#and when i saw the last one in theaters the lump in my throat was killing me | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

the-insomniac-emporium · 3 years

Text

Crimson Ties (Bela Dimitrescu/Reader, Soulmate AU) Pt. 3

Fandom: Resident Evil: Village Rating: T for language Warnings: Typical Vampire shenanigans + mentions of animal death Genre: Hurt + comfort Summary: Time to meet the family! What exactly has Cassandra told her mother? Can Bela convince her family to calm the hell down? We'll find out! Spoiler: there's the start of a cute date afterwards Notes: Once more we visit Bela's private study, which I first described in a chapter of Serenade. Added a few more details this time. PS reader is probably low-key a theater nerd with a hint of a goth phase, just saying. Also this chap is a little short, sorry. Previous Chapters: 1: Stem the Flow, 2: Tangled Strands

3: Rumbling Thunder

Heart racing, you step into the dining room, just behind Bela. Both of you are nervous, but find comfort in each other. Still, what you see upon entering only makes you feel worse. At the head of a large table stands none other than Lady Alcina Dimitrescu. Besides her is her middle daughter, the one who confronted you earlier, who sends you a knowing smirk as you walk in. Lady Dimitrescu, on the other hand, is scowling. Her eyes are squinted in a clear display of disapproval. If not for Bela’s hand squeezing your own, it was likely that you would have fainted from fear.

“I see Cassandra has wasted no time in spreading rumors,” Bela said bitterly. You’re amazed by her ability to stand tall in the face of her family’s tension. Yet there was a part of you that wondered if you were worth the struggle, at least for your soulmate. Thankfully, you are not given much time to ponder the thought. No, you’re being pulled towards the closest side of the tabe, guided next to an ornate seat. Neither Bela nor yourself sit yet, however. “Please, mother, do not be hasty to make your judgement. I promise that-”

“Do not presume to tell me of my own business, daughter. The timing of my judgement is my prerogative, not yours,” Lady Dimitrescu interrupted, staring right at you. A shiver runs down your spine at the eye contact. What did Cassandra say to her? You wonder, struggling to breathe past the lump in your throat. Even Bela becomes visibly nervous at the interaction. “Now… are you certain, without a doubt, that this is your soulmate?” Did she really even have to ask? What were the chances that Bela would save you, one person out of at least a dozen in the cellar, for any other reason? Still, your soulmate straightens up at the attention, and replies as confidently as possible.

“Yes, of course, mother. I would not dare risk your anger for any lesser reason,” Bela assured. Then she gives your hand another soft squeeze, before pulling hers back a little, catching the thread that bound you together with her fingers. Lifting it, she tugs it somewhat absentmindedly. Out of habit you immediately return the action. Unfortunately, those around you would be unable to see the display. For all they knew, the two of you could be faking it, simply attempting to get out of the situation unscathed. Surprisingly though, you see Alcina hesitate. Her left hand twitches as if she was thinking of her own red string. Has she ever met her partner? Did she know the pure joy that her daughter had so recently felt?... Maybe she’d be more sympathetic to your situation if she had.

“We will see if your defiance pans out in time, Bela. For now… Why don’t we hear what your pet has to say about themselves, hmm?” Lady Dimitrescu suggested, giving a somewhat devious smile. Next to you, Bela grimaces, then sends you a pleading look. Alas, you cannot read her mind, and can only guess as to how you’re supposed to respond. Bowing is a sign of respect in virtually all cultures, you think, probably a good place to start.

“It is an immeasurable pleasure to formally make your acquaintance, Lady Dimitrescu,” you said, before giving your full name. Then you rise from your bow, once more making eye contact. Out of the corner of your vision you see Cassandra rolling her eyes. “I know that I am a mere human, and hardly the epitome of a prime specimen. But I am determined to prove my worth, for there is no prize on this earth more grand than being allowed to love Lady Bela. Every ounce of my willpower is prepared to devote myself to this task, entirely, so that I may give Lady Bela the courtship and happiness that she is deserving. It is both an obligation and an honor.” Hopefully your soulmate wouldn’t mind you using the same line twice, at least under these circumstances.

In the seconds that follow, several things happen: One, you see Cassandra frown a little, and refuse to look in your direction. Two, Lady Dimitrescu makes a surprised face, but quickly shifts into an expression of satisfaction. Thirdly, Bela’s hand finds your own again, giving it an incredibly soft squeeze. Last but not least… someone you haven’t seen before enters the room. She has red hair, a green pendant around her neck, and eyes that light up with curiosity when she sees you. If you had to guess, you’d assume that she was another one of Bela’s sisters. Here’s hoping she’s a tad bit friendlier, you think.

“Did I miss anything? Ooh, please tell me we’re having this lovely stranger for breakfast?” She asked, grinning maniacally. So much for being friendlier, you think, figuring that she was being literal. Based on the way Bela tenses up in response, you’re probably right. Before she can protest, however, Lady Dimitrescu clears her throat and speaks.

“Ah, Daniela… This stranger-” she says the word with far less venom than you anticipated, but it is venom nonetheless- “is your dear sister’s soulmate. We will not be draining them of blood. Again. Assuming that they behave themselves. Is that clear?” She asked, staring down at the newcomer. There’s a slight pause, tension still lingering in the air, followed by a sigh of relief from Bela. Much to your surprise, neither Cassandra nor Daniela seem particularly upset by this announcement. In fact, the latter simply shrugs and takes her seat at the table. Next thing you know everyone else is sitting as well, including Bela, who gestures for you to follow suit. “I’ll have one of the servants fetch you some more… appropriate food. Cynthia, my dear?” Soon enough a maiden, perhaps a decade or two older than yourself, hurriedly enters the room. With a bow, she addresses Alcina.

“Yes, Lady Dimitrescu?”

“Have Miss Bouregard make an extra plate of whatever it is you sort eat, and bring it here. We have an… unexpected guest,” Alcina explained. At that, Cynthia glances at you, her eyes briefly widening in surprise. Without another word she turns away, giving another bow before heading away to fulfill her task. Once more you’re the only human in the room. Oddly enough, you manage to feel quite at ease, as if surviving one round was enough to guarantee you’d win the overall game. Well, at the very least you now had a chance. Regardless of what was to come, you were glad for that, for this opportunity to be with your soulmate. At the end of the day… little else mattered to you.

———————————

Much to your relief, the rest of breakfast proceeded smoothly. Conversation was sparse, with most of it being hushed whispers from the other side of the table, but you hardly minded. Normally you would find it rude. Now, you were simply pleased that they weren’t being up front with their hostility. More so, it allowed you and Bela to have your own conversation, which mainly pertained to your plans for the day. Several times during your discussion, a glance elsewhere would show you that Alcina was paying attention. Exactly once you even saw her attempting to hide a smile. A sense of pride had swelled in your chest at the sight.

It has remained there, even until now, as you move into Bela’s private study. One quick survey of the room tells you a thousand things about your soulmate. For starters, it’s clear that she’s musically inclined. There’s a harp in one corner, adjacent to a folded music stand, as well as a small bookshelf dedicated entirely to sheet music. A couple medium sized instrument cases are nearby, but you don’t immediately recognize their shape. Further into the room is a rather old looking desk, slightly worn, yet clearly cared for. Possibly passed down the generations? Next to the desk is a massive window with a couple spare chairs. All across the walls were bookshelves and mementos, including several skulls (at least one of them human). Every book you looked over appeared to be well read, with many bookmarks inside, some held together by tape and prayers.

“This… this is sublime, my darling. I could rest here for a month and hardly finish cherishing half the space!” You said, grinning at your soulmate. She’s equally pleased, seeming a tad relieved as well. Perhaps she had worried you’d be thrown off by the skulls? Wanting to reassure her, you approach that particular shelf, examining them closely. However, you do not touch them, not wanting to risk damaging her collection. “Truly marvellous. Dare I ask where you got these specimens?” It’s a joke, but Bela stiffens nonetheless, making you quickly redact your statement. “My apologies, I meant it as a jest. Though you are welcome to tell me more about them if you so desire! I will listen with rapt attention, I promise.”

“Most of them are gifts from Cassandra. During the summers we hunt, her more so than Daniela or myself. I… dislike wasting anything, and there’s only so much to be done with most bones. They have quite a few ornamental uses, however. Useful for study, as well,” Bela mentioned, smiling softly. Then she moves to stand next to you, carefully reaching to grab one of the skulls. “This was from one of our hounds, actually. I raised her from puppy to adult, took her on every hunt, even let her sleep in my quarters on colder nights. When she got sick I…” A pause, mouth open but unmoving, eyes slipping shut. “I couldn’t bring myself to put her down. Even argued with my mother, night after night, begging for another choice. None came, of course, and in the end even I could not deny her the softest embrace of death… Still, you must think me strange, to keep such a thing as a reminder of her.”

“Not at all, my dear. We all remember, and grieve, in our own ways. I’ve often found myself intrigued by skulls, of all sorts,” you admitted, sheepishly rubbing the back of your neck with your hand. “All we are, our minds or mayhap our souls, contained in one hard shell. It’s incredible, and terrifying, all at the same time, to hold one in my hands, or even merely examine one. Oh, what stories these bones could tell, if only they could talk… Though I suppose there are entire fields of science devoted to such a thought…” With that said, you look back at Bela just in time to see her staring fondly at the canine skull. Then she places it back on its perch, dusting her hands off afterwards, taking one last moment to appreciate her collection.

“I’m glad you and I agree on this,” she said softly. Once more she’s looking at you, smiling wide. “Now let’s make memories of our own, to hold in our bones forevermore, yes?”

#bela dimitrescu x reader #bela dimitrescu #resident evil: village #re8 village #tw animal death

206 notes · View notes

young-dumb-and-vaccinated · 3 years

Text

A Deafened Bard (Stephen Strange x Female!Reader) pt. 2

Doctor Strange and y/n confide their tragic backstories in one another. Y/n struggles with her feelings for him.

Trigger warnings: abusive parenting, use of firearms, discussion of death and grief, mention of alcoholism

"On the outside, always looking in

Will I ever be more than I've always been?

Cause I'm tap, tap, tapping on the glass-"

You stopped yourself before you could indulgently belt out the titular lyric.

"Ew, why was I singing that?" You muttered to yourself. "I don't even like that song."

You knew, subconsciously, that it was because you were trying to avoid what you really wanted to sing. For the first time ever, you had an audience. Someone was paying attention.

"Love of my life, you've hurt me-"

"Oh, come on, butterfingers." He interrupted. "Love of my Life by Freddie Mercury. Give me something hard."

"I wasn't aware it was classic rock trivia night."

"Then why were you staring straight at me while singing?" He smirked.

"Was I?" You cocked your head, expertly deflecting his implication. "I'm so spaced out I don't even know where I'm looking."

"It's Freddie Mercury." He insisted.

"Uh, yes and no." You corrected, drawing on your encyclopedic knowledge of Queen from one particularly weird summer in high school. "While Freddie Mercury wrote the song, it was recorded on a Night at the Opera. Which was accredited to the whole band."

"That's a nitpick," he shook his head. "I'm still right."

You couldn't wear your heart on your sleeve anymore. You could only distract him with 70s glam rock trivia for so long before he started to notice a pattern. Although a sappy love song was in your heart, you sang the anthem of the depressed theater kid.

You were staring straight at him, though. But who wouldn't? You studied his features only for artistic inspiration. His sharp jaw and high, high cheekbones were… inspiring.

You couldn't lie to yourself. You fell and fell hard.

"Butterfingers!" Master Strange called out from the other side of the sanctum. "I need you!"

You dropped your pencil and pushed yourself out from the chair. "Coming!"

You followed the voice into his chambers. This was a new development, you thought. Out of respect for his privacy, you'd never dared to snoop around in his bedroom. But this was practically a written invitation.

The room was spotless. Not a book or a scrap of paper out of place. Nor was there much to look at at all. A handful of picture frames, some magazines from when he was a surgeon, all featuring himself on the cover.

"Butterfingers!" He called again, as if he knew you were about to snoop.

"I'm here!" You yelled back, eyes wandering around the room. "What do you need?"

"I left my watch somewhere in the library!" He sounded disproportionately panicked for what was just a minor inconvenience. "I need you to go get it for me."

"What does it look like?" You asked.

"It's a $27,000 watch." He snapped impatiently. "It looks like one."

"Jesus." You cursed.

"Don't give me that shit, [F/N]." He ordered, slamming his fist down against the sink. "Just do what you're goddamn told."

"Alright, alright!" You put your hands up. "Fine, I'll get it."

You hurried down the stairs and into the library. On the floor between his favorite chair and a stack of musty old books was a slim, silvery watch with a plain black band.

You picked it up and examined it. Apart from the price tag, was there really any reason for him to be so worried about it? He knew exactly where he left it. Did he have reason to believe it wouldn't be there when he returned?

All you needed to do was flip it over to get your answer. You read the inscription on the back.

Time will tell how much I love you -- Christine

You should have known that his massive ego wouldn’t keep the women away forever. Hell, it certainly didn’t deter you. Much uglier douchebags have gotten far prettier girlfriends than they deserved.

You closed your fingers around the watch and sighed. The fantasy you created for yourself, of slowly, deliberately earning his love was shattered. Christine already beat you to it, it seemed. You tried to smother the part of you that resented this person for her exclusive right to Master Strange's affections. You didn't know her, but you loathed her. And you felt filthy for it.

With a heavy heart, you brought the stupid, criminally expensive little timepiece back to its rightful owner.

"Here's your all-important watch, master." You mumbled, placing it on the bedside table.

"I know I told you I would give you space to question things," He said, swiping it from the table and expertly affixing it around his wrist. "But I'd really appreciate it if you didn't question this."

You tried to sound as non-passive-aggressive as you could. You attempted a more forgiving tone, but you couldn't hide your hurt. "It's fine. I don't care."

"I didn't mean to get short with you, [F/N]." His voice softened. "I'm sorry. But this watch-"

"It's fine." You cut him off, peering at the floor.

"It was a gift." He finished anyway.

You felt the lump in your throat rising. You knew what the watch represented and you wanted to smash it to pieces. Along with the sting of rejection, you felt the sting of tears in your eyes. "I know. I saw the engraving."

"She died two years ago." He lowered his head.

Suddenly, all your ill will towards this woman turned into guilt.

"I'm sorry to hear that." You said. "I can't imagine what it's like to lose someone who loved you so much."

"She had agreed to come to a speaking engagement with me. As a second chance, and-" Pain wrapped his voice. He closed his hand tightly around the watch and held it close to his chest. "Have you ever been in love before, [F/N]?"

From the way your heart ached, and how easily the thought of never being with him made you cry, you knew the answer. You'd been avoiding speaking it into being thus far, but you couldn't lie to yourself anymore.

"Yes." You whispered.

"You'll learn soon enough." He muttered. "It only brings more suffering."

The tears finally breached and you tried to blink them away. You didn't know what emotion was causing them: guilt, shame, contempt, anger, sadness-- they were all present.

"Master Strange, I-" you stuttered, tripping over your breath. "I respect what you've gone through, I really do, but it's not fair to take it out on me."

"You're right." He conceded. "I'm sorry. Please, go get some sleep.”

You nodded. “Right.”

You slept as late as you could get away with the next morning. In apprentice terms, that only meant sleeping until eight thirty. Your dailies could wait an extra hour while you laid in bed, feeling like garbage.

You stumbled down the spiral staircase in your pajamas. No bra, no makeup and no effort. You didn’t even run a brush through your hair. Why try, you thought. Why make an effort for the man who would never see you as anything but the help?

When you saw the piano, though, you did a full 180.

In the living area was a French cherry baby grand piano that definitely was not there before. You certainly would have noticed it before. You placed your phone on the counter and approached the new addition.

As if the memories were woven into the very muscles and ligaments of your fingers, you ran down a few octaves of C Major. The keys were smooth as porcelain and the sound that emanated from the instrument was next to heavenly.

A bright orange post-it note was stuck to the music rack.

“Love of my Life”, Queen, A Night at the Opera. 1975

Was this a request, or an admission of wrong? Whatever the case, it made you smile.

"You weren't being entirely honest with me, Butterfingers." He said, randomly materializing behind you.

You turned around on the piano bench and looked up at him. "What was I not honest about?"

"I'm so glad you asked." He sat down on the bench next to you, phone in hand. "Because when you said you used to play piano, you didn't specify you were actually a student prodigy."

Sure enough, on his phone, he was scrolling through your Instagram. Dozens of videos of a much younger [F/N] playing hundreds of different songs, singing with too many vocal runs and doing so with the entire content of her soul behind the music.

"Student prodigy is a bit strong." You turned your head to hide your blush.

He scrolled up and found a picture of a young, zit-faced teenage [F/N] holding an acceptance letter. "Last I checked, Juilliard doesn't give full-ride scholarships to just anyone."

You covered your face with your hands, smothering an embarrassed smile. "God, please. I'd rather you'd found my OnlyFans."

He raised his eyebrows. "As tempting as that sounds, I'd still rather hear your explanation on this. Why did you give up on something you loved?"

You looked at him in surprise. "You really want to know?"

"Well, I told you mine." He playfully nudged you in the side.

You took a deep breath in. "Well, it was about two years ago, now-”

"Cheers to you, [F/N]!" Your best friend Holly raised her glass of champagne in your direction. "Juilliard ain't gonna know what hit ‘em."

"I'll drink to that." You said, bring your own flute up to your lips and taking a swig. You wretched in disgust as the vile liquid ran down your throat. "Or maybe I won't."

"You're gonna have to get used to it." Holly nudged you with her elbow. "I think most professional musicians are alcoholics."

You narrowed your eyes at her. "I don't think that's right."

"Is too." She smirked. "Conductors are mad strict. Abusive even. Drive musicians to drink all the time."

You laughed. "Is everything you know about the world of music from Whiplash?"

"And The Perfection." She added.

"Thank you, Holly." You said, attempting to take another sip of champagne, purely for dramatic effect. "Very cool."

You felt a pair of hands on your shoulders. "Hi, Holly. Enjoying the party?"

Holly took a step back. "Hey, Mrs. [L/N]. Yeah, it's great."

"I hope you don't mind," Your mom said, her fake nice voice eeking through her clenched teeth. "I need to borrow [F/N] for a few minutes."

Holly's face fell. "Sure. I'll catch up with you later, [F/N]."

Your mother tugged you off to the side. With a stressed huff, she began. "Jason is out in the fields with his ROTC friends."

"And what do you want me to do about that?" You asked, knowing her drunk self couldn't read your sarcastic tone.

"Could you go get him and bring him home?" She said, squeezing your upper arm.

"Are you kidding?" You spat.

"[F/N], he's drunk." She scolded. "Do you want him to get another strike on his record?"

"I don't care." You mumbled under your breath. "Have him call an uber. Hell, let him sleep it off in the field. Not my problem."

"You know what he's like when he's drunk." She rationalized. "He gets rowdy. It had better be you."

You tensed up. "No. Holly and I are going to the French Quarter. I don't have time to babysit Jason."

"Just pick him up on your way there?" She pleaded. "It won't take long."

You knew this wasn't going to stop. "Fine, but this is the last time."

You were both dressed far too well to be trekking through the swampy ass nowhere when you should have been fucking your way through the French Quarter. Luckily for your evening plans, all you needed to do was follow the sound of gunshots.

You slammed the car door shut and Holly followed suit. Finding him was the easy part. The hard part was hauling his drunk ass back home.

"Fun's over, shithead." You announced, heels sinking into the sod as you spoke. You didn't have much trouble projecting over the gunfire and getting their attention.

"Shit, [F/N]?" Jason sputtered, so drunk he could barely keep his head straight.

"Holy shit, I didn't even recognize you in that dress." One of his dumb fuck friends added. He jabbed Jason in the side. "Why didn't you tell me your sister's hot?"

"Buster, I-'' You clenched your teeth. "I don't care if you live or die, but my mom needs me to bring Jason home."

"If you get in the car now, we won't have to use the chloroform." Holly added.

Jason scratched the back of his head with the barrel of his gun, then pointed it at you. "You're gonna have to make me."

"Jesus fucking Christ!" You exclaimed, hitting the deck. "What the fuck, Jason!?"

Jason and his dumbass friends laughed. "You should have seen the look on your face, [F/N]!"

"Put down the fucking gun-" You seethed. "And get in the fucking car."

He lowered the gun and looked like he was going to concede. Just when you thought he would cooperate, he stuck it up again. He keeled over in a fit of laughter when you and Holly panicked again.

"Look at them!" He shouted. "They're so fucking scared!"

You knew out in the middle of the swamp, nobody could hear you scream. So you used it to your advantage.

"Jason, you're going in the car, or under it." You raised your voice. "I will mow your drunk ass down like eight day old roadkill right here in this field and you will be LUCKY if anyone finds your bloated, shit-covered remains before the crocodiles get a whiff of you."

That seemed to get his attention.

"Sorry, boys." He pouted. "You heard her."

He had to 'get you' one final time, though. Only that time, the gun went off. Just centimeters from your ear. You clutched the side of your head, trying to drown out the deafening ringing with your screams.

You vaguely remembered Holly pistol-whipping Jason before loading you into the car to drive you to the hospital, leaving him desolate and drunk in the field.

"It was a one-in-a-million shot." The otolaryngologist tried not to sound impressed at what was clearly some kind of anomaly very few got to witness in a medical career. "When the bullet fired, the gunpowder traveled down your ear canal, burning the cells of your auditory nervous system and... singing your eardrum... clean off."

Your eyes widened. "Off?!"

The doctor lowered her head. "I'm sorry, Miss [L/N]. I'm afraid you'll never return to full hearing again."

You didn't want to kill the messenger. You knew she was only doing her job. "Are you fucking kidding me?!"

"If we could do a tympanoplasty, which, given the condition of the drum, is unlikely-" she began. "There would still be no way to fully repair the hair cells along the ear canal."

You took deep breaths to try and quell your simmering rage. "I'm leaving for Juilliard in three months."

"Hearing aid technology has improved significantly over the last decade." She said, a somewhat hopeful upturn in her voice.

That was when your mother decided to join in on the conversation. "Oh, we can't afford that."

You thought you were going to crush your teeth into bits from how tightly your jaw was clenched in fury. "Take it out of Jason's college fund, then."

"Oh, [F/N]." She said as if you had just told the funniest joke imaginable. "Please. That wouldn't be fair to Jason."

"You can afford to send that blithering idiot to the Citadel." You hissed. "You can afford to buy me a hearing aid so I can play piano."

"Beethoven was entirely deaf." Your mom pointed out. "And he became the greatest composer of all time. It's really just mind over matter, sweetie-"

"Sure, that makes perfect sense!" You plastered on a deranged smile, feeling driven to the brink of madness. "I can repair my destroyed eardrum with the power of positive thinking! Jason gets thirty-five thousand dollars a year to play soldier, but I have to just use my imagination."

She covered her face with her hands as if she was being attacked and went into kicked-puppy mode. "Don't be mad at Jason, [F/N]. He didn't mean to hurt you-"

"Fuck this." You said, releasing all your tension in those two words. "Fuck all of this. I'm tired of you defending that chauvinist asshole. The next time you see me will be when one of us is dead."

"Where are you going?!" She wailed.

You snatched your purse from the table and threw it over your shoulder. "I'm moving out."

“Disgraced at age nineteen?" Master Strange said, leaning back on the piano. "Let me guess, you turned to alcohol to cope?"

"You'd think, but actually no." You shook your head. The tone of the conversation had taken a sharp left turn from sadness to dry, apathetic amusement. "I probably would have if I could have afforded it."

"You missed out." He said. "Drinking a whole bottle of eighty year old scotch was definitely the highlight of my grieving period."

You'd never joined the clauses 'Master Strange' and 'drunk off his ass' in the same sentence before then. It was an odd mental picture for sure. One you needed to see to believe.

"I got desperate." You admitted. "Luckily, New Orleans had a lot to offer someone like me, so I didn't have to go far to find people claiming to have answers. But it was all essential oils, incense, binaural beats-"

"I'm sorry," he cut in. "What kind of dickhead suggests binaural beats to someone with only one functioning ear?"

You threw up your hands. "Right? Doesn't make sense. Anyway, I came across a woman named Mistress Fantina and she pointed me in the right direction. How to heal my body through control of my spirit."

He looked at you with that fascination of the human body characteristic of those in the medical field. "It worked, I assume?"

"I figured it out." You shrugged. "But I got so invested in the Mystic Arts that I forgot all about Juilliard. Became a full-time student. Ever since, I never once thought about returning to my old life."

"I suppose if I'd discovered this world because I had lost, say, my ability to perform surgery, it would be hard to leave it behind and return to the operating room." He thought out loud. Sighing, he closed his hand over his watch. "But no matter how medical science evolves, you can't reverse death."

You let the quiet linger for a moment.

#doctor strange #doctor strange x you #doctor strange x reader #stephen strange x reader #doctor stephen strange #stephen strange #dr stephen strange #stephen strange x you #what if #what if marvel #doctor strange supreme #tw guns #tw abusive parent

77 notes · View notes

allthingsfangirl101 · 3 years

Text

Broken Heart Part 2–Troy Bolton

Part 1, Part 3, Part 4

Troy's POV

I sighed when it went to voicemail again. I took a shaky breath as I left my message.

"Hey, Y/N," I said shakily. "It's. . . It's me. Again. Yesterday, you said that you had something to tell me but you never showed up. At least, I don't think you ever showed up. . . I thought I saw you. . . Y/N, were you there? I could've sworn. . ."

I sighed as I pulled my phone away but didn't hang up. I took a shaky breath before putting my phone back to my ear.

"Y/N, at least let me know you're okay. Please? You ran out at lunch, I didn't see you the rest of the day, and now you're ignoring my calls. . . I miss you. Call me back."

I hung up the phone and angrily tossed it onto my bed. Over the past couple of weeks, it's felt like Y/N has started pulling away from me. I spent the next hour trying to figure out why my best friend would be pulling away. When I couldn't figure it out, I called Chad.

"Random question for you," I said as soon as he answered.

"Okay," he laughed.

"Is there any reason that Y/N would be mad at me?"

My curiosity went crazy the longer it took for him to answer. "Did I do something?" I asked, breaking the silence. "It wasn't the team, right? I know Jeremy used to try and ask her out but you and I shut that down. At least I thought we did. Is he bugging her again?"

"I don't think it's Jeremy," Chad sighed.

"Then what is it?"

"I don't know, man."

"You sure?"

"Of course I'm sure," he chuckled awkwardly. "Out of the two of us, you'd be the one to know what's going on in Y/N's head. Not me."

"That's the thing," I mumbled. "I don't know."

* * * * *

I was helping my mom clean up dinner when my phone rang. My mom watched as I pulled it out of my pocket, my breath getting caught in my throat.

"Everything okay?" She asked.

"Y/N's finally calling me back," I said as I ran out of the room. I closed my door and answered my phone as quickly as I could.

"Hi," I answered, out of breath from running upstairs.

"You okay?" Y/N asked, chuckling slightly.

"Yeah," I said, clearing my throat. "When I saw it was you calling, I ran upstairs so. . ."

