The ones that he reminiscences of, late at night and beer in hand, flipping through a scrapbook that you made for him for his birthday a long time ago.  

And when you laugh at him, his heart swells at the way that your entertainment hasn’t changed one bit. That you still let your eyes crinkle even though your body was slowly killing you–the truth of it all. And that you’re still yourself, the same person that Seungmin fell in love with all of those years ago when you bumped into him at a small get-together. You’re still his lovely.  

He still loves you with the same amount that he’d always had. In sickness and in health. 

24th of May 

“Hey, Minnie. Should...should I change out of this?” You’re still in your sweatpants and black top after coming back from the hospital while holding the camcorder in your hand, following your husband’s frantic movement all over the kitchen with a giggle. He emits excitement and happiness, that oozes from the tips of his fingers, akin to a little child. But you can’t exactly blame him for the same feeling of frenzy that runs through your back, making you shiver. 

“Nope! It’s fine! Just hold on a second–oh there it is!”  His hands held a metal knife while half of the cutlery drawer was out on the counter from his search.  

His voice is giddy and strains his throat a little but truly his happiness seems to explode inside of him. A wish that he’d been praying for has finally come true, after being watered with desperate tears and sounds of silent sobs, your body was able to take in the medication without rejecting it.  

It’s a special day as you both elate inside with hope, so much of it that he had an impulse drive to the nearest bakery to buy a big, large cake and to cut it at home with you to celebrate. You both noticed that you were slightly getting better over the past few months and specialists were able to confirm that indeed you were slowly recovering.  

“I’m so proud of you.” He litters your face with butterfly kisses that murmur all what he wanted to say to you and more. It’s needed you realize, and it’s at the way that your skin burns with a mushy feel that melts your guts. And it’s all so much, so warm that you cry into his chest as he holds the trembling knife in your hands, half-way through the cake. 

“Thank you...I love you so much.”  

Your husband doesn’t say anything but move apart just a little and grab a piece of cake, a small piece to shove into your mouth. He then swipes the blue frosting and rubs it on your cheeks, cooling down the red that covers them, flushed at how heavy you blubber nonsensically. You’re so grateful to him and you hope that he knows that.  

“Yeah? Well guess what? I love you more.”   

18th of August 

The dull lights of the hospital are blurring and depressing as soft murmurs of voices from outside cascade past the room. Seungmin doesn’t know how it’s been since he’s been stuck in this same position, but he doesn’t dare to get up. Earlier your parents were here, and he was in a spot to comfort them over their dear daughter, but he now wonders who is here for him now. He closes his eyes in torturous agony. 

It used to be you who would sit next to him and hold your husband next to your heart, but he supposes that he doesn’t have you anymore. His arms try to cover for yours, but they could never compare to your comfort. What he considered a daydream is now a reality as he watches your chest rise and go down, figure linked up to a bunch of machines monitoring your vitals. You were doing so fine until your body decided to give up again and you both find yourself at step one–all over again. Perhaps even worse.  

Seungmin doesn’t know why he’s recording your sleep and maybe it’s a little creepy, but he just wishes that he could stop time. Just for a second.  

You look peaceful and so, so stunning that it physically rips him apart. The eyebags that crease your eyes are nothing in his eyes and the way that you appear is painless and he knows that this is better for you. An endless sleep. He figures that’s what you deserve. 

He scooches himself a little closer to plant what seems to be one final kiss, right on the corner of your lips. You’re so beautiful. And all fate wanted was to tear you away from his arms. Even though you promised that you would be fine.

Seungmin thinks that he might have run out of tears as he packs away the last of your stuff in boxes. His fingertips brush over the old recordings in nostalgia and he wishes that he took more videos of you. He feels cold as the last one plays out fully in a loop, and he cannot find it in himself to detach himself away from you. Yet his hand gusts over another tape he doesn’t remember about. He curiously pulls it out to check what it is.  

Love notes to my Husband <3333 

Soft whispering is in the background before you move into frame, your eyes squint as you stare at the device with a big smile.

“Oh, is this on? Hi Minnie!” You laugh and twinkle your fingers at the camera with eagerness before you cinch your eyebrows together. “Wait if you’re not my husband then don’t watch this...but if you actually are then um...I love you?” Hands tapping on your thighs, you look up at the ceiling to gather your thoughts before you gaze into the camera's lens with a sigh. 

“So actually. I just want to say that I love you Minnie so so so much and that I’m so happy that you actually married me. To be honest, I think that we were soulmates in our past lives and hopefully, we will meet again in our next ones. I am so thankful for you and all you have done for me, Minnie. I really love youuuuuu” You stretch the last syllable out and walk back to the camera, now just crouching in front of it.  

“And remember to keep on smiling!”  

You kiss the side of the camcorder before turning it off.  

[tungtung-thanawat]

TW: explicit discussion of suicide

(ID: Screenshot of Ray in ep4 saying to Sand "A burden to society" after he tells Sand to scold him and insult him) I cannot for the love of everything that is holy get this moment out of my head. Because the way he says it - with this deep fondness and affection - makes me want to want to chew my own fingers down to the bone. Because after that absolutely earth shattering intro where this happens:

(ID: Screenshot of Ray from ep4 where he calls Mew from the bathroom saying "If I'm gone, I won't be anyone's burden anymore, right?) one would assume that Ray wouldn't take being called a burden very well, certainly wouldn't grow an emotional attachment to someone who has called him that multiple times, has expressed his irritation over Ray's clinginess upfront.

And yet that is exactly what happened. So the question is - why? I've seen multiple ppl talk about this so I feel like I don't need to explain here how Ray's friend group aren't particularly good friends to him. Even Mew, who Ray supposedly loves isn't all that affectionate or understanding towards him. Please read this meta for a breakdown of why and how Mew's response to Ray when he calls him from the brink of suicide and for which Ray is so incredibly grateful for - fell laughably short. Ray who's mother never loved him (and it's likely quite nuanced since she quite obviously committed suicide and I can't even begin to comprehend the heights of fucked up abandonment issues that would wreak on one's child), Ray who is yet to mention his father even once, Ray who tells his friends how much he loves them all the time and literally never hears it back - you know, that guy isn't really looking for a grand love, he isn't waiting for someone to see inside his soul and find something wonderful - he's looking for scraps. Literally anything.

He wants someone to look at him, see inside to his festering, broken, ugly core and still find it worth loving, find it worth saving. And Sand? He does exactly that from like Day 0

(ID: Screenshot of Sand and Ray from ep1 in Sand's bathroom where Sand says "How did you manage to live this long" to a passed out Ray) I had lost my entire mind over this interaction in ep1 because Sand has that exact irritation and affection here that one would feel for a troublesome sibling. Like he doesn't really like Ray here in this moment and he's not very secretly very annoyed at him. But no matter what,he will protect him. Ray isn't awake in the above clip to experience it but it just drives me crazy how Sand is exactly the person that Ray has been waiting for, a person capable of very intense albeit pragmatic love. Someone who can call out Ray's burdens and still love him through it (unlike you know...his so called friends). Yes, there are quite overt parallels between the arc of Ray's feelings for Sand and Mew:

(ID: Screenshot of the RayMew kiss from ep4 and SandRay kiss from Ep2 side by side) look at the arch of his body!!!! my man is always freaking reaching out isn't he!!!!!!

(ID: Screenshot of Ray offering to save Mew from ep4 and Sand from ep3 side by side) But that's where those parallels end because Sand and Mew could not be more different as people and Ray has absolutely no way of comprehending the person that is Sand. Doesn't Ray act a little differently around Sand?

(ID: Screenshot of SandRay from ep3 where Sand says "You just don't take no for an answer, do you, Ray?) Like it's funny when Sand had said this but also...doesn't he? Doesn't Ray take no for an answer quite often? Didn't he take Mew's 'no' two years ago and never pestered him about it again? Didn't even bother to do anything about it when Boston was trying to get in his head about Mew at the party and instead went straight back to making fuck me eyes at Sand. When Mew told him not to fight with Top, didn't he immediately back down? Didn't he let Mew walk away with Top without a fight? Ray hadn't felt the need to confess his feelings again or kiss Mew for two years, not until he sees Mew in Sand's POOR BOY shirt. Ray can't stay away from Sand, doesn't have a single clue as to what it is he's feeling for him (please have your life ruined by this gifset) - how could he? How could he possibly know what it feels like to be loved by someone? How could he possibly know what it feels like to love someone?

[fangirlwithasweettooth]

Me? Going absolutely insane over every single Kanej moment in both the books and the series? It’s more likely than you think

[venusstorm]

𝘽𝙪𝙢𝙗𝙡𝙚𝙗𝙚𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙃𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙮𝙗𝙚𝙚𝙨

The time in which you gifted Bucky Barnes an adorable little keychain for his motorcycle.

ෆ Warnings: 18+ – MINORS DNI, fluff, insecurity, Bucky can’t stop lifting you up

ෆ Bucky Barnes x Reader

ෆ w/c: 1.2k

̟ ෆ ‿︵‿୨♡୧‿︵‿ ෆ ̟

"Isn't this yours, honeybee?" Bucky questions, dangling the bright yellow bumblebee with a pastel pink heart in his hand. He inspects it carefully, turning it around before offering it back to you.

You shake your head, "It was, yea...but..."

Bucky stares at you expectantly and suddenly the entire idea sounded foolish. You couldn't help but envision him laughing at you, snorting at how ridiculous he'd look flying down the highway with your dumb keychain flapping in the wind. It'd stick out like a sore thumb against his jet-black bike, the rev of his engine alone probably sending the poor bee soaring into the clouds.

"I put it in there by accident," you laugh nervously, reaching out for the tiny bee. But his hands clenched tightly around the keychain before you could grab it.

Almost tauntingly he lets it hang in front of your face, staring at you with a half smile.

"On accident?" He hums. "So the keychain that's been on your backpack since the day I met you just somehow found its way into my birthday present?"

You shrug. "I took it off and must've misplaced it."

His eyes glimmer with question but instead of pushing further, he lets it go. He shrugs, "Okay."

Your face falls as he hands the keychain back to you. You squeeze the poor ball of fluff, trying your best not to belittle yourself for being so nervous.

It's for the best, you told yourself. I'm sure he doesn't want some weird form of "staking claim" on his bike. His buddies would make fun of him for it anyway. It's better if it stays with me. Yea. Better.

Hurriedly you try to direct your attention away from your thoughts, shoving the keychain into your pocket.

Your solemn expression brightens into excitement. "I have another surprise!"

You take Bucky's hand, leading him towards your living room which noticeably had a different ambiance than usual. He happily trails behind you, watching your joyous face with adoration.

Every time he's with you his brain goes fuzzy. You allow him to decompress, relax, and think about nothing besides the moment he's in. He craves getting off of work and coming straight to your apartment, still sweaty and dirty from working at the bar, and yet you run up and give him the biggest hug. "Hang on, let me take a shower, honeybee." But you'd ignore him, smashing your lips against his until he gives up rationalizing and allows you to strip him bare.

"I know it's kind of corny and if you'd rather go out and celebrate I completely understand. I just thought this would..."

He can't focus on your words. Not as he's looking at what you had done. Candles lit around the room, the whole place smelling of warm vanilla and cinnamon. Fairy lights twinkled around the ceiling, draping over the windows. The coffee table has been shoved to the side and in its place is a bundle of blankets and floor pillows. Balloons and streamers are scattered across the room, and finally, he zones in on the blue and white cake.

"Happy Birthday James!" it reads. He could tell that you made it because of the bright red heart dotting the i.

He whispers your name in pure disbelief.

"Yes?" You stare up at him with admiration. You truly love this man and want to do everything in your power to show it.

"C'mere, baby." Bucky scoops you up into a hug, hiking you up until your legs are wrapped around his waist. He holds you close against his chest, kissing you sweetly. "You did all this for me?"

You nod, eyes wide as he stares at your lips. A look of pure hunger ravishes you. Bucky presses his forehead against yours, his chest rising and falling rapidly.

He couldn't recall a time before you when his heart felt as if it would beat out of his chest. Nor a time when his eyes became so glazed over with pure adoration that he swore he'd cry right then and there. He was hesitant about this future, the new world that he found himself forced to live in. But the moment he saw your sweet smile for the first time, all that faded away.

"Thank you, Princess." You whimper as he whispers into your ear, his hands traveling up the Henley that you stole from his drawer. He didn't mind you stealing his clothes. The first time he caught you he handed you a pile of his shirts, begging you to take them and wear them as your own.

He kisses your shoulder softly. "Thank you for being here for me."

"For taking the time to know me and care for me."

His lips press against your neck, a soft groan rumbling within his throat. "I still remember the day we met...felt like the universe was finally giving me my happy ending."

You state his name breathlessly. "I'm supposed to be celebrating you, not the other way around."

He ignores your remark, his eyes narrowing as his brain begins to churn. "Do you trust me, sweetheart?"

You respond without hesitation. "With everything."

"And you'll always tell me the truth, right?"

You nod reassuringly.

He releases his grip on your legs, setting you back onto the ground. "So tell me what this is about." His hand shoots into your pocket, pulling out the black and yellow bee. He squeezes it in his hand before laying it out in his palm.

"I told you–"

He raises an eyebrow, "The truth."

You didn't want to come off as too clingy and you didn't want to hear Bucky reject your gift. Thank you baby but...it's a little childish. You could hear the words flowing from his lips perfectly. He'd hate it.

"I–"

Bucky pulls you closer. His eyes flooded with warmth. "Please."

"It was for your bike," you whisper. "And before you say anything. I know it's dumb...that's why I took it back."

"My bike?"

You nod wordlessly. "I thought it'd be cute if you had a little piece of me wherever you go. But the more I thought about it the more I realized how stupid it'd probably look. I mean...none of the other guys have–"

Bucky cuts you off, lifting you off the ground and back into his arms. "Oh, baby...is this what you were hiding?"

You nod sheepishly. "It's stupid."

He shakes his head. "It's perfect. You're perfect. M'gonna tie this onto it right now, honeybee. The guys are going to be so fucking jealous when they see what you got me."

Your lips broaden into a smile. "Really?"

Bucky hugs you tightly, his hand caressing your head against his shoulder. "Gotta let the whole world know I've got the most thoughtful, gorgeous person by my side. M'never taking it off, baby. It goes where I go now."

You squeal as he races into the garage with you in his arms, flicking the lights on and heading towards his bike. He sets you down gently, making a show of the keychain in his hand before attaching it to his key ring. Happily, he throws his leg over the bike, twisting the ignition. The bike roars to life and the sight of your bright yellow bee against the black exterior makes you burst out into laughter.

Bucky grins. "See? It's perfect, baby. Told you."

[pizzaapeteer]

Springtime fun

Pairings: Enzo Berkshire x female reader Summary: 2.5 k. Enzo is infatuated by you in a sundress, so captative by you in it that he has to take you right now.

