#anyways i have 2 2 hour classes today from one side of the city to another and only an hour inbetween them to get from one to the other

[daily-riseleo]

[day 19]: JUMP!

[ladykailitha]

Across a Crowded Room Part 5

Here we go! The last chapter of this short story that was only supposed to take a couple hours and be absolutely light and fluffy.

*checks notes* yeah this thing was none of that!

But I hope you like the ending!

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4

****

Eddie found a table quickly. That was the best part about going in the morning on a week day. While the colleges were out, the school age kids were still in class so the zoo was practically empty.

He pulled out his phone to check any messages he may have gotten, when his phone lit up with Nancy’s number.

He sighed, wondering if he should just let it go to voicemail, but he figured he might as well rip the bandaid off.

“Hello!” he said.

“Eddie!” Nancy said. It was clear she was already irritated. “Did you hear that Robin is staying with some stranger when she moves out to New York?”

Robin had in fact called him after she called Steve because she was avoiding calling Nancy.

“It would be no different if she was moving into the dorms,” Eddie reminded her. “The girl she’s staying with is the cousin of one of her friends so she’s not a total stranger. Plus they talked first to see if they could tolerate each other enough to be roommates.”

Nancy sighed. “It’s just I was really looking forward to having her on my couch, you know? After Jonathan left me, I really wanted the company.”

Eddie pinched the bridge of his nose. After Steve opened his eyes last night, he was starting to see a pattern to Nancy’s relationships. She was in a word, a serial monogamist.

“Yeah,” he said instead. “But it’s good she has a place to move to right off the bat so she isn’t living out of a suitcase, like she has been all this week.”

Another sigh. “You’re right, of course. I just worry about her. She’ll be on the other side of the city and we won’t be able to see each other that often.”

Eddie silently cheered. “That’s too bad. Look, I’ve got to go, Steve’s due back any second.”

“So how is Steve these days?” Nancy asked. “I heard he graduated from college.” But the way she said it, she made it sound like a fucking miracle.

Eddie chuckled. “Things are great! We went apartment hunting yesterday and decided to go to the zoo today.”

There was silence on the line for a beat too long before she said, “It’s good you two are reconnecting.”

“Oh there has been a lot of connecting all right,” Eddie said with a smirk. “With our hands, our mouths, our dic–”

“What?!” she shrieked. “You and Steve are dating?”

He puffed out his chest in pride. “Yeah. We finally got on the page on Monday after I got into Chicago. It’s been really great.”

“And you’re already moving into together, isn’t that fast?” she asked, her voice quivering.

Eddie looked up to Steve smiling down at him. “Look, he’s here. I’ve got to go.”

“Edd–”

Nancy didn’t get to finish his name because he had hung up on her.

Steve rolled the cooler over to the table and hefted it onto its surface. “Nancy I’m guessing.”

Eddie blinked at him for a moment. “How did you know that?”

“Robin called me,” he muttered. “Said she was really upset that Robin was moving in with Cassie–”

“Chrissy, love,” Eddie gently corrected.

Steve snapped his fingers. “That was it, yeah. Chrissy. Anyway, Robin said Nancy was upset that she wasn’t staying her because she wanted ‘girl bonding time’ or some shit.” He started unpacking their food. “Like Nancy didn’t recently come out as bi.”

Eddie sighed as he got to work, too pulling out the plates and utensils. “You said we shouldn’t call Nancy last night to blast her, so I called Jonathan. I wanted to know what he said about their break up.”

“Yeah?”

“Mhmm,” Eddie hummed. “He told her wanted couple’s counseling because he felt like the relationship had become more unbalanced lately and he wanted to make it work out.”

Steve opened their sides and sat down next to him. “I’m guessing that went over like a lead balloon.”

Eddie took a chip from the bag and munched. “Pretty much,” he said around the chip. “So he gave her the ultimatum and she chose to break up.”

“I give her three weeks before she goes running back to him.”

Eddie snorted. “I bet she thought with Robin coming up to New York she could scoop up a new girlfriend.”

“I wouldn’t put it past her.”

They settled into a comfortable silence as they ate their food. They cleaned up and walked back to the car.

“This was a fun idea,” Steve murmured. “Even if Nancy decided to call and put a damper things a bit.”

“Yeah,” Eddie said. “But I’m glad you had fun today.”

Steve chewed his bottom lip. “Would you like to go to dinner with me to that Italian restaurant I was telling you about yesterday morning?”

Eddie’s eyes lit up. “Like a proper date?”

“Yeah.”

“Hell yeah,” Eddie said, pumping his fist. “I’ll drop you off at your place so I can shower and change. And maybe tonight you could spend the night with me at the hotel?”

Steve grinned. “That sounds like great idea Eds. I’ll pack an overnight bag and bring it with me to dinner. Is that okay?”

Eddie pulled him in for a deep kiss. “I’m game.”

****

Steve showered and shaved. Whistling a happy tune, dancing to the song to the music in his head.

His phone rang and he walked over to the counter to see who it was. He rolled his eyes when he saw it was Nancy.

He sighed. It seemed that she had gone the rounds with Eddie and Robin and having gotten no where with them, decided to go to Steve.

“Hey.”

“Steve,” Nancy said, her voice clipped. “Eddie spends two days in your company and suddenly everything has changed. And certainly not for better. So I have to ask what the hell did you say to them?”

Steve threw his head back and laughed. “You’re afraid I told them the truth about us.”

“There is no truth, Steve,” Nancy hissed. “You believed one thing and I believed another.”