"Oh, okay."

I listened to her breathing, neither one of us saying anything. The worry I felt earlier intensified when she didn't start talking.

"I'm really glad you called me back," I said, my voice soft. "I've been freaking out all weekend."

"Why?"

"Because you haven't called me back," I stuttered. "You ran out of lunch on Friday. You basically disappeared after rehearsal. Then you didn't show up at our treehouse and I haven't heard anything from you since. I tried calling you last night and. . . I was worried."

"I'm sorry," she said.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she tried to dismiss. "I should go. Bye, Troy."

"Wait!" I said louder than I meant to. I knew that if I hung up, I most likely wouldn't be able to get her to answer another call.

"Y/N?" I said tentatively. "Please talk to me. I know something's going on. I just don't know what it is. Why won't you talk to me?"

"What do you want to talk about?"

"Well," I awkwardly cleared my throat. "Why did you leave so suddenly during lunch? Then, I didn't even see you after rehearsal. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she said again.

"Y/N," I sighed. "Those two words, from you, mean you're holding something back. What's really going on, Y/N?"

"It's nothing," I stuttered. "I have to go. Bye, Troy."

"If it's nothing, then tell me," I said quickly.

I heard her sigh, as she started to explain, "I wasn't feeling that well on Friday. At lunch, I thought I was going to throw up. It got worse the rest of the day. During rehearsal, I felt like I was going to pass out, so I headed home as soon as we were done."

"Why didn't you tell me?" I asked, my voice soft. "I could've taken you home."

"I'm sorry," she sighed.

"It's okay," I said, trying to lighten the mood. "Next time tell me. I want to help you."

She didn't say anything else. I tried to start a conversation, but couldn't think of anything to say. My stomach felt weird when I realized this wasn't us. We usually never struggled to find something to talk about.

"Y/N," I started to say.

"I gotta go," she rushed. "Bye, Troy."

"Why do you keep saying goodbye?"

"Because I can't do this anymore, Troy," she sighed.

"Do what?" I stuttered. I waited but the line was quiet. "Y/N, what's going on?"

I could hear her heavy breathing, struggling to hold back tears. I tried racking my brain for a reason she would be crying, but I came up empty. She always tells me what's going on, so why was she holding back on me now?

"Y/N," I said, harsher this time when she still refused to talk to me. "Please tell me what's going on."

"I'm in love with you."

I was frozen. Her words echoed as I struggled to wrap my head around what she meant.

"Y/N. . . I just. . . I didn't think. . . Oh. . ."

I heard Y/N let out a shaky breath as I struggled to find an appropriate response to her confession. My heart sank as she finally found her voice.

"I'm sorry, Troy," she said as she quickly hung up on me.

* * * * *

Reader's POV

Monday I was able to avoid Troy at school. We didn't have many classes together and the few that we did, he was on the other side of the room. I spent lunch in the theater, practicing our numbers. After school rehearsal was the only time I wouldn't be able to avoid him.

I had no idea how Troy would act around me now that I've told him how I feel. I subconsciously tightened my grip on my backpack as I walked into the theater.

"Hey, Y/N," Ryan greeted.

"Hi," I said quietly. Before I could walk past him, he stopped me.

"What's going on?"

I opened and closed my mouth, tears building. His eyes softened as he gently grabbed my shoulders, squeezing them reassuringly.

"Y/N," he whispered. "What's wrong?"

"I did something stupid," I said, my voice barely above a whisper.

"What?" Ryan asked gently.

"I told Troy I was in love with him last night," I blurted out. His eyes sank as he sighed and pulled me into his chest.

"I'm guessing he didn't say it back."

The tears officially started to fall as I buried my face more into Ryan's chest. He sighed as he tightened his arms around me.

"I'm sorry, sweetie," he whispered. "He doesn't deserve you."

We jumped apart when we heard the door open. While Ryan turned towards everyone walking in, I walked straight to the piano. I could feel Troy watching me as I got out the piano music. My heart sank when I noticed the song we were rehearsing today was the duet Troy and Gabriella were singing in the show.

"Alright," Mrs. Darbus said as she clapped her hands. "I've got my singers. Y/N, are you ready?"

"Yes, ma'am." I nodded.

Without looking up, I started playing the song. I ignored the knot in my stomach and the lump in my throat as Troy and Gabriella started singing.

I got a lot of things I have to do. All these distractions Our future's coming soon. We're being pulled A hundred different directions, But whatever happens I know I've got you.

You're on my mind. You're in my heart. It doesn't matter where we are. We'll be alright, Even if we're miles apart.

All I wanna do Is be with you, be with you. There's nothing we can't do. I just wanna be with you, only you. No matter where life takes us, Nothing can break us apart. You know it's true. I just wanna be with you.

Oh yeah Just be with you Oh yeah, yeah

You know how life can be,

It changes over night. It's sunny then raining, But it's alright. A friend like you, Always make it easy. I know that you get me. Every time.

Through every up, Through every down, You know I'll always be around. Through anything, you can count on me.

All I wanna do Is be with you, be with you. There's nothing we can't do. I just wanna be with you, only you. No matter where life takes us, Nothing can't break us apart. You know it's true. I just wanna be with you.

I just wanna be with you.

I made the mistake of looking up as Troy kissed Gabriella. I glanced over to see Ryan, Kelsie, and Chad looking at me with sad eyes. I couldn't take the apologetic looks from everyone anymore.

I quickly stood up, the piano bench scraping against the floor. Kelsie and Ryan tried to get my attention, but I brushed past them. Troy just watched as I walked out of the theater.

Part 3

#troy bolton #troy bolton imagines #high school musical #zac efron #zac efron imagines #zac efron x reader

116 notes · View notes

sisterspooky1013 · 3 years

Text

Only One Choice, Part 2, Chapter 8

Read it here on AO3 / Tagging @today-in-fic

Saturday at 5:00, she’s standing outside Mulder’s apartment door. When he’d proposed watching a movie, she questioned whether that was the best idea. She doesn’t have any particular reason for trying to hold off on things getting more physical, other than the lingering subconscious belief that nice girls don’t take their pants off before there’s a ring on their finger. That’s never a policy she’s stuck to in the past, but it still feels like they should wait a bit. Maybe it’s what happened before, their previous indiscretion, that makes her feel compelled to take things slow. Regardless of the motivation, spending time alone at one of their apartments is a surefire way to end up ditching her plans, along with her clothes.

Speaking of clothes, she’s worn jeans and a T-shirt, decidedly more casual than their last date. She’s also put on a black lace bra and matching boy short panties underneath, just in case. She has no intention of Mulder seeing her underwear, but on the off chance she changes her mind, she’d hate for him to see her granny panties. She also shaved her legs and her bikini line, just in case. Taking a deep breath and promising herself she will exercise exceptional self control, she knocks.

When he answers, she instantly feels her resolve falter. He’s wearing jeans and a white T shirt, bare feet, and a beaming smile. He immediately steps forward and slips his arms around her waist, pulling her close and kissing her like she’s just returned from sea. He smells clean and masculine, the stubble on his chin scraping her cheek and summoning a groan from her throat, which she successfully stifles. Finally he pulls back, looking at her with soft, affectionate eyes.

“Hey,” he says with a little smirk, and she smiles at him like they’ve just shared a secret.

“Hi,” she replies, resting her palms on his upper arms.

“Sorry to accost you before you’ve even gotten inside,” he says sheepishly, his arms still wrapped around her, “I’ve been waiting all week to do that.”

She chuckles and he releases her, slipping his hand into hers and leading her into the living room. When they enter, Priscilla stands from her place on the couch and arches her back with a meow, then paces excitedly with her eyes trained on Scully.

“Hi Priscilla,” she greets the cat, sitting on the couch where Priscilla climbs right into her lap and starts purring noisily. Scully laughs and runs her hand from Priscilla’s head down to her tail, smiling as the cat closes her eyes contentedly and drool drips from the corner of her mouth.

“She missed you,” Mulder says as he looks on, smiling with his hands crossed over his chest. “She doesn’t drool for just anyone.”

“I missed her too,” Scully says to Priscilla, then turns to look at Mulder with a soft smile. “I missed both of you.”

They hold eye contact for a beat, then he looks away, walking towards the kitchen. “I was just going to order pizza, if that’s okay.”

“Sounds perfect,” she replies, looking around. Not much has changed since she was last here, though he’s hung a couple new things up on the walls.

“What do you like on your pizza?” he calls from the kitchen.

“Surprise me,” she replies. She’s not a very picky eater and can’t think of any topping that would be a dealbreaker.

“I like your style,” he says in response, and she can hear the smile in his voice.

There is the muffled sound of him calling the order in, then he returns with a beer in each hand.

“I rented two movies,” he says as he sits down close beside her, their thighs touching. “Take your pick between Twister, or Mars Attacks.”

“I saw Twister in the theater when it came out, but I can’t say that I’ve seen, nor did I ever intend to see, Mars Attacks,” she replies with a knowing smile, taking the open beer he holds out to her.

“You gotta see it, Scully, it’s an instant classic,” he says with a tone that she can’t pin down as facetious or not.

“I guess we better watch it then,” she says with an equally ambiguous tone.

———

Six empty beer bottles are lined up along the far end of the coffee table, a pizza box sitting open in front of them. Mulder is lying with his head propped up on the arm rest of the couch, one foot on the floor and the other stretched out in front of him. Scully is lying on her stomach against his chest, her cheek resting on his pectoral and her arms wrapped around his rib cage. It was a slow progression towards them ending up fully entwined like this, her belly pressed against his groin, and he has one eye on the TV and the rest of his attention concentrated on not getting hard.

The movie, which is even more campy and stupid than he remembered, is nearly over, and he hopes she doesn’t hop up and leave right away. Looking down over the crown of her autumnal head and along the narrow expanse of her back, he sees a sliver of skin exposed between her jeans and T-shirt and his cock stirs. He slides the hand that had been resting in the middle of her back lower until his fingertips meet with her bare skin and she shifts a tiny bit, but not uncomfortably. Slowly, causally, while keeping his eyes on the screen, he begins to trace his fingers in slow circles on her lower back. Her skin is unbelievably soft, supple and warm. As his movements continue, he increases the size of his circles, inching her T-shirt up higher to expose more skin, and she pulls in a deep breath and holds it for a moment before she lets it out slowly, concluding with a sound that’s almost like a hiss. She shifts again and her stomach rubs against the swelling lump of his erection, pronounced enough now that she may be able to feel it. He dips the tips of his fingers under the waist of her jeans, running them from one hip to the other, and she lifts her head, propping her chin on his chest and looking up at him. Her expression is unreadable; she definitely isn’t upset, but she’s not smiling, either.

“Your skin is so soft,” he offers, as though it were an excuse for why he’s touching her, as though it would not be enough to say he’s doing it simply because he wants to.

She shimmies up until they’re nose to nose, the friction sending a jolt to his groin, and he resists the urge to thrust up against her.

“I moisturize,” she says plainly, her breath hot against his lips smelling like hops and garlic.

She drags her lips over his softly, side to side, then kisses him fully with a contented sigh. His hands find the small of her back and push up underneath her T-shirt, sliding over more of that silky softness, and he does thrust up against her, though gently.

They kiss slowly, in no rush, his hands cupping her ass and gliding down her sides, up into her hair and then back again. Her own arms are tucked up underneath her, propping her up as she kisses him, though she shifts her pelvis against his erection gratuitously, not in any way pretending that it’s not intentional.

“Mmmmm, Mulder,” she hums into his mouth, flicking at his tongue with her own and then sucking on his lower lip.

“Hmm?” he asks in response, gripping her ass and pulling her firmly against his groin as he pushes it against her.

“I don’t think we should have sex. Not yet,” she croons into his ear, pulling the lobe between her teeth gently.

“Okay, of course, whatever you’re comfortable with,” he answers back with a pained groan, his body not on the same page as his brain. “If you want to stop, let’s stop.”

“I didn’t say I wanted to stop,” she replies, kissing down the side of his neck until she comes to the place where it meets his shoulder. “I just said I don’t want to have sex. There are a lot of things we can do that aren’t sex.” She slips her arm free from beneath her torso, snaking it down between them and rubbing it firmly over his aching hard-on.

“Jesus Christ,” he hisses, flexing his hips wildly as he seeks more contact.

She brings her lips back to meet his, peppering small kisses as she strokes him over his jeans.

“How about,” she begins breathily, “one of us keeps our clothes on.”

“Okay,” he responds, sliding his hands around her hips to find the button of her jeans.

She laughs a little and sits up on her knees between his thighs, just out of reach.

“I was thinking maybe I would keep my clothes on,” she says in a playful tone, though her expression is bashful.

“Oh,” he answers dumbly, trying to piece together what she’s saying. When her hands go to the fly of his jeans he sits up. “Wait, one second, why me?”

She tilts her head with a curious furrowed brow. “This may be the first time in recorded history that a man has objected to receiving rather than giving.”

He cocks his own head at her, mirroring her confusion. “I think you’ve been hanging around the wrong men.”

After a beat, they both break out into ironic smiles, realizing what they are arguing over. She leans forward, crawling up to kiss him.

“If we were keeping score, which we are not, I would say I owe you one, Mulder.”

No matter that it was nine months ago, she’s referring to the one and only other time they’ve done more than kiss. She’s not wrong, but he doesn’t care. He loves making women come; it’s practically a hobby.

He wants to object, but she already has his fly open, her tiny hand slipping underneath his boxers and gliding down the length of him. He groans and she kisses him again, stroking him slowly in the narrow space beneath his stiff jeans. She sits up and tugs at the waistband and he lifts his hips to help her before pulling his T-Shirt off over his head. Within fifteen seconds he’s naked, his ass sinking into the warmed leather of the couch and Scully’s hot little hand cradling his balls.

“Can you take your shirt off?” he asks hopefully, “is that allowed?”

She smiles at him. “Let me consult the commissioner,” she says, then glances up and to the side. “Commissioner says yes,” she finishes, pulling her shirt over her head and revealing a black lace bra, her modest breasts pushed up deliciously within its cups. He feels his cock lurch in response and he reaches up to pull her on top of him, deftly unhooking the clasp and chucking the bra across the room.

She sits up again, perched between his thighs topless, and lazily slides her hand up and down over his length. He stares slack jawed at her pale pink nipples, hardened into rose buds in the cool air of the room, and she gives him a devilish little grin before bending at the waist and taking him in her mouth. The wet heat of her is sudden and jarring, so overwhelming that he closes his eyes against the flashes of white hot pleasure as his hips buck uncontrollably.

She plants her palms on his hip bones to hold him steady and moves up and down at a slow pace, her tongue sliding along the underside of his cock until the head is at her lips, where she swirls it around in a circular motion that makes him see stars. He opens his eyes, watching her through the curtain of her hair as his shaft disappears into her hot little mouth, the pink peaks of her nipples becoming visible at regular intervals. She tilts her chin up slightly and looks at him, meeting his eye before she lowers herself further than she had before, and he feels his head hit the soft flesh at the back of her throat before he slips just a little further, pressing into her pharynx. He stiffens and groans, the sensation different and somehow explicit, like he’s somewhere he’s not supposed to be. His hands hover near the sides of her head, gripping at air as he resists the urge to touch her, to control her movements. When one of them brushes against her scalp, she reaches up and takes it, pressing it into her hair and granting permission. He threads his other hand into her tresses and lets them glide with her as she moves up and down. Her fingernails scrape gently over the papery skin of his scrotum and he feels a tightening, coiling sensation that means he’s close. He lets his head fall back and enjoys the incredible feeling of her tongue hot and wet, her lips firm, her hands gentle. When he’s approaching the point of release, he lifts his head and whispers hoarsely, “Scully, I’m gonna come,” and removes his hands from her head so she can pull away.

She does not pull away.

Instead, she doubles her efforts, sliding up and down fast and firm, squeezing his balls gently and sucking hard on the upstrokes. Wanting to make sure she still has the opportunity to pull away, he tells her again, “fuck, I’m coming,” and she keeps right on pace as an explosion echoes from his balls through his cock, waves of release stealing his breath as he goes rigid and then falls apart in a cascade of expletives, returning his hands to grab a fistful of her hair as she swallows him down, slowing but continuing her movements until he’s soft and no longer throbbing.

She crawls up his body, gently resting against him with her chin on his chest, her breasts pressed against his bare skin, and waits for him to return to Earth. Finally, he settles his gaze on her, on those earnest blue eyes and that pink mouth that he now knows holds the secrets of the universe. He feels like he could cry, so instead he makes a lame joke.

“Did it hurt?” he asks, running his hands over her bare back.

She gives him a quizzical but amused expression. “The blow job?” she asks incredulously.

“No, when you fell from Heaven.”

She rolls her eyes and suppresses a smile as Priscilla springs unannounced from the floor and lands right on Scully’s jeans-clad ass, kneading the flesh a little before curling up for a snooze.

Scully laughs gently, not wanting to disturb the cat. “Is this a thing cats do?” she asks amusedly.

“Not really, you just have a great ass, I can’t hardly blame her,” he responds, and she smiles at the compliment. “You can’t leave now, we’re stuck like this,” he adds. “Priscilla can sleep forever, we may die here.”

Scully shrugs, sighing contentedly. “But what a way to go.”

#the x files #txf #dana scully #fox mulder #gillovny #msr #sculder #x files fanfic #alternate universe

43 notes · View notes

clouditae · 3 years

Text

First Love | 11

Word: 2.6k

You first saw him in the multi-purpose room. Later learn his name, and on your third year, as he becomes your neighbor, you discover his lifestyle. Knowing your crush on him was nothing but that, you wanted to find the courage to look for love. Asking your friend for help, you’re pointed in the direction of the expert. Your neighbor, Min Yoongi

Chapter Index

It’s been about a week since you last saw Yoongi. A week since you’ve discovered that he has a past with Sam, the girl you met at the party, but you’re not fully sure if it’s the same Sam and what past they have.

You never told Ari about this. It was too… embarrassing for you to mention. You did what Ari didn’t want you to get hurt about, and you’re deeply hurt. Sure you didn’t do the actual thing with Yoongi like a lot of girls have, but what you did and what happened after caused a silence between the two of you. It’s not like you’re avoiding him the way he’s avoiding you. He hasn't texted you or talked to you, and Hoseok says there’s usually a girl in his room so he has to wait for her to leave before he can go in.

Ari would give you worried glances, but you’d brush it off like you’re not about to cry because your feelings for him grew ten times more. When you left his room and went to yours, you lied in bed and cried yourself to sleep. Just like you did the first night of the year. That fear you felt when you were in that room only proved to be right. This ended badly and you’re left feeling empty.

Right now you’re sitting in class trying to focus on the lecture rather than on Sam and Yoongi, and you and Yoongi. You want to know who this girl is and what past they have together to make Yoongi sound so hateful. The only person you can ask is the person who knows him best. Thankfully you’re meeting Ari and Hoseok for lunch after class.

As your professor finishes his lecture, you pack your belongings and leave the room like a lot of eager students who are just done listening to long rambles about night photography and how to have a better advantage when taking them. Walking down the hallway, you reach the stairwell and follow the group of people heading down. When you’re out of the building, you make your way towards the food court where Ari and Hoseok will be waiting.

Not having your earphones in, you’re stuck with listening in on others conversations. Nothing is interesting to you; they talk about class or “the bastard is gonna get his ass beat when I see him this weekend—I can’t believe he cheated on me”. Conversations you can care less for. You have your own problems and one of those is how to bring Sam up in a conversation without causing Ari to get suspicious and cause Hoseok to question things. Sweet Hoseok is oblivious, and you want to keep it that way when you ask about her.

Off into the distance, further away from the court, compared to you, is Hoseok chatting with someone. Your face lights up in realization as you pick up the pace to the food court. With another quick glance at Hoseok, and realizing he’s making his way over, you lightly jog inside and scan the area for Ari. You’re starting to feel the panic as Hoseok gets closer and closer to the building while your eyes continue to glance back and forth in the room.

Where is she?

“Y/N over here,” her voice rings, hand waving towards you from the far left corner of the room.

You almost run to her now as you throw your bag on a chair next to you and rush, “Whatever I ask Hoseok play along—I’ll explain everything later—”

Hoseok has just arrived. “Hey guys,” he says, smiling as he takes a seat next to Ari and places a kiss at her temple.

You try your best to act like nothing happened. “Hey. Are you guys ready to eat? I’m starving,” you tell them, voice wavering just a bit from the adrenaline of just a simple beating him here.

“Yeah, let’s get some grub,” he agrees, smiling oh-so happily as he gets up. To your luck he never catches on, but Ari’s now staring at you with a curious look. You give her a begging look and that is all you need to do before she gives up and plays along with your request, but you know she’ll be barking questions the second the two of you are alone. “What are you guys in the mood for? I got an A on my performance so it’s my treat,” Hoseok explains, a huge grin on his face as he wraps his arms around Ari’s and your shoulders.

“I’ll never deny free food, and congrats, babe.” Ari gets on her tiptoes and places a kiss on his cheek.

“Thanks, baby, and don’t even argue with me Y/N, you’re letting me pay today,” Hoseok concludes without giving you a chance to deny his offer.

You sigh, “Then can I have Chinese?” You point to the stand next to the Greek food stand.

“I’m down for some Chinese,” Ari inputs.

“Chinese it is!”

After spending five minutes waiting for Ari to decide what she wants, getting in line and placing your order, and finally getting your food, the three of you sit at the table, munching on your orders. Ari and Hoseok spend a majority of the time talking while you struggle to find a way to bring up Yoongi and Sam. There never seems to be a perfect moment, and the longer you wait, the closer you get to finishing your food and leaving for the day while Hoseok goes back to class.

But it’s like fate is on your side as Hoseok says, “Yoongi seems to be having a lot of girls over because almost every day when I go to the room, there’s a piece of red tape on the door. This is worse than usual. I know I said this before, but I really want to go in my room once in a while without having to wait all the time.”

It hurts. It hurts more than anything to hear that again, but you can’t let that pain show on your face even as Ari glances at you with a worried expression once again. “Oh, yeah,” you begin, swallowing the lump in your throat, “I forgot to say this last time, but some time last week I heard someone knocking on his door. It was a girl and it sounded like Yoongi wasn’t happy to see her there,” you claim, leaving out the details of being in his bathroom rather than in your room.

Hoseok frowns. “Really? Did you happen to catch her name or what she looks like?”

“I didn’t see what she looks like, but I think he said Sam?” You try to look like you’re struggling to remember what he said, but his words are so clear in your head.

You can see the slight shock on Hoseok’s face as he mutters, “Oh.”

So he does know Sam. “Do you know her?” you question.

Hoseok can only shake his head as he answers, “Yeah. She’s Yoongi’s ex girlfriend.”

You need more information. You feel desperate for more information. “What happened between them? It has to be something bad since he didn’t sound happy and you don’t look like she’s a great person.”

Hoseok picks at his food, taking a quick glance at you. “You can’t tell him I told you this.”

You do your best not to look eager as you nod. “Of course.”

“They met when they were sophomores in high school. It was an immediate attraction, and after five months they were dating. They’ve been together for four years before they broke up last year.”

“Why did they break up?” Ari asks, seemingly invested in Yoongi’s past just as much as you are.

He sits back, running a hand down his face. “When Yoongi is dedicated to something, he’s dedicated. He’s also not good at expressing his feelings. In high school and even now he works on making music, so he tends to be cooped up in his room for days. Sam wanted attention from him—you know, to know he still loves her, but Yoongi struggles with that. Last year Yoongi caught her cheating on him, and that was the end of that.”

You can’t think of anything to say. He met a girl; he fell in love, and now he’s heartbroken. How long did it take for him to fall in love with her? How long will he continue to let this eat him whole?

“That must have sucked,” Ari mutters with a sincere tone.

“Yeah, and I’m really hoping the girl that is in the room isn’t her,” Hoseok groans, taking a bite of his food.

“Never get back with an ex. Especially if they’ve cheated on you,” Ari recites, as if it’s an actual rule written in a book somewhere.

“What does she look like?” you inquire. You have to know that the woman you met at the party, the nice girl who made you feel a bit more comfortable being there... You have to know that she is not the Sam that broke Yoongi’s heart. But the memory of Yoongi’s dejected look flashes in your head.

It is her. You know it. You were his distraction in the bathroom when he saw her that day.

“She has like red blondish hair? Brown eyes. She’s a theater arts major, so if you’ve gone to plays you may have seen her.” He shrugs, finishing the rest of his food.

“Plays? I’ve been to a few.” Ari taps her chin in thought. “I’m trying to remember a girl with that hair color. What plays has she been in?”

“Uhhh…” he trails off, eyes darting back and forth a bit as he tries to remember. “The last time I saw one was when she was in Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew. She was Katherine? I’m not a pro at Shakespeare, so I’m not totally sure if she played that character.”

“Oh! The strawberry blonde? She’s gorgeous,” Ari comments, eyes wide with surprise.

Yeah, she really is, you confirm, remembering how pretty she is and how her laugh was so bubbly and warm. You can feel a tinge of jealousy boiling in the pit of your stomach. She’s pretty, friendly, funny and so much more. Yoongi fell in love with her. He’ll never fall in love with you, and you hate yourself for thinking about that.

“You’ve seen her before?” Ari asks.

You blink a few times in realization that you said those words out loud. “Yeah. She was at the party I went to. She was the other team I was playing against in beer pong.”

“Really?” Hoseok baffles, voice louder than before. Ari covers his mouth, smiling apologetically to the eyes glancing in your direction. They’re the perfect couple when it comes to being loud. He removes his girlfriend’s hand from his mouth. “No wonder Yoongi was acting weird when he came back. He was in a pissy mood—more than usual,” he adds.

“Damn. He must really hate her.” Ari shakes her head, pressing the lock button on her phone to check the time. “Oh, babe you should go. Class starts in ten,” she tells Hoseok, looking to him as her phone goes black once again.

Taking a quick glance at his watch, his eyes widen before he closes the lid to his box, picking it up along with his backpack. “You’re right. I’ll see you guys later.” Giving a quick kiss to Ari, Hoseok quickly leaves the food court.

The second he’s out of sight, Ari’s attention is now on you. “So are you going to tell me what that was about?”

You sigh. You can’t have a second to yourself before she bombards you with questions, but it’s just like you predicted. “Well what I told Hoseok was what I told you to wait for.” You avert your gaze. “Except I was in Yoongi’s bathroom when Sam knocked on his door.”

“What were you doing in his room?” You can see the hint of curiosity and playfulness dance on her face.

“What happened that day was a mistake. Sam clearly wants him back, and Yoongi hasn’t spoken to me since that day.” You can see that Ari wants more information as to what happened that day, but you just aren’t ready to tell her. Tell her what will most likely be the biggest mistake you’ll ever make. “I’ll tell you some time, Ari. Just not now.”

Her being your best friend, she can tell your distress and can only nod, reaching across the table to take your hand in hers. “Whenever you’re ready, hon, I’ll be here and ready to beat ass if necessary.” You nod, now fighting the urge to cry all over again. You’ve been fighting the urge to cry almost every day, and you feel ridiculous about it. “Want to head back to the dorm?”