Warnings: nsfw, semi-public sex, female reader, swearing. Divider: Pretty divider found here!

a/n: I'm super glad to have finally finished this as it has been in my WIP since December 💀 Many of my friends will know about that so this one's for you. Ty for all the lovely encouragement for helping me finish it 💛 also heads up this is actually my first PIV smut.

Enzo loved spring. He loved the flowers that bloomed in the gardens, which he often picked to give to you. He loved watching alongside you the animals awaken from hibernation, listening as you listed facts about them. He loved being able to lie outside in the grass with his friends after class, enjoying the warmth of the sun as they messed around. But most of all, he loved that spring meant sundresses. He had grown fond of them and loved seeing the different colours that paired well against your skin tone. The delicate shape of the dresses and how they hugged your body. He loved how versatile they were. Sometimes you'd wear a long flowy, one that would swirl in the wind or a short flare, one that fell just at the mid of your thighs. Some of them had lacy sleeves that covered your shoulders with elegant necklines. Others were backless, revealing to Enzo that you weren't wearing a bra. On the whole, when you wore a sundress, he was in heaven. 

He can still recall the first time he saw you in one, the weekend before Easter break. Sprawled out on a spot of grass near the black lake, Enzo lay with his friends. The hot sun warmed his neck, a constant breeze drifting by. He had been attempting to catch the little daisies Mattheo had plucked and rolled into balls to launch at him. Theo watched, amused, before turning his attention to snicker at Draco’s arrogant attempt to teach Astoria how to skip stones. Blaise rested nearby on a picnic mat, not wanting to get grass stains on his pants. The sound of your laughter caught Enzo’s ears, whipping his head up to see you and Pansy approaching, carrying a jug of lemonade. His eyes rose, breath hitching as he took you in. Dressed in a royal blue sundress, scattered with white daisies, the colour popping against your skin. He dragged his eyes up your exposed legs, practically salivating at the sight of your curves fitting snugly in the frock. There was something about the sundress that made you look elegant yet sensual. Though, clearly not just to him, as he caught sight of his friend’s stares.

He stood up, licking his lips, still holding the slightly crumpled daisies in his hands. Walking forward, he embraced you in a hug, a smile pulling at his face. His hands wrapped around you, feeling the soft skin of your back. “Hey gorgeous,” he whispered, his face pulling back to give you a passionate kiss. He felt your hands slide around his neck as you leaned up on your tippy toes to meet his kiss. “I like your dress,” a flirty smirk stretched across his face. The sound of your sweet giggle was music to his ears as you thanked him. Remembering the daisies, he unfolded his hands, chuckling, “for you.” You beamed at him, your eyes sparkling with amusement at his ‘gift’. “Not your usual flowers, Enz, but I accept.” He smiled, satisfied, taking your hand and leading you to join the others. Gracefully, you sat down on the rug beside Blaise, noticing Pansy had already settled herself down next to Mattheo. Enzo watched cautiously as Blaise gave you a once over, taking his own seat across from you. He immersed himself in conversation with you, admiring the way you rambled about your day. His fingers found comfort resting on your thighs, tracing circles. The warm sun shone, as breezes of wind blew your dress up slightly. As you talked, he found his mind wandering, unable to fully concentrate. Because of his height, he overlooked you even when sitting, allowing him to peer perfectly at the top of your breasts, sitting snugly against the dress’s neckline. His fingers twitched against your leg, pinching your skin softly as he thought about your nipples. 

At Pansy’s offer of lemonade, Enzo’s gaze turned momentarily to accept. He reached out to receive the two drinks, passing one to you. Cheering with you, his eyes observed the way you drank thirstily. Too fast though, as some of the liquid spilled from your cup down your mouth. It ran rapidly, dripping down your cleavage, causing you to squeal at the cold sensation. Your outburst grabbed the attention of your friends as you looked up, smiling sheepishly while muttering about being clumsy. Blaise shook his head, chuckling as he passed you a napkin, watching you wipe the liquid away.

As you cleaned yourself up, Enzo's brown eyes caught your attention, his honey orbs twinkling with mischief. “We’re going to take a walk,” Enzo announced, grabbing your hand and pulling you up, leaving no time for you to protest. You stood, almost stumbling, over Blaise as you found your footing, trailing behind in Enzo’s firm hold. “Enzo, slow down,” you exclaimed, practically tripping over your feet as you trailed behind Enzo, his long legs striding down past the trees. He flicked his head, giving you a cheeky grin over his shoulder before he slowed down under a large pine tree. 

You took in the pretty scenery as you furrowed your brows, wondering why he had just pulled you away from your friends. Enzo seized the moment of your distraction to push you gently against the tree, grinning as you gasped. His lips invaded your neck, peppering hungry kisses across your soft skin. One of his hands reached down to grasp your hip, lightly pushing you further against the tree. You moaned into the kiss, your hands finding their way around his waist, the bark scratching your back. Enzo’s touch wandered down your thigh with his other hand, sliding it up under your dress. “Do you know what this dress is doing to me?” he mumbled against your ear, nipping at it. You looked up into his sweet brown eyes, his pupils conveying his lust clearly. He flashed you an irresistible smile and, in a moment's time, his arms enveloped around your hips, effortlessly hoisting you up. His muscles flexed, the clear evidence of his quidditch training shown as he secured you against the tree with one arm, the other trailing up to pull needily at the neckline of your dress. Instinctively, you wrapped your legs around his waist, your hands sliding up to grip his broad shoulders. The movement of your dress spilling, revealing further the tops of your chest, had Enzo groaning against your ear. “Fuck, and you're not even wearing a bra. You're driving me mad, baby.”

You squirmed against his eagerly aggressive hold, never having seen Enzo this feral before. The feeling of his hands tending to your exposed breasts, kneading at the complimentary flesh, driving you crazy. His fingers pulled further at the fabric, wanting to see all of you. You gasped, leaning your head back against the tree, his head moving down to capture your perky nipples in his sweet mouth. The taste of lemonade filled his senses, mixed with the sweetness of your skin as his tongue lapped at it. His tongue swipes at the soft buds, the sounds of your mews making his cock twitch against his now constricting trousers. 

He’d never seen a piece of clothing accentuate your figure quite like this sundress had. The captivating blend of your alluring presence and almost bewitching sensualness drove him wild. He couldn’t believe what sorcery this was. He craved you in a way he never had before, his patience lost in the moment, unwilling to wait. His hands scrunched up the fabric, pushing your dress higher, his fingertips grazing against your lacy undies. He dragged a whimper from you, pleading for more, the eagerness of Enzo’s movements and his desire to make quick work created a pool of wetness between your thighs. He rested you down for an instant before his hands shifted, hiking one of your legs up and pressing your thigh firmly into place against the tree. The cool air blew between your spread legs, making you shiver, Enzo’s hunger making you whine. He shot you a teasing smile at your impatience. “Gonna fuck you hard in your pretty little sundress.” 

His free hand pulled at the restricting material, snapping your panties and extracting an agitated gasp from you. His grin widened smugly, stuffing your panties into his pocket. “Got your knickers in a twist, did I?” he chuckled at his own joke. You roll your eyes playfully at your boyfriend, watching in anticipation for his next move. Still with your leg clutched by one of his hands, he skillfully maneuvered his belt and pants down with the other. Your eyes drifted, your core throbbing seeing his hardened cock, the pink tip already dampened with pre-cum. You bit your lip, eyes blown with lust as you yearned for him to fill you up. He rubs his throbbing cock along your slit, coating it in your wetness teasingly, his eyes locked on your whiney face. He smirked, leaning in to capture your lips in a kiss, aggressively slipping his tongue into your mouth. He took advantage of you being distracted to plunge his hips forward, sinking his cock deep inside of you, revelling in the way he heard your whines turn into muffled moans. His lips moved against yours, not letting you escape his ferocious kiss, his hand moving to caress your face. His fingers clasping at the nape of your neck, tilting your head upward. 

Your head spins, overwhelmed by the feeling of him pounding into your cunt and your breath being stolen by his sweet, ravenous lips. Your hands find their way into his hair tugging at his brown locks, making him grunt as his head jerks back, allowing you to catch your breath. He presses you further into the tree, his pace increasing as you throw your head back, mouth agape as moans fall from your lips. His grip on your thigh tightens as he uses you as his stability, his fingers kneading into your soft skin, no doubt leaving marks. 

“Fuck me. Look how well you’re taking me. Such a pretty little slut letting me fuck you out in the open.” His words have your lips parting, sensual moans falling from them. Your head tilts back to lean on the tree, your eyes scrunching shut. Your mind rushes with a state of wooziness, cheeks burning as your body rises in heat. He loves the way you fall apart at his words as hips thrust roughly, groaning as he watches the way your pussy clenches around his cock. His hand reaches to rub your clit, erupting a string of incoherent whines out of you. The feel of your shallow breath against his skin makes him shiver. Your heart thumping while your body convulses with each thrust, the head of his cock slamming repeatedly inside, hitting that perfect spot. The noises of slapping echoes softly around the forest floor, though Enzo is so consumed with how his body is feeling to question if he took you further enough away from his friends.

“Such a good girl, that’s it clench around my cock, baby. God. Your pussy is so tight, you sound so fucking pretty.” Enzo’s words were spilling out of him in mumbles as his muscles tightened around his own pleasure building. He leans his head against your forehead as he rubs your clit faster, holding off barely on his own orgasm. He desperately wants to hear you fall apart before he does, his lips brushing yours as he whispers, “come on pretty girl, be a good girl and cum for me.” His words of encouragement send you over the edge as your body shakes, a rise of pleasure exploding through you. Your pussy pulses, squeezing him as your hands grasp at his shoulders, nails digging grasping at his shirt. A series of your own incoherent words fall from your lips in lustful moans. Groans fall from Enzo’s lips, his eyes shut as you come undone, her unravelling triggering his own climax. His hands clench your thighs, pressing his hips further, enjoying how your pussy shakes at the feeling of him filling you up. 

He listens to the combination of your breathless pants blending together with his as your foreheads stick together. You two stay close, his cock resting comfortably still in your warm pussy, not wanting to pull out yet. As his eyes open, he takes in the gorgeous appearance of your flushed cheeks, the heightened desire fading from your eyes. A smile spreads across his face, his hand releasing your thigh back down. Tucking a stray piece of hair behind your ear, his hand cups your cheek. “God, you’re fucking beautiful.” His lips are on yours in a moment, taking you by surprise. 

The kiss is sweet and passionate. The feeling of warmth and love radiating off of him. Your lips moved in unison in a fervent dance, matching each other. With your arms wrapped around his neck, you moan, feeling him twitch, still being nestled inside you. Enzo pulls back with a cheeky grin, before he shifts his hips, removing himself from you.

He tucks himself back into his trousers, a sense of satisfaction flooding him, his eyes never leaving you. Amusement pools in them, watching how those once feral hands now delicately smooth out the fabric of your dress. Merlin, that dress, was going to be the death of him. Watching you fix yourself up just made him admire once again how it captured such an alluring feeling within him. 

Your movements are paused, your attention caught by the feeling of cum dripping slowly down your inner thigh. His brows raised, chuckling, taking in the nuance of her reaction as your cheeks blushed a deeper red. “Uh Enz, my panties please.” Your hand reached out, prompting him to hand the stuffed lace back to you. 

He chuckles, “No no, they’re staying with me, princess.” He notices your concerned look at heading back to your friend's pantie-less. “It’s alright. Everyone will just think it’s lemonade.” His face breaks into a cheeky grin at his assurance, sliding his tongue over his lips. The idea of you sitting soaked in his cum for the rest of the picnic in nothing but your dress is sending blood straight to his groin once again. 

You roll your eyes at his stupid statement, lunging at him to grab your underwear back. He’s quick and is already running past you and back towards the group, leaving you no choice but to follow. While your attempt to catch him is not apathetic, his legs are longer than yours and he reaches the clearing your friends are still sitting in first. At the sight of them you stall your running, catching your breath, shooting Enzo a glare. He chuckles, manoeuvring between Draco and Theo to sit himself down, patting the picnic blanket for you to join. The others turn their heads at your entrance, noticing your slightly flushed expression and Enzo’s extra cheeky nature. Theo speaks up, always nosey to find out information. “How was your walk?”

Enzo watches with mischievous eyes as you plant a seat down beside him, as he replies to Theo. “Scenic, lots of pretty things down there.” He grins at you, trying not to give away too much. You blush, meeting his gaze already thinking about the next time you can wear another sundress.

Masterlist

[hitomisuzuya]

the demon/Scara is trying to get to the angel/Reader so that they can taste her innocence (I hope this doesn’t seem like a strange request :")) ✨

Demon! Scaramouche x Angel! fem reader. Smut. Cunnilingus. Corruption. Degradation

It absolutely is not a strange request at all❤️Thank you for your patience even though you all are probably losing patience with me 😭

It wasn't just anyone's innocence that Scaramouche wanted to taste. It was yours. Your innocence even smelled purer than the rest. It was utterly intoxicating to him.

He wanted to shatter your innocence, break it into itty bitty pieces and scatter them to the wind.

Scaramouche didn't think you understood how sweet and corruptible you looked. He was going to have you. No matter what.

You were so shy, but still prideful. Or least you tried to be, saying that you wouldn't fall apart so easily to the likes of a demon. It was almost laughable to him how easily you caved to a few purred, taunting words as his hands worked you out of your clothes.

Now you wore the same shy expression with your legs spread on the bed, watching him move between your legs with a predatory smirk on his face. You shivered feeling his fingertips greedily grope your thighs.

Scaramouche didn't think he'd ever been so captivated with someone before. Your body responded to every touch from him, and it made him wonder just how badly you'd wanted him before he ensnared you.

"You just keep those pretty eyes on me while I tongue fuck you," His tongue swept out to lick long lines up and down your cunt. The moment his tongue connected with your cunt, he let out a low groan.

His tongue lapped slowly on your pussy, determined to savor every lick. Every soft, shaky sigh he coaxed out of you made his cock twitch and throb. He swept his tongue up to prod and swirl around your clit.

As pleasure started to cloud your senses, you struggled to keep your eyes on him as your hips grinded into his mouth. You could practically feel praise in the way he caressed your hips, your grinds giving him the opportunity to taste you with his whole mouth as his lips latched around your clit.

"That's it, fuck yourself on my face like the slut you are," Scaramouche groaned, smirking when he heard louder moans keen from your throat when he degraded you.

Your hands shook as they reached for the back of his head, pressing his mouth onto your cunt to hold it there while you grinded against it. His hands tightened on your hips, sucking greedily on your clit before sweeping his tongue inside of you.