You nod again, closing the lid to your entrée box. You grab your backpack, along with your food and follow her to the trash can to toss the food and follow her out of the building. Walking through the crowd, Ari loops her arm through yours, smiling as she leads you to the bus stop to wait for your ride back to the dorm.

A short, and somewhat crowded ride later, you and Ari lie in your own beds staring up at the ceiling in silence. “I know I have a paper to write, but right now I could care less what the four main issues Hunston discusses regarding in corpus design are. I think I’d rather talk about the Tokugawa era and its fall than anything with corpus linguistics,” Ari complains, the sound of her feet hitting her bed filling the silence.

You frown in confusion. “What?”

“Exactly!” she whines, “Why did I decide to take five classes this semester?”

“Why did you?” you ask her, turning to your side to see her through the mirror. She can’t see you though, so it always makes you feel a bit weird staring at her without her really knowing it.

“I want my last semester to be the easiest,” she answers, her smile spreading across her lips. The smile leaves as she sits up and stares at you. Seeing her serious expression, you sit up and look at her. “If you don’t want to do this with Yoongi anymore you should tell him. I’ll make something up to Hoseok if he asks.”

You give her a small smile as your gaze goes down to your hands on your lap. You know you have to end things with him. If you continue to receive these lessons it’ll only hurt you in the end. You can’t keep pushing yourself onto this hope that he’ll one day fall for you. No matter how much you wish for his attention, you’ll never get it. “Yeah, I know,” you whisper, blinking back the tears.

You hear her moving around before the sound of her feet hitting the floor causes you to look up. She grabs her white water bottle. “I’m gonna go fill up my bottle and then find Rollan downstairs because I have questions about bringing a cat in here.” You chuckle. “Be back,” she sings, opening the door and leaving the room.

When the door closes with a bang, you let out a shaky sigh and grab your phone that’s hidden under your pillow. You unlock it, going to your contacts and search for his name. Once you tap on his name and open the text, you type away with shaky fingers.

[1:14 pm] Me: Hey. After thinking about it, I feel like I’ve learned enough to try and find someone on my own. I won’t be needing those lessons anymore. I hate you.

Deleting the last sentence, you hit send.

#bangtanarmynet #bangtanuniversity #thebtswritersclub #btsgoldnet #btswritersguild #bts #bts x reader #bts x you #bts fanfic #bts fluff #bts angst #bts au #min yoongi #yoongi x reader #yoongi x you #yoongi fanfic #yoongi fluff #yoongi angst #yoongi au

180 notes · View notes

poorcinderelly · 3 years

Text

Perfectly Fine

Author: poorcinderelly

Rating: PG13 (language mostly)

Fandom: RPF

Pairing: Tom Holland/Reader

Disclaimer: This work is purely fiction and not-for-profit fan activity. It is not intended to infringe on any rights by and of the companies and/or individuals involved in the production of any series mentioned here.

Word Count: 3,491

Notes: Soooooo....I have never written an RPF fic before and especially not one that involves Tom Holland. I got inspired to write this after listening to Taylor Swift's song, Mr. Perfectly Fine on loop for the past few days. Fair warning, Tom is not really kind here. I mean, he's not the worst, but he's also not the greatest either. Part of me also really wants to do a part two to this, but I guess it will depend on how it's received and honestly, if I feel like it, lol.

Here's the AO3 link, too.

Enjoy!

It takes everything in me just to get up each day But it's wonderful to see that you're okay

You rolled over in bed and picked up your phone. It was almost 11:00am. You knew you had to get out of bed. Brush your teeth. Comb your hair. Eat something.

But your energy was gone. Everything felt so heavy.

The last communication was over a text message. Tom had asked when you were going to come by to get the rest of your things from his apartment. At first, you told him you weren't sure yet. He responded asking if he should just have them mailed to Jessica's, your best friend's place. You had been staying with her since the break-up.

You eventually told him that you would come to get them. But that was two weeks ago.

You opened your messages, a small part of you hoping to get a new one from him. But there was nothing.

You opened Twitter, mindlessly scrolling through, not really reading anything that was on your feed.

'Cause I hear he's got his arm 'round a brand-new girl I've been pickin' up my heart, he's been pickin' up her And I never got past what you put me through But it's wonderful to see that it never phased you

That was when you saw it. A video of Tom, with his new girlfriend. They were caught by paparazzi coming out of a restaurant. You watched as they held hands, making their way down the sidewalk. Tom was chatting them up as usual; it was something he did to try to make what's a typically stressful situation go as smooth as possible. It was something he did when he was out with you.

A lump swelled in your throat and you tried your best to blink back tears.

He seemed totally fine. It's like he has completely moved on, even though it had only been two weeks. You started seeing photos of him and her together shortly after you broke up. You thought it was odd that he had moved on so quickly, but you also suspected that he may have been talking to her for a while, even while you two were still together.

How wonderful.

That thought made the dam broke and you started to cry again. It felt like you had been crying non-stop since things ended. You were so tired of it. Jessica, being the best friend that she was, told you it was okay to cry and that it was okay to feel. "You've been through a shock," she said. "What Tom did caught you by surprise."

She was right of course, but it still hurt.

You closed Twitter and went back to your messages. You opened the thread you had with Tom and wrote the following:

I'll come pick my stuff up today.

You closed the app and rolled over, facing the window. The sun was out and you could see the leaves from the trees rustling in the breeze. It was a beautiful spring day.

Then you heard your phone ping. You reached over to the other side of the bed and picked it up.

Tom replied.

You took a breath and opened the message.

Okay. Just text when you're on the way.

You saw through that immediately. It was so obvious that he was trying to make sure she wouldn't be there when you came. "How considerate of you."

You didn't even bother to text him back.

You set your phone down on the table and even though it felt like it took all of your strength, you rolled out of bed.

"Time to get moving."

- * -* -* - * -* -* -* - * -* -* -* - * -* -* -* - * -

Mr. "Perfect face" Mr. "Here to stay" Mr. "Looked me in the eye and told me you would never go away" Everything was right Mr. "I've been waiting for you all my life" Mr. "Every single day until the end, I will be by your side"

You and Tom met at a red carpet event for a summer Hollywood blockbuster. He already had two Spider-Man movies under his belt by then, but you were an up-and-coming actress. You were aware of him and he was aware of your work, but you had never met or spoken to one another before. However, when you saw him outside the theater, it was like sparks went off. Despite being surrounded by the press and screaming fans, all you could see was him.

Once you both were inside the venue, he asked if he could find you at the party afterward. You said "yes," trying your best not to show how eager and excited you were. Once the movie was over, you made your way to the after-party. Walking in, you felt like you were in a fairytale; a princess trying to find her prince in the crowd.

Tom found you first; he made his way from the other side of the room and offered you a drink. You never left each other's side that night; you danced, ate, drank, and left to go back to his hotel together.

You hoped that the one-night stand would turn into something more and it did.

One month turned into six, then a year, and another year. Tom was everything you wanted in a person; kind, funny, smart, and attentive. Even though you both had extremely chaotic schedules, you both made it a rule to coordinate a FaceTime every night before you went to sleep, no matter where you were in the world.

It did not take long for the press to catch on about your relationship. Since your career was not as established as Tom's, having everyone in the world find out about you made you incredibly anxious. But Tom was supportive and patient; he was also a private person, which helped. He promised to protect you.

Tom was good for you and you thought you were good for him, too. He made you feel safe and loved. You had been waiting for a relationship like this one for a long, long time.

But that was when I got to know Mr. "Change of heart" Mr. "Leaves me all alone," I fall apart

You couldn't pinpoint when exactly things changed, but it occurred over the span of a few months.

Tom started to snap more during your FaceTimes. He assured you that it was stress from having to film three movies back to back. But you knew something was off; you just couldn't tell what it was. Not long after that, your FaceTimes were getting short. The same thing would happen: Tom would lose his patience, you would get defensive, a fight would happen, and both of you would hang up.

Tom barely answered your FaceTime calls after that fight. He would always say he was busy or tired, but you knew better.

And throughout this time, the anxiety kept building up. Every day, you asked yourself what you did to upset him and if there was a way to fix it. Your communication with Tom was mostly through text messages, and you were starting to notice that when you told him you loved him, he didn't say it back.

The first time you saw him after that was in November. It was the start of the holiday break for the both of you and you wanted to have a few weeks to yourselves before having to travel to see each other's families. You arrived at the apartment you both shared in New York. After you dropped your suitcases in the bedroom, you texted him asking if he was on his way.

Hours went by. He never responded.

You heard the doorknob click around nine-thirty that evening and Tom made his way inside. He tossed his keys on the counter and went into the kitchen, not saying a word. You could tell he was tired; you were tired too. You knew better than to do this, but the anxiety and frustration that had been building up for the past few weeks finally got released.

It resulted in the biggest fight you had. You asked why he didn't respond to your text; he snapped and asked why you were always breathing down his neck. You just wanted to know what was going on; why things have been distant between you both. But Tom just kept deflecting, saying that nothing was wrong. But your anxiety wouldn't let you believe it; something was different and you knew fighting wasn't going to solve the problem. But it just didn't stop; it quickly escalated to more screaming, more crying, and slamming doors.

Tom left the apartment that night; he left you sitting on the living room floor, crying. Right before he slammed the door, he said, "I need to get away from you right now."

Hours went by and you were waiting for him to come home.

He didn't.

You ended up sleeping on the couch.

Mr. "Never told me why" Mr. "Never had to see me cry" Mr. "Insincere apology so he doesn't look like the bad guy"

Tom returned the next day. You heard him come in around the early afternoon. He was wearing the same outfit he wore yesterday. You wanted to know where he was, but you didn't ask, afraid that it would set off another fight.

Your mind wandered to what he said the night before.

"You're always nagging on me."

"Why do you think something always has to be wrong?"

"You're so fucking crazy."

"I need to get away from you."

Tom saw that you were on the couch and came to the obvious conclusion that you slept there and had not moved. He crouched down in front of you and brushed some loose strands of your hair out of your face.

"I'm sorry."

You could not tell if his apology was genuine. It honestly felt like he was only apologizing just to apologize, not because he truly meant it. But you were so tired; you wanted this to be over.

So you accepted it.

Hello Mr. "Casually cruel"

Things did not get better after that. Typical small arguments turned into big ones and minor disagreements turned into personal attacks.

It amazed you how Tom had so many casually cruel comebacks for you in his arsenal. But you were not so innocent either; some of the things you said to him surprised you.

You started to not like who you have become; you were anxious all the time now and truthfully, you really did not like hurting him. You weren't sure if you could say the same about Tom, though.

One night in February, you were sitting out on the balcony, looking over the Manhattan skyline. You were sipping your tea and heard the sliding door to the balcony open. Tom sat in the chair next to you, running his hands through his hair.

"I think..." he sighed, "....I think we need to break up."

You knew it was coming, but you still were not fully prepared. Tears swelled in your eyes and you squeezed the mug like it was your lifeline.

"We just can't keep doing this, babes," said Tom. "I can't keep doing this."

In your head, you begged him to stop. You pleaded that it was not in fact over; that you just needed to talk things through. You could definitely work through this; it was just a rough patch. But you could not say the words - because a part of you knew that he was right.

You could not keep doing it either.

Both of you sat out there for a while, not saying a word. You still squeezed the tea mug, but the tears you were holding back were falling freely now.

It was over.

- * -* -* - * -* -* -* - * -* -* -* - * -* -* -* - * -

You found the energy to shower, blowdry your hair, and get changed into a white t-shirt, jeans, and green jacket. You grabbed your phone, wallet, and keys and tossed them in your handbag.

Jessica was in the kitchen eating a piece of toast. You saw how elated she was when she noticed that you showered and changed clothes. She offered to make you breakfast, but you refused.

"I'll just eat something when I come back."

"Oh!" Her eyes widened. "Where are you going?"

"I, uh...I'm going to Tom's...to get the rest of my things." You picked at the end of one of the drawstrings on your jacket.

"Will she be there?" Jessica asked.

You shook her head. "I don't think so."

Jessica nodded; you noticed that she looked a little relieved. "Well, do you want me to drive you? Just in case you see some paps along the way?"

"Oh. Them," you thought. It did not take long for the media to catch on that you two had broken up. It was partly why you had been hiding out at Jessica's for the past couple of weeks. As much as you wanted her to come with you, you knew this was something you needed to do yourself.

Jessica said she had to work tonight, but promised to come home straight after for a full report, which you laughed at. You said your goodbyes and made your way out of Jessica's building.

You breathed a sigh of relief when you saw that there were not any paps around. You hailed a taxi and gave the driver the address to Tom's apartment. Your old apartment.

You leaned back in the seat and pulled out your phone.

I'm on my way.

You tried not to think too much about it. If you thought about it, you would surely cry. That was the last thing you wanted to do.

The cab pulled up to the front of the building. You paid the fee and got out. You said your hello to Tony, the doorman (who was surprised to see you), and made your way through the lobby, up the elevator, and down the green carpet hall to your old unit. Room 4J

Your hands were shaking a little now, but you tried to brush it off. You turned it into a fist and lightly knocked on the door. It was just starting to hit you that this would be the last time you would set foot in this place, but you interrupted the thought.

"Damn it, you are NOT going to lose it!"

You heard movement from the other side of the door and the jiggle of the doorknob.

There was Tom.

He was wearing a black turtleneck, jeans, and socks. His chestnut hair was curly and he had what looked like a cup of tea in his hand.

"Come in."

He did not smile when he saw you; you were not expecting him to, but it stung a little.

You began to scan the apartment, trying to find anything that belonged to you. Then you heard Tom clear his throat.

"Uh...everything's in the guest bedroom," he said.

You looked at him, confused. Since when did he have a guest bedroom?

"We turned it into a spare bedroom after..." his voice trailed off near the end.

Their now guest room used to be your craft room. It had all of your paints, markers, fabrics, and colorful paper that you used to make gifts for friends, co-workers, and loved ones. Of course, all of that was packed up and in storage now.

You sighed a little and made your way down the hall to the guest room. You opened the door and saw a full bed, a dresser with a small television on it, and a bedside table with a lamp on it. In the space between the bed and the dresser was a single medium-sized cardboard box with your name written on it in big, black letters. The handwriting was Tom's.

You crouched down and opened the box. Inside was your favorite tea mug, a spare cell phone charger, some headphones, a scarf, and a paintbrush set you left behind. At the bottom of the box, was a small, red photo album.

You knew immediately what that was. You bit your lip and swallowed. "I'll open that another time," you thought.

You folded the box back up and tucked it under your arm as you got to your feet. You made your way back to the living area and saw Tom sitting on the couch, with his arms crossed. When he saw you enter the room, he got to his feet.

"Do you need help with that?" he asked.

You shook your head. "No," you answered, shortly, "I got it."

Tom let out a small sigh and followed you to the door. You wanted to get out of there. You could feel the dam was about to break. Just as your hand was about to twist the doorknob, you heard Tom's voice let out a small, "I'm sorry."

You bit your lip and lowered your head. "Don't do this! Not here!" you begged yourself. "You don't have to apologize, Tom," you said, surprised that you were even able to get that out of you. Your hand was still clenching the doorknob.

"Y/N, can we please talk?" Tom asked. "I just need to clear the air on a few things."

You could tell he was a little desperate for this. Part of you wondered if this was something he had planned all along. You knew you did not owe him anything, but part of you wanted to hear him out.

You turned around and set the box on top of the kitchen counter. You leaned against the counter, crossing your arms. "Do you want to sit down?" Tom offered. You shook your head. "No thanks."

And it's really such a shame It's such a shame 'Cause I was Miss "Here to stay" Now I'm Miss "Gonna be alright someday" And someday maybe you'll miss me But by then, you'll be Mr. "Too late"

So Tom stood too. He looked you in the eye the entire time he spoke, but he also twiddled his fingers.

"I'm sorry that we ended things the way we did. I'm sorry for the way I treated you, how I yelled at you and insulted you. No one should ever have to hear those words, and I know I should have treated you better. I'm truly sorry."

You swallowed the lump in your throat and bit the inside of your cheek. This was all you wanted - a genuine apology. Now that you finally got it, you weren't sure how to process it.

But you knew you better say something, too.

"I-I'm sorry, too. I'm sorry for how I treated you, too. I said some horrible things to you, too, and I wish I could take them back. I'm sorry."

The damn started to break now. A few small tears started to roll down your cheeks. You wiped them away with your sleeve, hoping it would hinder the rest.

There was so much more that you wanted to say to him, but you knew if you did, you would not be able to control yourself. Tom took a step closer to, with the intent to give you a hug. But you held your hand up to stop him, which he respected.

That was when you took a step closer to him, stood on your tiptoes, and kissed him on his cheek.

"Goodbye, Tom," you said, your voice cracking. "Thank you." "I wish you well."

You did not give him the time to speak. You quickly turned around, grabbed the box from the counter, and walked out the door.

You pushed through the doors of the building and walked out into the street. You got lucky again and immediately hailed a cab before saying goodbye to Tony.

On your ride home, you watched people pass on the sidewalk. The box was resting in your lap. The tears you had been working so hard to hold back were starting to fall. But you did not feel any tinge of sadness, anger, or any pain. The feeling in your chest was mostly bittersweet.

You accepted that that was probably the last time you were ever going to see Tom, and you were beginning to feel okay with that. You were also beginning to feel happy that he was fine. Despite the pain that the both of you endured, you truly just wanted to see him happy. And now you finally knew that he wants the same for you too.

You reached up and wiped away the tears that were still rolling down your cheeks. A part of you will always love Tom, but after today, you can finally take the steps to move on.

You know you will be perfectly fine too someday.

Goodbye Mr. "Perfectly fine" How's your heart after breakin' mine? Mr. "Always at the right place at the right time," baby Goodbye Mr. "Casually cruel" Mr. "Everything revolves around you" I've been Miss "Misery" for the last time And you're Mr. "Perfectly fine" You're perfectly fine

Click here to read Part II (Changing Minds)

#tom holland #tom holland x reader #tom holland x y/n #tom holland x you #taylor swift #mr. perfectly fine #mr perfectly fine #fic: perfectly fine #fandom: rpf #rpf: tom holland #ch: ofc #ch: reader

72 notes · View notes

floralguccistyles · 3 years

Photo

nine: aliens, bigfoot, and nerds, oh my!

“Have you been eating, sweetheart? You’ve lost at least ten pounds since the last time I’ve seen you.”

My father rolled his eyes from over my mother’s shoulder as she pulled me into a big hug. Every time I saw my mother, she mentioned how skinny I was getting even though I was sure I had gained about five pounds since the last time I’d seen her. It was usually an excuse to come into my flat and make us a giant dinner, which I would never complain about. Her arms squeezed my shoulders as she released me, pulling back so she could look at my face.

“Pretty as ever, sweetheart.”

“Eva, can I please hug our daughter hello now?”

I laughed as my mother made a big deal of moving out of the way so my father could hug me. His embrace was familiar, his arms the ones I ran to when the bullying in secondary school got too bad to handle on my own. He had wiped my tears away and said “you’re one of a kind, mija, and they’re jealous of that.”

“Was the drive okay?” I asked them, pulling away from my father after he planted a quick kiss on my hairline. Their suitcases (the ones they had owned when they came to England) were decorated with vibrant stickers from Cuba. They were worn now, scratched at the corners, but their color had miraculously remained.

“It was wonderful. It’s been so long since we’ve been to London, and now look at us! We’re here to celebrate our daughter’s book!”

Inviting them to the book release party had been a last minute decision, but I found myself happy that I had. Though I knew they were proud of me, I also knew that they didn’t really understand a lot of the fandom stuff I had discussed in several chapters. They would read it to support me, of that I was sure, but I was uncertain about if they’d actually enjoy it.

“You probably won’t understand a lot of it, Mum.”

“You don’t know that. Your father and I have been watching that Doctor show...what’s it called, Roberto?”

“I don’t know, Eva. I fall asleep when it’s on.”

“It’s called Doctor Who, Mum,” I snorted out, biting back a bigger laugh.

“Whatever it’s called, we’ve been watching it. And we were alive when Star Wars came out, you know. I was there for the Darth Vader reveal and everything. Mamá took me to the theater and got me an extra large popcorn.”

I liked hearing little stories like that. It was almost too easy to picture my mum, sitting there in a little theater in Cuba when the true identity of Darth Vader was revealed. My grandmother had probably grasped her chest with her hand and shouted “¡Dios mío!” at the top of her lungs. If I eventually travelled to Cuba, if the movie theater was still there, I decided I would visit it.

The three of us piled into the Uber I had called for us, which wasn’t hard because their suitcases were so small. On the way to my flat, my parents regaled stories about their drive to London and how she was upset my dad wouldn’t let her listen to Dua Lipa on the radio because “that Dua Lipa girl was very talented, Petra.” We made it back to my flat with only three arguments broken out between them.

“You guys are staying in my room and I’m camping out on the couch,” I informed them, helping my mum to carry her suitcase in. “Sorry it’s so cramped. It’s perfect for me, but unfortunately having guests is a little difficult.”

“We could have stayed in a hotel, baby,” My father commented.

“I’m not going to make my parents pay for a hotel room. I can sleep on the couch for one night and survive, Dad.” They had been to my flat before, but I still showed them where the extra towels and soap was in the bathroom. “The party’s at seven tonight, and dinner will be served. I’ve got to go a little earlier, but I’m just a text away if you need anything.”

“My baby,” my mum said, her eyes glistening, “we are so proud of you!”

I found myself enveloped in another tight hug, this time joined by my father. The lump in my throat grew when I thought of their praise. Too often, I had taken their support for granted. “I love you both.”

“We love you, mija.”

A sudden knock on my door had us pulling apart. “Were you expecting anyone, baby?” my mum asked, going to the front foyer and looking out the foggy windows. “It’s a boy, Roberto!”

“What?”

I moved around my frozen parents to answer the door, swinging it open and greeting Harry Styles’s smiling face with a blank look. I had no idea what Harry was doing here, but he really had very impeccable timing.

And by impeccable, I meant shit.

“Morning! I was thinking about grabbing something to eat at a little bistro around here and thought I’d come by and see what you were up to today. Wanna join?”

Speech wouldn’t come. I felt the stares of my parents behind me, still hidden from Harry’s view, and how they would squeal and gush when they found out I was on somewhat good terms with Harry Styles, something they’d been trying to get me to do for years. “Harry—”

“Harry?” My mum’s voice asked loudly from where she was standing. She marched up behind me and swung the door open a little wider so he could clearly see her. “Oh my goodness! Harry Styles! Petra, it’s Harry Styles!”

“I know who he is, Mum,” I whispered in an embarrassed voice.

“Last time I saw you, you were about four feet tall,” My mother cooed, stepping forward. Before Harry could react, she had him in a tight hug, wrapping her arms around his body. “Petra didn’t tell me you were friends again!”

I bit down the urge to argue that we were never friends, but my mother wouldn’t listen. She never had when it had come to my bullies at school. “Just give them a chance to change, Petra,” she had told me when I would bury my face in her shoulder and cry that I didn’t want to go to school.

“Hi, Mrs. Gallego. I didn’t know you guys were coming to town. Sorry for intruding on family day. I was just coming down to this part of town to grab some lunch and wanted to see if Petra could come. No worries, though. I don’t want to take away—”

“Nonsense!” My father cut in, reaching out his hand for Harry to shake. “Nice to see you again, Harry. Feel free to take Petra to lunch. We’re probably going to nap a little before her release party tonight. The drive was long.”

“Release party?” Harry asked, glancing back and forth between my parents and me.

I awkwardly scratched the side of my head. “My, er, book is being released tonight.”

“What? Petra, that’s amazing!” His smile seemed genuine enough, but all I wanted was to shut the door and rewind the last five minutes. I never would have answered the door in front of my parents if I had known it was going to be Harry on the other side. “If you, um, want to go...it can be a celebratory lunch. And obviously you all are invited, Mr. and Mrs. Gallego.”

“Oh, Harry, we’d love to come, wouldn’t we, Petra?”

My eyes moved between Harry’s cautiously hopeful face and my parents, who were already grabbing my mum’s purse and getting ready to leave. In their eyes, I had already agreed. “Sure,” I said uncomfortably. “That’s fine. Let me just call an Uber for us and we’ll follow behind you.”

“Oh, don’t be silly, Petra. We can call an Uber and you can go with Harry.”

There was no arguing with Eva Gallego when she set her mind to something, so I just nodded. “Okay. Er...I guess that settles that.”

We awkwardly stood around in my foyer until my mum cleared her throat. “Petra, darling, aren’t you going to invite Harry in while we wait for our ride?”

“Right. Come on in, Harry.”

His gaze locked on mine, expression questioning. I knew he felt the tension that was creeping up inside me with having him in the same room as my parents, but I didn’t want to get into it. Not when I knew it would ruin my night. The morning had already started off with self-destructive behavior as I looked back at some of the tweets about my day out with Harry from February. I had never been as aware of my appearance as I was in that moment, scrolling through absolute strangers saying the worst things. I had an extra appointment with Doctor Thorne this week to make up for it.

“How long have you and Petra been hanging out again?” My mum asked as we all sat in my living room.

“A couple of months. She contacted me in January about being on the show. It was an amazing experience.”

“I just love listening to Petra’s podcast,” my father said happily, reaching over and patting my knee. “I have no clue what she’s talking about half the time, but she sounds damn smart saying it.”

“She’s incredibly smart,” Harry agreed, and I ignored the urge to bang my head on the coffee table. I didn’t want him agreeing with my parents about my intelligence. We weren’t really that good of friends, if I even considered us friends yet. I had admitted to myself that Harry had definitely changed for the better, but that didn’t mean the past hurt went away.

“I almost forgot, mija! Your grandma sent you Materva. She said you wrote her an email about it.”

Normally, I would be jumping for joy. The first and only time my grandmother had visited from Cuba, she had brought Materva with her and it had become my favorite drink. With Harry here, however, I felt uncomfortable and self-conscious. I squirmed a little in my seat.

“That was nice of her. I’ll email her and tell her thank you. Want me to put it in the fridge?”

My father went off to my room to grab the Materva and Harry raised a quizzical eyebrow. “What is Moterva?”

“Materva,” my mum corrected with a smile. “It’s a soda.”

“And it’s delicious. Remind Petra to let you try some later,” my father said, returning with a set of six cans. “She sent us more, but we’re selfish and kept the rest of it at home for us.”

He stocked them in my fridge and pulled out his phone when he heard the small chime. “Our Uber is here. We’ll see you two at the restaurant.”

I made sure they made it into their car okay before I hesitantly pulled open the door of Harry’s. We both got ourselves situated, clicking our seatbelts into place.

He didn’t start the car.

“I didn’t know your parents would be here,” he said, offering me an apologetic smile. “I could tell it...it made you uncomfortable.”

“I’m just not used to this.” I gestured back and forth between us with my hand. “And my parents...they mean well, but when I was in secondary school and coming home to them crying, they told me to try and make friends with you guys. They didn’t really understand how hard that would have been. They think I should let bygones be bygones and I want to...but I don’t know if I can just yet.”