"Who knew an angel would clench around a demon's tongue being called a slut," Scaramouche moaned, swirling his tongue between your walls, scrapping and dragging it along your sensitive walls as they tightened on his tongue.

Your body started to twitch as your orgasm coiled and built up, your thighs trembling as pleasure burst and gripped your body. Scaramouche jumped on your crumbling defense like a rabid dog. The louder you moaned, the more you writhed, he could see your innocence cracking piece by piece.

It made his cock strain almost painfully between his legs. His mouth felt insatiable on your cunt. You hardly noticed the drool that started to pool from your mouth as your hips bucked into his mouth.

You struggled to keep your eyes from closing and rolling into the back of your head as tears welled into your eyes. All you wanted to be was a good girl for him.

"Look at how fast you are falling apart for me, angel," Scaramouche purred the last word condescendingly, immediately spreading your legs when you tried to close them around his head. He was going to make you make you take every jolt and burst of pleasure like the good girl you craved to be for him.

Drunk on the taste of you, Scaramouche slowly kitten licked your clit, laughing when you let out a strangled cry of pleasure. "Now shatter and cum, whore," His fingers played your clit, his tongue prodding at your entrance before sweeping back inside of you.

Your fingers nails dug into his scalp, pressing his mouth down your cunt as your orgasm washed over you, your release soaking his eagerly awaiting tongue.

Scaramouche's tongue didn't stop. His fingers pinched your clit in excitement. Overstimulation would bring him twice the taste.

[dreamescapeswriting]

Blooms Of Serenity ~ BC

WORD COUNT: 1.7K

GENRE: comfort fic, chan being very sweet and comforting toward a reader who has had a hard time with their anxiety/panic attacks lately, cute boyfriend chan, NON IDOLVERSE, established relationships

PAIRING: Chan x Fem!Reader

⤜Copyright: © DreamEscapesWriting - February 2024

⤜MASTERLIST

Sliding out of the seat carefully you held your hand out to Chan who was still refusing to let you take off the blindfold he'd put on you about an hour ago. Part of you was a little sad he'd refused to let you see, you loved going on night drives with Chan since you'd spend all of your time looking up at the stars that were scattered across the sky it was one of your favourite things to do.

"Are you going to pout all night?" Chan whispers in your ear, his breath catching on your skin making your whole body shiver. 

"No, but I'll stop sooner if you let me see," You giggle trying to tempt him but it wasn't going to, Chan had been working on this surprise all week long and he wasn't going to ruin it now. 

In the heart of a packed city, where life echoed everywhere and it didn't matter how far you went you'd still hear the sounds of car horns or people yelling there existed a small haven of tranquillity known as the Serenity Garden. After extensive googling, Chan had managed to find the little slice of heaven for you.

Its charm lay not only in its lush greenery and vibrant blooms of flowers but also in its ability to soothe troubled souls. And it was here that Chan decided to bring you.

The gardens were said to be completely silent, breaking away from the hustle and bustle of life which was exactly what you needed right now.

As Chan stepped into the garden, the air seemed to change, becoming lighter, and more fragrant and turned his attention to you, his hands shakily taking off the blindfold as he studied your reactions. As soon as the blindfold was off and your eyes had adjusted to the light your once tense shoulders relaxed slightly as you took in the sight of the colourful flowers swaying gently in the breeze. The place looked like something straight out of a fantasy romance book.

"Chan...Where did you even find this?" Your voice barely came out as a whisper as you walked further into the gardens, being careful of the flowers as you strolled.

"I'll never reveal my secrets,  Google did play a huge part," He winks at you playfully as he smiles to himself. He was pretty proud of his find and happy with himself that it seemed to ease you, even if just for a little while.  

Your eyes were still busy trying to take everything in, the garden stretched out like a patchwork quilt, with winding pathways meandering through lush greenery and colourful blooms. Huge trees provided perfect picnic spaces underneath them.

"This place is...beautiful," Your voice cracked a little as you turned to look back at Chan, who had a giant grin on his face.

"You needed time away from everything, so I found a small home away from home," He smiled, taking your hand in his and kissing it softly before making his way through the garden with you.

Every corner of the garden held its own enchantment, there were clusters of roses in shades of pink and red, and beds of vibrant tulips that swayed gracefully in the night breeze. There were even patches of wildflowers dotted around the landscape, something you truly never thought you'd see in person. 

"This is like something from a book," You whispered to Chan, somehow it felt wrong if you were to speak too loudly, like somehow you would disturb the peace that was around.

"I knew you'd love it," He chuckled softly, taking you toward the centre of the garden where a majestic water fountain was sat. It was a marble basin adorned with intricate carvings that all depicted mythical creatures and flowing vines. The water trickled from the spouts filling the night air with the sound of cascading water.

"I love it and you," You told him as he carefully sat down on a brick bench that was sat in front of the fountain. 

"I love you too, this is your sanctuary," He told you as you carefully sat down beside him, smiling and letting out a sigh of relief as you just let the world be.

Sitting there amidst the blooms, you felt a sense of peace wash over you, a welcome respite from the storm raging within your mind. But even in this serene setting, the echoes of your anxiety lingered, threatening to pull you back into its grasp.

As if he could sense your distress Chan wrapped his arm around your shoulder and pulled you closer to him.

"I'm here, Yn," He whispered softly, his voice soothing your frazzled nerves as if like magic,

"You're not alone." You leaned into his embrace, finding solace in his presence, something you'd always managed to do with your boyfriend. There was something about him you couldn't quite explain, something you never thought could be possible but he calmed you.

He made you feel safe and secure whenever you were together, safe enough to let your mind go blank as you just relaxed against him. Sleeping next to someone had never been easy for you before but with Chan you always found yourself able to fall asleep with ease and even sleep through the night. Your body trusted him.

"Just close your eyes and let it be," Chan whispered, you closed her eyes, letting the sound of the water fountain and the sweet scent of flowers envelop you like a protective cocoon, Chan's strong arms around you helping all the more. With each breath, you felt the tight knot of anxiety within your chest slowly begin to unravel.

"Listen to the leaves." He said, his breath warm against your ear as you kept your eyes closed.

"Each one carries a message of hope, reminding us that even in the darkest of times, light is always there to be found." Chan pressed a gentle kiss to your temple, his hands gently running up and down your arms as you felt a lump in your throat beginning to form.

"You're stronger than you realised, Yn." He continued, his voice filling you with hope and confidence.

"You've faced so many challenges before and you've emerged stronger every single time...You have the courage and the resilience to overcome this..." He stilled his hands before moving closer to your ear,

"I believe in you," He whispered as your tears began to flow, you turned to bury your face in Chan's chest and he smiled weakly.

"I know it's hard," He told you as his arms tightened around you.

"But you're not and never will be alone in this. I'm here for you, every step of the way." He tells you as you snuggled closer to him.

"We'll face this together and we'll be stronger on the other side." He promised you, and you knew you could believe him, you just knew.

As you sat there, wrapped in each other's arms, you felt a flicker of hope ignite within you, a beacon of light in the darkness you'd been consumed in for days. With Chan by your side, you knew that you could weather any storm, and conquer any fear. Together you'd be able to emerge from anything victious.

"Thank you, Chan...for everything," You sniffled a little and Chan smiled using his hands to gently swipe away the tears that had fallen.

"You never have to thank me for something like this, I just want you to come to me in the future." He told you as you nodded, cuddling into him and smiling warmly.

After a few hours of sitting there, enjoying the night sky and the sounds of water you knew it was time to head home but there was something different. It felt as though there was a renewed sense of purpose coursing through your veins. You knew that the road ahead would be filled with challenges, but you also knew that with Chan by your side, you were going to be able to face anything that came your way.

In the days that followed your visit to the  Garden, you found yourself leaning on Chan more than ever, which he was adoring every second of. All he ever wanted was to be there for you, it was part of being a boyfriend he was supposed to be there to support you in times of hardship. He became your rock, your steady anchor in the tumultuous sea of emotions. With his unwavering support, you began to face her anxiety head-on, armed with newfound courage and determination.

The two of you had developed different coping mechanisms that would help you out whenever your mind would become stormy. You took walks to the park almost every other night, leaving your phones at home and just walking hand in hand, breathing in the crisp air as you tried to let things go. Throughout every single part of it, Chan had been there, a constant source of love and encouragement, never once letting you go through any of it alone just as he had promised.

Through everything, Serenity Garden was your sanctuary, a place of refuge and where Chan would take you when everything would get too much again. You both returned to it often, seeking solace amidst the flowers and fountains and every time you came back you felt a little lighter as if the weight of the world was lifted from your shoulders, even for a short time. The two of you were back again tonight, cuddled together on the brick bench, surrounded by the gentle melody of the water fountain and the fragrant embrace of the flowers. Chan had his arms around you, pulling you close to him as his arms were a comforting shield around you.

"I love you, Yn," He whispered, his voice soft but fulled of unwavering sincerity. 

"I will always be here for you, through the good times and the bad." Tears threatened to spill from your eyes as you stared up at him, overwhelmed by how much Chan truly meant to you and how deep his love went for you. At that moment, you knew he was absolutely your soulmate, your partner in life's adventures.

"I love you too, Chan." Your voice choked with emotion/

"Thank you for being my rock, for never giving up on me even when I felt like I was giving up on myself." Chan brushed a gentle kiss across your forehead, 

"I'll never give up on you and I'll never let you give up on yourself," He whispered to you, kissing your forehead one last time before you sat there, wrapped in each other's arms, your love burning amidst the tranquil beauty of Serenity Garden and you felt peace completely wash over you.

@chiisaiblog @sw33tnight @kaitieskidmore97 @laylasbunbunny @stayconnecteed @saymyspringrain @toplinehyunjin @katnisspeetaprim @acciocriativity @just-aelia @choisoorin @straykids5star @midnightfrog625 @beccaskz @scarletemeterio @halesandy @junhannies @gothic4under4lord @lixie-phoria @soulphoenix1618 @aerastus @jin-from-the-block @lensfilm @elizaschuyler18 @piratequeen-impact @kpopsstuffs @chaeyoungs @delulu18 @xyahrinx @katsukis1wife @anthropologymajorkpopmultistan @blairscott @4-chan-inpadella @niktwazny303 @moonlight-the-writer @armystay89 @hadassahchan @yxngbxkkie @myyouthdonut @extrhotjne @ca11me3mily @elissasimp @xakx @sleepb @kittymaryam-thebrowniefairy @kpopmenace143 @minhosify @loveforred @b1nn1e-1s-cut3

[obaex]

reading between the lines - rafe cameron

summary: rafe tries, and fails, to tell you how he feels. or does he?

word count: 3.2k

a/n: obx writing week has been a pleasure! thank you all for reading and sharing your amazing talent and for @surftrips for making it happen! this is for day 7: 5+1 trope with rafe. fair warning i am in my soft rafe era and i may never ever come out of it ♡

inspo: tell me you love me / galantis

The sun had just set below the horizon, leaving a midnight blue sky in its wake, scattered with stars. Rafe was settled comfortably around a small bonfire in his backyard with several friends, the warm flicker of the flames setting their faces aglow and fending off the cool night air that whispered the end of summer.

He heard you before he saw you, heard your sweet laugh that was genuine and innocent and pure. He lifted his head to search for you, his eyes landing on you, and for a moment, all he could do was stare.

You had been together for a few months now, but he was certain he’d never get used to how beautiful you were. He took in your long eyelashes, your bright eyes, the way your cheeks were pink and kissed with freckles that along with your lightened hair told of a summer spent at the beach. His eyes fell to your lips and his tongue unconsciously ran against his own at the thought of how you tasted. Before long you turned and caught his eye, conscious of his attention. He didn’t look away, he let his gaze linger warmly on you, bold and confident and it made your insides feel like melted sugar. He smiled widely at you, a smile that left dimples on his cheeks and crinkled his eyes, one that you couldn’t help but reciprocate.

As you made your way over to the bonfire, he made room for you next to him, even though there was barely any room to be had, adamant that he wanted you by his side, always. You took it gratefully as you snuggled into him, his arm wrapping around you, as you nuzzled into his neck before pressing a kiss to his jawline, to his cheek. He turned his head to capture your lips with his own, quick but searing, before pulling away to meet your gaze. “Hey pretty girl” he said.

You both fell into the conversation around you, but his arm never left you and his fingers traced patterns in your back. As the flames dwindled and the wind picked up, you let out a small, involuntary shiver and goosebumps ran up your bare arms and legs. Rafe felt you shake and unwound his arm from you. You were about to protest when he pulled his hooded sweatshirt over his head and offered it to you.

“Are you sure?” you asked.

“Positive” he replied, smirking at you.

You smiled sweetly, wanting to squeal at how sweet the gesture was as you pulled the hoodie over your head. It was still warm from his body heat and his proximity to the fire, and it comforted you instantly, not to mention it smelled like him, overwhelmingly so, like clean laundry and expensive cologne. Being totally wrapped in his scent was intoxicating. The sweatshirt was big on your small frame and you laughed at how far the sleeves hung over your hands, how it engulfed you, how that felt like a metaphor for the way you felt all consumed by him. You blushed, thinking that you probably looked a little silly. Rafe blushed more deeply, thinking he’d never seen something so goddamn perfect. He pulled you onto his lap to hold you closer against him and keep you warm, hoping he was able to convey with his actions if not with his words what you meant to him.

The following weekend was Topper’s annual end-of-the-summer party. Rafe was surrounded by his friends, an endless supply of booze, and the steady thump of music; until now that had always been enough to make for a memorable night, but without you there, the whole party felt dulled. He knew you were going to be late, but that left him feeling antsy and on edge. He was excited to see you, but also nervous for a reason he couldn’t explain. He tried to stop the sweaty feeling in his palms, the quickened pace of his heart as every moment ticked by, drinking enough to numb his senses, losing track after his seventh or eighth beer.

When you finally did arrive, it took everything in him not to scoop you into his arms and carry you out to his truck. He didn’t want to share you with all of these people, he wanted to be anywhere else, alone with you.

You stopped to say hi to a few people before he watched your eyes search the crowd for him, bringing a tingling warmth to his chest. When your eyes landed on him, the way you lit up for him sent a bolt of lightning from his heart to his toes; he set his beer down and met you halfway, coaxing his foggy brain and loosened limbs to focus on you as he folded you into his arms. You hugged him warmly, pressing your whole body into him and he lifted you just off the ground as his arms wrapped tightly around you and you giggled with joy. His head was spinning from the beer just as much from the feeling of your warm breath on his neck. All he could think was how good you smelled, like amber and vanilla, and how he didn’t want to let you go, how he wanted to linger in your scent and the feeling of your body against his. When you finally unwound from each other, the words tumbled out of his mouth before he could hold them back.

“You’re s’goddamn pretty. I jus’want you all t’myself, couldn’wait f’you to be here, miss’dyou all night, beaut’ful, y’make me feel funny” he slurred in one run on sentence, his brain registering far too late what had just come out of his mouth.

“What?” you asked, smiling, a curious but happy look on your face as you pressed onto your tiptoes to hear him better over the music. Your arms curled around his neck, and your proximity made him feel warm and happy and sleepy, and it lulled his inhibitions just enough to form the words that the rest of him had failed to understand until now…

“I think I’m fallin’—"

“Y/N!!!!” a voice shouted before Rafe could finish his thought. You glanced over your shoulder to see Kelce teetering with a near-empty bottle of tequila in his hand, which he held in the air and then took a swig from, giving Rafe the moment he needed to shake his own head clear. What had he been saying? He couldn’t remember. The thought was lost as he glared at his best friend.

You laughed at Kelce before looking back at Rafe, his eyes were half closed and a lopsided, goofy smile sat on his face as he looked down you.

“Wait, what were you saying?” you asked again. You’d thought you’d heard the beginning of something, something you’d been hoping to hear for a while, but maybe it was only wishful thinking, it was impossibly loud in here, and Rafe was clearly drunk.

“Dunno baby, but you’re really pretty” he said, pressing a kiss to your cheek, though he couldn’t help but feel he had let something important slip through his fingers.

Rafe had been adamant that night that you come home with him, nearly begging you, a pout deep set on his lips. When that didn’t work, he whispered promises to you in the back of your uber that only you could hear: exactly how he would cuddle you, kiss you, tease you just the way you liked before a slew of other things that had you extremely flustered. Truthfully, you wanted nothing more, but he was in no shape for half the things he had said as it took nearly all of his stamina just to lean on you as you pulled him inside, upstairs and tucked him in bed.

When he woke up the next morning alone, he was pissed, and his head pounded as he tried to remember all the things he’d said…or nearly said to you.

It was tradition that the day after the end-of-summer party, you all went to the beach, no matter the weather, and this year was no different. He checked his phone to see several texts from you that took the edge off his anger.

Fuck. He vaguely remembered the car ride home and he buried his head into his pillow at the reminder of his awful attempts to get you to stay as a new text came in.

He sent a quick text back as he pulled himself out of bed, got dressed and came downstairs. He was still mad at himself that he’d gotten too drunk to spend the night with you, frustrated that he’d let his nerves get the best of him, but he was set on making it up to you today.

As he made his way outside, he could see the dust kicking up at the end of the driveway as Topper’s bike flew down the gravel path before it skidded to a stop in front of him and wobbled. As the dust cleared, Rafe could see you unwinding from the back of the bike as Topper followed, stepping off the bike and pulling off his helmet, swaying slightly as he looked at you and giggled.

“Top, where the fuck is her helmet?” Rafe asked, as his blood began to boil.

The two of you looked up at him, caught off guard by his tone and the anger on his face.

“Read my fucking lips, Topper, why wasn’t she wearing a helmet? Why didn’t you give her yours, jackass?”

Topper looked down at his helmet, up at you and back to Rafe in exaggeratedly slow movements, like he was trying to piece it together himself. Rafe recognized the look in his eyes immediately.

“Are you fucking high!?” he shouted as he grabbed the front of Topper’s shirt, causing him to drop the helmet as his feet.

“Dude, it’s all good,” Topper replied, a strained smile on his face. Rafe could see his bloodshot eyes, could smell the weed on him.

“What is the matter with you? You don’t fucking drive with her when you’re high, she could have gotten hurt! Goddamnit Topper!” he said as he shoved him, nearly knocking him off his unsteady feet.

Your eyes were wide, mouth slightly agape as you took in the scene in front of you, watching as Rafe’s chest heaved.

“Hey, I’m alright” you said, resting a hand on his arm in an effort to calm him down. He looked down at you and you could see his breathing start to slow as he took in your eyes, your smile before he stepped forward and wrapped his arms around you, strong and protective.

“M’sorry I yelled, it’s just – I didn’t want – you’re - it’s important to me that you’re safe” he said as he stumbled over his words, trying and failing to explain the racing feeling in his heart.

Sarah woke up that night to the sound of clattering and banging. She rolled over to check her phone and saw that it was just after 3:00 AM. She heard the cacophony again coming from downstairs and realized, annoyed, that it had to be her brother, the only person stupid enough to be that loud at this hour, probably drunk or high. She pulled herself out of bed, wanting to get to him before her dad did, not willing to sit through another all-out-brawl between the two of them. But nothing in a million years could have prepared her for what she found.

Every single light was on in the kitchen and every surface was covered with flour, bowls, and baking utensils. Rafe sat squarely in the middle of it all, his hands covered in dough that he was rolling into balls and placing on a cookie sheet.

“Are you… baking?” Sarah asked, incredulous, her voice still groggy from sleep.

His head whipped to her, caught off guard. “What?” he asked.

“Are you baking?” she repeated, coming closer, trying to get a glimpse of what was in the oven.

“Yeah, so what if I am?” he said defensively, trying to shrug off her tone of surprise.

“Rafe, the most I’ve ever seen you do is make a bowl of cereal. It’s 3:00 in the morning, what are you doing?”

He grumbled something, and tried to refocus his efforts, a tint on his cheeks

She looked at her brother, perplexed.

“What?” she said.

“I can’t make cookies for my girlfriend!?” he replied snappily. “She said chocolate chip cookies were her favorite, and you know mom’s were the best, so I’m making her some. Happy?” he said defensively.

Sarah’s sleepy mind slowly put the pieces together: her brother, that look on his face, you, their mom’s cookies.

“Oh” she said as the lightbulb went off in her head.

“OH!” she said again, louder this time, her eyebrows raised, a huge smile cresting her face as she punched him in the arm, excitedly. “I never thought I’d see the day! Rafe Cameron, you’re in lo—"

“Go back to bed, Sarah” he said, interrupting her, his cheeks now crimson, that familiar thumping in his heart fast and unceasing at the words that had nearly come out of her mouth.

She smirked knowingly at him before turning to go back upstairs.

You were sitting on your front porch swing reading, trying to soak in the last warm rays of the summer sun when Rafe’s truck pulled into your driveway. You hadn’t been expecting him and your heart nearly leapt out of your chest in excitement and surprise. He smiled widely upon seeing you as he climbed your front steps and you ran to him, pulling him into a kiss that deepened quickly, your body moving on auto-pilot as soon as you felt his lips on yours, constantly begging for more as you tangled your fingers into the hair at the base of his neck and teased his lips with your tongue. You could feel him smiling against you, a laugh escaping his lips that pulled you apart. “Mm’not what I came here for, gorgeous, but I’m certainly not complaining” he said as he brandished a box he had been holding behind his back. “I brought you a little something, can I join you?”

You nodded and pulled him back to where you were sitting. He draped your legs across his lap and his eyes remained transfixed on you, his smile never leaving his lips. “Open it” he said, nodding to the box in your hands.

You unfolded it to find a pile of chocolate chip cookies, your favorite. You squealed with excitement before realizing that they looked homemade.

“Rafe, did you make these?” you asked, unable to hide the shock in your voice.

He rubbed the back of his neck. “I did, yeah, so I’m sorry if they’re not the best, but, it’s my mom’s recipe… I haven’t made them in a long time but I think they turned out okay.”

Your eyes widened as you looked at him, to the cookies and back again. “Rafe Cameron, this is the sweetest thing that anyone has ever done for me and it means the world to me that you would share this piece of yourself, of your mom, of her memory with me.” Your chin wobbled, briefly, as you were overcome with emotion at his gesture.

“Hey, hey, no crying, it’s cookies, they’re supposed to make you happy” he said, laughing as he reached out a hand to cup your face.

“What did I do to deserve this?” you asked, laughing back, still completely enamored by his gesture as your eyes sparkled and traced his face.

He blushed and his eyes darted to the floor for a moment, feeling nervous under your gaze.

“Look, I’m not great with words or saying stuff… things that you need to hear from me. I try, you know? To let you know how I feel…” he started.

You thought about the feeling of his strong arms around you when you needed him most, you thought about every way he kissed you: soft, languid and sweet, intense, demanding and passionate. You thought about the feeling of his fingers ghosting over your skin and way your insides curled at his unwavering attention. You thought about the way he fought unceasingly to keep you safe, to protect you, the way he let everyone know you were his. You thought of him reading his mom’s slanted script on an old recipe card to make you the box of cookies that now sat in your lap and you realized Rafe had always conveyed exactly how he felt; you knew it without him saying it, and you smiled at him, your heart quickening as you nodded. “I know… well, I think I know what you mean?” you said, smiling, laughing, trying not to read too far into what he was trying to say, trying not to get ahead of yourself, to get your hopes up.

“Well, you should know for sure. I don’t want you second guessing or trying to figure it out. You mean… a lot to me…I know we’ve only been together for a little while but I think about you constantly. You make me nervous as hell, you’re so beautiful and you’re incredibly sweet, I literally don’t know what you’re doing with me half the time –”

“Rafe” you said.

“Nah, I‘m serious, like I don’t even know how I got here, how I got you, but I need you to know I don’t take it for granted. I’d do anything for you, anything to keep you safe, anything to make you happy…”

You nodded encouragingly, as your eyes traced his face, still trying to read between the lines of what he was saying as he continued.

“…You make me feel important, confident, like I can do anything, because you believe in me, because I have you by my side. You’re my #1 priority… I-- alright, fuck it, I love you. I’m in love with you.”

Your smile radiated as one hand came to cover your mouth and you grinned ear to ear.

He let out a deep sigh before meeting your eyes earnestly and saying it again. “I love you, Y/N. I’m in love with you.”

You crawled into his lap and pressed your lips to his, your heart racing in your chest and your hands shaking as you cupped his face, his arms immediately circling you, grasping you tightly as he kissed you back.

“Say it again” you mumbled against his lips.

He laughed, kissing you again. “I love you” he said against your lips, kissing you more deeply.

“One more time?” you asked, breathless.

“I love you” he said, his hands bunching in your shirt as he wrapped his arms more tightly around you, his heart slamming in his chest.

“You’ve made me feel loved every day, Rafe Cameron, but it means everything to hear you say it. I love you too.”

taglist: @ietss, @gillybear17, @palmwinemami, @sweetestdesire, @voidcameron, @one-sweet-gubler, @m-indkiller, @diary-of-jj

[weebsinstash]

Hello! I don’t know if you do this but I was wondering what your thoughts were for a Yandere Lucifer Morningstar from Hazbin Hotel? I’m having trouble writing a good representation of him and would like some advice.

Honestly I'm gonna humble myself and say that it took reading someone else's post to make me like, REALLY notice the nuances of Lucifer's character

This post right here literally made me rewatch his scenes and go "oh wow he IS like DANGEROUSLY DEPRESSED"

He doesn't remember Charlie told him where she is, or what she's doing, and he can barely follow a conversation despite clearly trying to pay attention. He also just seems kind of scattered, and um, HE LITERALLY MAKES A JOKE ABOUT DYING FROM FALLING OFF THE HOTEL BALCONY like dude is making jokes about death in front of his fucking daughter, like my dudes, I think this guy is BARELY holding himself together

He clearly loves loves LOVES Charlie but he doesn't really know how to properly articulate himself and I have a feeling there's a lot he's concealing from her, and another big question is, is his depression from being cast out of Heaven, or from something to do with his missing wife, or a combination of both? Either way this man is clearly dealing with like, really bad issues. And Charlie also mentioned he wasn't around a whole lot when she was younger, so... did he have depression back then too?

So, that all said, I feel like a yandere Lucifer would almost be, potentially invigorated by his darling? Given a new lease on life? He may not be 100% his old self again but, you get him to like, 65, maybe 70% on a good day. You give him another reason to get out of bed in the morning, or afternoon, or evening or, whenever he can drag his depressed ass out of bed

Given what we currently know, I feel like a romantic yandere Lucifer would pretend to only be platonic and do his best to poorly conceal his feelings because of his whole... "can't ask his missing wife if it's ok for you to be their third" ordeal, the man still wears his wedding ring, and a platonic yandere Lucifer basically adopts you like another kid, because uh, I mean for one he apparently canonically missed a lot of Charlie's childhood, and he's also an ancient fallen angel, so he's got that age advantage on you no matter how old you are. I mean what are a few decades when he's literally thousands upon thousands upon thousands--you get the idea

Yandere Lucifer would want to stay close to you, helping watch over you, maaaaaybe being overly paranoid about you randomly disappearing and going missing For Very Obvious Reasons, and in the process he winds up being unintentionally overbearing. I mean, he did it in irritation, but he basically showed up at Charlie's hotel immediately saying it was a dump and all of HER FRIENDS were 'a bunch of losers'. He never completely pulls his punches when there's something he's displeased with, even if it has something to do with someone he loves, so his darling would get much of the same treatment. "Ohhhhh, you uh, you wanted to move across the city? That's, um, definitely a fun idea! BuuuuuUuuut, what IF, instead of doing that--", like, he tries to playfully tug you in 'the right direction' until you make him put his foot down

Hmmm... what would him losing his cool look like... well, we've already seen that he doesn't mind throwing hands and WILL KILL, but will stop if he's asked to or there's a good reason. With you, though, you're not typically going to be there to stop him from offing any rivals or bad influences, so I imagine he'd be kinda casual about it, actually! He already thinks pretty lowly of Sinners, so say he finds out you've been ditching him and Charlie to go out drinking with strangers, making new friends, maybe having a few one night stands? Yeah, some of those people definitely aren't calling you back, and Lucifer doesn't really see a problem with it. These people are kind of the worst and really don't deserve you, anyways! If anything he's helping clean up Hell for you and his daughter and keeping you safe :)

Losing his cool with YOU... I think would involve him using his powers to finally confine you, maybe even going demon mode to intimidate you into submission in a very dad-esque "now you listen HERE" kind of way. We don't really know the scope and scale of his powers but I can picture him at least being, obviously much stronger than he looks, and transforming to fly you "back home" where he puts you in your room where no one can reach you without his explicit permission (and you also can't leave~)

One second you're just drunk and jokingly defying him, teasing him, maybe even picking him up and swinging him around because you're bigger than him, to you he's just a silly little guy! Meanwhile this Grown Ass Man Who Is Also The Actual Devil is getting more than just a little frustrated you basically view him as a wacky little cartoon more than a grown man, one who has had sex and has had two wives and sired a child. You're just teasing him and stumbling around drunk when he's trying to get you to your hotel room to get to bed to sleep, like you're clearly not taking him seriously, maybe even playfully putting your hands on him (TOTALLY not riling him up in 'fun' ways) and he finally just huffs and snaps his fingers and, you're suddenly magic'd to bed! You're laying there blinking confused and he's tucking you in and chuckling that "you're such a handful!" before leaving you to sleep and somehow INSTANTLY knowing when you're up.