“I completely understand.” He tapped his fingers against the steering wheel. “Can I ask you something a little personal?”

“I don’t know if I’ll answer.” Honesty seemed to be the best approach with Harry.

“Why do you seem so embarrassed when your Cuban heritage is mentioned around me? When your dad brought out the soda, it looks like you were going to stab yourself with a fork.”

Go back to where you came from, Gallego. Nathan Penrose’s voice filtered through my thoughts. To them, I wasn’t English enough for England. But it was almost worse to feel that I wasn’t Cuban enough for Cuba.

“It’s about what that prick Nathan said when we were younger, right?” he asked softly, his fingers tightening around the steering wheel remembering it. “I so wish I would have punched him in the face.”

“It’s not just Nathan. That’s a big part of it, but it’s not just you I feel uncomfortable talking about it with.”

“Okay. You don’t have to talk about it, but...just know you can, if you ever want to. I’m serious about trying to be friends, Petra.”

The rest of the car ride was spent in silence, with some pop song playing lowly over the speakers. It wasn’t an uncomfortable silence, per se, but it made me wriggle around in my seat and wish I was sitting at the restaurant already. I wasn’t used to silences with Harry not trying to fill the space with his random thoughts. I appreciated that he was letting me just sit and absorb the moments, but it was also unnerving.

We pulled up to the little bistro right after my parents, who had already decided to get a table for us. Harry walked around to the other side of his car and opened the door for me, holding out his hand to help me out. My parents waved us over from their table outside, pulling out our chairs. I was seated between Harry and my mum, across from my father. It meant that I caught the sly looks they gave me whenever Harry was engrossed with his menu.

“What’s good here, Harry?” My mum asked after a couple moments of looking.

“I like their vegan buffalo wings and macaroni.”

“You’re vegan?” I asked in surprise, raising a brow at him.

“No, but I eat plant based meat when I can. And most places make their vegan wings with cauliflower, which hurts my stomach. This place makes them with mushrooms.”

“Petra loves mushrooms. You should try them, sweetheart.”

I set my menu down without really looking at it. “I’m getting a bagel and their cucumber and edamame salad.” Since both of my parents loved cucumbers, I knew I would be sharing at least a few bites with them. It was normal for us to sample each other’s meals. “What are you getting, Mum?”

“Maybe the chicken breast and mashed potato lunch special. Your father, predictable as ever, is getting a burger.”

My dad shrugged. “Don’t fix what isn’t broken.”

The waitress eyed Harry a little longer than necessary when she came to take our orders, but eventually left. I could tell he would be getting asked to take a picture before he left, despite how unprofessional that was. Then I thought about if it had been Hayden Christensen if I had been the waitress and understood what the fuss was about.

“So, Harry,” my mum said after a long sip of her lemonade, which I knew meant she was going to ask a lot of questions, “what have you been doing now that you’re solo? I ran into your Mum when she was visiting home for a couple of weeks and she showed me one of your music videos. You’re very talented!”

I’d never seen Harry Styles blush, but I noticed a faint twinge of pink on his cheeks. “Thank you, Mrs. Gallego. I’m writing some more music right now, but I’m not sure when the next album will be out.”

“We just love listening to your first album. We listen to your group stuff too,” Mum commented, tapping her nails on her wrist. “Petra has a wonderful singing voice, did you know?”

Before Harry could question the statement, my father and I both snorted. “No, she doesn’t, Eva. No offense, mija.”

“None taken. I sound like a dying animal. Mum, I hate to tell you this, but the last time I sang, you were very intoxicated and would have thought our next door neighbor’s cat was Shakira.”

“Petra’s good at other things, though. She’s awesome on Alien Crossing. And I’m sure her book is going to be fantastic,” Harry supplied helpfully.

“Has she invited you to the party tonight? I know her other friends are coming. Jeremiah, Veronica, and Melody?”

I shifted in my seat. Harry looked pained, like he didn’t want to say anything that would hurt my mum’s feelings. I hadn’t invited him to the book release party because this book was mine, something untainted by the memories of secondary school. Talking about my nerd stuff on AC was one thing, but publishing them on paper was another. “Mum…” I trailed off.

“He could come with us! Are you going to buy a copy of the book, Harry?”

“Mum, he’s not going to buy—”

“Yeah, actually. I preordered it on my phone. And I was going to buy a hard copy, as well.”

Harry’s words had my mouth closing in surprise. I blinked over at him, at his secretive little smile when he raised his soda up to his lips and took a sip. “You preordered it?” I whispered, my throat thick with some emotion I couldn’t identify. “You’re not gonna understand it all.”

“Well, I’ll understand the Lord of the Rings bits now. And anything unfamiliar I come across, I’ll just make a note to watch or read it.”

This action felt more significant than anything that had happened in our hesitant friendship thus far. Even though he had introduced me to John Williams and had brought me a plant, this was the thing that felt essential. I felt like the Grinch in that moment, my heart growing a size bigger and allowing room for hesitant optimism to sink in. Maybe Harry Styles and I actually could be friends.

Which was why when my mum suggested him coming another time, I shyly looked over at him and said, “Of course you can come if you’d like. I’ll text you the details.”

My publisher had rented out the Aldgate Library at my college for the release.

It felt weird stepping back into the library, stumbling a little in my black heels when I accidentally grazed a rock on the sidewalk right outside. The last time I had been here, I had my hair in a messy ponytail and was in tears at midnight trying to study for my last finals of my university career. Now, I was publishing a book. It felt surreal.

I smoothed down the skirt of my red dress, trying my best not to chew on my lip. Veronica had meticulously spread some kind of red lip stain on it that was supposed to be long lasting, but I didn’t trust it’s longevity against my teeth nervously biting at it. Plus, I knew pictures would be taken tonight and the last thing I needed was to have lipstick on my teeth.

“Petra!” My publisher said, walking out of Aldgate in a tailored suit. She was also wearing a little badge that had “Aimee Metcalfe, Dorrance Publishing” printed right underneath a fantastic photo of her. I found myself jealous. My ID photos never came out that great. “What’re you doing standing outside? Come in, you numpty!”

I gave Aimee a quick salute and followed her inside, trying to keep up with her. As familiar as she was walking in heels, it was a new skill set to me entirely. She led me through the front of Aldgate and back into one of the large common area study rooms, which had been transformed for the launch. There was a giant banner hung up on the far left side, with #Aliens #Bigfoot #Nerds printed over it in sparkling letters. In front of the banner was a table decorated with cupcakes and cake pops, each the same color blue as my book cover, which featured a picture of myself that I hated but Aimee had insisted the readers would love. Jeremiah and Zach were shoving their faces with one of the cake pops, while Veronica looked on in disgust. Bailey was chatting with Melody by the photo booth that Aimee had suggested, which when printed, would frame the pictures in the same hashtags the banner provided.

My parents were crying in the corner of the room.

I went to them first, holding out my arms. My mum immediately let out a wail, pulling me into an embrace. “This is supposed to be a happy day, Mum.”

“Oh, I’m so happy for you, sweetheart. You have worked so hard. And you look beautiful.” She pulled back to examine my dress and makeup, pressing her hand to her mouth when she did. “Such a beautiful young woman, inside and out. Oh, how did we get so lucky, Roberto?”

My dad smiled at me. “Proud doesn’t even cover it, mija. Your mum has demanded she be first in the book signing line.”

“Oh, I did not, Roberto!”

“Petra,” Aimee said, interrupting our conversation. She introduced herself to my parents and then led me over to the podium. “You’re going to do the reading, and then Terri and I put together a fun little trivia game about some of the fandoms in the book. Whoever wins that will get a free signed copy. Afterwards, you’re on book signing duty. We’ve got about twelve hundred Sharpies lined up for you. Questions?”

My head was spinning with all the information, but I found myself growing excited. This was something I had put blood, sweat, and tears into. And I was finally getting to share it with the people who meant the most to me. “None so far. I’ll flag you down if any come up.”

“Good. Oh,” she said, reaching into her bag, “keep this close. This is your best friend when you’re up there reading and when you’re signing books.”

She handed me a water bottle with room temperature water, which was apparently better for the vocal cords. Then she was pushing me towards the podium and I hid the water bottle on the hidden shelf on my side. My book was sitting there, my own face staring back at me.

When I looked into the sea of people, I saw my friends giving me encouraging looks and my parents crying happily, my mother now with a tissue from the dessert bar that she pressed underneath her eyes every five seconds. The rest of the people in the room were people who were avid listeners of AC, the ones who sent in messages for me to read. I noticed Daisy Callahan sitting at one of the tables, shooting looks over to Jeremiah and smiling like a smitten school girl. I made a mental note to ask Jeremiah if they were officially together after the reading.

And then, there was Harry Styles.

It looked like he had just come in, dressed in a nice suit in a dark red color. I was so used to seeing him in bright neons when he was dressed up that the muted burgundy almost faded into the background. However, he was still Harry Styles and it was hard for Harry to do anything but stand out. He was fidgeting with his suit jacket, messing around with the collar of it before he looked up and caught my eye.

I wondered what he saw, looking at me standing up on the podium. I knew what my friends and family saw; they saw me finally getting one of my big wishes to come true. But what did Harry Styles, who already got his dream, see?

I didn’t have time to think about it, because Aimee was gesturing for me to start the reading. She was helping usher people to their seats, and I felt the weight of more than just Harry’s eyes on me.

“Good evening everyone,” I said into the small microphone attached in front of me. “Thank you all for coming. This is the culmination of blood, sweat, tears, and other bodily substances I won’t mention. I can’t wait to share it with you. This reading comes from chapter seven, in which I discuss why Game of Thrones actually became so popular and how I think the last season is going to go, amongst other things.”

Jeremiah let out an embarrassing whooping sound and I rolled my eyes.

Then, I read.

If I had expected to be embarrassed standing there in front of a crowd, reading the words I had written, I was wrong. Instead of feeling down, like I had so many times before when I discussed the things I loved, I felt powerful. Because yeah, Nathan Penrose could be a racist asshole all he wanted, and his friends could drop all my books in the puddle. But I had done it. I had written my book, I had a kickass podcast that introduced me to my best friends, and I was filled with an uncharacteristic pride.

So I went along with it. It’s what Doctor Thorne would have wanted. But more importantly, it was what I wanted.

Aimee had been a lifesaver with the water, as I found myself finishing up my excerpt and drinking nearly all of it during the applause. “Thank you,” I said after I had capped the bottle and set it back where I had it hidden. “Thank you to Aimee Metcalfe, my knight in shining armor through this process. Thank you to Terri Patterson, who spent night and day editing. Thank you to everyone at Dorrance Publishing who put up with trying to get copyright issues taken care of because I wrote about some of the biggest money shark companies in here,” I paused for the light laughter that trickled through the room. “But most importantly, thank you to my friends and family and everyone who supported me through this. It means the world. I hope you enjoy the rest of the book.”

There was a small table with stacks and stacks of my book. I didn’t think I’d ever seen that many pictures of me in one place before, including my parents’ house. Aimee started up the trivia game, and I heard the first question asked about what the aliens that destroyed New York in the first Avengers movie was called while I took my seat at the table.

“The book is awesome.” I heard from my left. I turned, seeing Harry standing beside the table, leaning against a pillar. “I could tell you love it when you were reading.”

“It’s a little overwhelming to see it all finished,” I said, awkwardly gesturing to the pile of books in front of me.

“Would you ever want to write fiction?”

I shrugged. “I’m not sure. For now, no. I might change my mind later.” He nodded, fixing his suit jacket again like he had been earlier. “I didn’t expect you to come,” I said after a few moments.

His eyes crinkled and his head tilted to the side, like he was confused. “Why? You invited me and this is important to you. I wouldn’t miss it.”

“It wasn’t hard...with the paps or anything?”

His jaw set and told me everything I needed to know. “I’ve got someone on security here tonight, just in case. I’m not gonna let anything ruin your big night, including paps. There was someone who recognized my car, but I don’t think anyone else is coming.” He unclenched his jaw and looked down at me. A softer look took over his face. “You look gorgeous. That color reminds me of the dress you wore to prom.”

I blinked. “You didn’t talk to me at prom.”

In fact, I had spent most of prom standing in the corner, nursing the lemonade I had gotten myself. Nathan Penrose had spiked it, but not before I had gotten myself a cup. I had saved up all my money for the pretty red spaghetti strap dress, but looking back it was a useless purchase. I didn’t have fun and was home drinking tea and watching Legally Blonde by midnight.

Harry gave me a small smile. “No, but I saw you. I remembered thinking you looked so beautiful and how I was an idiot for how I’d treated you.”

“You did not,” I argued, rolling my eyes at his statement. “You were thinking of your audition and what song you were going to sing. I wasn’t even a blip on your radar.”

He shrugged, bringing his own water up to his lips. “Think what you think. Doesn’t change the fact you looked gorgeous— then and now.”

I fiddled with one of the books in front of me. I didn’t know how to take his compliment. It was something I’d always been bad at, but especially when it came to Harry. Part of me wanted so badly to believe he was telling the truth; he had seen me at prom and thought I looked pretty and was looking at me now and seeing the same thing. The other part of me was hardened and cold, telling myself not to fall for it.

In the end I just decided to ignore his comment. If I didn’t acknowledge it, then I didn’t have to dissect my feelings on it.

“I’ve got to take off. I’m sorry I can’t stay long. I’m flying out to Los Angeles tonight for some meetings. But I wanted to be here.” He held up one of my books and set it in front of me. “Last time I asked, you said you wouldn’t sign it.”

“Wipe that cheeky grin off your face. Of course I’ll sign it.” He slipped a fifty pound note onto the table (more than double what he actually had to pay for the book) and opened up the title page.

The blank page stared at me. There were so many things I could write. Aimee advised me just to sign my name, but that felt too impersonal for Harry. Uncapping the pen, I held down the page with my other hand to keep it steady.

Live long and prosper, my young padawan.

Petra Gallego

He grinned when I handed it back to him. “I’m reading this on my flight to LA.”

“Might put you to sleep.”

“I don’t think it could,” he argued, tucking it under his arm. “Think I could...um...text you while I’m there?”

“I can’t control what you do or don’t do, Harry.”

“Yeah, but I wanted to give you the choice.”

The choice to talk to him. It was something I didn’t have in secondary school, but I realized a small part of me acknowledged that it was something I didn’t have now, either. There was something in me that wanted to see where this friendship with Harry went and if we could make it work.

“Yeah, Harry. You can text me when you’re in LA.”

Which was how I woke up the next morning, with a message reading: Made it to LA. Didn’t stop reading once. And despite what you may think, I didn’t fall asleep either.

A/N: Here is the next installment of AC! I hope you guys liked reading as much as I loved writing. I’m just so happy for Petra!

#ac #1dff #harry styles fanfiction #harry styles ou

32 notes · View notes

strayinvelvet · 4 years

Text

no more hints

changbin has always been telling you his love in the most subtle ways. unfortunately, you don’t hear any of it.

pairing: changbin x reader

genre: fluff

wc: 1.7k

warnings: none :D

author’s msg: i hope you like this mess!

Pursuing you is hard work.

This is what Changbin realized after months of dropping hints of his affection towards you.

Months of subtly stealing glances and brushes of skin trying to feel your warmth even just for a second; months of walking you to your home because yours is fortunately on his way and frankly, to make every second with you last longer; and months of trying not to blurt out the fact that he likes you and scare you away.

It was a long patience of pouring his feelings through small gestures and hoping that one day, you’ll get to see his honest heart.

He honestly thought he could go on like this forever until he was hit with the fact that he is not the only man in your life that could be crushing — hard — on you.

Suddenly, the man who kept asking if he can sit beside you in history class became a threat. The man who always teases you in your theater club became an eyesore. It was these moments that made him realize just how attractive you could be and how any man could fall head over heels for you, if only they made the effort to get to know you. He, of course, did it like it credits 99% of his final grade in the subject called you, and it would make him climb to rank first in your heart. He was only thankful that you are not even one bit interested.

However, your disinterest is also what frustrates him the most because that means he doesn’t stand a chance. Despite the years of friendship, he is at the bottom level with the other men and this fueled the competitive fire in his heart.

He wants to get to know you more, he wants to take you out on dates, he wants to hold your hands and feel your hand curl against his palm, he wants to go on spontaneous trips with you, or just lazily lounge on the couch with your head on his lap. He wants to do a lot more things with you but without the lingering threat of men around you and he could only do that by upping his game.

He bought you flowers, the bouquet that was worth so much to make sure he is properly expressing his love. He even requested an arrangement that does not exist in the flower shop’s menu just so he could personalize it for you. Three red ruby roses with a sprinkle of pink gypsophila wrapped in foil and mesh, just like how he thinks you’d like it. He’d always give you one after your shows.

He also bought you chocolates and it wasn’t the typical one you’d see in grocery stores or convenience stores, it was the expensive chocolates that could be overpriced but are only a mere change for him. He doesn’t want you to feel cheap. He wants you to feel special because that’s what you are to him, so a little effort is nothing.

During the days he knows you would be sulking in the comfort of your home, he’d bring you your favorite takeouts. Lots of them. And he’d eat with you until you feel full, and stay with you until you feel better.

He made sure you feel as much of his love even though what he did is still nowhere near the overflowing emotions he has for you. Yet despite the enthusiasm he has in doing those things, was the lack of reactions he got from you. There were thank you’s and smiles and a hug every once in a while that would constrict his breathing as he felt your body against his.

In those times he thought that maybe, this was a hopeless case. That your reaction was a big red sign that he ignored.

He loves you, he truly does. He wants you to know and keep it in your heart, but if in exchange is your comfort towards him then he’d much rather keep it to himself and let it pass. Maybe it will pass once he gets it off his chest. So one night, while you and him were walking side to side to your apartment, he dropped the affection bomb.

“I’m sorry for doing all those things, ” you turned to look at him in surprise, your big eyes capturing him all over again. Suddenly, there’s a lump in his throat that prevents him from confessing. But this has to be done. His love for you that only keeps growing no matter how much he tries has to end.

“I mean the flowers, the chocos and everything. I just- I don’t know how to do this, my god, but I just want you to know that I love you. Very much. And I am sorry for making you uncomfortable. I’ll stop, i swear just- just don’t be awkward, ” he tried catching his breath after the confession that honestly sounded like a rap because of how fast he talked out of nervousness.

It was the right thing to do, he thought. Maybe it was time to give up until he felt warmth on his cheeks and a soft feeling pressed on his lips.

You were kissing him and the world felt like it was turned upside down.

You were kissing him and it was your pathetic attempt of saying you want to keep him.

You built an ice cold, rock solid wall around your heart before you entered university simply because you wanted to focus on your degree and your passion for the stage. You know you can achieve so much and you are determined to do so, even if you have to block all possible distractions. But all of your efforts came crashing down as soon as Changbin’s warmth reached your heart in all ways possible, melting the barrier you so desperately built.

He was the comfort of your mattress after a long day of rehearsals or the first sip of coffee in a groggy morning. Just his presence alone tingles your heart, and his actions, a whole dust of pink on your cheeks.

He confuses you most of the time. There are times where the back of his hand would brush with yours during a walk and you thought you saw him try to reach for it in the briefest moment. But there are also times where he’d be looking at you with an unreadable expression, then he’d look away with a face that you guessed was disappointment. You were always left thinking what you did.

As if those weren’t enough, he suddenly went out of his ways to give you things normal friends don’t give. Bouquets after your performances, chocolates whenever he feels like it, and takeouts that are enough to last you a day. And although it did a flip in your stomach, you can’t help but smile in guilt because it is everything that you hate: you hate flowers, and you are allergic to chocolates.

Flowers are conventional and predictable, much more a rose. That’s why you hated receiving one. You don’t think a rose holds sincerity, it is merely the first choice one would go to when in a love crisis. It was a no brainer choice but is sure to swoon the receiver. But since Changbin gave you not one but three, you guessed could always make adjustments.

Your body, however, could not make adjustments for the chocolates. Screw allergies. One bite and not a moment later, itchy rashes are to appear on your skin. Even the smell of chocolates has you gagging due to memory of your almost death (exaggeration, i know). You can’t do anything about it, but you can pretend to be fine under your jacket after a bite, just so you can tell Changbin that you appreciate it.

You don’t hate takeouts, you hate how it makes you look bloated and puffy, not really a look you want to show Changbin. You alway hide under a thick blanket on the sofa so he wouldn’t see your face situation.

You appreciate him, you really do. But it was just so confusing. And when you thought you heard him say what you’ve been wanting to hear one night, he quickly took it back. Panic got to you when you realized he was backing up and before you knew it, you were pressing yourself on him. The walls built for your sake are broken by the thing it was supposed to protect.

Just like that, both of you couldn’t believe that as of the moment, as the sunlight peeking from your curtains hit your bed, the two of you were cuddling under the blanket in the morning daze. Your fingers caressing his hair and his arms wrapped loosely around your waist. He hummed as he moved his head trying to feel you more.

“Why are you awake already?” he asked in his sleepy deep voice that sounds like pure velvet.

“Good morning to you too, ” you replied with a lazy giggle. He moved the both of you so he was laying on top of you, his head facing sideways while nuzzling your chest.

There is this weird comforting feeling he feels when he can hear your heartbeat so vividly close. Before, he could only imagine being this intimate with you. He must admit that nothing compares with your skin actually touching his touch-starved ones.

“You’re heavy.” He lazily opened his eyes at your remark and saw the dried roses you displayed on your side table. The one that was awfully familiar.

“Why do you still have that?”

“You gave them.”

“You hate flowers.”

“You gave them, ” your answer was certain.

He looked up at you at the same time you looked down at him and a connection sparked between your eyes, one that was hidden desperately months ago. He tightened his arms around you and kissed your chin to your lips to the tip of your nose.

The soft plants of his lips made you giggle and its wakes burn in want.

“I’d give you more.”

Because pursuing you is hard work and he’d go through it all over again because you’re worth it.

And loving him is easy and you’d break your walls all over again because he’s worth it.

And the subtle game is done, finally. No more hints of his heart, just full confession of his genuine love.

#inkidz #districtninewriters #stray kids #stray kids au #seo changbin #stray kids x reader #seo changbin au #stray kids imagine #stray kids scenario #stray kids fluff #seo changbin fluff #seo changbin x you #stray kids x you

145 notes · View notes

babylooneytoonz · 4 years

Text

Warnings: Well, I just want to apologize in advance for what you're all about to read. Your truth is revealed, not to Bucky. You are not who you think you were.

Coffee Stains Masterlist here.

"Hey, look at me, you're alright, okay? Nothing's gonna happen," Bucky's warm flesh palm felt over your bump, and instinctively, you winced when his fingers brushed against something just underneath the base of your bump, towards the left. That's when he felt something sticky and warm in his palm.

He was pulled into the grip of silent panic, his eyes wild and his pupils dilated as he looked at the blood coating his fingers; it was only then that he realized what had happened. You had been shot. His heart had begun to race, and his temples throbbing in an incoming headache, like a bomb that had exploded in his brain.

"Buck.. I don't feel so good."

"It's just a graze, love. It's nothing, trust me, yeah?" Bucky's metal arm slid underneath your thighs and in one sweep, he pulled you into his arms, and reflexively, your eyes now droopy, you let your head rest against his chest, feeling the symphony of his breaths, that seemed to be relaxing you.

Bucky used his other hand to slide his phone out of his pocket and the first person he dialed was Steve.

"Y/N has been shot. I'm taking her to the hospital," he looked down at you to see that your eyes were almost closed now, but you were breathing, although shallow, "it's not looking good, Steve. I need you here. I need you right now. Please."

You let out a cough, which was more of a laugh, but it sounded like a cough as air was lodged to your throat, mumbling barely incoherent words, "Winter... Soldier, you really need Captain...America..to save your ass don't you?" He just smiled, pulling you tighter against his chest, as though you were slipping away, "Fuck Winter Soldier, you know I'm nothing without you now." You were trying ... fighting to stay awake, even more so upon hearing his words, as you clung on to your boyfriend, your hand locked around his neck. You somehow managed to open your eyes, and your eyes caught the sight of a hospital.

"Bucky?"

He looked down at you, and a weak smile draped over his lips when he saw that you're awake. What you said to him, however, broke his heart into two and he wished that this hadn't happened to you.

"Will you promise me something?"

"What?" He asked.

"If something does happen to me, make sure you don't raise this one alone, you should raise them with Natasha."

He blinked, struggling to mask the tears that had now surfaced in his eyes as he bit down on his tongue, and shook his head. The two of you fought like cats and dogs, but he couldn't think of you not being here, even for a second.

"I would never promise you such a thing, because there's no one else I want to raise our kid with. And I mean, you."

You parted your lips, and all that came out was a weak sounding exhale, so you just succumbed against his chest, humming slightly so he knew that you had heard him, but just didn't have the strength to reply.

"I've seen you single-handedly take out five men, and that too, pregnant. You kicked some ass that day," he chuckled, finally letting that thick, warm tear roll down against his cheek, "And if you're telling me, it's one fucking bullet that's gonna be the end of you and end of us, you're just crazy."

He tried to make talk with you, hoping the back of the mind that you will find this urge to stay awake and to fight this for him as the hospital came into view. He muttered something under his breath; pulled out his cellphone again and saw that it was Nick Fury calling him. He received it, and was instantly greeted by a bark on the other end. The call didn’t last long, but Bucky informed him of the hospital that he had taken you into and he told him that he was bringing Y/N's doctor along, as he knew all your stats and vitals.

The instant Bucky stepped into the hallway of the hospital, a glimpse of his metal arm was enough for them to know that he was the Winter Soldier. He laid you on a gurney, and looked at the nurse who was looking down at you questioningly, “Yeah, well, my girlfriend's been shot. She’s seven months pregnant.”

“Sergeant Barnes, you’ll have to wait here, we’ll have to take her in –“

Before either Bucky could reply, or the nurse could even complete her sentence, Fury and a short heighted man dashed into the hospital, and headed straight towards where Bucky was, Fury instantly bending over the gurney so he could look at you.

“I’m her doctor,” you were wheeled into the trauma room and Fury and Bucky fixed themselves on either sides of the hallway, Bucky glancing down at his hands that were coated in your dried up blood. This was all his fault, if only he had been honest with you, honest enough that what happened today could have been avoided.

“I told her that she was making a wrong choice.”

Bucky’s strained, blood shot eyes lifted themselves and he fixed them on the man with the eyepatch who was leaning by the wall on the other end, as he continued speaking, “but she didn’t want to listen to me. She kept telling me that you were the best thing that had happened to her. Look where it’s gotten her now, Barnes.”

“Fury –“ Both Bucky and Fury turned towards the source of the voice, as Steve, Natasha and Sam rushed to where the two men were, Steve leading the way. “leave him alone. Y/N is a grown woman, who can make her own decisions. Besides, how is any of this Buck’s fault?”

“T’s alright, Punk, he’s right though –“

“Excuse me, Sergeant? Mr. Fury?” Y/N's doctor stepped out, his white gloves having turned bright red.

“Doctor, is she okay? Are they okay?” Bucky mumbled as all the Avengers crowded around him.