You ARE in his house, after all...

Not to be gross but uh..... I'm not saying "yandere Lucifer who has the power to still get a Sinner pregnant if he wanted to and you wind up fooling around with him and you're waking up with his little apple symbol on your lower tummy as one of those like hentai womb tattoos to show you're pregnant" but uhhhhhhhhhhyeah that's what I'm saying, and whether it was accidentally or intentionally, he's keeping it, and thus, keeping YOU

I just feel like he'd be very goofy and awkward and bad at hiding his feelings and being very clearly overprotective and jealous in ways everyone else but you manages to pick up on (god Alastor would have some MATERIAL) and, in a romantic/sexual setting he eventually just loses his patience with you not seeing him as a man and just gets... progressively more forward. You pop back into the Hotel after a night out and Lucifer's already hammered at the bar with Husk, stumbling up to you, hanging off of you, slurring and embarrassing himself, "You'reeeee SO pretty... like SO pretty.... do you wanna have *BELCH* you wanna fuck? Cause I LOVE to fuck, like when I FUCKED my wife to make my DAUGHTER, my wife and daughter that I have, 'cuz im a DAD, 'cuz I'm a MAN!" and you're just giggling and ruffling his hair, "You're so weird, dude ^^" and walking away while Lucifer internally screams, wondering just how DIRECT with you he's going to have to be

meanwhile Charlie is totally cool with all of this and sees this as a weird double whammy of Curing Dad's Depression + new family member and friend hurray! and she's totally actively either shipping you with her dad or aiding and abetting him in his weird attempts to absorb you into the Morningstar family

[cuubism]

unfortunately for my sanity i am thinking about them again [sheltered rich boy dream and feral child hob]

--

In retrospect, it was fitting that the first time Dream met Hob, he was breaking a rule.

It hadn’t been easy. Dream did not like to lie, and wasn’t very good at it besides. And breaking rules made him nervous. Broken rules carried consequences. But he’d needed to get out of the house, just for a moment. To clear his head. And just going for a walk was not a good enough reason to leave the house when he could be doing something more productive. Something better. Make some use of yourself, Dream.

So Dream had crafted a little story of extra studying, extra work, and managed to slip out. Dream did not always tell the truth, could not, but usually he lived in the shadows left by omission. The outward lie was bitter on the back of his tongue.

But he’d been freed. And now he was wandering. He did not often get the chance to wander, untended, unobserved. Making his unsteady way down the winding road leading out of the estate, and then into town, where he’d never really walked before. It was just getting late, almost sunset on a Thursday evening, and the streets were fairly quiet, only a handful of people about. And Dream wandered, not quite knowing what to do with himself but enjoying the quiet in his head.

Possibly meandering about on his own was a bad idea. Possibly he’d be hit by a car or attacked by a madman. He didn’t think he much cared.

And that was when he met Hob. That first dip of his toes into freedom.

He was sitting on a bench in the park, watching the small scattering of pigeons pecking for seeds by the fountain. Dream had always liked birds, but it wasn’t often he had the chance to sit and just watch them. He studied their patterns, mentally tracking the shapes they traversed, their mathematical lines. He should have brought his sketchbook. It would have been nice to work from live subjects, for once.

He was deep in his thoughts, in the calming trickle of the fountain and the repetitive paths of the birds, when another boy about his age plopped down on the bench beside him.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone look so depressed while feeding birds.”

The birds had fluttered up in disarray at the sudden motion, but settled down again quickly. Dream looked at the other boy askance, irritated at his rare peace being interrupted.

“Do you often speak with people who are busy feeding birds?” he asked, unable to keep the annoyance from his tone.

“Only when they’re broody and mysterious,” said the boy. He wasn’t wearing a school uniform, but he must have been college age, like Dream. Dream was still wearing his jacket and trousers, for his own part. Everything about this boy was looser, really, from his longish brown hair, to his jeans and t-shirt. It made Dream feel very uptight in comparison, which was not a fact about himself he needed reinforced. He already knew it. “Do you often feed birds?”

“I am not feeding them,” Dream said. “They are eating what was there.”

“Just spying on them, then,” said the boy teasingly. Dream did not know what to do about being teased with what seemed like lightheartedness rather than mockery, and so didn’t respond.

“Seriously,” said the boy. “Are you okay?”

Then Dream did look at his face properly. He had very kind, very genuine eyes, was the first thing Dream noticed. It was not something he noticed about a lot of people. Perhaps it was not something a lot of people possessed.

Then the boy smiled at him, a soft, kind smile. It transformed his whole face from something merely pleasant to something lovely.

“Is that why you have come over?”

The boy shrugged. “You looked sad and alone. I’ve been sad and alone before, so I don’t think anyone else should.”

Dream bristled. “I am not sad and alone.”

“Just alone, then?”

Dream’s mouth popped open in affront, and then shut. Then he said, “Are you always so familiar and impertinent with strangers?”

“‘Familiar and impertinent,’” echoed the boy, with a laugh. “Sure. Are you always so snooty and aristocratic?”

“Yes,” said Dream, and he laughed louder.

“Honest though.” He stuck his hand out. “I’m Hob.”

Dream nearly said, What kind of name is Hob? but swiftly realized the hypocrisy. Gingerly, he took Hob’s hand. “…Dream.”

“What kind of name is Dream?” said Hob, and Dream sighed. “And you really don’t have to shake my hand like a king deigning to touch the peasants. I’m not diseased.”

“I don’t like to touch people,” Dream said, taking his hand back. “Peasant or otherwise.”

“Peasant or otherwise,” Hob echoed. He didn’t seem offended. He was smiling.

“Are you here because you felt I should be taught a lesson? Is that it?”

“Nah. I just get bored easily.” Hob turned to watch the pigeons again, tapping his fingers restlessly against the bench. “I was out and about. You looked interesting. You wanna go for a walk?”

“…Why?” But Dream knew why. He had learned it as he’d wandered the streets, freed for the first time.

Hob shrugged. “Just to do it.”

Dream had stepped out of his comfort zone once today already. He supposed he could do so again. If Hob turned out to be an adolescent serial killer at least the end of his life would hold intrigue. “Very well.”

Hob grinned, so bright it struck some deep, static bell in Dream’s chest and set it ringing. “Come on.”

[catiuskaa]

i don’t like my mind.

part of the “now playing: mitski!” series

SUMMARY: there was nothing you could’ve said to him to keep hyunjin away from his thoughts. Not on the night of March 20, 2021.

WC: 0.675k

CW: mentions of vomiting, it’s really short but angsty, hyunjin’s hiatus in 2021 is the main plot. (as an oddinary era stay, i can’t grasp how it must’ve felt, so i’m sorry for bringing old memories back. </3)

A/N: ok, shit. as an empath, this was hard to write. talk about a challenge… uf. I’m sorry. please go check out my other works, i am not this depressing in default i swear 😭🫶

[◼️☆🎂☆◼️]

Hyunjin shivered, as he stared blankly at his phone.

The date glowed back, as if mocking him.

“19:54, March 20, 2021.”

It should’ve been a fairly normal late evening for him. But it couldn’t.

Normal had never been a word that he’d use often, but considering his usual routine, no one would’ve called that ‘normal.’

Except that it wasn’t going to be his routine anymore. He sighed.

His room felt colder than usual. He felt colder than usual.

Hyunjin nuzzled the blanket over his nose, and cocooned himself further under it.

He stared at the window, the curtains swaying from the wind that came from outside, but he didn’t mind it. He knew that he was cold because the window was open, but deep inside, he knew that closing it wouldn’t fix his coldness. Or how he felt and empty feeling inside of him, as if it was stuck to his heart.

The blanket wasn’t helping. He kicked it off with a grunt.

Then, his phone chimed. It had been chiming the past five minutes. Maybe ten.

< princess: hyunjin, please

His heart swelled in his chest.

< princess: talk to me, jinnie

< princess: I need to know you’re fine.

He only managed to chuckle dryly, a laugh full of acid, almost poisonus, and that sick feeling scattered all through his body.

...fine?

How could he be fine, knowing that most likely, his life was never going to be the same? How could he be fine, thinking that it could be possible that he really had wasted all of those years for nothing?

He closed his eyes.

Several people had texted him ‘happy birthday,’ but none of them new what it was going to be like.

Painful.

It was like daggers that threatened to puncture his heart and leave him bleeding on the floor, the only culprit being himself and whoever thought it was a good idea to leave him alone in his room, with his thoughts as his only company.

He frowned, and dizzily stood up from his bed, his body hurting from all the stress he had been putting himself to. In his mind, he had to be doing something. He wanted to do something. He didn’t want to keep waiting for the fuss to leave him. He wanted to keep dancing. To keep singing.

He needed to keep living.

The sight of his desk table gave him nausea. He grimmaced at it, his eyes swelling up with tears again.

Cake.

The one Jeongin and Felix had bringed hours ago. The one that they reluctantly admitted that they weren’t supposed to eat because of their restricted diets. The one that they had to leave there just the two of them because the rest of the members had so many things to do that they couldn’t manage to pass by.

The one he hadn’t dared to touch, afraid that it wouldn’t go pass the lump on his throat.

It stared at him. The whole cake. It made a nasty shiver trail up his spine, a sudden need to throw up that made him even more sick.

A stray tear fell down his cheek.

He took the cake with a sudden softness that almost surprised him.

His phone kept buzzing, forgotten, on his bed.

< princess: i’m sure the company will let you come back with them soon

< princess: hyunjin, please

< princess: call me when you see this

< princess: please, hyun, don’t do anything stupid.

< princess: I love you.

But not even your kind words could go through Hyunjin’s mind.

He approached the window and looked down from the fifth floor, finding a trash container next to the building in front.

With a groan, he stared at the cake, at the message over it.

“Happy birthday!”

He sniffed, quickly cleaning his tears up with one hand, as both of them trembled, the other still holding the cake.

And he threw it to the container, watching it crash against its lid despite the plastic cover.

He didn’t want to have a happy birthday.

He wanted his life back.

[◼️☆🎂☆◼️]

~Kats, who is so sorry for this, and who admires all of the stays who had to go through hyun’s hiatus.

[the-kr8tor]

Horse riding with cowboy Hobie!! it’s in my mind now imagine the sunset and you two are racing! Cowboy Hobie my beloved

Cowboy Hobie my beloved 😍 thank you for requesting! ❤️

Pairing: Cowboy! Hobie Brown x fem! Reader

Tags: no use of Y/N, no specific physical description of the reader, Cowboy AU, Western AU, established relationship, FLUFF.

ʕ⁠·⁠ᴥ⁠·⁠ʔ

Hobie's ungloved hands are gentle on your waist as he helps hoist you up on your horse. The sun bathes the whole field in its ethereal orange glow, wild flowers scattered at his boots, hands warmer than the sun kissing your cheeks.

“Y’know I can get up on Honey by myself.” You say through the thick fog of affection rolling off you like tumbleweeds.

“I know you can,” he smiles, a smile that could rival the brightness of the ball of fire above. “What purpose do I have if I don't help my girl get on her horse?”

You lean down, almost folding yourself in half to reach his face. Flicking the brim of his hat, you press a kiss so sweet it has the cowboy in front of you to almost melt. Hand on your waist to keep you still, the other holding your face so gently, he welcomes your surprise kiss.

“You have so much purpose,” you peck him one more time to get your message across. “Like being my favourite lips to kiss.”

He chuckles against your lips, “I have two purposes then.” Tapping your cheek, he kisses you on your soft skin before helping you sit up. “Giddy up, sweetheart or we'll miss the sunset.”

“Continue later then?”

Hobie expertly gets on his horse quicker than you did. His spurs clink against the stirrups, leather gloves shoved inside his hands. You mumble a ‘show off’ under your breath. He hears it, hiding an amused smile under the brim of his hat.

“If you win we can continue later.” He teases, green eyes aglow with mischief.

You scoff with a smile. “And if you win?”

“Let's find out shall we?” With a swift kick, he rides off, leaving you in the dust.

“Hey! No fair!” You giggle as you race off after him.

Hooves thudding loudly, wind whipping at your cheeks, and the sun in your eyes, you follow close.

“Slowpoke!” Hobie yells above the noise.

“You cheated!” He laughs loudly at your playful jab.

The race is close, so close that you can reach him with an outstretched hand.

His dark horse finally reaches over the hill a split second before you could. Horses huffing, you pat Honey on her snout for a job well done. She neighs, eyes staring daggers at the laughing cowboy next to you. You do the same.

“You two are startin’ to look similar—” Hobie jokes, grin spread across his chiseled face.

“Continue and you'll be sleeping next to your horse tonight.”

“Just jokin’” he laughs, scooching his horse closer to yours. Knee to knee, he loops an arm around your waist. “I think you won, sweetheart.”

“If you think this is enough to forgive you for what you said—” he gazes at you softly, orange and pink rays bouncing off his emerald eyes. “Fine, yeah, I won.”

“You gonna claim your prize or not?”

“Shut up and kiss me yourself, cowboy.” Holding his face hostage, he lets out a guffaw before smashing his lips on yours, kissing you against the backdrop of the soft pink sky.

[ozzgin]

hai,baby ...I know your request is closed now. And if you don't mind, can I leave my request when your blog is open? ( If no that's okay,you can delete this request) alright....So, I really like the butterfly demon that you made for Inuyasha and Sesshomaru on request.And I thought what if the fem s/o butterfly demon had met Sesshomaru and Inuyasha ( separate please) when they were little (the fem s/o butterfly demon was also still a child at that time) Dancing on a hill or mountain with the moonlight shining on her and her beautiful butterfly wings,Instead of being surprised by them Femin s/o elegantly stretches out her hand to invite them to play or dance in the middle of the forest . ( Headcannon)

Definitely! I’m very glad you enjoyed the idea, all of my requests are always so creative! I wouldn’t write so much if it wasn’t for all the vivid prompts. The whole atmosphere you described immediately reminded me, for some reason, of this song from 'A Troll's Fairy Tale' Otome game. It just set up the whole mood of the story.

Inuyasha/Sesshomaru x Butterfly Demon! Reader Headcanons: First meeting

Featuring a young Inuyasha and Sesshomaru and their first encounter with the child demon.

Inuyasha

Inuyasha was never a child to cause trouble. He always clung to his mother's soft sleeves, quickly following behind her as his tiny footsteps barely made a sound against the polished tatami. So whatever possessed him that night is, to this day, beyond his understanding. Nonetheless, on a certain night with full moon, he snuck outside and ran across the tall grass and up the hill until he reached a glade.