“Well, although things don’t look bad, the bullet did rupture the amniotic sac, which is why, we’ll have to do an emergency C - section. Sergeant, looks like you are going to meet your child sooner than you anticipated. You can go and meet her before we wheel her in.”

“Holy shit.” Bucky took a step away, his jaw almost hanging, and his eyes wide; this felt surreal. He felt unprepared suddenly and scared. “Bucky?” Steve’s hand on his back pulled him back from his thoughts and his head snapped towards his bestfriend, Steve noticing the fearful look on his friend's face, “Want to talk about it?”

He swallowed, looking down at his feet and then back up again, almost shaking his head, “Do you think I am ready for this Stevie? I just, I am freaking out.”

Steve gave him a soft smile, reaching out and placing a steadying hand at the back of his friend’s neck, “You’re ready Buck. You’re just scared, but trust me, when you’ll have that little Barnes right there in your arms, you won’t feel so scared anymore. Now go and talk to her, I’m sure she needs you right now daddy.”

“Yeah, punk. Do not say that again.” Steve just chuckled, and Bucky kept smirking as he walked towards the operation room where you were being prepped for that emergency c section.

╞═════𖠁𐂃𖠁═════╡

You were laying down on the operation table, your fingers delicately kneading over the fabric of your hospital gown. The bullet wound had already been taken care of, but you could feel the sting from it, along with a throbbing pain radiating from inside your belly. Bucky stepped in, his eyes falling on you, and his heart almost snapped into two when he saw the state you were in.

“I’m so fucking sorry, I’m such an idiot,” he muttered in a low voice as he made his way to you.

“Five minutes, Sergeant.” The nurse whispered, as she stepped out, leaving you and Bucky alone inside.

He pulled the stool, lowering himself on it and placed his palm on your forehead, stroking over your warm, sweaty head. You smiled, blinking at him, your eyes coated with your tears; you weakly lifted your hand and placed it on your boyfriend’s metal hand, that was resting on your stomach.

“How are you holding up, daddy?” You grinned, in a weak voice and he just snorted, leaning close to your face.

“Shit scared, I am freaking out, I’ll be honest, I thought I had two months to mentally prepare myself.”

You nodded, clasping your fingers against his metal ones. “Cold feet yeah? Listen, it’s going to be okay. Whatever happens, I know, that you’ll be there for our kid.”

“Hey, you’re not gonna go anywhere. Don’t say that.”

“Mhm, we don’t even have a name yet. Jesus, we are so unprepared. Are we bad parents, Buck? What are we going to call this one when they're here? Little Buchanan Barnes?” You drawled, squirming slightly so you could get a little comfortable.

“Its time Y/N,” your doctor stepped in, and this was Bucky’s cue to leave, so he stood up, placing a chaste kiss against your sweaty forehead, whispering, "Don't worry , this doesn't make us bad parents, we didn't know that little Buchanan Barnes will want to join us early. Now I'll be outside, waiting for you to give me a healthy little mini you." He smiled down at you, before walking out of the operation theater.

Once he had left, the doctor walked up to you, and gave you weak smile, almost shaking his head, “He deserved to know, Y/N.”

“He would have shattered, doctor. I can’t do this to him. Besides, it is my call right? I’m asking you to save my baby by doing this.”

╞═════𖠁𐂃𖠁═════╡

“Something isn’t right, what the hell's going on in there? It’s been two hours.” Bucky ’s pacing didn’t stop, no matter how much Steve or Natasha tried to get him to calm down, and to sit and relax. Something kept bothering him at the back of his mind, something didn’t seem right. Y/N's conversation kept ringing at the back of his mind, on repeat, whatever happens, I know, that you will be there for our kid.

However, the first cry of his little child, from inside the operation room made him forget all his fears. Steve pulled his bestfriend to his chest, clasping his back in a congratulatory way, even Nick Fury was smiling for a change.

The door finally opened, and the doctor stepped out, holding a tiny, wailing bundle in his arms. Bucky swallowed the lump in his throat, his breathing hitched and he gasped, taking a step closer. The baby was so tiny, so fragile, his heart strummed inside his chest just at one look at that baby, “Is it–”

“Its a girl, a healthy little girl.”

Who could have known that the Winter Soldier would finally break at the sight of his own daughter? Tears freely fell down his eyes, and he could feel his lips quiver as the doctor placed his little girl into his arms. He was so scared, he didn’t let his metal arm near her. It was as though she was made of glass, delicate and breakable. That morning he held his new daughter, this was the most perfect feeling he had ever known as it swept through him. He knew he would do anything in the world for her. He would be her hero, her keeper, the one who gave her cuddles and kept her safe. He would be this little girl’s Winter Soldier.

“She is beautiful,” Natasha cooed, staring at the little girl, in awe. Although she wasn't her mother, and she could never be one, the sight of a newborn baby always made her heart swell. She placed her palm softly over the baby's fuzzy little hair, stroking over her matted black hair, “I’m sure you didn’t think of names?”

“I - Y/N would want to name her I think,” Bucky whispered , looking down at her, and suddenly, he looked up at the doctor. “How is she? When is she going to wake up?”

“I, uh..”

Bucky raised his eyebrows in suspicion when the doctor didn’t answer him and instead, averted his eyes.

“How is she?”

After almost a minute of silence, the doctor looked down at his feet, and then back up again, mumbling in a low voice, “We, uh, we couldn’t save her. She couldn’t make it.”

What was once whole suddenly shattered and the baby that wailed in his arms, the happiness of watching her didn’t feel as warm as before. Where there was once was peace , suddenly it was just emptiness, and now her words made sense. She knew this was going to happen, but she chose not to tell him.

“Take her, Steve.”

“Buck, it’s –“

“Not now.” He growled, his eyes raging red, as he slid his baby girl into Steve’s arms; and walked out of the hospital. He didn’t know where he was going or what he was going to do, but he felt betrayed, and suddenly, left alone.

He lost her.

╞═════𖠁𐂃𖠁═════╡

Five weeks later,

“Oh, you’re one happy baby aren’t you?” Natasha looked down at the baby. She sat in the recreation room, the little one month old girl they now called Sasha Y/M/N Barnes, as she rocked her on her knees side by side, playing with the girl.

“He still won’t step out of his room?” She asked, when she saw Steve dejectedly step into the recreation room and he just shook his head.

“Let him be, he will be here when he feels he is ready.”

“I’m here now.” A voice called out, from behind Steve, and all heads turned towards Bucky. He stepped in, his hair a mess, his eyes swollen and puffy like he hadn’t slept well in ages but he walked up straight to where Sasha was and threw out his hands towards her. Natasha stood up, gently handing him his daughter whom he immediately brought close to his chest, rocking her slightly.

Meanwhile, a thousand miles away, in an old HYDRA base in Hungary, you stood in a room, in a center, with almost a hundred men in HYDRA uniforms surrounding you.

“Джоанна, ты позор для ГИДРЫ.” (Johanna, you’re a disgrace to HYDRA.)

You bit your lip hard, running your hand through your short cropped hair, as you mumbled something under your breath, “ Если бы ты не продолжал посылать своих людей выслеживать нас, моя дочь была бы жива.” (If you didn’t keep sending your men to hunt us down, my daughter would be alive.)

“Твоя работа заключалась в том, чтобы заполучить Зимнего Солдата, ни тебе это не удалось, ни ты не мог дать нам ребенка.” (Your job was to get the Winter Soldier, neither did you succeed in that, nor could you get us the baby.)

You threw your hands in the air, exasperated, as you growled in frustration, “ Опять же, мой ребенок не умер бы, если бы один из йойренов не выстрелил в меня.” (Again, my baby wouldn’t have died if one of your men hadn't shot me.)

“Просто забери ее. И приготовь ее стереть все воспоминания.” (Just take her away. And get her ready to get all the memories wiped off.)

You took a deep breath, but didn’t argue or protest when you felt arms grab you by your arms and started dragging you towards the lab. But your mind kept thinking of the things that you had witnessed, before they wiped it all off.

Your name was Y/N, but HYDRA knew you as Johanna. You were a HYDRA infiltrator, working undercover at SHIELD. James Buchanan Barnes had been your mission. You were expected to get close to him, and bring him back, but little did you know, that he will get through to you, and you will end up falling in love with him. You had exploited him, exploited his past, used the torture and the pain that he went through, and fabricated everything. There was no Danny, and no Wallis. Well, there was Wallis, but he wasn’t your real husband, just a decoy that the two of you used when on HYDRA missions. You knew you had to eliminate him, to make sure no one doubted you and that your story looked believable to all the Avengers, and so far, it worked. However, when she came into your life, your little girl, you wanted nothing more than to protect her life; and the love you felt for James Buchanan Barnes grew even stronger, making you run away in the end. But somehow , Bucky ended up finding you and bringing you back, and your plan failed. You had thought that maybe you will pull yourself out from the mess you had landed yourself into and make a home here with Bucky, and your baby, but HYDRA just kept coming back, again and again, trying to get you.

You had to do something, so you could end this once and for all. And it was only one of the two options. You could tell him the truth, of who you were and risk him throwing you out, along with your baby. Or, you could leave your baby with Bucky, and leave him so he could be with the woman who made him feel human once, long time back, Natasha Romanoff.

As for HYDRA, your super serum baby was dead, atleast that's what you told everybody. You doubted now that they would find out about her for a while now, for she was safely at the Avengers Towers, with people who could protect her. You knew that she was safe, safe with Bucky, who would love her more than any other thing in the world. And you were dead, at least for the records. At least for James Buchanan Barnes.

It was a weird night, when thousands of miles away, in the city of Manhattan, Bucky and Natasha stepped into the penthouse suite that belonged to Tony Stark, Natasha holding your daughter against her chest as she cooed to her in Russian, stroking over her little head. Bucky had remembered the promise he never made to you, and perhaps, he owed you this much in death, so he decided to request Natasha to help him raise his little girl with him. At the same time, somewhere far away from them in an icy cold base in Hungary, you were ready to be put into that memory wiping machine, and be made ready to go for your next mission, whatever it was going to be, but deep down you were at peace, knowing that the man you loved, and your beautiful little girl, were safe and together.

"Till we meet again, my soldier," You smiled, and let the doctor place a metal helmet over your head, and stuff the rubber in your mouth to bite down on.

(Well, bam. I know you guys exploded. Really sorry about that. Well she's HYDRA, and he's just .. always ready to kick HYDRA's ass. Now wouldn't it be a scandal when he finds out that you're not dead? And you're actually one of them? Keep tuned, book 2 will be following this one, and it will be a much darker theme, as compared to this one. Thank you to all of you for reading this one, and for all the love! ❤️)

Permanent Bucky Barnes Taglist :

@really-dont-forget-it @thepeakygurl @all-art-is-quite-useless @baumarvel @janajjj @chipilerendi @nyotamalfoy @skittychat @allidoiswritewritewrite @jessyballet @x0xchristine @evansgirl7 @supraveng

Want to be added to the taglist? Please fill the form on this link.

#bucky barnes #bucky barnes x reader #james buchanan barnes x reader #james buchanan bucky barnes #james buchanan barnes #winter soldier #winter soldier x reader #bucky barnes x you #bucky barnes fanfiction

51 notes · View notes

anathewierdo · 4 years

Text

Call of the Ocean Chapter 18: Already Miss Her

Pairing: CEO!Mechanic!Dean Winchester x Mermaid!Reader

Word count: 6378

Chapter summary: As awesome as things can be, we all know that nothing lasts forever. Dean and Y/N knew that, but they don’t want to say goodbye.

Series summary: CEO of Winchester Auto Dean Winchester has had enough of the office life. With his father keeping him from what he wants to do, which is work on the plant floor, Dean decides to leave for a quiet life. In Matagorda, Texas, he finds something he never thought he would, a chance encounter with a mythical creature.

Call of the Ocean Masterlist

A/N: ‘Elloooooo! Hope you guys like this one! This series is a collaboration with @flamencodiva . Text dividers made by the awesome @talesmaniac89

Chapter 19 will be posted on Saturday, October 17th

When Dean and Y/N emerged, Benny and Cas erupted in applause. This caused Y/N to look at them in confusion.

"Did we do something to receive applause?" She questioned as she looked around.

Dean glared at his friend's. "Benny and Cas are just being clowns, Y/N. Don't pay attention to them."

Y/N blushed as Dean led her to the table and held the chair for her to sit. Once they were settled, Andrea placed the different plates full of food for everyone to eat. Y/N grabbed a few things to put on her plate and was looking for the candy bacon Dean mentioned when she felt a trap on her shoulder.

"Ye--" She had to stop talking when Dean shifted a small piece into her mouth. She moaned as the sweet taste hit her taste buds. “Oh Poseidon, that is good!”

“Right!” Dean exclaimed with a chuckle. “I told you. It’s the best thing out there.”

Y/N made a motion for him to give her another piece. As she popped it into her mouth, she smiled. “I’m not so sure about that,” she teased. “But it is very good.”

“Oh?” Dean raised an eyebrow at her. “I might just take all the bacon for myself and not leave you any.”

Her eyes widened, and she gave him her most innocent smile. “Now, Dean, I don’t think there’s a need for such extreme measures.”

Dean chuckled as he grabbed a piece and held it up to her mouth. “You’re right, sweetheart. I can’t stay mad at you.”

Cas leaned into Benny and whispered in his ear, “Please tell me you’re recording this?”

“If I do it, I have to be discreet, dumbass.” he whispered back. “There ain’t much room for discretion right now.”

“You could pretend to be looking at something on your phone, idiot,” Cas retorted. “Do it quickly before he stops. Sam needs to see this!”

“I’m on it. Now shut it, James.” Benny took out his phone, crossed his arms in front of his chest and positioned the phone towards their friend and the girl, trying to make it look like he was looking at something on it.

Andrea was looking at the two men like they were complete idiots, and was surprised that neither Dean nor Y/N had noticed their less than ‘discreet’ exchange. Although, looking at the way they were staring at each other, she might as well have thought that they were alone. Dean was telling her about all the ways he had seen bacon paired with something else, like seafood, chocolate, figs. Y/N’s eyes were stuck on him, smiling excitedly at every word while chewing piece after piece of candied bacon.

When the bacon antics and anecdotes were done, Dean took a chance to ask more about where Y/N came from, still not noticing anything strange in the way Benny was ‘checking his messages and email’.

“Sindarta is very secluded,” Y/N sighed. “It’s mostly out in the Atlantic and it’s very hard to receive most of what I’ve seen here.”

“Okay, but, it’s a kingdom right?” Dean pressed on as he took another bite of waffle.

“I guess you could say that, yes.” She shrugged, taking a bite of one of her own waffles.

“But do you get tourists, like, do other people know about it?” Cas asked.

Y/N bit her lip, “we aren’t very well known. We don’t have many tourists visiting our island.”

“So, never heard of the big places? Paris, Dubai…? How did you even get here?” Cas pushed.

“I have never heard of those, but my uh… suitors, they come from other places. Some of our scholars travel and they bring back information with them,” She said as she swallowed the lump in her throat. “Thasman and I took a boat to the nearest island with an airport and landed in your country. Then pointed at random and just… here we are.”

“Cas, stop with the third degree,” Dean clenched his jaw looking at his friend. He could tell Y/N was uncomfortable talking about her home.

“I’m sorry, I was just curious,” Cas gave Y/N an apologetic smile.

“It’s alright,” she assured him. “I can answer more of your questions if I come back.”

“If?” Dean turned to her. “I thought Thasman said he was going to bring you back after he wins?”

Y/N’s expression was pale and sad as she spoke. “There is still a chance that he won’t… and if that happens, then I won’t be able to come back for a long time.”

The possibility of that reality hit Dean like a ton of bricks. He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. He hated this situation and hated what her society was putting her through. Swallowing the lump in his throat, he put on a smile.

“I know he’ll win,” Dean boasted. “He kicked my ass hard. Even with the magic balm he put on me I still hurt.” he chuckled.

Benny and Cas had seen right through his facade, as always, and were already planning for ways to cheer their friend up if they didn’t hear from Thasman and Y/N soon. Benny though, was the one who made the unwanted question. “When will that take place, cher?”

“Three days from now.” she breathed. “Everything should be arranged when we arrive and all that will be left to happen is for the suitors to train.”

Dean cleaned his mouth with his napkin. “Let’s change the subject,” he muttered. “I know you’re going to come back, so we are going to have a trip to the movies.” Dean smiled as he leaned in. “Definitely need to show you the best part about being in a movie theater with a person you care about.”

The knock on the door prevented Y/N from answering him. Y/N closed her eyes at the sound of the knock. She could already tell who it was. Cleaning her mouth, she looked around and made sure she had everything with her. This would not be easy, and she knew her heart would break when she had to say goodbye.

“I’ll get it,” Andrea said as she got up from her chair and made her way to the door.

Dean and Y/N could hear the exchange as Thasman greeted Andy. Y/N couldn’t find a way to look at Dean without her tears falling. Taking in a deep breath, she closed her eyes to keep the tears at bay. She knew this would come, but she hadn’t counted on it hurting this much.

Dean placed a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to calm her down a little bit. “I’ll see you soon, alright? It’s gonna be okay.”

All Y/N could do was nod as she bit her lip to stifle the sob in her throat. The tears could no longer be held back as they rolled down her cheeks and landed on her hands. When she took in a deep breath, a small sob came out.

Slowly, reluctantly, everyone stepped out of the kitchen and towards the door, where Thasman and Andrea were speaking.

“Y/N?” Thasman whispered as he saw his friend's sad face. “I-- I’m sorry, Y/N, but we must head back.”

“I know,” she whispered. With a deep breath she raised her head and looked up at Dean. “I love you,” she whispered before kissing him. “I’m so sorry, Dean. I wish I didn’t have to go back. I wish I wasn’t a princess. I--”

Behind them, Andrea, who had gone to hug her fiance, snapped her head up and looked at him in surprise. “She’s a what now?” she whispered in astonishment. Benny gave her a look that said ‘I’ll explain later’.

Dean wrapped his arms around her tightly. “I love you too,” He confessed brokenly. “Come on, we’ll walk you guys out.”

Y/N held on to Dean’s hand as the group walked out of his house and towards Ellen’s. Y/N had kept Dean behind the group, her hand holding on tightly to his. The walk to Ellen’s seemed longer than usual. To Y/N, each step felt heavier than the last as they continued forward. The silence was deafening. Dean kept glancing at Y/N, his heart breaking with every step as they got closer to Ellen’s. Halfway there, Dean stopped and pulled her to him, kissing her deeply. He didn’t want to let go, didn’t want for it to end. They kissed for a few minutes, Dean’s arms pulling her flush with his body.

At some point, the rest of the group had reached Ellen’s home, deciding to leave them alone so they could begin to say goodbye and have the privacy they needed. When they broke the kiss, Dean placed his forehead against hers.

“We are not going to say goodbye,” he whispered. “We are going to say see you later.”

“How is that better?” she sniffled.

Dean chuckled with a sniffle, “Goodbye tends to mean that we are not going to see each other again.” He swallowed the lump in his throat. “I’d like to hope that we are going to see each other again at a later time. So we say see you later.”

Y/N gave him a small smile, her eyes still shining with unshed tears. “When you put it that way… It does sound better.”

“Come on,” Dean sighed, giving her one last kiss. “You don’t want to miss your flight.”

Taking her hand in his, Dean led her towards Ellen’s house. Once there, Dean knew he had to let her go, but he didn’t want to.

“Did you pack everything? Are you sure you’re not leaving anything behind?” he checked.

Y/N nodded, thinking back to the bags Ellen had helped her and Thasman make, as well as the ones they had brought with them. The first ones would stay with the human woman and were only for show since, according to her, “nobody would believe it if you left with those tiny things”. But they contained everything they had acquired that they couldn’t take home with them. The other bags were the ones they had brought to the human world on day one.

“Alright, then. Time to say see you later to everyone.” Dean breathed as he caressed her cheek.

“I guess so,” Y/N muttered as she looked at Cas, Benny, and Andy. Walking up to them, she placed a stray piece of hair behind her ear. “I guess I will see you all later.”

Benny let out a small sniffle and turned his head, “got sand in my eyes, sorry. Cas and I will keep an eye on Dean for you.” He said as he pulled her into a hug. “We’ll keep him out of trouble.”

“Please do.” she smiled wobbly into the hug.

“We’ll take care of him,” Cas assured her. “He really likes you and we’re glad you could be in his life. Even if it’s for short visits.”

Y/N simply nodded before moving on to Andrea, who smiled.

“Don’t worry,” she pulled her in for a hug. “You’ll be back and us girls can have girl time and go shopping.”

Y/N let out a sob with a teary smile, “That sounds like fun.”

“It is.” Andrea assured, running a hand through Y/N’s hair. “You’ll see, I’ll show you.”

Y/N nodded as she pulled back and turned to Dean. As she walked to him, Thasman made his rounds saying his farewell. Licking her lips, Y/N reached up and placed her hand on Dean's scruffy jaw. Her thumb caressing his cheek before gently rubbing her nose against his.

“I’ll see you later, my love,” she whispered, as she looked up into his green eyes.

“See you later, sweetheart.”

Y/N nodded, trying to smile through her now steady flowing tears, then sobbed and grabbed Dean’s face to kiss him one last time. She wasn’t sure if he was crying as well, but it didn’t matter. They broke apart to take some air, and she could now see Dean’s tear stained face.

In a quick motion, he grabbed the back of her neck, and crashed his lips against hers once more, then giving her a bunch of pecks on her lips and face.

“Please come back to me.” He pleaded, eyes closed and not letting go of her.

“I will,” she promised.

When Ellen let her know that it was time, Dean led her towards the backseat of the woman’s car and opened the door for Y/N to get in.

The sound of a door closing had never felt so final for him, but he quickly shook the feeling away, reminding himself that she would come back. She had to.

He looked for Thasman, finding him giving Benny, Cas and Andrea one last hug. He waited for them to finish, then firmly grabbed the young man’s shoulders, making sure he had his full attention.

“You are gonna win that fucking competition,” He stated. “You are gonna win that fucking thing, you will marry Y/N,” God, he never thought he would ever actually slightly be in favor of that happening. “And you will bring her back to us, to me… please, Thas.”

For the first time since he’d met him, Dean saw Thasman’s eyes get teary. The young man nodded firmly, then pulled Dean in for a crushing hug.

“I promise she’ll come back, Jellyfish,” he mumbled in his ear. Dean tried to squeeze him even harder.

“Have a safe trip.”

“We will. And the garage better be almost opened when we return.”

The comment made Dean laugh, and both men let go of the hug.

Thasman got into the passenger’s seat of Ellen’s car, Ellen following suit. Dean’s heart clenched at the sound of the motor running, and almost jumped in front of the vehicle to stop them from leaving.

In the end, he stood still as he watched the car disappear in the distance.

“Come on, Dean,” Cas muttered as he placed his hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Before you know it she’ll be back. It will be like she never left.”

It seemed that Dean hadn’t heard him. His eyes were lost in the distance. “I already miss her.”

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Inside Ellen’s car, Y/N sat close to the window watching the scenery fly by as Ellen drove them as close to the cave as possible without being seen. While it was a large walk from her house, it was a shorter distance in the car. The tears would not stop flowing as they reached the cave. Thasman’s heart broke for his friend. And he could only imagine what she was feeling. As the car came to a stop, Y/N had grown numb. She could feel nothing. Looking at Ellen she handed the woman the NASA bear that Dean had bought her.

“Take care of the bear and Dean for me?” She whispered.

“Of course, sugar,” Ellen said as she took the bear from Y/N and pulled her into a hug. “Now, you two go do what you need to and come back when you can.”

Y/N simply nodded before walking into the cave leaving Thasman and Ellen alone.

Thasman stood still as he watched her go. Taking a deep breath, he turned to look at the woman who had received them with open arms. “Thank you for everything, Ellen.”

“You don’t have to thank me,” Ellen placed a hand on his cheek. “Just watch out for her, and make sure she remembers the good time. Bring her back as quick as you can.”

“I will,” he promised. “You will see her again soon enough.”

“I want to see you, too,” she looked into his eyes before hugging him tight. “Don't let those other suitors catch you with your pants down, you hear?”

He stayed quiet for a few seconds.“I don’t... need to wear pants back home, Ellen.”

Ellen chuckled at his confusion, “It means don’t let them catch you with your guard down. Keep your senses sharp and don’t let anyone beat you.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” Thasman whispered, holding back the tears in his eyes. “I promise we will be back.”

“Much better,” Ellen whispered before pulling him in for a tight hug.

Once they pulled apart, Thasman kissed her cheek and made his way into the cave.

The two friends stayed in silence as they undressed and grabbed their merclothing. Y/N jumped into the water, Thasman followed after. Their tails glowed as they appeared. Thasman and Y/N made their way back to the kingdom in silence. Y/N hadn’t said much since they reached the cave, but Thasman could see the sadness in her face.

“We need to think about what we will tell your father when he asks about our trip…” he began. “Liara can help us think of something, I’m sure. But we must be very discreet, Y/N/N.”

“I know,” she sighed. “I know I can't show my displeasure, my unhappiness. But I can also play it off as not liking these stupid tournaments.” she argued. “Which I don’t! I want to be with him Thasman, I want to be with Dean. It hurts.”

“We will go back, Your Highness,” Thasman said as they passed a guard. “But it will have to wait for after your coronation.”

“Come on,” Y/N sighed. “I’m sure Liara wants to hear all about our trip. I did learn something about the humans though.” Y/N smiled at the memory of Dean taking her to NASA popped up. “They have gone to the stars, Thasman. They have been on the moon.”

“Humans on the moon?” A voice called from behind them.

Y/N and Thasman turned to see Michael swimming towards them. “Where would you have learned such a lie?”

“It is none of your concern, Michael,” Y/N huffed as she and Thasman began to swim away only for Michael to block their path.

“Where have you been for the past nine days?” Michael inquired, as he looked between Thasman and Y/N. “Your father said something about sunken ships?”

“As I said,” Y/N growled as she glared at Micheal. “It is none of your concern. You have no business asking my father where I was.”

“I am going to be your husband,” Micheal boasted. “I should know where my betrothed is at all times.”

“You would have to go through me!” Thasman growled as he placed himself between Y/N and Michael.

“Ah, the bodyguard,” Michael sneered.

“You might want to refer to me as your best rival.”

“Please,” Michael scoffed. “You are nothing but an orphan who the royal family took pity on.”

Thasman tensed at the comment. “You know nothing about me.”

Y/N took hold of Thasman’s arm and pulled him back. Her lips close to his ear, “Don’t, Thasman. Please, you know that he is just trying to agitate you. He is not worth it. You are my best friend Thasman. You know this.”

The merman closed his eyes as he took a deep breath to calm himself down. He gave Y/N a firm nod. “Yes, your Highness.”

“Yes, Thasman,” Michael chortled. “Be a good boy and listen to your master.”

Swimming away from Michael, Y/N clenched her fists. It took all of her might not to hit him, but she had to keep calm. Reaching the archive room, Thasman and Y/N knocked on the large door hoping that the scroll keeper was there. The door opened slowly and the scroll keeper’s head peeked through.

“You’re back!” She cried, throwing open the door for both of them to come in. “you survived!”

Liara pulled Thasman into a hug. She closed her eyes taking in the fee of him, She had missed the young guard. Every night, she worried about him and how they were surviving on the surface. Pulling back she held his face in her hands, examining him for injuries. The concern on Liara’s face did not go unnoticed by Thasman.

“We have so much to tell you,” He smiled. “We know the limit of how long we can stay on the surface.”

Liara’s face paled, “You do?!” She exclaimed, this time checking on Y/N, trying to assess any damage.

“It takes around two days away from water.” Y/N explained. “It starts with a fever, the body loses strength, you lose knowledge if you don’t go back to the water after two and a half days.”

“Sweetshell,” she brushed her fingers through Y/N’s hair. “Are you sure you’re alright?”

“I promise, I’m alright,” Y/N took the scrollkeeper’s hands firmly as an attempt to calm her. “Thasman looked out for me, they got me back into the water on time. Everything went well, Liara.”

Liara looked to Thasman, “Did the same happen to you?”

The merman shook his head. “Never even had a fever.”

“I see…” Liara trailed off as she turned away from the duo. “Come into the other archive, let's document what you know.”

“Liara,” Y/N held the scroll keeper back as Thasman swam ahead. “You had mentioned being friends with Thasman’s mother. Is that how you knew he was at the palace?”

The scrollkeeper seemed hesitant at the question. “We were friends, yes… but I didn’t hear from her after we came back from a trip we made together. By the time I was sent here, she was gone, and Thasman had already been born,” She sighed. “Now, tell me that you didn’t mingle with humans.”

“Liara, I--” Y/N took in a deep breath as she looked at the scroll keeper. “To hisna rendi-to fan sesmuna.” (I am in love with a human).

Liara’s eyes widened in astonishment and her mouth hung open in surprise.

“I know… I know,” Y/N mumbled as she swam towards a section of scrolls she used to read when she was just a guppy. “I didn’t mean for it to happen. It just did. Liara, I had dreams about this man ever since I first laid eyes on him weeks ago.”

“Oh, Sweetshell,” Liara pulled Y/N into a tight hug. “You must be heartbroken.”

“I want to leave, never to return, Liara.” Y/N admitted. “I-- I mated with him.”

The scrollkeeper stopped hugging her and made Y/N look at her so fast that her head went dizzy for a moment. “You did what?!” She turned to the young merman. “Did you know about this?!”

“I knew about her being in love, I didn’t know about them mating!”

“When did this happen?” Liara questioned. When she was met with silence, she took hold of Y/N’s hand. “Y/N, when did this happen?”

“It’s not important,” she stated. “It happened, and that’s it… We learned so much, Liara, I promise you. They know a lot about the stars and their food is amazing and Thasman learned how to drive!”

“He learned how to do what?”

“They have these metal things… they get in them, and it takes them from place to place-” Thasman began.

“I know what they are, Thasman. What I want to know is who taught you that if you were supposed to only explore, not mingle.”

“Ellen knows this man, Bobby. He taught me everything.”

At Thasman’s answer, Liara’s face paled. She swam past them, motioning them to follow her out of the scroll room. They swam through the castle’s halls, Liara shushing the princess and the guard every time they tried to mention something else about the surface.

Finally, they stopped in front of a door. Liara’s quarters, Thasman remembered.

“We’ll be able to talk in peace here.” she explained as she pushed the door open. As she guided the two mermaids in, she took a chance to place a portrait face down, then moving it towards an old chest she kept.

Making sure that Y/N and Thasman had made themselves comfortable, she took out a fresh scroll and some treated ink that was used for the writing across mermaid kingdoms.

“Now you can tell me about everything that happened and every human you met. If you really want to update the scrolls, then you’ll need to tell me every detail.”

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Back on the surface world, Dean stood on the porch that overlooked the ocean. He was nursing a glass of whiskey, thinking about his last few moments with Y/N. Not even the sound of a car approaching the house disturbed Dean from looking out at the horizon. Inside the house, Benny, Cas, and Andrea all looked at their friend.

“What do we do?” Cas asked as he leaned on the window frame.

“Honestly?” Benny sighed as he ran his fingers through his short hair. “I’ve never seen him this bad. Not even after Cassie, and he got drunk trying to get her back,” Benny pointed out. “It’s almost like he’s shut down.”

“I know,” Cas turned to Benny. “What did we do to cheer him up if he ever got like this? This is uncharted territory.”

“I mean,” Benny gave a soft shrugg. “We could just grab him and throw him out onto the beach?”

“That could work… Has Sam texted you again?

Benny shook his head, “Last I heard his flight was set to land about a half hour ago. He was going to rent a car and drive.”

Just as Benny and Cas were discussing what to do about Dean and Sam’s arrival, there was a knock on the door.

Benny sighed in relief, walking towards it. “I’m guessing that’s our guest. Go try and talk to Dean, will ya? See if you can get him to say anything.”

“I make no promises that he will listen to me, but I’ll try,” Cas said as he made his way out of the house and towards Dean.

“Three hours. Three hours gone and the guy’s a mess,” the cajun shook his head as he opened the door.

“Okay, I’m here,” Sam smiled at Benny before giving him a tight hug. “From the videos you showed me he fell hard. Is he really that bad?”

Benny gave him a solemn look. “Compared to this, Cassie was nothin’.”

Sam dropped his bags and looked out the back window to see Cas perched beside his big brother, talking, but Dean was not responding.

“Okay,” Sam sighed. “I’ll see what I can get out of him. But you guys know Dean. He’ll brood and try to bury it.” Sam looked at Benny who gave him a desperate look.

“I know that. Renovations at Bobby’s started yesterday, we took the day off so we could be here for him. We can’t do that tomorrow…” he trailed off. “All I’m asking is that you make him snap out of it.”

Sam simply nodded as he opened the door and signaled to Cas to go back inside. Watching his brother intently, he could see the defeat in Dean. Walking up to him he stayed behind him and cleared his throat.

“You know,” Sam let out a chuckle. “I have yet to see what is so special about this place if you are miserable just standing there.”

His brother didn’t respond, preferring to give his glass of whiskey another sip. After a minute, Sam cleared his throat again and walked up to Dean. Standing beside his brother, Sam could see Dean’s eyes were red.

“Dean,” Sam whispered. “Talk to me, please. You know you can tell me anything.”

Dean sniffled a bit before he took another sip, “There is nothing to talk about.”

“That’s crap and you know it.”

“Fine,” Dean huffed. “What do you want me to say? That I let a girl that has been haunting my dreams slip through my fingers? Huh?” Dean turned to face Sam. “That-- that my love life has been nothing but loss? That maybe the universe thinks that I should just be alone for the rest of my life?”

“No, of course not, Dean.”

“Then what, Sam?” Dean growled. “You have the perfect relationship. Me? I’m a fuck up who can’t make dad happy, was cheated on by one of my bestfriends, and I just lost the girl of my fucking dreams all because of some archaic ritual she has to do back in her home!”

“If you want to think you’re a fuck up, then fine!” Sam clenched his jaw before looking at his brother. “You’re a fuck up who fucking nailed college, has been working on cars since you got the green light from Pops, who has been there for me my whole life, who stood up to dad because he wasn’t happy and will literally start a garage with his own money after selling most of what he had back in Kansas.”

“Are you done?” Dean muttered as he finished the whiskey in his glass and turned to grab more.

“No!” He exclaimed, yanking the bottle of whiskey out of Dean’s hands. “No I’m not done, Dean. You are fucking miserable right now and I wanna help in whatever way I can. Just talk to me. And what the hell are you talking about some ritual or something?”

Dean glared at Sam, giving him his best bitch face. “She’s a goddamn princess from this remote place called Sindarta.” He breathed. “On her birthday there is a tournament and the winner gets to marry her.” Dean let out a snort. “And if her friend Thasman can’t win… I know I lost her forever.”

“I’m sorry, she’s a what?!” Sam asked as he ran his fingers through his hair. “You’re shitting me?”

“I fucking wish I was,” he laughed bitterly. “She’s a fucking princess.”

Sam opened and closed his mouth a few times. He tried to find the right words but he couldn’t.

“She’s a princess?!” Sam huffed. “Holy shit. No. I mean. Dean, how the hell did you meet this girl?”

Dean couldn’t help but smile at the thought of his first meeting with Y/N. “I -- um… I was at the grocery store when I made it home from Pop's party. I was in the seafood aisle looking for a specific fish to cook when she bumps into me and I… I felt like my heart stopped when her Y/C/E eyes just stared at me.” Dean reached for the bottle of whiskey, able to snatch it from Sam as he poured himself another drink.

“So it was love at first sight?” Sam pushed before walking over to Dean’s liquor cart and grabbing a glass. “Jess says hi, by the way.”

“Yeah,” Dean took a sip before passing the bottle to Sam. “You can say it was love at first sight. Or I’ve been in love with her since she showed up in my dreams.”

“Dean,” Sam whispered. “I know you’re hurting. But, don’t lose hope. Maybe, she’ll come back. I mean… if it’s meant to be. If she is really meant to be yours,” Sam took a sip of his whiskey. “Then have faith that she’ll be back in your arms.”

“Knowing my luck, Sam,” Dean rubbed his eyes. “I don’t think I’ll see her again. I’ll be lucky if whoever marries her lets me speak to her. Or hell I’ll be lucky if he lets her come here again.”

“Dean,” Sam sighed as he pulled out a chair and sat down. “I want to see the garage. I want to see what you guys are going to do.”

“Yeah,” Dean sighed. “That sounds good.”

“Dean?” Sam looked at his brother.

“Yeah, Sammy?” Dean finished his whiskey.

“It’s going to be okay,” Sam reassured him. “I can stay for awhile if you need me too. As long as you need me. I’ll stay.”

“Yeah,” Dean grumbled as he got up from his chair. “I’m going to head inside. I can sleep on the floor in my room and you can take the bed.”

Sam watched as his brother made his way inside. In all their lives, even on his worst day, Sam had never seen his brother break down like this. Grabbing the empty glass his brother left behind he placed the whiskey bottle back on the cart and headed inside.

“So?” Benny asked as he and Cas walked up to him.

“He talked,” Sam sighed, running a hand across his face. “But he’s beating himself up over it. Like he always does when it’s something out of his control.”

“Think he’ll be himself by tomorrow?” Cas wondered as he leaned against the island counter.

“Tough to say,” Sam grumbled as he looked at his two friends. “I have never, ever seen him like this. I mean… what kind of girl is she? I only know from the two videos and-- even with Cassie, he never shared his pie or bacon with anyone.” Sam let out a snort as he thought of a fond memory. “Hell, he put me in a headlock once when I snuck a piece of bacon from his plate.”

“There is just something off about her though,” Cas muttered. “I have never heard of Sindarta before, have you?”

Sam shook his head, “never.” Sam raised an eyebrow at Cas, “You think she’s lying.”

“I don’t think she’s lying. But I think she’s hiding something.” Cas said as he looked towards the direction of Dean’s room.

“What makes you say that?” Sam needed to know more if he was going to try and protect Dean.

“I don’t know,” Cas gave a slight shrug. “Just their mannerisms and the way they reacted to everything. It was just strange.”

“Look let’s just put a pin on it and we’ll revisit it later,” Sam rubbed at his temples. “I just want to make sure Dean is okay tomorrow.” Sam looked at his watch. “I should call Jess and let her know what’s going on. Where can I set up?”

“Well I didn’t tell Cas this, but there are two extra rooms down here,” Benny smirked.

“You ASS!” Cas growled as he punched him. “I hurt my back on that couch!”

“Yeah well, you never did ask if there was a room and you never went exploring either.” Benny chuckled.

Cas let out a grumble as he grabbed his bags and walked past the stairs leading to the second floor to find a hidden hallway with extra rooms. Sam couldn’t help but laugh at the interaction. Looking up the stairs, he let out a soft sigh. He only hoped that the next day would be better.

Dean tossed and turned all night. Every time he shut his eyes, all he could see was Y/N’s sad face. It also didn’t help that he kept seeing Lisa in his dream holding him back while a dark cloud surrounded Y/N and dragged her back into the ocean. Waking up this last time, he punched at his pillow and growled.

“Why can’t I just go to sleep? Give me a few minutes of peace with her in my fucking dreams!” he pleaded to no one in particular.

Closing his eyes, he let his hand wander up to the pendant around his neck. He let his fingers wrap around it. This was the thing that brought Y/N to his dreams. Maybe it could do it again? Settling into his pillow, he thought about his last moments with Y/N.

The sound of her laugh rang in his ear as they lay on the sand. The sun shining down on them. Dean could almost feel Y/N’s fingers as they traced patterns along his chest. It sent a shiver down his spine. Looking down he could see her Y/C/E staring right back into his.

“I love you, sweetheart,” he whispered.

“Love you too,” came her reply before her lips found his.

He could almost feel her. The way her lips moved with his as their tongues danced. The way she leaned into him, her body fitting perfectly with his. He never wanted to wake up.

By the time the morning came around, he was annoyed at every little thing that ever existed.

After that dream, all hope of getting a few more minutes of sleep went out the window, which left him alone with his thoughts and every little possibility and scenario that could prevent Y/N from coming back. Each scenario more horrific and stupid than the last.

Why didn’t he try to go with them? He could’ve maybe signed into the competition, perhaps convince Y/N’s father that they didn’t have to go through that sexist shit. But that was just hopeful thinking. If him going back home with them would have made a difference, Thasman or Y/N would have said so, he was sure of it.

Breakfast was quiet, the drive to Bobby’s too. Part of him was relieved at seeing Garth and his team already making the much needed renovations, he could already see the place coming to life and was very excited to see how it would look like when it was finally finished.

More than once, he almost called for Thasman to help around the place. It felt weird to not have him around asking all sorts of weird questions.

“How long until we can open, Garth?” He asked his lanky friend, trying to distract himself from those thoughts.

“The way I see it, a couple of weeks at most, Deano.”

Dean sighed and shook his head, “anything we can do to speed it up?” He looked around, “Or at least be able to work while renovating?”

“I’ll see what I can do Dean, but for now, I think Bess is putting the finishing touches on the mermaid in the bain body shop.” Garth assured him. “If anything, I think you guys can start doing some fixing by at least a day after tomorrow, but the office won’t be ready for some time.”

“I--” Dean found himself getting frustrated at the time line. Things were supposed to be running smoothly, not taking forever. “What can I do to help speed up the process? What do you need me to do?”

I’m rereading every single one of these chapters as I repost them and man... this one still gets me :’)

My asks are open in case you wanna send feedback, have questions or wanna be added to the tag list :)

Call of the Ocean tag list: (if your username is in bold italics, that means tumblr didn’t let me tag you)

@67-chevy-baby @tmiships4life @cloudyskylines @chelsea072498 @carryon-doctor-lock @samanddeanwinchester67 @thatgirl1456 @satans-0-spawn @waywardrose13 @secretsthathauntus @parinarain @swagfancroissantpizza @roonyxx @roxytheimmortal @starryeyeseunbyul @rintheemolion @abeautifuldiaster124 @lovely-lynns-likes @ladyofmaidensandwine @starchildwild @peachyafshawn @idksupernatural @mimzy1994 @winchest09 @katehuntington @superfanficnatural @waywardbeanie @janicho88 @malfoysqueen14 @whatareyousearchingfordean @talesmaniac89 @emoryhemsworth @jensengirl83 @atc74 @deanwanddamons @crashdevlin @hobby27 @eliwinchester99 @notyourtypicalrose @babykalika2001 @deanmonandnegansbitch @kickingitwithkirk @sandlee44 @fandom-princess-forevermore @desertmoths @cookiechipdough @akshi8278 @theflamecrystal @tessellaneous @invisiblexnobodyximportant @supernatural-love14 @itsdesiree86 @teresa-67 @beabutterfly987 @sev3nruby @multifandomlover121

#dean x reader #dean winchester #dean winchester x reader #dean winchester fanfic #ceo!dean x reader #mechanic!dean #mechanic!dean x reader #mermaid au #dean winchester x mermaid!reader #mermaid!reader #supernatural #supernatural fanfiction #dean angst #dean winchester angst #dean fluff #dean winchester fanfiction #dean winchester fluff #dean x you

53 notes · View notes

ateezmakemeweep · 4 years

Photo

richboy!seonghwa (part 17)

word count: 7k

angst, slight fluff

(part 16) (series masterlist)

mingi was half right in his assumption that seonghwa was planning something for friday. because that nervous jittery feeling rushed right through you wednesday morning when he came in with a smirk on his face and asked if you had any plans this weekend.

"no, probably just sleep and watch tv. i started a new show," you inform him excitedly to which he responds with a small chuckle.

"yeah? well, do wanna come over friday and watch a movie instead? the guys are coming."

your eyes almost bulged out of your head until you heard that last part, pursing your lips to the side as you try to reign in any sort of rational self control.

"oh, thank you...i don't wanna intrude thou-"

"i want you to come so you're not intruding," he says softly, "and i think wooyoung and san will have an aneurism if you don't."

a small giggle leaves your mouth, shaking your head at the thought of the two boys. "well, we can't have that."

your eyes roam the soft look on his face, eyes bright but with an apprehensive twinge in them. "so you'll come?" he asks and the happy, hopeful tone in his voice makes you smile.

"yeah."

and that's how you ended up standing back in front of seonghwa's mansion of a house, hands folded behind your back as you rock on your feet nervously. you're praying to anyone who will listen above that everything goes smoothly, that your crushing guilt and insatiable pull to yeosang doesn't have you ruining the night.

because the library incident didn't help lessen the memory of the incident almost a week ago nor do your quick, heated gazes in the hallways or library when you see him tutoring.

the door flying open causes you to stumble back, an awkward chuckle leaving your mouth when seonghwa's eyes widen upon seeing you nearly fall down the stairs.

"did i scare you?" he asks softly and you squint your eyes at him playfully.

"no!"

"oh no?" he teases, advancing towards you to place a hand on your hip and pull you closer to him.

"no," you squeak, poking his chest lightly. "just taken aback by your commoner-like clothing."

even though there's nothing about him that looks ordinary, still looking like his handsome, elegant self in a white t-shirt that stretches over his fit torso and baggy gray sweatpants.

truthfully, you don't know how to feel about yourself right now. having your mind twinged with your intense yeosang moments but also feeling drawn to seonghwa. and now you need to spend the night with both of them when they affect you so strongly, when they make your heart and mind race with far too many thoughts and feelings.

a melodic laugh bubbles out of his mouth as he shakes his head at you, the soft amusement twinged in his eyes doing nothing to help the fluttering in your stomach.

"sorry it wasn't a matching-pajama set," he teases, moving to grab your hand and pulling you into his house. your cheeks flush at the memory, what feels like months ago when you creeped into his backyard and first saw him before blurting out your word vomit to him the night after that party.

"seonghwa?"

"y/n?"

"why aren't...you should change...i mean you don't have to but..." he watches you with a blank expression before the next part of your sentence tumbles out, "i liked the fancy pajamas i first met you in. with the stripes."

a loud abrupt laugh tumbles out of his mouth, his hand coming up to cover it as he cackles into his hand and a fervent blushes covers your face.

"stop laughing, oh my god!" your hands fly up to cover your flushed cheeks, "i didn't mean it like that i, just...you're in the same clothes as last night and-"

his big hands cover yours, rubbing his thumbs over the back of your palms as he looks down at you softly.

"you're cute, you know that?"

a strangled giggle leaves your mouth at the embarrassing memory, smacking him lightly as he guides you down the stairs to his basement - if you can even call it that. because what you associate as a dingy, dusty borderline scary room is something just as extravagant as the rest of his home.

a giant white sectional with extended cushions faces the biggest flat-screen tv you've ever seen, blankets and pillows sprawled out on the bottom. you giggle upon seeing hongjoong's head sticking out from one of the blankets, waving at you lazily through hooded eyes. your gaze filters over the rest of the couch, taking note that yeosang doesn't appear to be here yet.

you scan the rest of the basement, a fully stocked bar and kitchen catching your eye along with a popcorn machine that you'd see at the movie theater. you crane your head up at seonghwa, a teasing look on your face. "wow, that's fancy."

he meets your gaze with a smirk. "c'mon little one, were you expecting anything le-"

"don't be shy! put some more!" wooyoung's loud voice screeches and it rings in your ears like he's right next to you. you snap your head to see him sitting on the counter cross-legged, looming over a bowl of popcorn.

"no wooyoung!" san whines, "there's already too much salt! do you seriously want to-"

"hey, guys! look who i found!" seonghwa's voice interrupts, lifting your intertwined hands and the two boys whip their heads up before they barrel towards you screaming your name.

popcorn long forgotten, they excitedly tell you about the movies they've picked out. a nice marathon of comedy, horror and fantasy that has you writhing in your spot next to san a few moments later.

seonghwa prances over, popcorn in hand before he shimmies his way in next to you. "is it okay if sit here?" he mumbles causing you to nod shyly and he bites his lip to hide his smile.

"are we starting without yeosang?" hongjoong asks.

and seonghwa must mistake your tensing for fear opposed to....a different type of nervousness and excitement that's coursing through your veins because he eyes you before explaining he had said to start the movie and that he'll be here in an hour.

and it's about fifteen minutes in, lights dimmed and volume blaring as blankets cover the five of you that he whispers in your ear.

"you're good with yeosang, right?" seonghwa mumbles in your ear and the pace in which your heart starts to race is absolutely concerning.

"what do you mean?" your quiet voice chokes out.

"you tensed up before when i said his name," he says lowly, his arm wrapped around the back of the couch stretching as he moves slightly closer to you. "if he's still being a dick, i'll talk to him."

"no, it's okay," you say, probably far too quickly and nervously. because the last thing you want is them talking about you. "i just- i...i forgot he was coming, too."

your stomach knots when you stutter, your guilt-filled body and neurotic brain convincing you he's gonna see through your lies and demand to know just how okay things are with yeosang. demand to know the real reason why you barely said a word in the car back from the ski trip and why you've been more nervous around him than usual.

"okay," he says softly, like he's not second-guessing your answer at all before his face leans in. "let me know if you ever want me to."

i will never do that, you think.

"will do," you squeak out, ('another lie,' that mean part of your mind bites) swallowing the nervous lump in your throat and assuring him with a small smile of your own that he meets. and even only with the flickering lights from the tv, you see his soft gaze roam over your face before his hand reaches out to caresses your cheek slowly.

you hope he doesn't notice how your eyes bulge, how you swallow again as your own voice continues to scream at you. because you have no right to be leaning into his touch nor do you have the right to rest your head on his shoulder when he taps on it lightly as an invitation.

you can't even focus on the rest of the movie afterward, assuming it's funny from the laughs coming from san and wooyoung and the way seonghwa's shoulder will occasionally wobble underneath your head.

you can only think about how you shouldn't be doing this, shouldn't be accepting comfort and affection from a person you clearly can't give your whole self to, who you're keeping a giant secret from and pretending as if everything's okay.

"he's literally obsessed with you, i don't know if i've ever seen him act like this."

wooyoung's words from last week ring through your head at that exact moment and it causes your stomach to twist even more.

you have to tell him.

and it's not even necessarily because you owe it him. he never officially asked you to be anything, you guys haven't even known each other that long.

but with the way he acts, the way he seems so taken and caring and...affectionate towards you, it doesn't seem right to hold it back. and because a part of you and yeosang feels this guilty, it's even more of an indication that you keeping it a secret is wrong.

but you know there's also a bigger part to this, that him and yeosang's friendship could be potentially in jeopardy if everyone's assumption that seonghwa does like you is true.

but it's not that you don't like him, you think you just might really like...

the sound of feet padding down the stairs catches your attention, your heart racing and palms sweating before you even see yeosang's face. and when you do, it only heightens your body's reaction.

because he just stands there observing the couch silently, his presence either still unknown or ignored by the other three (hongjoong had fallen asleep before seonghwa was able to press rent). and even in the dark, your eyes meet for a split second before you see him observe seonghwa's figure next to you.

"yeosang!" san screeches, wooyoung looking up and doing the same who's laid out by the boy's feet.

"hey guys," he says with an even tone, plopping down and nearly sitting on hongjoong's face. "did he even make it to the opening scene?"

"of course not," you hear seonghwa's deep voice say causing the boy to snort.

the room quickly falls silent again and you glue your eyes to the screen, laughing or grimacing when everyone else does. and you keep up appearances until the movie ends twenty minutes later, the dim lights suddenly flickering on as seonghwa taps the wall behind you twice.

you lift your head as your eyes move to the corner of the couch where you see hongjoong hasn't stirred before flickering to yeosang's. you find his gaze was already on you, expression unreadable but his jaw set and eyebrow raised. you try to remain stone-faced as well, ignoring the way your body feels inclined to be closer to him and how you can't seem to tear your hard gazes away from each other.

because it's something that just keeps happening. your gazes and stares and bodies working on their own accord, because it's strong enough to have such an impact over your words and actions. because it's almost overwhelming how every rational thought gets pushed aside the moment your eyes meet and bodies press against each other.

"y/n?" you hear seonghwa's voice ask and you jump slightly, quickly craning your neck to look at him.

"you good?" he asks lowly, eyes looking over your face before flickering to yeosang who's looking down at his phone.

"ye-yeah," you squeak out, "are we doing the horror now?"

"yes!" wooyoung says, clapping his hands eagerly and you giggle at how childlike it is.

"you act like you're not gonna be screaming to turn it off in ten minutes," you hear yeosang remark dryly.

"shut up!" the boy responds sassily before roughly grabbing the empty bowl from the middle of the couch. "new comers refill the bowl."

"bite me."

"you have too!" wooyoung whines.

"i'll do it," you say softly, taking the bowl from his grasp. "i have to pee, anyway."

you stumble around seonghwa clumsily, a small laugh leaving his mouth at your lack of grace causing you to squint your eyes at him in passing. you pad over to the machine, standing on your tippy toes to open the latch and fill the bowl with popcorn.

"be generous with the salt!" you hear wooyoung scream and you shake your head with a smile, leaving it on the table before disappearing into the bathroom. you grip the cold, marble countertop tightly, closing your eyes and taking a few deep breaths.

you know yeosang will never agree to tell seonghwa, especially after his reaction to you telling just mingi and yunho. but you can't take the crushing guilt anymore, the almost constant feeling of dread and wrongdoing making you feel nauseous and queazy.

how does he not feel it too? how can he go on like normal, look at seonghwa and laugh with him when he's knowingly keeping something from him that could hurt him him? doesn't he have the right to know?

but it's not only yeosang's decision, it took both of you to do it. so even though seonghwa and yeosang are the closer of friends here, it was also something you did to and will take just as much responsibility for; you also have the right to get off your own guilt-ridden chest, no matter how selfish and unfair it is.

so it's with that, that you fake a pee, flush the toilet and run the faucet before ripping open the door. you pad over the kitchen to grab the bowl when you see yeosang standing at the counter pouring himself a glass of soda, his eyes flickering up to you before back down to his glass wordlessly.

you walk up to the counter and place your hands on the bowl, spinning it anxiously as you stare at him.