It was almost as if someone had called him by his name, a mumbled, merely audible whisper echoing from the distance. He’d been to this place many times before with his mother, yet now it looked entirely different. His small body cowered before the crooked, swaying shadows of the tall trees and he wanted to run away, doubting his intentions. That’s when the clouds cleared and the patch of open greenery was once again bathed by pale light. He hadn’t noticed the other person. A child, like him, carelessly and effortlessly dancing around, indifferent to the world. Although it couldn’t have been a human. Inuyasha was very much familiar with demons given his own family, but he’d never seen one like this. Adorning her back, a pair of sheer, colorful wings fluttered gently in the wind.

He must’ve been staring rather intently, because the mysterious nocturnal artist finally noticed his presence. You seemed pleased by the idea of having company, so you enthusiastically skipped and twirled your way over, extending an inviting hand. He barely grazed his fingers against yours when the worried shouts of his mother startled him out of his trance. “I think I have to go back home”, he muttered apologetically. “Mom is looking for me.” And with that, he begun sprinting away, occasionally looking back to see if the butterfly girl would still be there.

Sesshomaru

Even as a child, Sesshomaru had always been aloof and independent. It wasn’t uncommon for him to disappear at random times, so no one would question it, especially given he’d always return safely. Sometimes he just needed time to himself and away from others, in order to gather his thoughts and also train, hoping to close the gap between him and his father. Other times he’d wander out of pure curiosity, out of the desire to explore.

It was during one of his nightly expeditions that he felt the sudden desire to follow along a certain path. He knew very well where it led, to one of the cozily hidden glades he’d visit for his sword training. Though he’d never been there after dark, so this was a first. Once he reached the forest clearing, he shuddered slightly at the cold wind. It was unexpectedly chilly for late spring and the cherry blossom branches creaked with the breeze, scattering clumps of petals. He surveyed the area with his big amber eyes and spotted some movement ahead. A girl his age. Or rather, a demon. He involuntarily reached for his sword, expectantly. You were too focused on your movements to realize his presence. A pirouette under the moonlight, and your wings spread open theatrically once you were finished. Sesshomaru was mesmerized.

You heard the quiet gasp and turned to your audience, chuckling at the young boy’s baffled expression. “You can join, too. I won’t mind.” You said reassuringly. Sesshomaru huffed, embarrassed to be caught so beguiled. “Why would I do something so silly?” He retorted, trying to play it cool. He folded his arms and looked away, uninterested. “You can just say you don’t know how to dance.” You teased, cheekily. This seemed to have hit a nerve, as the boy glared at you and answered with a puffed up chest, “S-so what about it, I’m a warrior, not a dancer!” You shrugged and hopped on a nearby rock for some elevation, continuing your little dance. As annoyed as he sounded, Sesshomaru continued to observe you, a faint blush warming his cheeks.

[doobea]

KISS ME THRU THE PHONE - ISAGI YOICHI

synopsis: in which Isagi texts the wrong number and things kinda go downhill.

THIRTEEN - So, baby, kiss me through the phone. -> MASTERLIST contents: fem!reader, college au, fake dating, strangers to lovers, he fell first but you fell harder, generally sfw, confessions and all things pertaining to awkward pinning, a smooch towards the end word count: 1.6K a/n: and that's all folks! ok but real talk i think i fell in love w isagi while writing this smau series whoops

Isagi blinks once, twice, and a third time. When the chatlog stays the same, he asks Bachira to punch him in the stomach.

Bachira does this action with no hesitation and adds a bit more force than his usual horseplay. It knocks the air out of Isagi and he ends up hunched over by the edge of the living room couch. Reo looks relatively disturbed and Nagi doesn't even bother looking away from the game he's currently playing on the TV.

"I'm finding new roommates next semester," Reo groans and Nagi immediately hums in agreement afterward.

Bachira crouches down in front of Isagi, a smile too big etched across his face as he asks, "Did that help?"

Isagi manages to collect his words and nods. "Y-Yeah, thanks I guess..."

"What happened this time?" Reo hesitantly jumps into the conversation.

Isagi turns up his screen's brightness before placing the phone in the center of the coffee table. Everyone, including Nagi, peers at the messages. A moment of silence and then a shared gasp.

"What are you saying back?" Bachira blinks, trying to overanalyze the chatlog.

There's a shrug and then Isagi fiddles with the collar of his shirt. "I don't know! Uuh, should I just say 'me too'?"

"No," Reo frowns and snatches the device away before Isagi can type anything. "Is that all you got? No girl wants to just see 'me too'. You have to do this in person."

Isagi sputters out a cough. "In person? Like face-to-face?"

"That's what in person means." Nagi comments.

Isagi doesn't know how he feels about that. It's nearly midnight and, while your messages made him wide awake, he isn't entirely sure if you want to see him right now. His friends seem to pick up on his thoughts, mostly because he wears his emotions on his sleeve, and interjects.

Nagi pauses his game, something he rarely does, and looks over his shoulders. "You should definitely go."

"Yeah, yeah," Bachira chimes. "She's probably waiting."

They're right and probably right about most things in Isagi's life for the past few weeks. Isagi takes his phone back from Reo's grasp and finds the courage to reply back.

want me to come over to talk about this?

You respond almost immediately.

my babygirl i would like that

Perfect.

be there in 10.

Isagi rushes to his room, fishing out a fresh pair of socks, the heaviest jacket he has, and a pair of old beat-up sneakers before making his way to the front door. This isn't a big deal, Isagi tells himself. Maybe you're playing a weird game with him, or you actually want to be friends and nothing more, or you do like-like him in a romantic way. The more he mauls over it the less sure he is.

The wind is howling when he begins to jog over to your place. It's pitch black, the only light source being from his phone's GPS and the campus' lamposts scattered around. All of this feels weirdly comforting to Isagi, and he finds himself picking up his speed.

Your phone is currently somewhere across your room, hidden under a pile of clothes and pillows after you read his text. You try to distract yourself with a generic romance show in the background but find yourself staring out the window, anticipating what the hell you're going to do when Isagi arrives.

And, for the first time, you start to wonder how you even got here to begin with. This whole situation started not too long ago, a dumb fake number exchange that turned into a movie night that eventually rolled into a mountain snowball effect of the worst case of fake dating you've experienced. All because of Isagi's dumb idea that he blurted out without any real thought behind it. It wasn't supposed to be anything.

And, the scariest part right now, is that you know you want it to be something, but whether or not everyone is on the same page is a different story.

You roll around in bed some more, hair slightly damp from your earlier shower and wearing a mismatched pair of pajama sets that your parents had gifted you last year for Christmas. You strongly debate whether to call Rin or Chigiri for any last-minute advice but the thought of it is making your stomach flips. If you were to call, that would only solidify that what you're doing right now is real. Your feelings toward Isagi are very much real.

A sudden sound from your show catches your attention again. Looks like the island's favorite couple has won the prize and the viewers' hearts.

You want to be excited but secretly, you don't like romantic comedies. At least, that’s what you tell people.

In reality, you've seen a whole bunch, because Chigiri is a sucker for them. There’s always some elaborate set-up where the two main characters meet. Then a whole lot of back and forth, some ridiculous, drawn-out conflict keeping the two lovers apart, the usual cliché stuff. But there’s always a moment at the end. A big, romantic, dramatic moment where the two come together.

But you know better. Real life isn't like that, as much as you wish it would be.

There's a long moment of silence before your thoughts are interrupted by a faint knocking noise from your windows. You break your attention from the TV and carefully pull your curtains aside, staring back at a pair of familiar, welcoming blue eyes.

Isagi fucking Yoichi is outside your apartment.

"Oh, shit!" You hastily shut your curtains, ignoring his muffled 'hey, sorry for the scare!' and stumble to get your slippers on. Your phone pings a few times from your junk pile, you assume it's from the boy freezing his ass off outside.

You throw a blanket over your outfit and strut to the entrance. You can't tell if the thumping noise is coming from your slippers hitting the floor or your heart. Your hand sits on the cold doorknob and you begin counting to five in your head before opening the door, revealing a disheveled, shivering Isagi in front of you.

"Hi," Isagi looks out of breath, cheeks stained with pink, and wearing nothing but a heavy puffer jacket, an oversized shirt, and grey sweats. You suddenly don't feel insecure about your current wardrobe.

"Hi," You say back, wondering if he knows just how much torment he's been causing you for these past few nights. "You wanna come in?" You quickly step aside when he starts sniffling.

He takes his jacket off and holds it in his lap as he plops onto your sofa. "You've got a nice place," Isagi says slowly, eyes taking in every detail of your living area. He takes notice of the dog plushie from the mall trip not too long ago sitting by the edge of his foot and grabs it.

You start chewing on your lips as you join him, carefully placing yourself on the other end of the sofa. You swear you're going to start developing nervous habits the more time you spend around him, never mind all the other sources of stress in your life. "Thanks," You reply quietly. "Sorry that you came all the way here."

"You... you were being serious?" He suddenly asks.

Your cheeks flush and you feel slightly annoyed that he has to make you explain everything. Pulling the blanket tighter against your body, you exhale a heavy sigh and groan. "Why would I joke about stuff like that?"

Isagi mindlessly plays with the stuffed animal in his lap now. "I thought you didn't like me?"

You force out a laugh, covering your warm cheeks with the blanket. "You think I would put up fake dating someone for two weeks if I didn't like them?"

"Um, maybe?" He answers lamely.

You find the confidence to lean over and grab the stuffed plushie out of his grasp, rolling your eyes in the process. "I literally named him after you."

"Thought you meant it as a degradation," He chokes out.

You pause and stare at him. "No offense, Yoichi, but you're oblivious to like everything."

Isagi laughs into his hands, probably painfully aware of the fact. He narrows his eyes and offers you a hint of a smile, a bit less nervous and more of your usual banter.

"I think that's what the guys were thinking, too." He quietly admits and turns to get a good look at you, chuckling as he says the next part. "You look like you're about to faint."

And you can't help but agree. Your stomach feels jittery, your hands shaky underneath the covers, and your nerves are shot. But you two are slowly leaning against each other, giggling and almost seemingly threading between an area of something more and something less than just friends.

Isagi stops first and takes a deep breath. He reaches his hand out tentatively for your shoulder. You freeze when his fingers curl themselves in place and the touch is electrifying and burning.

"Can I—" Isagi swallows hard, his eyes searching hard within yours, and gives your shoulder a gentle squeeze. "—kiss you right now?"

"Yeah," Your voice has gone all quiet but inviting.

As Isagi's fingers tighten slightly on your shoulder, he leans in closer, his breath warm against your lips. The room seems to hold its breath as your faces draw nearer, and then, finally, his lips meet yours in a soft, tender kiss. It's a hesitant, careful kiss filled with all the unpredictable moments and emotions that have been building up between you two.

After a few seconds, he shyly pulls back and smiles, a mixture of relief and joy in his expression. "I've wanted to do that for so long."

You smile back, your heart full. "I'm glad you finally did."

TAGLIST

@fabitheraven, @froggie-zusya23, @rroxii,@anurst,@silly-ez, @userwithlotsoftime, @tiniewife, @zeld6lvr, @macspov, @plopify, @urluvvdommm, @theweirdfloatything, @shironagi, @avogigi, @limerence-lu, @exatse, @cloooudmilk, @keijiqahara, @kakie @xacgrx @reiners-milkbiddies @arxliana @lazyogurt @kaitfae @yuxame @keiitsune @ch3nyan @ll-seishu @qwertyblo @mellozhi @y-sabell-a @izumi-astra-123 @blissblossom @slay0368 @hanniejji @mimikage @yoichiislovie @stwberri @wooasecret @faeroow @yuzurins @celestair @ascybous @satoruskitchenrag @laavatron @lupinandout @yoisami @softfor-svtptg @nymphsdomain @astro-pioneer @kunikame

a/n: i started this way back in july and finally finished!! this is my first smau series and im so glad that all of you guys stuck throughout it despite erratic uploading times hehe i love you all!!! Mwah mwah

[bagopucks]

Q. Hughes - Wildest Storms

✄————————————

Quinn Hughes x Fem!reader

Requested✨

Word Count: 2.3k

Warning(s): anxiety/panic attack, mentioned kidnapping, Mentioned therapy? Is that considered a trigger? I’m still learning.

—————————————

“I love you! We’ll be back around twelve, I promise!”

Quinn promised…

I never told Quinn no to anything when his team won a game. The Canucks always seemed to be struggling, and Quinn was always tense. So on the occasions when he did win, and when he felt on top of the world, I never held him back.

Some nights after a big win, Quinn would spend copious amounts of time with me. He’d come straight home and we’d sit and talk for hours, splurge in bed on snacks we shouldn’t before sleeping, or hop in a bath together to relax. My sleep schedule was never the greatest, so it was natural for me to be up past one am. Especially when Quinn was playing hockey, or out of town for a road trip.

Other nights however, Quinn would come home, change, kiss me and ask if he could go out, and then off he went.

Usually I was good with Quinn leaving and being out past midnight. He was responsible, and loyal. If he was having fun, I saw no reason to stop him. But this night in particular just seemed to be going wrong.

I’d had a therapy appointment earlier in the day. Usually they leave me tense and sometimes emotional depending on the conversational topics that are discussed. But I went to therapy for my anxiety, so each discussion was a simple reminder of all I had to worry about in my life. After my appointments, I liked to call Quinn or I would return home to rest with him for a few hours. But he had a practice that had been pushed to the middle of the day due to a bad snowstorm. By the time I got home, I assumed he was already on the ice and prepping with his team for the game this evening.

I had no lifeline but myself.. and my mind was never as helpful as it ought to be. I spent all day ruminating in my thoughts, going through the motions in a blur. The only thing to break my anxious trance had been Quinn calling to say he wouldn’t make it home before the game. I did get a bit irritated, but I tried not to let my frustrations out on him. There was nothing he could do about it anyway.

I spent my evening watching the game and eating a bowl of soup. The dark cloud of anxiety that loomed over me only thickened throughout the day, and I knew I was liable to dry heaving in the midst of anxiety or panic attacks. So I tried not to eat anything that would have been hard on my stomach.

The game was used as a distraction. And admittedly it had been a good one, until I got a text alert on my phone about a local kidnapping. They didn’t happen often, but the eerie text tone that accompanied it always made my stomach drop.

After that, I spiraled. I tried to watch the Canucks game, but my mind was hyper focused, and my senses were tuned in to every little thing in the apartment around me. The wind outside was whipping, another snowfall painting the once cleared roads with another coat of white. It was pitch black out, and pitch black in our apartment aside from the tv illuminating the living area.

A sense of dread washed over me, so heavy that I never noticed the game had been over. The Canucks had won, and it was the end of a horrible losing streak. My eyes shot toward the door when I heard the handle move, drawing in a sharp gasp as I scrambled off the couch, just in time for the door to open and a whole group of guys come barreling in. Led by my boyfriend, his hair slightly damp from a shower, dressed in the suit he’d left in around lunch.