"why are you looking at me," he asks a few moments later, voice low and eyes not leaving the fizzling glass.

"i wanna tell him."

his head snaps up to you immediately, his face perplexed with narrowed eyes and a sneer.

"no."

"yeosang," you whine lowly.

"i already told you that can never hap-"

"it's killing me, yeosang. do you know how guilty i feel keeping this in me? like it's a dirty little secret."

"nothing good will come out of that besides fixing your own guilt," yeosang says coldly, his eyes matching his tone when he looks up at you. "so maybe you should clear that head of yours and stop making yourself so cozy on him in the meantime."

your eyes widen at the harshness in his time and words. "fuck you!" you whisper-yell at him, "maybe you should grow a conscious and just tell him what we-"

"why would we just randomly mention that, y/n?" yeosang growls before roughly opening the fridge and placing the bottle back. "it wouldn't make any sense now," he grumbles, still facing away from you.

"we could just say we have something to tell him and-"

"yeosang! y/n!" you hear wooyoung whine and you keep your glare on yeosang's back before reluctantly turning around. you see seonghwa's neck craned backward, curiously observing you and yeosang whispering hushly. "where's the popcorn! we're staring the movie."

"coming," yeosang says before you can mumble out "one second." you whip your head around to give him a dirty look and insist that he listens to you but find he's already halfway around the counter walking back to the couch.

when you plop back down in your seat with a huff, seonghwa taps the wall to dim the lights again and you're grateful when he doesn't say a word.

but your heart feels like it physically hurts, pulls in a hundred different directions and drops into your stomach when he places his hand on yours. you look over to see him smile softly at you, giving you a knowing, comforting look before he turns his head to the tv.

his gentle, slow strokes on your hand throughout the entire first half of the movie do nothing to help your guilt. it only heightens it, reminds you of how gentle and soft and sweet he is to you.

so that's why when you notice yeosang get up and close the bathroom door a few minutes later, you down the rest of your water and quietly inform seonghwa you're going to get more.

you linger in the kitchen for a few moments, taking your time to refill your glass and look around at the decor on the walls when you hear the door squeak open. and before he can walk off, you grab him by the sleeve and lead him off to the corner of the kitchen, where you're barely visible from the couch.

"you better not say it again," he hisses through his teeth.

you try for a nice approach first, looking up at him with pleading eyes and a soft, sweet tone in your voice.. "i just don't see why we can't-"

but he sees right through it, squinting his eyes at you and shaking his head. "you better fucking stop."

and the way he just so quickly dismisses you has irritation and anger flooding through your veins. because he's not even trying to listen and saw through your act in a second.

"you stop!" you shoot back, quickly letting your temper take over. "i know you feel just as guilty."

"no shit but i'm able to suppress it, y/n," he says to you, crossing his arms over his chest and looking down at you. "why tell him that and just make him mad or upset?"

"because it doesn't feel right," you brokenly whisper, "it feels like we're sneaky around and indirectly lying to him. he doesn't deserve that."

you watch his eyes roam over you before he heavily sighs, leaning the side of his head against the wall. because of course he feels bad about it, he feels bad that it happened and that now he can't even say he regrets it; and it also doesn't help seeing you so upset and torn up about it.

but he's more scared of his friend's reaction, seeing how quickly and intensely he developed feelings for you. more scared of his friendship being tainted and strained because he had a moment of weakness that continue to be more frequent.

"we. can't."

his voice is gradually getting more dark and pissed off, irritated that you won't drop it and irritated by his ever present reaction to you.

"it's not your only decision, yeosang," you snap, "we both did it so if i wanna tell him, i feel like i should be able t-"

your back is against the wall before you can finish your sentence, your bodies just a few inches away from touching as he darkly looms over you. you have half the mind to push him away roughly, smack him in the chest for always cornering you and trying to intimidate you with his close proximity.

because it almost always works.

"i already told you we're not," he says, finality in his tone that would usually get you to give in and drop it. but now it's just serving to make your more angry.

"and i told you i want to," you snap, voice no longer a whisper but still low enough not to be heard by the others.

"y/n....i swear to god, i'm gonna-"

"what. what are you gonna do?" you spit harshly before a familiar scene with flickering lights of an elevator play in your head.

"i swear to god, y/n," he growls, backing you up until you hit one of the four walls.

"what, yeosang?" you spit, "i have the right to know. it just makes no sense why you would ask me something like that-"

"i suggest you watch yourself," he growls lowly, his hand roughly grabbing your jaw.

"i suggest you stop being a coward and fucking tell your best friend we kissed."

the bright lights in the kitchen turning on have your heart dropping in your chest, head frantically turning the side to see seonghwa blankly staring at the two of you.

because not only do the words you just uttered clearly prove you're caught, your position is no better. pressed up between the wall and his body, your face in his hand where you gazes were just boring into each other, how all the color has drained from both of you.

yeosang pushes himself away from you immediately, looking between you and seonghwa, jaw clenched as his wary eyes waver back and forth.

"what're you guys talking about?"

you swallow nervously, biting your lip as you look between him and yeosang. and that's how it is for the first few silent seconds, anxious and confused eyes bouncing off of each other.

"y/n?" his soft, strained voice suddenly utters and it's like that's all you need to hear before tears prick your eyes. because you knew this was bound to happen, you even wanted it to. but now you see you severely underestimated just how scary and intimidating it would be.

you try to speak up, his name getting caught in your throat and it causes his face to crumble. because you can barely look at him, can't even get words out and now he's starting to feel the validity of what he just heard.

"yeosang?" he utters next but his friend only looks at him with a pained expression, shaking his head slightly as he deeply says his name.

"one of you better start talking, now." and the way seonghwa falls into his scary, commanding side is causing your stomach to knot even more.

"i wanted to tell you," you squeak out nervously, your voice already quivering, "but he-"

"i didn't think it would be the appropriate time," yeosang says, shooting a glare your way. "and i also didn't want you to get upset."

but seonghwa can only shake his head, looking between the two of you in bewilderment. because this is so random, there was no indication the two of you even got along, let alone were gonna...

"so you guys...kissed?" he says, lips pressing together tightly after he says the word. you and yeosang look to each other warily, your eyes full of unshed tears while his are cold and guarded.

"answer me."

you both snap your heads when you hear his growl and nod, his jaw only tightening before a humorless laugh leaves his mouth. his eyes roam over your face and he hates that his heart starts to squeeze at the sight of tears in your eyes, that he wants to reach out and wipe them away.

"when?" he asks, looking directly at you.

"seonghwa, if you could just hear us o-"

"when, y/n."

your face crumbles at his uncharacteristic frigid tone towards you. "the last night of the ski trip," you mumble out.

he looks taken aback and it unnerves you that there could be a number of reasons for it. because he could be thinking you planned for it to happen and that's why you didn't go skiing with him. or reminding himself that just the night before, you had been kissing him. or like he's realizing that's why you've been acting so weird this week with him.

"but it wasn't planned, seonghwa, i swear," you get out quickly, "i-the elevator got stuck and we were fighting and screaming at each other and then it just...happened."

you hold each other's gaze for a tense few moments, your eyes pleading with him to understand while he looks at you with such distrust.

"we...we had just kissed the night before that, y/n," he says, jaw tightening as he looks at yeosang. "did you know that?"

yeosang can only stare at his friend with a dejected look on his face before he hesitantly nods.

"so you knew that," seonghwa says, his voice getting a pinch louder, "and knew that i..." his words break off as he moves closer to his friend who stands his ground. "why the fuck, yeosang, tell me."

"she already told you, it just happened," yeosang mumbles because what else can he say?

"so it was just a kiss? a mistake?" seonghwa asks lowly, looking his friend directly in the eyes.

"it..." yeosang begins, eyes flickering to you as you watch them both tearfully. your eyes widen slightly when you make eye contact, lip quivering nervously and he can't bring himself to say it was a mistake. because that would imply it was wrong and shouldn't have happened. and he can lie to himself all he wants that it shouldn't have happened but he can't lie to seonghwa anymore. "i didn't-we weren't...." he lets out a frustrated sigh, "i don't know, seonghwa."

"what the fuck do you mean you don't know?"

"i don't know, okay! we don't know how it happened or why it happened," his deep voice explains. "it just....did and now i've been trying to forget about it for your sake but-"

"but what?" seonghwa grunts out, cutting him off before he can continue

"i'm sorry," he says lowly, his eyes meeting his friends and the two of them don't look away from each other. yeosang's eyes pleading and apologetic while seonghwa looks like he's ready burn a hole into him.

"why are you sorry?" he grunts out.

but yeosang can only shake his head, his gaze flickering to you which causes seonghwa to grab his shirt and push him against the wall.

"don't fucking look at her," he growls, "why are you sorry? why can't you...stop thinking about it?"

you can only watch them talk with wide tearful eyes, wanting so badly to split things up and stop things before it gets ugly. but you find yourself trapped, unable to move as you watch seonghwa pin yeosang against the wall who finally mutters:

"the same reason you're so pissed right now."

and his confession is quickly followed by your loud gasp as you watch seonghwa's fist collide with yeosang's face.

"seonghwa!" you screech out, moving to the boy's and attempting to worm your way in between them. but it proves useless when both of them reach out and push you away from them, their hands connecting with the side of your arm.

you hear your own voice begging them to stop through your pounding ears, tears streaming down your face when you watch yeosang push the taller boy off of him after he gets punched a second time.

"seonghwa, stop, i know i fucked up but-"

"but what," the boy growls, advancing toward him again and pushing him back into the wall. "because as far as you knew and saw, you treated her like shit."

"and i always apologized to her," yeosang says, feeling the need to defend himself while trying to remain cordial. because he is the one in the wrong here. but it only causes seonghwa to let out another humorless laugh, tightening his hold on yeosang's shirt.

"and here i thought you paid for her because you felt bad," he growls at yeosang causing your mouth to drop open. did he just say yeosang had paid for you?

"i did," yeosang says through clenched teeth.

"did you feel bad when you kissed her then? some sort of fucked up, twisted apology?"

"wait, yeosang and y/n kissed?" wooyoung's loud voice booms before his eyes widen when he sees the scene playing out in front of him. yeosang's bloody nose and red face, his shirt in a harsh grip by seonghwa's hand.

"did you guys fucking know?" seonghwa harshly asks as he whips his head around. his eyes then land on you, tears on your cheeks as your teeth assault your lip. "did everyone fucking know but me?"

"of course not," you cry out, reluctantly making your way over to him when he shakes his head at you. you pause, looking at him and yeosang with the faint sound of wooyoung telling san to wake hongjoong.

"we thought not telling you would be better for everyone," yeosang tells him, "it wasn't meant to hurt you, seonghwa. we didn't mean for it to happen."

"but it did. it did fucking happen and neither of you seem to be able to say it shouldn't have or that it won't happen again."

yeosang's adams apple bobs nervously, your eyes meeting the floor as a quiet cry leaves your mouth. you're surprised when you feel san's presence next to you, his arm wrapping around your shoulder comfortingly,

"i don't know what you want us to tell you besides sorry," yeosang says, "we've both felt so fucking guilty, you don't even-"

his words get cut off by seonghwa's fist ramming into his face again, wooyoung and a roused hongjoong rushing over to pull the boy off of him.

"you're an asshole, yeosang. i always knew it but i didn't think you were this bad," seonghwa spits, voice gruff and deep.

"really, seonghwa, you've known her for three fucking seconds," yeosang finally bites back and the two smaller boys tighten their hold on seonghwa's withering body.

"get off me," seonghwa growls at hongjoong who only shakes his head at him before turning back to yeosang.

"you should leave," the boy advises.

"hongjoong, i want to talk to him but-"

"yeah, let's talk," seonghwa yells, "talk about what a piece of shit best friend you are."

"seonghwa, what else do i have to-"

"leave!" a struggling hongjoong yelps, pushing seonghwa off to the other side of the basement.

you can only cry quietly into san who strokes your hair gently, mumbling comforting words into your ear. yeosang looks over at your trembling frame before switching to seonghwa who's sitting on the couch with his head in his hands. hongjoong is knelt down in front of him, speaking hushly when their gazes meet and the boy mouths "leave."

yeosang let's out a huff, throwing you one last look that you meet tearfully before he quickly walks out of the kitchen and up the stairs with one last mumble of "i'm sorry, hwa."

"what happened, y/n?" san asks quietly. you pull back and he frowns seeing your tear-stained face.

"i'm such a bad person, san," you say, voice shaking and wet, "what the fuck did i just-i didn't mean for this to-"

"relax," san says lowly, rubbing over your back soothingly. "take a few breaths and then just explain to me what happened."

so that's how you then find yourself confessing everything to san, everything from the beginning of the ski trip to your dates and kiss with seonghwa to your times with yeosang.

"one-one minute we were fighting and the next we were kissing and...seonghwa is so sweet and slow and nice and he's such a good person," you cry to san, "but it's...i don't know, it's just...it seems different with-"

you can't even get his name out, shaking your head as your face crumbles again. "i'm such a fucking who-"

"don't," san quickly says, voice commanding and strong.

"i am!" you squeak, "how could i do this to both of them? kiss them not even 24 hours apart? do you know how horrible that makes me?"

"you're just confused, y/n, you all are," san says lowly, "and everyone's too shocked and full of adrenaline right now to see it."

"but it isn't fair to-

the sound of the bathroom door slamming shut has you jumping in san's hold, head snapping to the side to see hongjoong making his way to you.

"how did you get here?" the boy asks you softly, though his eyes don't match.

"my mom dropped me," you tell him quietly, "hongjoong, i didn't mean to-"

"maybe you should call her to come get you."

"hongjoong, you don't have to-"

the dark look the boy throws san has the boy falling silent, sighing before looking over your face apologetically. your lips fold into one another so they don't tremble again, nodding your head before your gaze moves to the bathroom.

"can i just talk to him?"

hongjoong shrugs his shoulders, looking back at the door. "you could try," he mumbles out before walking back towards the couch.

"you should," san encourages sweetly, "i'll stay here, okay?"

you smile up at him gratefully, nodding your head before taking a deep breath and wiping your wet, tear-stained face. you knock on the door and hear his mumble of "what?" before you open it slightly and peak your head in.

"can i come in?" you ask quietly.

his head snaps to the side to look at you, his eyes clouding with shock, anger, surprise, even that underlying soft look you most definitely don't deserve right now.

but before he can answer, you hear the running of water as a bottle of peroxide rests on the sink next to him. you walk in hesitantly and close the door, making your way over to him.

you dab alcohol on a cotton ball before taking his hand in yours, hearing him sharply inhale and you think he's gonna whip his hand away and curse you out.

but because he's seonghwa, he doesn't. he just watches you clean his cut up hand, not even wincing at the stinging pain.

"seonghwa..."

"don't, y/n," he says and the pain that sounds clogged in his throat makes your tears resurface.

"i'm sorry," you squeak out, "i wanted to tell you all night but-"

"why," he asks, eyes boring into yours and he just watches the tears build up behind them. "why did you kiss him?"

"i told you seonghwa, it just happened," you squeak out. "do you think i ever had any intention after how he treated me."

"that's why i'm so confused, y/n," he mutters out, "and we had...we had kissed just the night before."

"i know," you cry out, "but it wasn't-it was-"

"did you not...like it?" he asks before a humorless laugh leaves his mouth, "jesus christ, i sound like a fucking idiot."

"you don't, seonghwa, it wasn't you," you insist, "sometimes i don't even think you're real, because everything about you is perfect, that kiss included."

"then what the hell was it?" he asks, voice raising a tad higher, "why?"

"i don't know," you squeak out because you're not about to tell him it lacked the passion you're apparently so drawn to. how you seem to prefer being yelled at and thrown against a wall like some sort of disturbed person.

"if you had to kiss one of us again, who would it be?" he finds himself asking and your face pales because you're getting a strange sense of deja vu.

"if you had to kiss someone," yeosang says lowly in your ear, "would it be me or seonghwa?"

"i...i don't- seonghwa, i-"

you watch as instant regret covers his face, squeezing his eyes shut and shaking his head side to side.

"i'm sorry, i shouldn't have asked that," he grunts out.

your wide, glossy eyes roam over his face and you swallow the lump in your throat. because you don't know what to say and you can't even give him an answer as he looks at you expectantly, like he thinks you might disregard his last statement and blurt out that it's him.

but you both know that's not the case, his sinking stomach and hurting heart watching you look at him with pain and sorrow in your teary eyes.

"you should go, okay?" seonghwa says suddenly, turning around as he starts fumbling with the sink and cabinets. "i'll see you on monday."

"seonghwa, i'm sor-"

"it's okay, just go...please."

you wipe at the new tear trailing down your face, looking at him one last time as he leans over the sink. you sigh before turning around and opening the door to leave the bathroom, shutting it lightly before padding over to san to say goodbye.

he walks back in the the nurse to see you had fallen asleep, hands tucked under your cheek with a peaceful, soft look on your face. he smiles to himself, quietly walking over and placing your bag at the foot of the bed. he roams your slumbering face with a sickeningly soft expression, allowing himself to admire you looking so peaceful and content for a few moments.

and then before he turns to leave, he places a soft kiss on your forehead and lets his lips linger, mumbling, "i hope you say yes on friday," before walking quietly out of the room.

but because you didn't, because tonight blew up in his face in the most unexpected way and he didn't get to ask you on a first official date, he dials up the number he so happily called on tuesday to cancel a dinner reservation for two.

san walks you out of seonghwa's house five minutes later, giving you his number and telling you to text him when you get home safely. because in hopes to clear your head, you're gonna walk home. even though the wind is biting and it's a few miles, you think you need it right now.

but you don't even make it down the block before a car pulls up next to you, tensing up as you look to the side before you relax at the familiar face.

"get in."

"i don't think that's a good-"

"can you please just get in."

his voice is just as drained and exhausted as you feel, letting out a sigh before opening the door. he takes off down the block once you're buckled in and drives off in the direction of your house, seemingly able to remember how seonghwa got there all those weeks ago.

it's silent for the first few minutes of the drive, his hand clenching and unclenching around the steering wheel as you bounce your leg nervously.

"now you see why i didn't wanna to tell him," is the first thing he says to break the silence.

"what, so we were just supposed to hide it from him forever?" you squeak out, "because sneaking around like liars obviously wouldn't have blown up in our face."

"if you just kept your mouth shut tonight, this wouldn't have happened," he growls and you let out a wet laugh, shaking your head at him.

"yeah, okay, this is my fucking fault!" you yelp, "you're right, sorry."

he lets out a sigh as the atmosphere starts to grown tense and he shakes his head wordlessly, gripping the steering wheel again. you're a few blocks away from your house when he suddenly pulls over, your head snapping to look at him with pinched eyebrows.

"this isn't my hou-"

"we both just have to agree that it'll never happen again."

you turn your head to see him looking at you intently, eyes roaming your questioning, confused face.

"is that what you want?"

the words tumble out of your mouth before your brain can even register them. his face falls slightly, eyes moving to your lips before he lets out a scoff and tears his gaze away.

"does it really matter what i want? it didn't matter when i said i didn't wanna tell him."

your eyebrows furrow together as your mouth drops open, an annoyed groan filling the car.

"you're unbelievable," you spit out, "i don't even know why i bother trying to talk to you."

your hand falls to unbuckle the seatbelt, his hand wrapping around your wrist when you have it halfway off your body.

"stop."

"no," you snap, ripping your hand from his hold and moving the strap completely off you. "thanks for the ride but i'm gonna walk the rest of the way."

"oh jesus christ, stop being annoying," he groans out with a roll of his eyes.

your face flames with anger, your hands itching with the need to smack him and he suppresses a smirk when your hands clench into fists.

"you're just mean, yeosang! sometimes i feel like you're okay and i'm..i don't know, getting somewhere with you?" you say, moving your hands animatedly as your eyes move to look outside the window. "but then you're just such a fucking dick and i really feel like-"

a squeak leaves your mouth before it's quickly covered my his, your lips meeting in a kiss as your body is pulled halfway over the middle console. you make a surprised noise against his lips before you fall into the familiar pattern of kissing him. and it's something you definitely shouldn't be doing after the night you guys just had, shouldn't be relishing in the way your lips move in synch and how his hand snakes its way into your hair.

your hand moves to his chest to steady yourself and he pulls you closer, quickly slipping his tongue into your mouth and you hate that a content little moan slips past your lips. because it only seems to egg him on more, has him tightening his hand in your hair and moving you closer over the console before you both pull away in need of air.

you look at each other with red lips and heaving chests, the sinking feeling completely overpowered by the pleasure and desire coursing through both of you.

"what do you think?" his deep voice grunts out breathlessly, "is that what i want?"

(part 18)

#seonghwa #yeosang #ateez #seonghwa angst #yeosang angst #seonghwa fluff #yeosang fluff #ateez fic #ateez moodboard #seonghwa moodboard #seonghwa fic

292 notes · View notes

itzleon345 · 4 years

Text

Dianakko Week

Day 1: Childhood Friends

A weird proposal

Summary:

-Will you marry me?

-No

-Why?!

- We are to young

-Okey, but when we grow up you’ll marry me!

-Deal!

AO3 Link here

“A pair of little girls where playing in a beautiful garden on the outskirts of a manor, the day was perfect, the sun shined with all of its majesty on the big blue sky, the clouds where so fluffy that they resemble cotton candy, the grass where the girls were running had a beautiful light green color and the wind smelled like flowers

“Girls! Come in, its lunchtime” the voice of a middle age woman was heard from the inside of the manor

“We’re going mommy!” Answered the girl with blonde locks “Akko hurry, my mum makes the best food in the whole world” She hurried her crimson eyed friend

“Goin’ goin’, let me take one last flower” Akko was stuck in some bushes for having chased a butterfly, when she got inside of them she found some beautiful blue flowers so she decide to collect some for the other girl

“And… ready! Take it Diana, this are for you” the little girl full of dirt and leafs handed a little bouquet to her best friend while she smiled with her toothless smile

“Thank you very much Akko, but let’s go, it’s lunchtime” the little girl with blue eyes received the flowers with one hand and with the other she took Akko’s to start walking to her home

“Wait!” Akko stoped in her tracks before they enter the house

“What now Akko?” Diana asked with a little annoyance because her little tummy was hungry

“I want to ask you a question!” She answered with excitement and a glint in her eyes

“Okay but do it quickly” Even if she was hungry she will not deny to answer a question to Akko ‘cause she really liked to see her friend get excited when she heard her really brilliant answers, also, Akko’s questions where always funny

“Will you marry me?” Akko said happily

“What?” The confusion was notorious in the voice and gestures of Diana

“Will you marry me?” The little brunette asked for the second time

“No” Answered the blue eyed one with a frown

“Why?!” Screamed the Japanese girl while she crossed her arms and make a cute pout

“Because we are too young, my mum says only big people can get married”

“Okay…” Akko said with resignation, her pout was still on her little face, when suddenly her gesture of sadness and tantrum changed for one of determination “but when we grow up you’ll have to marry me!” She screamed with happiness

“Deal! now let’s go eat”

In those moments neither of them known what they were saying, or well, one of them didn’t

*18 years later*

“Umm… hey, Diana?” The, not so little, crimson eyed girl stopped dead and caught the attention of her, now a days, girlfriend

—————————————————————————————————

The years had passed, Diana had lost her parents, Akko went back to Japan, both of them lost contact with the other one for a long time, it looked like if their little childhood friendship had ended, but, by some weird fate thing, they met again, the conditions weren’t the best ‘cause both of them had changed

They weren’t anymore the little cute children that played and run on the outskirts of the Cavendish manor, Diana wasn’t anymore the friendly and kind girl that played without worries, Akko wasn’t anymore the fearful little girl that enjoyed to mock people, both of them had grown and changed, also, the way they reunited was ‘weird’ to say at least

*Freshman year*

“We’re here!” A teenager with Asian features, a ginger girl, and a pale with reddish eyes gal where coming out from what it looked was the stage of the Luna Nova’s theater

“Lotte, Sucy, we did it! Yay!” The brunette girl exclaimed while she come completely out of the little passage

“Akko?” A blonde girl whispered to herself when she saw the no so gentle entrance of her will-be schoolmates…

And although at the beginning they looked that they hate each other everything went just fine, their relationship had changed again, they weren’t anymore the best friends that they were in their childhood or the rivals they were in high school or even the beautiful couple they were in their college years, now 18 years after they get separated for the first time their relationship was going to change again

—————————————————————————————————

“What’s the matter sweetheart?” Diana turned to see her nervous girlfriend that had her eyes stuck on the floor and was playing with her hands “Are you alright?” She asked with concern

“N-no… well I am, but I’m not?” Akko release a nervous chuckle and looked up to see her other friends and take a big breath

The nine girls were walking in the halls of the college, all of them were in their last year of their careers, a new chapter of life was about to start and Diana didn’t know hers was going to be a really special one

Lotte, one of Akko’s bestfriends, looked directly to the eyes of her nervous friend and smiled with sweetness while she nod with encouragement

All of their friends were looking at Akko with smiles in their faces, some of the looked a little more excited than the others, Hannah and Barbara seemed that they were about to explode of happiness, Amanda just winked her eye to Akko and give her a thumbs-up, Sucy was denying with her head with a little and nearly nonexistent smile, Constanze took out her phone a start recording and at last Jasminka had stopped eating to appreciate what was about to happen

Diana’s heart started to beat in anticipation, she didn’t knew why but to see all of her friends and girlfriend in such a suspicious way thrilled her for some reason

“Girls, what’s happening?” The blonde asked and unconsciously she took her hands to her chest

“Okay, come on, you can do it, do it they way your rehearsed it, do it for her” Akko was whispering to herself with her eyes closed while she was breathing heavily to calm herself

While all of this was happening all of their other schoolmates started to get close out of curiosity to appreciate the scene that was developing in front of them, it didn’t matter the grade nor the career they were studying, every single one of them knew about Akko and Diana and all of them were in love of their beautiful relationship, so, if the thing that was happening had to do something with them it had to be something really special, even some of the teachers got close to the scene to see what was happening with more clarity and know if they had to lecture Akko or one of her problematic friends, obviously they didn’t get close to find out about the beautiful love story that was blooming in their halls

Akko opened her eyes and saw the big amount of students that were surrounding them

“They are a lot more people that we thought…” she said with panic

“Come on! You can do it Akko! Do it for your girl!” Amanda screamed with encouragement, thanks to this all of their other schoolmates started screaming words of encouragement to Akko, they didn’t know why they where doing it but, hey! Supporting a pal is alway a good thing

When Diana saw so many people surrounding her, her two bestfriends by her side smiling sweetly at her and her girlfriend in front of her an inexplicable desire to cry came to her, a beautiful idea had formulated in her mind but she wasn’t sure if that was the thing that was about to happen

“Okay, this is my only chance, all or nothing, you can do it Kagari!” Akko give herself a couple of slaps on both of her cheeks and looked Diana once again with a nervous smile

“H-hello” she said with nervousness while she did an awkward greeting gesture with her hand

“H-hi” Diana answered with a broken voice, thanks to the lump in her throat

By this moment everyone was in complete silence, the only sound was the sudden sound of cellphones taking photos or recording

“Alright, this is way more difficult that I thought, but, I have a couple of questions for you that I expect you to answer them with all of your sincerity, if that’s okay for you” Akko was avoiding Diana’s sight at all costs

“O-of course” Diana answered after a couple of seconds

“S-so, first of all, do you remember the deal we do eighteen year ago?” Akko asked between a couple of nervous laughs

“When we were kids? I’m not sure” Diana low her hands from her chest and took the ones of her friends

“Well, eighteen years ago you made a deal with me, at the time I asked you, you said no, but, you also said you would do it when we grew up” Akko looked up to finally see Diana and smile at her fearfully, it was if someone had catched her doing something she shouldn’t be doing

Diana’s eyes became wide with realization, a small gasp came out of her lips, the girl release Hannah’s hand and take it to mouth

“And as you said you don’t remember your promise I’ll ask you that question again” the girl turned around to Amanda who took out a small box of her pocket and handed to her with a strong slap on the shoulder

“Diana, after knowing you all of this years, after seeing you cry, laugh and get mad, after seeing you accomplish your goals and exceed big obstacles I’ve decide that I want to be by your side a lot more of years, I want to take you in my arms in your lows and look at you with proudness every time I’ll saw you, therefore I would want to know if you would like to make me the happiest girl in the world and…” Akko said all of this while seeing Diana in the eyes with a sweet smile, she took both of Diana’s hands in hers, a couple of tears escaped from her own eyes, and, just before she was about to ask her last question she took a couple of steps back and she got in one knee to proceed to see Diana with adoration

“And I would like to know if you, Diana Elizabeth Cavendish, would give me, Atsuko Kagari, the honor of being your wife?” She opened the small case to reveal a beautiful gold ring decorated with a gorgeous sapphire

Diana was in shock, tears come out of her eyes like waterfalls, she didn’t believed what was happening, the poor girl was shaking, she turn her head to both sides to see Hannah and Bárbara crying while giving her exciting nods, they were hugging each other with anxiety.

She turned around to see her friends that were equally looking at her with anticipation, Lotte was also crying and was squeezing Sucy’s arm with strength, the mushroom lover was looking at Diana with seriousness but with approval at the same time.

She turned around to see all of her schoolmates that were waiting for an answer.

She turned around to saw her teachers that were looking at them with a motherly-like smile

And at the end, she turned around to see Akko, she look at her directly in the eyes, she looked at those crimson eyes that she have always loved, those beautiful eyes that seemed to be stars that were steal from the nightsky, she look to those beautiful eyes and once again she saw that cute little girl that enjoyed to take flowers from her garden and give them to her, she saw that curious girl that liked to take her hand to explore the forest, she saw once again that beautiful girl that she all those years ago promise to marry with…

“Yes” she said in a little whisper and she cleaned her tears

“Yes yes yes!” She started saying it louder while she jumped “obviously yes!”

Akko let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding and took out the ring from the case to put it on Diana.

In the moment when Diana said ’yes’ all of the girls and teachers exploded in claps and happiness screams for the new fiancées

After giving the ring to her now, fiancée the Japanese girl got up and took her in a love-filled embrace, small sobs escaped from her because of the fear she had felt all of the day

After a couple of seconds Akko broke the hug to see Diana on the eye, she put their foreheads together and just before she closed the missing distance she said:

“Thank you” and after eighteen years she closed the deal with a cute kiss.

—————————————————————————————————

Notes:

Heya! I hope you guys like it, this is my entry to the @dianakko-week of this year, I apologize for any mistakes you may read English is not my first language and sometimes I mess up with my writing, anyways, Happy Dianakko Week 2020!

(Song that I listened in the background for this chapter: Here!)

#lwa #little witch academia #atsuko kagari #diana cavendish #diakko #diana x akko #dianakko week #dianakko #childhood friends

57 notes · View notes

myveryownfanfiction · 4 years

Photo

Chapter 4

It had been a couple of weeks since Billy and I had confessed our feelings for each other. Being one of the few patients who was able to help out, Nurse Ratched had enlisted me along with Billy, Taber, Cheswick, and Harding to decorate the day room for Halloween. Billy and I were currently hanging paper bats from the ceiling around the nurse’s station. I laughed as Billy gently rocked the chair I was standing on.

“Billy Bibbit!” I laughed as the chair rocked a little harder and I started to lose my balance. I reached out and gripped Billy’s shoulders to keep me upright. “Quit it Billy!” He smiled up at me as he wrapped an arm around my legs and harshly rocked the chair again. My eyes widened as I lost my balance completely. I closed my eyes before realizing Billy was keeping me upright.

“I g-g-got y-you.” Billy smiled as he helped me down gently. I shook my head at him as I turned towards the nurse’s station door. Knocking on it, I handed the remaining bats and tape to Nurse Ratched.

“All done with those.” I smiled at her, having finally got in her good graces. “Anything else for us to do?” Billy joined me and looked at Nurse Ratched expectantly. Using our closeness, he discreetly put his hand on my back. I leaned into it and smiled at Billy when Nurse Ratched turned around to pick something up.

“The two of you could go outside and put these cobwebs on the bushes.” She said, giving Billy and I a look before handing us the fake cobwebs. Billy gathered them into his arms as I got the keys from Nurse Ratched. “Come right back in once you finish. No funny business.” Nurse Ratched gave Billy a look. He nodded before leading me out the door separating the dayroom from the rest of the institution.

“What was that look for?” I asked as I bumped shoulders with Billy. He looked at me with a small smile.

“I t-turned to to r-run aw-away once.” He admitted. “I d-didn’t g-get f-far.” I nodded and looked around before unlocking the door to the outside. I smiled as the breeze hit my face and blew through my hair.

“That’s ok.” I turned towards Billy, allowing my smile to grow. “At least tried.” He laughed as he handed me a few of the cobwebs. We joked and laughed as we made the front bushes look like they had been covered. It didn’t take as long as we had hoped and we had to go back in. “So Halloween is coming up,” I trailed off. Billy nodded as he locked up the outside door.

“Y-yeah. S-so wh-what?” He asked. I blinked at him.

“Are you really not a Halloween person?” I asked in shock. Billy shook his head.

“N-not r-really.” He shrugged and put his arm over my shoulder as we walked down the hall back to the dayroom.

“Billy, I’m sorry but that’s a little bit of a deal breaker for me then.” I deadpanned before taking the keys back from him. I slipped out from under his arm and started further down the hall. Once I had gotten halfway down the hall, I turned to look at Billy. I started to laugh at the look on his face.

“Are are y-you s-s-s-s-serious?” Billy had trouble getting the sentence out. My laugh stopped and I raced back to him. I took his face in my hands and gently rubbed circles into his cheeks.

“No.” I shook my head as I made sure to make eye contact with him. “No. Never.” I pulled him in for a hug. “I was joking. It was a bad joke.” Billy nodded against my shoulder. “I’m sorry Billy.” I whispered as I ran my fingers through his hair. I pulled back and cupped his cheek before wiping a stray tear away. “I really am.”

“I b-b-believe y-you.” He nodded. I shook my head and made up my mind.

“I’m gonna make it up to you.” I slid my arms around Billy’s neck. His hands automatically went to my waist. I smiled at him while he cocked his head to his side. He looked so cute when he did that. I gently tugged him closer until I could feel his breath on my lips.

“(Y-Y/N)?” Billy whispered. I looked in his eyes and saw he knew what was going on. I nodded and Billy closed the gap, pressing his lips against mine for the first time. I smiled nervously at him as we pulled away. Billy smiled before leaning in and kissing me again. “I l-like th-that.” I giggled as I pulled him into another hug.

“Come on.” I gently tugged him back towards the dayroom. “Before Ratched has a cow.” Billy laughed and followed me. We went back into the room and I stopped at the nurse’s station to give Nurse Ratched her keys back. “Anything else you need Nurse Ratched?” She shook her head and I smiled at her before joining Billy at the card table. Taber dealt me in and we played until Nurse Ratched called us to the daily meeting. Billy and I took our seats before Nurse Ratched called us to attention.

“Today we are going to be talking about Halloween.” I smiled at Billy and he rolled his eyes. “(Y/N), looks like you have something to say about it.” I shrugged.

“I mean Halloween’s my favorite holiday so I guess.” I smirked over at Harding, who was sitting there with his mouth open like he had been about to say something. Nurse Ratched smiled to herself at my childish antics.

“Why is that?” She asked me. I was practically bouncing in my seat.

“I mean for one the obvious candy.” I ticked off my fingers. “Then there’s the fact that it is the one day in the whole year that you can dress up and pretend to be someone else. There’s the parties and the traditions like carving pumpkins and hanging decorations.” Billy smiled at my enthusiasm. “Oh!” I exclaimed as I looked over at Billy. “I nearly forgot the horror movies! You get to sit around all day and watch horror movies before going out with everyone one else either to trick or treat or go to a party!” Nurse Ratched nodded her head as she made some notes. I was fully aware that she was marking down my over enthusiasm for horror movies but I could care less. Everyone had their vices. Horror movies were mine.

“And what about all that violence and gore?” Harding cut in. I turned towards him and cocked my head.

“Scared of a little blood and guts Harding?” I asked in a baby tone. “Afraid the boogeyman is gonna get you?” Some of the circle laughed as Harding’s face turned red. “All it is is basic corn syrup dyed red and plastic guts. Nothing scary at all about it.” I shrugged. “Besides if you honestly think any of that is real, well maybe you do belong in here.” Nurse Ratched cocked her head at me.

“You don’t believe any of it is real?” She asked me. I shrugged again.

“I mean sure while you are watching it and your adrenaline is going and its pitch black out and there’s no one in the house but you. But once it is over and the lights go on and you surround yourself with people, it was just an experience you had. No different than say,” I paused and tapped my chin thoughtfully. “Having sex with your wife.” I looked over at Harding with a smirk. He was fully red in the face and glaring at me. Billy was hiding behind his hand as he laughed and Taber was openly amused at my dig at Harding.

“Anyone else have an opinion on the topic?” Nurse Ratched moved the conversation along while the three of us struggled to get ourselves under control. I zoned out for the rest of the meeting, relishing in the fact that I was able to get Harding so worked up. “Alright. That’s the end of the meeting today. Remember we have a small Halloween party before the end of the day and I would like to see everyone there.” We all got up and put our chairs back where we had gotten them.

“You guys ever have a Halloween party here before?” I asked as Billy and Taber sat down at the card table again.

“Once.” Taber said. Billy shook his head.

“M-must h-have b-b-been b-b-b-before I g-got h-here.” Billy shrugged. Taber nodded in agreement.

“Almost destroyed the day room.” Taber chuckled. “I think someone got out. And I think someone tried to kill the Chief.” I looked at Taber in shock.

“Seriously?” I asked. He nodded. “Sounds like some party.” I rubbed my hands together. “I can’t wait until our party starts.” Billy rolled his eyes as I gave them my best evil smile. We played cards until the party started. Nurse Ratched had music playing for us and one of the other nurses brought cookies. One of the orderlies had brought punch for us as well. The three of us hovered around the nurse’s station for most of the party. Taber had said something in reference to the last horror movie that he had seen in theaters and it made me laugh so I tried to cover it with my drink. Billy laughed and shook his head.

“What about you (Y/N)? What was the last movie you saw?” Taber asked. I shrugged.

“Probably Psycho.” I took another drink. “It wasn’t that scary but it did mess with my head a little. Couldn’t look at a shower without throwing back the curtain for weeks.” Billy laughed and I gently hit his arm. “It’s not funny! You guys haven’t seen it! It’s pretty creepy!” Taber started laughing at my reaction.

“(Y/N)’s right.” Nurse Ratched joined our conversation. I waved my hand at her.

“See?” I laughed. “Thanks Nurse Ratched.” She nodded and went over to the TV to turn it off. The song changed and Billy looked at the small group that had taken up dancing in the middle of the day room.

“C-c-care t-to d-d-dance?” He asked me, holding his hand out. I smiled and put my hand in his. Taber took our drinks as we made our way to the dance floor. I wrapped my arms around his neck and let him pull me close by his arms around my waist. I buried my head in the crook of his neck and I felt Billy’s smile as we started to slowly dance. The song came to a close and Billy kissed my cheek before pulling away. We turned to walk back to Taber when we saw the look on Nurse Ratched’s face. I swallowed the lump in my throat while Billy squeezed my hand.

#Billy Bibbit #billy bibbit fanfic #billy bibbit imagine #billy bibbit x reader #billy bibbit fanfiction #Brad Dourif #brad dourif imagine #brad dourif fanfic #brad dourif x reader #brad dourif fanfiction #one flew over the cuckoo's nest #one flew over the cuckoo's nest fanfiction #one flew over the cuckoo's nest fanfic #one flew over the cuckoo's nest imagine

25 notes · View notes

neo-culture-mafia · 4 years

Text

IV. Sorry, My Dear

⚠️⚠️TRIGGER WARNING ⚠️⚠️

The following story contains themes of suicidal thoughts and addiction. Please do not read if you find these themes triggering in any way. Read this post before reading this piece of FICTION

Have you heard the story of the guy,

Who decided not to die?

"Another day at the office...another day in hell." Jae mumbled to himself. The black lettering seemed never ending as he moved page after page.

Everyone was long gone and he was left with his thoughts that reflected the current state of his desk: scattered and full on unwanted words.

"Come on, Jae. Let's go get drinks with Boss." Jae had mimicked the voices of the other associates that worked in the office today. "No. I'm good. Got to finish this work. Beep-boop-boop." He moved his arms in a robot-like fashion.

"Look at me. Working me life away. Jaehyun. That's my name." He moved the papers in random places. This would be Jae's 4th breakdown this week where he needed to tell himself to hold on until tomorrow.

Johnnny looked on in concern from behind the entrance wall. "No good, Jaehyun. Don't wear it out." Jae's hands waves over his head in a dramatic fashion as he pushed himself around in his wheeled office chair.

It wasn't until Johnny saw Jae's hands form into a gun shape that he intervened in the middle of his best friend's scary emotional outburst.

"Jae! There you are!" He rushed over and punched his friend's arm. The look in Jaehyun's eyes made Johnny uneasy. It looked like he had been caught which made him break more. "You almost finished? I wanted to catch a movie with you and maybe have a hangout night," Jae was taken aback by the energy outburst at 2 am.

He could only look at Johnny's excited face from where he sat in his chair, strands of hair obstructing only pieces of his vision. "I got the new Call of Duty and PubG for the console." Johnny's hands rummaged in his pockets till he pulled out his phone, his eyebrows wiggling fiercely. "It's only...2:17. We got all the time in the world."

Johnny picked up Jae's suit jacket that was thrown over the cubicle wall and the younger boy's heavy bag. "I'll drive." Johnny pulled Jae up and turned off his lamp.

They were in the darkness of the office and Jae was still shocked that he was caught before he got worse.

"What do you wanna eat? Steak? McDonald's? Junk food?" Johnny's rambling was tuned out of Jae's mind. He followed the taller man willingly down and out of the office building and to his familiar car.

"Uh...doesn't matter." Was the first thing that came out of Jaehyun's mouth. "Then we'll get everything." Johnny's laugh made Jae's heart swell with hope for the first time in weeks.

'Maybe next time,' he thought, 'I'll hang out with Johnny one last time.'

The car ride was filled with laughter and being in the cold air surrounding the both of them.

Johnny still wonders to this day what would've happened if he didn't walk in the time he did. He had been called to pick up the paperwork from Jae's desk but was met with a sad reality.

Jaehyun wanted to escape reality.

Just kill me in my sleep,

Smother me with pillows and kindness, in which I have never seen

This was it...this was the day. He's written the letters and found a place to go calmly. He was in a euphoric sense that nothing really mattered anymore.

He had been on cloud 9 all week as he's happily been overworked and no one ever asked how he had been doing.

Right now, he was just driving. Driving to take in his home city one last time.

The sun was setting when he came to Han River Park. The clusters of happy people congregated in small bursts of happiness and 'its okay' and 'everything will be alright's.

He parked and stood at the grass's edge. He took deep breaths as the air swept across his body calmly. "Everything is so beautiful." He whispered to himself as he watched the birds dance across the water with such grace.

The lump in his throat that made it home was beginning to ache. Yet, he swallowed his pride and continued looking over the people who would continue their own story's even after his had reached the end. The credits would roll and everyone would walk away from the theater without a second thought.

"I mean. I get that's it's pretty. But I haven't seen someone cry at the scenery since my last romance movie." He was snapped out of reality to see a girl standing next to him.

"Excuse me?" Was all he could manage to get out.

You chuckled, sticking your hand out. "Y/n." You introduced yourself and he was trying to not shake your hand, look the other way, and leave without another word being exchanged.

"Jaehyun." His actions spoke for him as he reached his hand out to meet yours. Your hand was soft and warm in his. A warmness and calm he hasn't felt in a while.

"I'm gonna go get some ice cream. Wanna come?" You barely knew him and we're asking him to accompany you to a sweet treat. "You don't know me." Jae got defensive, his arms crossing over his chest.

"I could be a murderer and you invited me for ice cream?" His questions had your face turn up. "Well I'm sure that murderers like ice cream too. So let's go." You grabbed his arm and pulled him down the long stretch of concrete. You walked and tried to match your steps with his long strides. Your arm cutely wrapped around his as you walked.

"So tell me about yourself, Mr. Jaehyun."

He figured living was just easier than falling really high

"We need to clean." You whined while rolling around in the vast bed full of messed up sheets and a relaxing Jaehyun. "Not now. I just wanna cuddle." He grabbed your body and held you close.

"No. We've been cuddling all day. We need to clean." You got up and pulling at his hands. "You can clean the closet and I can clean the rest of the room. Then cuddles." You reasoned and he groaned as he got up, giving into your wishes.

"Fine." He automatically sat on the ground and opened your shared closet doors.

"I'll be tidying up around here." You ruffled his hair and kissed the top of his head sweetly. "If you need anything just shout." He called as you exited the room to probably start on the kitchen.

Box after box of paperwork and more paperwork from the last 10 years of working in his like of work.

Your singing could be heard through your house as you comedically sang some of the greatest hits. His laughter broke through the apartment when your own voice shook with laughs.

He came upon some photo books with Polaroids of you and him. The last 2 years had been lived in a heaven like state. He hadn't touched alcohol and drugs like he was earlier in his life...before you changed him.

His physical and mental growth were apparent in the pictures as he flipped through the pages. Your hand drawn hearts and small journal entries under some photos had his heart beating rapidly with joy.

He put the book next to his side to look at later with you. His hand came across an unmarked cardboard photo box that had a thin layer of dust on it.

He jiggled the lid off and was met with envelopes. The letters. His notes to his bosses and his friends apologizing for what he was about to do.

Apologizing for the mess they were going to have to clean up in his apartment and in the office where his files would never be filed. Apologizing for giving up so easily and not serving out the rest of his life like he had sworn. Apologizing for not being strong enough to ask for help when he really tried to make it obvious. Apologizing to whoever had to find him after it was all said and done.

Apologizing for not saying goodbye.

"Hey. Do we have any tile cle- oooo letters. Who are they to?" Your voice had made Jae jump like when Johnny caught him that dark night in the office. Like he was caught doing and thinking stuff he shouldn't be.

"No one. Me. In 50 years. Y'know," he shrugged, tossing them back in the box and throwing them in the closet and standing up quickly, "time capsule thing me and the guys did." He shrugged it off and you could only nod.

"Well that's cool. Can't wait to see how you've grown." Your smile had his own lips mimicking in want. Wanting to have your blissful ignorance of what those letters really were.

"Oh yeah. Do we have any more tile cleaner?" You asked and he lead you out to the closet where he scowered the top shelves in search for the cleaning supply.

"You can have it. For a kiss." He held it above his head. You waste no time in kissing his cheek and pulling on his arm till you grabbed the cleaner and ran. His laughs chased your own as you both wrestled for a while.

Both of you laid on the living room carpet, just enjoying the close presence.

His heart was at peace.

I'm okay,

I feel a little bit sick

You had began to notice how Jae had been getting more dull. A year had passed since the night you pointed out the letters. It began to go all down hill from there.

He gave you the same love and affection he usually did, but his eyes held no emotion to big events outside. Alcohol had started to replace meals and sleep.

"Jae you need to eat." You laid a hand on his shoulder softly. "I'm actually going to go grab a drink with some of the boys." And like that. He was out of the apartment. Yet, everytime he came stumbling in the front door with a stench that could repel nuclear waste, you nurses him into bed. Setting an aspirin and water next to his head. Most nights didn't wrap up until 4 am when you knew he was home safe.

You slept with your arms wrapped strongly around his body, afraid he would try to get up and leave to drink again without you noticing.

Mornings would be a rough time as you awoke to a sick Jaehyun who couldn't tell left from right. You were there were comforting words and endless services if bet only asked.

His guilt ate at his chest till there was a free falling feeling that would cease when he took his first shot.

He knew he was getting bad again. He knew he needed to get help but everytime he woke up to face an aspirin and a cool glass of water, the guilt made him drink even more the next night.

He sometimes wished you would leave him to make this easier on you. He wished you would fall out of love and go to bed before he got home.

He wished you didn't introduce yourself in the first place.

But have you heard,

The story of the guy who decided not to die?

Jaehyun got clean again. He started being more present in reality and eventually returned to normal. Sometimes he did get carried away with the alcohol but you were there to help him put down the bottle.

He started openly hanging out with his friends in large gatherings where he didn't mind starting the conversation. He got addicted on life again.

You were all out on a big dinner. You and the other women of the mafia men gathered in the social room while Jae and his closest friends talked and joked around in the parlor.

"Want another drink?" Mark asked as he nudged Jae's elbow. "No I'm okay. I hit my limit for the night."

His friends were the most supportive people that he originally thought wouldn't be. Once be reached his limit, they all switched to fruity drinks followed by water. "So I need your guys' help with something." Jae smiled, taking the blue chalk and rubbing it on the worn end of the billiard's stick.

"What's up, dude?" Johnny asked and all the boys tuned into Jaehyun and his request. "I want to propose to y/n." He said and the room automatically erupted in shouts and cheers. "Sssshhhh." He tried to shush everyone. They remembered the presence of the women in the building and quickly shut up.

"Y/n said she wanted a wedding in the flower fields about.." Jae recalled the previous conversation he had with you. "2 hours from here?" He said and Hyuck automatically knew which ones he was talking about. "It's going to have to be a spring wedding!" He said excitedly and grabbing a pad of paper and a pen from his pocket.

"Alright, lover boy, spill." He said knocking all of the pool balls out of the way, "hey we were playing!" Doyoung protested and Hyuck could only write down the location of the fields, "I'm helping our brother get a wife. Go play with your balls somewhere else." He back handed which caused the room to erupt in laughter.

"Okay. Now. I'm going to need time to get the catering. I'm thinking pork," Hyuck rambled writing down the possible ideas, "or is she more of a chicken person?" he continued which caused some of the boys to chuckle at the wedding-excited nature no one knew Hyuck possessed in himself.

"Also I need to find a cake. I would make it myself but we all know that these beautiful hands would be wrinkly by the time I'm done icing cake for 500 people-" "500?!" Jae said loudly which caused Johnny to slap a hand over his younger friends mouth. "Well duh. That's a minimum." Donghyuck shook his head, drawing a picture of what the cake needed to look like. "amateur."

"I need to get the ring first." Jae said quietly and Taeyong piped in. "Don't even worry about it. I'll take you in the morning to the jewler's to pick out the bands and diamonds. Maybe you could get an engagement ring with her birth stone then the real ring with yours and your wedding band could have hers." Taeyong started rambling ideas, Hyuck writing lightning speed on the pad of paper.

"I call doing the gifts!" Mark and Jungwoo said at the same time. "I'm nominating myself as the planner." Hyuck said writing the roles down. "I'll get the tuxes for us." Taeil nominated himself for the job with a smile. "We need to get Yuta and the rest of the boys up here!" Doyoung brought up a good point.

"Yuta will just bring baby supplies. We're not telling him until a day before the ceremony." Hyuck pointed at the boys but was met with a hit upside the head from Johnny.

"I have to find out the color palette. I'll go to Renjun and then I'll go to Jaemin for the fireworks- Jisung will be the flower girl." Donghyuck kept rattling off things he needed to get done.

"Thank you for giving me this job. I won't let you down." He finally said, laying a hand on Jaehyun's shoulder.

"Better not. It need to be perfect for her. Perfection deserves perfection." Jae said and some gagged while other coo'd at his unwithering love you for you.

The chatty hustle didn't cease as Johnny patted on Jaehyun's shoulder. "You okay?" Johnny asked with a smile on his face. Jaehyun couldn't keep the smile off of his own face. "Never better. On cloud 9." He said and Johnny's heart eased from the constant fear of Jae not being here the next day. But he didn't need to worry anymore.

"I actually need to ask you." Jae said finally putting the polished stick down on the table. "Will you be my best man?" Johnny's eyes lit up like fireworks as he brought Jae in for a manly yet friendly hug.

"I'm so proud of you, Jaehyun."

I'm enamored with the thought of seeing angels in the sky singing,

Singing, "Everything's alright."

Jaehyun proposed the next week. You both went out to an amazing and fancy moonlit dinner where you both danced and decided to start this new journey together.

Then two days after the proposal, he relapsed the worst he has ever had. Johnny found him in your guys' apartment and immediately called you and everyone who he thought he could help.

It's now present day and you can only look at Jaehyun with guilt in your eyes.

The funeral was held in the flower fields you both planned to get married in. The day was cold and dark but he had never looked so happy in his final resting place. "I'm sorry I couldn't give you the happiness you craved." You kissed his cheek before the lid was finally closed.

Now the marble had been set in place and you were alone again.

"I'm not mad. I'm jus-just so...so sorry." You wept, reaching out for him.

"I read the letter and can only ask. Why?"

The only things he had left was a damn note with the words, 'Sorry, My Dear' signing off the page as if he deemed it enough. As if his love had a capacity limit.

"I'm sorry you-you thought I was going to leave you if you told me you were so un-unhappy with life." Your stuttering didn't come to a stop as you could only imagine tears streaming down his own cheeks wherever he was in the universe. The feeling of being ashamed sent you reeling down where you had to support yourself on your knees.

The silent sobs hurt your chest as you had this free falling feeling in your chest getting more deeper. It was as if someone was pounding your chest with a drum mallot. Your heart was breaking as you felt a hand on your shoulder. Yet, you knew no one was there.

"You promised me forever." Your voice was shaky as you brushed the stray pieces of grass away from the marble in the ground.

'Jaehyun. Found happiness in where ours couldn't reach.'

"And I promise, Jae. I will love you...forever."

"And I'm so proud of you for making it this far." You whispered, fingers tracing his name on the polished marble for what felt like the millionth time.

You laid on the ground next to his resting place and looked into the vast blue sky where you imagined him reaching down to you; his soft voice that he used to sing you to sleep with carrying you with him to where you both could live happily ever after. You lifted your hands up as the tears came down.

"You did well."

123 notes · View notes