“We won!” He sounded so happy, but my ears began ringing when everybody started shouting too, scattering about our apartment for who knows what.

“Quinn..” his name quivered off my lips, too quiet for him to hear across the room. Quinn immediately made his way over, snatching me up in a tight hug that made me feel like I was suffocating. “Quinn-“ I repeated his name in a choked out manner. As he pulled back, his smile remained. I tried to stop the shaking in my hands as I reached out to grab his arms.

“I’m gonna go out, okay?”

He promised he’d be back.

It’s past two am now, and I’m shaking in the corner of my apartment, pressed against the living room wall. I deemed it the best place to see everything in case somebody came in the door or out from behind a wall. In the bedroom I would have been cornered, same as the bathroom. The kitchen didn’t give me proper sight of the door, and the closet.. well that was just a dumb idea. My hands were resting on the floor. At first I found comfort in the chill from the wood tile, but at some point the chill was replaced by my body heat. My hands were clammy from sweat, and my heart was racing.

I felt like I was in the midst of some intense workout. My mind was racing, causing that dread to fall upon my shoulders again. The clouds of anxiety above my head had finally begun to rain. My thoughts were too heavy for them to hold any longer.

What if Quinn wasn’t okay? What if he was drunk and his friends left him alone? Oh god, what if somebody took him? What if somebody was coming to take me? I would have felt safer with Quinn around.. where was Quinn?

Heavy tears began to flow down my cheeks. I was shaking, but frozen in place. Emotional, and yet disconnected from my reality at the same time. Sounds and movements I’d once been hyper focused on, were now going unnoticed. My flight response had kicked in, but by that point, my mind had shut down too much to actually fly away. I was a mess of emotion on my living room floor. I was going to die.

The door opened for the second time that night, and I felt my heart drop. I began sobbing, shaking endlessly as that familiar turn in my stomach made me shoot off the floor. I was going to throw up. I didn’t notice Quinn sprinting across the room to grab me as I stood and collapsed directly into his arms.

“No!” I pushed against him violently, punching and flailing every limb to fight off my attacker.

Quinn held me tighter.

“Baby! Baby.. hey, everything’s okay!” Quinn could sense my distress, trying to keep my trembling body from losing its balance while he leaned his head in next to my ear.

When I heard his voice, the realization that I wasn’t being snatched up had dawned on me. I collapsed against his chest, my legs practically falling slack as I began to sob into Quinn’s body. My cries shook my own body, back rising and falling at a sporadic pace while Quinn tried to hold onto me and drag me to the couch.

“Baby..” he cooed, dropping carefully onto the couch. I fell into it with him, finding myself in his lap as he tried to situate me in a good spot. My cries never ceased, but they did quiet as Quinn stroked my back with one hand and ran the other through my hair.

“I’m right here..”

“I’m not headed anywhere.”

“This is just your anxiety,”

“You’re safe.”

“I’ll protect you.”

Quinn always knew. He never called my fears irrational or stupid, but in times when it was hard for me to differentiate normal concerns against anxious ones, he was always there to remind me. Always there to assure I wasn’t dying or having a heart attack, and that it was all my body’s response to something in my head.

“Quinn..” I whispered shakily against his chest, hearing him hum to acknowledge me.

“You’re okay, baby.” He slowly moved from beneath me, “I’ll be right back.” This caused another bit of dread to form in my gut.

“No,” I sobbed, my body leaning against the couch, helpless as I watched my boyfriend whisk away into the kitchen. He came back moments later with an ice pack and a bottle of water, which he placed on the coffee table.

“See? Im right here.” Quinn shrugged off his suit jacket, tucking a hand between my shoulder and the couch cushion to push me upright. He draped the jacket over my shoulders, leaning in to press a kiss to my head as he did so.

The warmth of the jacket was the last thing I needed, but the scent shift from my perfume to his cologne helped calm me somewhat. The tears still flowed down my cheeks, but I felt I had a slightly better grip on my surroundings.

“Take a sip?” Quinn grabbed the water bottle and twisted the cap off, tossing it into the coffee table. He sat down and held the bottle out, though when I reached for it, my hand was still shaking. A quiet cry escaped my lips at the realization that I couldn’t do something as simple as holding a water bottle.

“No worries,” he spoke softly, assuring me it was fine as he set the bottle down on the table, exchanging it for the ice pack. “We’ll just try the ice pack for now.” He slowly moved in, resting his back against the couch and gesturing for me to lean into him. I did, scooting over next to Quinn and resting my back against his arm and half of his chest. One of my hands came down to grip the thigh closest to me.

“You’re my favorite girl in the whole wide world,” Quinn whispered as he wrapped an arm around me, carefully resting the ice pack on my leg. The sensation was distracting, as was the strategic statement about me being his favorite girl. I thought his mother was.

“What’s my hockey number?” I rested my head against Quinn’s shoulder as he spoke, barely above a whisper.

“Forty three..” my voice still quivered, but it sounded more firm than before. I had a grip on pieces of my reality now.

“That was an easy one,” he teased softly in response. “Whats my favorite pair of shoes?”

I had to roll my eyes at him. “Dumbass fuzzy slippers…” I spoke. That was our ‘matching ensemble’ one Christmas. Warm, fuzzy slippers. They didn’t count as shoes in my book, but he wore them all the time around the apartment or at the lake house.

Quinn managed a quiet chuckle, the movement of his chest and the sound of his deep laugh causing another wave of anxiety to settle.

“When did we say our first I Love You’s?” Quinn moved the ice pack to my shoulder. I let out a quiet sigh, then sniffled. I carefully reached up to rub the tears from my eyes as a sad smile formed on my lips.

“When we took Tyler’s son to the aquarium..” my grip on Quinn’s thigh eased.

“And what do you remember?”

“I remember you,” I paused for another sniffle. “You couldn’t get him to walk away from the puffer fish. You tried to pick him up, and he got a little mad.” A little was a vast understatement, and we both knew it, causing us to laugh softly together.

“You wanna know what I remember?” Quinn asked, and I nodded, slowly picking my head up and turning to look at him, draping my legs over his lap.

“I remember watching you take him down the little tunnel where you could stand in the turtle enclosure. And I remember watching you pick him up and hold him on your hip.. and thinking how much I love you. And how much you’re gonna make a great mother some day.”

My heart fluttered at Quinn’s words, but this type didn’t make me panicky or anxious. I smiled at him. Quinn carefully pulled the ice pack off my shoulder, tossing it onto the couch behind me.

“And I remember saying how much I love you when you guys got back.” Quinn reached to cup my cheek in his hand. “All of you. Every single part of you.” He smiled at the sight of my own.

I leaned in to press my forehead against his own, sighing softly.

“Thank you Quinn,” relief finally flooded my voice. He pulled back slowly, nodding.

“I’m always here for you. You’re my girl, I’ll take care of you no matter what.” Quinn rested a hand on one of my knees as he leaned forward to grab the once forgotten water bottle.

“Have you eaten?” He asked, holding the bottle out. This time I took it with a steady hand.

“I had soup.. but if you pop something in the oven I might snack on it.” I could tell by the smile forming on his lips, that he knew what I wanted. A warm pizza.

“We’ll sleep in tomorrow.” Usually Quinn would suggest a nap after a panic attack, but if I didn’t eat before sleeping, I’d wake up with a headache. Another reason to be miserable.

“Put a pepperoni one in,” I spoke before taking a sip of water. Quinn rolled his eyes at me and laughed.

“Adventurous,” he teased, making me giggle softly. “Do you want to rest here, or come with me?” He slowly moved my legs from his lap.

“I’ll come with.” I sniffed again, slowly standing up with Quinn. He reached for my free hand, intertwining our fingers as we ventured into the kitchen. We spent a good few hours talking about the hockey game and other little topics over pizza. We never made it to the table though after it came out of the oven. We simply stood, leaning over the kitchen island side by side, giggling and whispering back and forth like teenagers. Only I could make Quinn act like a child, and only he could calm my wildest storms.

✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧

[hcdragonwrites]

Too Close ( A @jttw-monkeybusiness Fanfic)

So this started as one thing and then It grew its own will and became another. I hope you enjoy!

TW: Blood and Gore- Violence as well. If these make you squeamish or can trigger you please read my other works instead!

It was supposed to just be a meal- a simple outing to the market square to buy up some noodles at a shop stand Pigsy had seen on the way through. It was supposed to be simple, easy day.

The market stall exploded in a shower of wood and porcelain as the monstrous thing rose from the stand. Sophie rolled, dodging the flying debris as best she could. A sliver of wood cut across her cheek but she felt nothing. Her mind only had one thing in it.

Oh shit that’s a massive snake.

But it wasn’t a snake. The head that toward from the market as the rest of the villagers fled, resembled a snake. It’s slitted eyes blinked and forked tongue tasted the air. Heat rippled outward from its body. The grasses dried in the damn soil. The earth that had moments ago been anointed with summer rain, cracked and snapped brittle in the sudden heat. Sophie felt her lips dry and her face chap in the change of temperature.

A grunt from nearby. Sophie turned to see Sandy rise from a cast off wall, a huddle Tripitaka in his arms. The snake head swayed, tongue tasting. It snapped its focus to Sandy and coiled its head back. A maw of pink and long silver teeth flew forward. The disciple threw up the discarded wall just in time for the things great teeth to be buried into wood instead of Flesh. Trip was no fool and at Sandy’s nod, escaped beneath his arm.

Sophie could hear Pigsy howling curses nearby from somewhere. The dust was still settling, the dried earth kicked upward as more of the things body was revealed. Fuck it had wings. Four black leathery wings grew from its back at disjointed angles. They beat unevenly. Their wind threw dirt and rocks into the air. The feel of it stung Sophie’s cheek. The Monk reached her then- hand outstretched. She caught it and he hauled her up off the dirt.

Run. Her heart seemed to thrash in her chest. Sophie saw more of the beast being revealed from the ruins of the market. An impossibly long coiled body- legs- more clawed legs. Six of them?- juxtaposed throughout its flesh at odd angles. She felt like she was moving too slow. Moving as if her blood was full of ice.

Those eyes blinked and the pupil widened. Sandy held the things face in his hands, the wooden wall king destroyed. The River demon strained as the thing bore down on him, all saliva and flashing fangs.

It could swallow him whole. Sophie felt a cold shiver run down her back as Trip and her fled. There was nothing either of them could do. They were mortals. This thing was beyond their ken. Beyond their ability. And it could swallow us whole.

Of course fleeing targets attract more attention then prey standing still. The great demonic beast of droughts shook off the irritable ant holding its fangs and dipped its head. The scent had been with the little thing before it but … it had moved. It smelled delectable. The tongue whipped out again, seeking. There- among the fleeing mortals this monster had disdainfully had been serving for the past years in hopes of devouring in return- was the taste. It was a man- a man hand in hand with a women. Two for the price of one. There was an irritable pain at its side but the Drought Bringer simply flicked one of its long claws and flapped its wings higher.

Into the air it rose- away from the sting of the weapons. The town with its simple huts and mud wall fell away. The demon rose up and angled itself. Heat radiated off, burring away the cloud cover and killing trees and greens all around it.

The monk would not get too far.

It coiled.

And struck out.

Sophie and Tripitaka were almost beyond the wall and into the rice fields. The heat had dried those up, killing crops and scattering the water into vapour. Villagers- merchants and Mothers, field workers and Fathers- all streamed to the exits.

They were almost out.

Sophie felt a prickle of fear, a new wave of apprehension swell in her mind. For what- for why- she didn’t know. What made Sophie turn her head then, to look back, she would never know. But she was glad for whatever spirit, god, or instinct made her look back.

A maw full of silvered fangs, of needle tips curved back and outward. An avalanche of heat and horror. She reacted and threw herself sideways. Tripataka, still holding her hand, was dragged with her.

The serpent struck the earth, sending an earthquake outward. Buildings shivered and collapsed. Children screamed and mothers called out. Sophie pulled the monk up beside her, trying to get him to rise. They didn’t have much time. She had bought them but a moment, but a second. They had to move had to get the fuck out of there.

“Trip get up-“ Sophie begged. The monk was trying- it looked like he had twisted something in his leg at the sudden fall. Up up up up up up get up please.

A angry hiss as the earth cracked more. The demon raised its head. It’s mouth was full of stone and dirt. And a few dangling limbs. The creature dropped these and angled it’s head again. It’s body coiled, it’s clawed and displaced legs curling.

Their second was up.

Sophie couldn’t look away- she wanted to- but it was the same feeling a rabbit, over exhausted and run down, experiences when cornered by a fox. The sense of frozen dread. She could no more look away then the rabbit could overcome its fear.

Of course the human mind is a strange thing for the only thing that Sophie could think on was, We didn’t even get to eat the damn noodles we paid for.

Something flashed, a glitter a bit above the serpents head. Like the flash of a moth wing in moonlight.

Wha—

A pillar of black and gold materialized where the flash had been. Such a small insignificant staff.

Sophie knew that staff.

The staff elongated over the monsters head. It slammed straight into the back of the snakes skull. The sound of iron against bone rang in the sky like a thunderclap. The demon cried in confusion and pain- an unholy scream that sent the air to shaking. The staff drove the things face down into the soil, just feet away from Sophie and Tripataka. Bones snapped, the sound of scale cracking beneath the iron rod as it drove down, down, down, down. The earth cracked with the impact.

The pressure was too great. The hide split as the earth could not give anymore and blood came in a spray of red.

The demon, the great Drought Bringer, rolled a bloodshot eye upward. A iron rod ? Was that what fell it ? Something so insignificant. A shadow loomed from the sunlight. Feet pressed on the demons head.

The demon knew this creature - this mild looking and bored Monkey- and felt the contents of its stomach turn to water. Those eyes slashed downward, making the serpent flinch.

The burning heat in this demons gaze—

Sun Wukong knelt on the dying beasts skull the iron staff of Ruyi Jingu Bang resting across one shoulder. Those yellow eyes went from flaming to disinterested as the demonic monkey looked at the mortals.

“I told you the market was a bad idea.”

The blond haired women who had avoided the great Drought Bringers strike, shot up on her legs from the rubble.

“ARE you SERIOUS?!”

“I am. I told you all it was a bad idea.”

“You couldn’t have said that there was a demonic flying snake?!?”

“Do you think the bastard pig would have listened to me if I had ?” Wukong huffed. He swung a foot languidly off the side of the serpents skull. Wukong tapped the golden circlet on his brow. “I would have gotten another headache by this dumb band.”

“WUKONG A WHOLE TOWN WAS DESTROYED!”

“Bah.” He waved his hand at that. “It was gonna be destroyed. This beast wouldn’t have waited any longer to eat again.”

The foot pressed into the gore in the back of the demons spine and a half gasp, half cough, of pain exhaled from between broken jaws. The serpent didn’t remove its eye from the Demon king above it.

It had heard stories. Legends of five hundred years ago when it had been but a hatchling, of a monkey of stone waging war against Heaven. Of almost succeeding in bending that great power into a kowtow.

“WUKONG WE ALMOST GOT SWALLOWED WHOLE BY A FUCKING BIG ASS SNAKE.” Sophie retorted.

“Naw. I had it all under control.” Wukong tapped the edge of his staff now onto the creatures head.

“Though it is taking awhile to die…”

The serpent felt the monkey lean forward. The burning gaze was back now that the simian wasn’t staring at the women.

“Tougher than I thought you were.” His voice had become softer. “Survive a blow - even to just bleed out like a bloody hog- is no easy feat with my staff.”

The pressure from his clawed feet pricked the broken scales long the serpents skin. Those claws were drawing blood. The monkey leaned down to whisper almost sweetly.

“You never were going to get your fangs into them you disgusting worm. Wanna know why? Because I’m Sun Wukong. I am the Great Sage. And your Tale-” the weight of the monkey felt oppressive, his claws digging harder into the tender broken scales. “-your insignificant little blip in history is at an end.”

The monkey foot was the last thing the serpent, the Feiwei, saw before the staff was driven down again into its eye. The blindness as the pupil exploded under the contact and the sharp pain as the staff drove through the eye socket and into the recesses of the skull were the serpents last feelings.

Demonic minds were not like mortals. They did not flit between two threads of disconjointed emotions. The Feiwei knew it’s end and bitterly died.

The demon gave a final strangled gasp as it twitched once, twice and then was no more. The remaining demons eye rolled in its head. Crimson blood wept from the exposed eye socket and the broken skull. It mixed with the dirt to make a black patch in the soil. At the serpents death the air stopped its dry repression and eased in its intense heat.

Wukong stepped off lightly from the dead serpents head. His feet crossed through the bloody wake and up to Sophie who still stood, a bit dumbfounded, over Tripataka.

That was brutal. Sophie thought.

Then her body remembered itself and her stomach seized at the scent of demon blood. Bile burned up the back of her throat.

Please please please don’t throw up. That was the last thing she needed. Sophie pulled Tripataka up.

The monk hissed and winced as his weight tried to take his foot. And crumpled.

“Is it broken?” Sophie worried. She didn’t see any tears in the skin- any blood. Blood.

Again she fought a wave of nausea. The back of the demons neck had been cut wide open- almost as if obliterated- by a single strike. The trauma of the loss of so much bodily mass to a central location, the skull, had been enough to kill it but it had lived on. Just long enough for Wukong to stab it in the eye.

“Not … not broken. Just sprained.” Trip smiled, sweat building on his brow. “Sophie .. thank —“

Tripatakas words died on his throat as he disciple came into full view. And he blanched.

“Stupid beast.” Wukong picked his claws, flicking some of the blood free from their tips. The stone monkey was absolutely painted in crimson, having delivered the blow and standing behind the beast as it fell. Dark ichor dripped from the side of his face, matting the fur in places that the blood was thickest in.

“See Master ?” Wukong grinned- not helping the two mortals as they both struggled with their aversions: Tripataka for violence and Sophie for blood.

“I almost died ….” Trip muttered, the shock coming over him then.

“There there Trip.” Sophie soothed - but she sounded wooden as she also felt her stomach heave. Gods and spirits the blood stank.

“Why does everything bad happen to me?”

“It’s ok Trip.”

“Why is it always devouring they try and accomplish?! Buddha it’s breath stank of rot.”

“Most human eating demons don’t have pretty breath.”

Wukong, oblivious or willfully blind to the mortal dilemmas unfolding before him, swaggered closer.

“Well! That’s another monstrosity down. Solved with violence.” Wukong barred his teeth. His mood was improved from when they had first arrived and none had taken his warning seriously. Not even Sophie. That was an insult. She was lulled in by Pigsy who kept regaling all with the tales of this unique little village.

Utter drivel. Wukong had seen real food wonders- Hell he came from the most fruitful mountain in the world! What could some boiled water and limp noodles compare to the tastes of flower fruit mountain?

Wukong turned, leaning against his staff as he rested it against the ground. “Sophie did ya see that ?”

“Yes.” Her voice was tight as she watched the blood drip off Wukong.

“You didn’t throw up?” He inquired with a flash of teeth.

“… no I didn’t.” Her stomach kept trying to make her mouth open up but Sophie was stronger then that.

“HA! Soft women don’t lie! You look just as pale as when that thing was diving at you!” Wukong laughed, his tail twitching in humor. “How would either of you get by without me?”

“Wukong maybe nows not the time—“ Sophie tried but was brushed over as Wukong puffed his chest up and grinned all the wider.

“I, the great Sun Wukong have saved my master again. Did I not do a great job dispatching the beast for you master ?” It was half mock, half fishing for compliments. He did just slay a demonic multi limbed serpent out of the sky.

“Wukong…”

“Not even praise ?!” Well that was dreadfully disappointing. He expected some sort of good job from the monk.

Sophie wanted to roll her eyes. Can’t he read the room?

“Wukong you did a fantastic job!” Sophie would try and smooth things over. While also not suffering from her flipping stomach. “Amazing. It’s just the — the blood— it stinks. Worse then normal. —“

“I know you are thankful because you have decent sense but I want to hear it from him!”

At this moment Tripataka stood straight suddenly. He calmly limped to one of the bushes. And promptly vomited.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Wukong huffed, irritable even in the hot springs warmth. He had a bucket in one hand and a washboard in the other, and had scrubbed the blood free of his clothes. Pants, shirt, tiger skin- it all had to be washed. Of course Wukong had pilfered some soap awhile back from the Market square the Pilgrims had passed through. He had set to work, scrubbing and pulling and worrying over the clothing until it was clean. He knew he had to clean it. He took pride in his looks and decorum. Wukong would have gone to the spring naturally on his own in time.

Wukong twitched the edge of his tail annoyed.

He was aware he was a bit unkempt after saving Sophie and Tripataka from the Feiwei. He had just batted the thing out of the air into the earth. There was bound to be blood and gore after a swing like that. Sophie had given him a brief berating of getting himself cleaned up- and when he had asked and demanded for what was rightly his - praise, thanks, AT LEAST A YOUR WELCOME- Sophie had promised him that she would lavish him in praise if he would just get clean.

Fine. If his Master wouldn’t spoil him in praise and was currently giving his attention to Sandy then the Monkey would wheedle it out of Reader.

Wukong sunk lower into the water, thinking. He hadn’t let the group go into the town without him. Though he had threatened and grumbled and said “fuck that” Wukong had set a double to follow from above, watching. Of course the Pig would follow his nose to the demons lair. Of course he would assure the others that there was no way this could be a demon.

Wukong swore the Pig was out to get them killed half the time.

Well the rest was predictable. As soon as that wiggling worm had taken one sniff of the monk, he had grown all greedy and hungry and hadn’t been able to keep its human disguise.

Wukong had the whole situation under control though- it had just - taken him a moment to wake up from his dozing. The snake had gotten a bit close. Maybe the invisible double had shoved the two mortals just a bit too hard. That twisted ankle of the Monks would take some time to heal. Luckily the village headman had given the group his home- a little but set back into a bit of shaded pine and with its own hot spring - to rest und for as long as needed. And while Wukong had endured the grating reprimand of Pigsy at being late, the monkey had felt a bit smug. His deeds had scored them nice lodgings.

Wukong wouldn’t care about where they slept. The Monkey King could simply find a nice patch anywhere and curl up. The boon I’m his cap though was the absolute excited light sweep into Sophie’s eyes at the mention of beds and pillows and a roof over their head.

Wukong pulled himself out of the water, the steam rising off of his body in the twilight air. It had been enough time since him washing his clothes to his longs soak that, in the summer sun, had dried enough. Maybe not the shirt but his trousers had. The rest would have to wait till morning. Wukong had a Reader to annoy now.

Sophie was in heaven. After the hellish day of demonic snakes and almost getting devoured, Sophie was comfortable and cozy and all too happy to rush to the futon that had been dragged into the center of her little room.

A bed. Clean clothes. A full belly. The horror of the day was an echo but it was still there. If she closed her eyes she could still hear it- still smell the hot breath blasting across their faces.

A knock on her door had her start from the memory.

Who’s that ?

It wouldn’t be Pigsy. The man had passed out hours ago after the steamed buns and broth the village headman had left for them. Maybe it was Sandy? That didn’t seem likely since he was currently nursing Tripitakas twisted ankle. It would be better after the swelling went down.

Did Wukong really take me up on my offer of praise?

“READER OPEN THE DOOR.”

Yep. There was only one stone monkey that sounded that annoyed yet still knocked with the politeness. Sophie stepped to the door and opened it.

And stared just a little.

She had been expecting to see a fully clothed Sun Wukong leaning against her door. What she hadn’t been expecting was a half dressed Wukong with his arms crossed over his chest. And emphasizing that he most certainly did not have a shirt on.

“Where’s your shirt?” Brilliant Sophie. Blurt the first thing that comes to mind. Wukong pushed off the doorframe and past her into the room, giving her a clear view of his pecs, his shoulders, his back.

Pull it together girl and get your mind out of the gutter.

“I had to clean it since you and the monk threw a sick fest at a little bit of blood.” The monkey sat down, crossing his legs beneath him. At least he knows how to make himself comfortable.

“Right…” Sophie watched as Wukong began to slide his fingers through the wet fur along his back, beside his face and over his arms. Grumbling as his nails seemed to catch and pull in the longer bits of his fur. Wukong flexed his arms to reach a spot. The ripple of muscle along his back was unexpected.

Sophie felt her face flame up. I’m glad he’s so wrapped into himself because if he saw what I looked like right now—

“Well I’m clean now but my fur is all snarled.” He snapped. The monkey was currently struggling with a knot of fire at the base of his neck.

“I have a brush you can borrow.” Anything to get my head out of that space and back in line with normal thinking. She crossed the mats and grabbed her bag. Sophie plucked her brush free from its place, walking back to Wukong. She was a bit startled he was watching her, his eyes half closed in thought.

“You know what… this wouldn’t have happened if you had just followed my warning women.”

“What?”

“A mess is what you and Pigsy and Trip caused.” Wukong leaned his head back and let the water still clinging to his fur, drip downward. “All because you didn’t listen to the warning I gave.”

What was she supposed to do? Sophie had been hungry, had been just as trusting of Pigsys judgment of what was mortal and what was maligned hungry demonic pretending to be mortal. She tried to pass the brush to Wukong, hoping that if she gave him what he wanted he would leave off his snippy comments.

The monkey raised an eyebrow at the brush.

“You can take it ya know- it’s as good as any comb you have.” Sophie lifted the brush and ran it through her hair in demonstration. Hers was a simple hairbrush with short bristles and a worn handle from use.

“Back on the mountain many female members of my kingdom would kowtow and beg for a chance I’m about to give you.” Wukong said.

Chance ?

The monkey king closed her hands over the handle. He turned, setting his hands on his knees as his back faced her now. “Not everyone gets the chance I am giving you- so be grateful.”

“You want me to… brush you?”

“Brush my fur.” It was more command then question.

“Alright.”

Sophie began at the tops of his shoulders. The short bristled brush caught in the hair and slide free, leaving it untangled. Wukongs fur was thick enough to be like her own hair and the brush carefully and methodically by Sophie’s hand, worked through the thickest patches of fur. At places she would have to switch to a comb, one Wukong slid soundlessly from his pocket and passed back to her. This was strangely nice… if not a bit intimate. The constant motion of the brush, of the task, was helping her still jittery mind calm and work through the events that had led up to them being here in a house. With her grooming Wukong.

“When did you know about the demon?” It came tumbling from her mouth before she could stop it.

“As soon as we came upon the village.” Wukong answered. He had his eyes closed, tail swaying against the wooden floor. “The townspeople stank of demon. Seems that beast has been feeding them up to try and cultivate some souls.”

“Sounds like how some insects raise other bugs” Like how ants raise aphids.

“Or like how mortals raise cattle.” Wukong commented.

“Mmm” Sophie felt her mind run through the memories again. The serpent lashing out- and her ability to drag Trip out of the way of that strike. Of the great snake lifting it’s head from the broken earth. Of it lunging a second time. We both could have been dead so fast. No one would have known. Wukong had been left behind, Pigsy had been thrown off somewhere. Only Sandy knew what may have happened to them. Sophie’s brushing slowed.

A snap of fingers made her blink out of the memories.

“Speak.”

“Speak?”

“Don’t parrot me.” Wukong opened his eye just a fraction to shoot her a glare. “ Something on your mind, you stupid women. Spit it out.”

“I thought… I thought we were dead..”

“You would have been if I hadn’t come!” Wukong reached back and took her hand in his. The Monkey king moved the brush up to his head where the fur was in a most disheveled state. Sophie started to gently untangle it, careful of how hard or how fast she worked. He may be able to burst from fires and come away without any lacerations but he may not take kindly to a mortal carelessly tugging at his fur. The wet strands moved slowly through the bristles as he talked. “Makes you want to take heed of a Kings words hmm?”

For all his boasting and puffing up, for all his prideful japes and comments… he almost had been too late. If she hadn’t yanked Trip. If they hadn’t run … “You almost weren’t there though…”

“Sophie.”

“Yea?”

He was turned about, facing her dead on before she could blink. Wukongs yellow eyes looked over her then. Little scrapes here and their. No major cuts. Except for the still red and puffy slice along her cheek. Wukong reached forward and ran a thumb over the slice. I should have sent more then one invisible douple.

“You wouldn’t have been eaten.” He would lessen her worry, and reaffirm his abilities. Had she forgotten? He was Sun Wukong- no demon could stop him. “I wouldn’t have let it happen. I would have torn the bastard apart before it got even a flick of spit on you. You or the monk.”

And next time I’ll make sure I leave them with two invisible doubles instead of one.

Sophie had frozen when he brushed his hand across her face. He was being kind, sensing her turmoil over it all. She was about to say something in kind, something to match that kindness.

“It’s my duty to protect the weak mortals on this quest. It would reflect badly on me as King of Flower Fruit Mountain if I let those under my care get devoured by some slimy worm.” Of course he couldn’t resist the opportunity to flaunt his importance.

“That almost sounds like reassurance.” Sophie sighed. She raised the brush up again in silent question.

“It is reassurance.” He affirmed. Wukong nodded once at the brush, spinning back around. “No harm comes to those that are in my care.”

“Well. Then if it only takes brushing your fur for that… I would be happy to do it every night.”

Wukongs tail gave a little flick. They spent the rest of the night talking, trading quips and jokes. As the of cicadas from beyond the doors blended with the soft swish of the brush, a feeling of contentment and camaraderie fell between the two. And something … more grew.