“You can keep telling yourself that,” he said. “And Eddie and I got together when he got into town. We were to meet up for drinks. Originally he was supposed to get in around three and meet us for drinks at seven, but because of a tropical storm, his flight was delayed three times. So he got in, came to the bar, and kissed the hell out of me. I had barely got a hello out before we were kissing. So I literally didn’t have time to tell him anything.”

He could feel her brooding on the other end of the phone. “And as for Robin, when we met up for dinner after a disastrous apartment hunting her and Eddie commiserated about having to find a place in a new city. I suppose she was still feeling that when she spent the night at Kendra’s and told her all about it.”

The brooding intensified.

“Is there anything else you would like to accuse me of or can I go on my date with Eddie now?”

“That’s all,” Nancy huffed. “It just seems so sudden.”

“Life is like that,” he agreed. “And oh, never call me again. I’m blocking this number.”

He hung up and proceeded to do just that. He felt lighter than he had in days.

He grabbed his stuff and left the apartment with a smile on his face.

****

Eddie tapped on the wheel as he waited for Steve to come down. He was glad that things had smoothed out after that disastrous second day in ole Windy City.

The zoo was just what they needed to take their minds off of things.

When Steve came thundering down the stairs, Eddie wolf whistled. Holy fuck.

Steve was wearing a grey vest over a light blue button up, first three buttons undone, sleeves rolled up, and messily tucked into the tightest blue jeans Eddie had ever seen.

In other words, Eddie was doomed. He would be writing songs about Steve’s ass in those jeans for years to come. The boys were going to murder him, but god it would be worth it.

Steve opened the door and slid into the passenger seat, throwing his pack onto the back seat.

“You ready to go, baby?” Eddie asked brightly.

“Yup!”

Dinner was amazing. The conversation flowed as easily as Steve’s wine. Since Eddie was driving, he only had one beer that he nursed throughout the meal.

When they got back to the hotel, Eddie was relentless in his pursuit of Steve’s pleasure. He loved mapping out every freckle, every mole. Finding out which parts made him moan and which ones made him giggle.

Finding out he was ticklish under his right knee was a revelation to Eddie, because Steve would scrunch up his nose when he giggled and god, did that melt Eddie’s heart.

Sex was less intense then their first time, but more enjoyable for it’s learning of each other’s bodies.

They cleaned themselves up and got ready for bed. Eddie licked his lips when he saw that Steve didn’t bring any pajamas.

“Is this how normally sleep or is this a show just for me?”

Steve looked down at the one scrape of clothing covering his body and shucked off his underwear. “I usually just wear briefs to bed because our apartment is awful. It’s freezing in the kitchen and front room, but ass hot in bedrooms.”

Eddie eyed Steve’s body as he thought about joining him in the naked sleeping thing. “Why don’t you go full frontal?”

Steve snorted. “Robin.”

Eddie’s eyes snapped up to Steve’s. “Oh. Right. Roommate who doesn’t like man bits, not wanting to see said man bits even accidentally. Got it.”

“And depending on my next place I might need to sleep with five layers and twelve blankets or nothing at all,” Steve said with a giggle.

“Can I vote for nothing at all?”

Steve laughed.

They crawled into bed. Eddie had chosen to at least put on pajama bottoms because he didn’t like the idea of having his balls touch those sheets.

Once they were cuddled up in bed Steve murmured, “Nancy called me right before you showed up.”

Eddie sighed. “Because of course she did. What did she want?”

“To blame me for you two turning on her,” he explained.

Eddie frowned and moved back enough to look Steve in the eye. “What? I don’t think Robin and I said anything to that affect.”

“Oh I know,” Steve agreed. “But she thinks I tricked you into dating me and conjured Chrissy from thin air all to ruin her life.”

Eddie snorted. “Once you told me about the cheating I told Uncle Wayne about it, and he said that there were a lot of things off about Nancy that he had noticed over the years and wondered why I hadn’t seen them, too.”

Steve let out a long sigh. “Because she didn’t want you to see them. I don’t blame you for it.”

Eddie kissed him. “Thank you for that. But anyway, the point is that once he said that, it was like someone had turned on the light and could see everything so much cleared and everything was only ever for her benefit, she was just really good at making you feel like it was for yours too.”

He pulled Steve in close. “But the blinders are off, babe. I’m one hundred percent yours.”

Steve smiled. “That’s all I could ever ask for.”

Eddie kissed him soundly and then they settled into sleep.

****

Steve rarely slept in, but sleeping in Eddie’s arms apparently made his internal clock line up with Eddie’s instead.

He woke up and groggily looked at the digital alarm clock on the bedside table and blinked at it. He wasn’t sure, but he could have sworn it said 10:54am.

That couldn’t be right. He picked up his phone and nope. Apparently that was the correct time.

Then he realized what had woke him. Eddie came out of the bathroom with a fond smile on his face.

“Morning, sleepyhead,” he greeted, bending down to kiss Steve on the lips. “I’ve ordered us some food, but alas it has to be lunch at this point.”

Steve chuckled and slid out of bed. “I blame you entirely for that, by the way. I never sleep in like that.”

“It’s good for you,” Eddie grinned. “Especially after the roller coaster of emotions that has been the last few days. Your body needed rest, so you got it.”

Steve nodded. “I figure we can go out today and look at more apartments, if you’re up to it.”

“Sure thing, babe.”

There was a knock on the door and Eddie went to go answer it as soon as Steve was in the bathroom.

Eddie tipped the guy and they settled down to eat their brunch, such as it was.

While they ate, Eddie and Steve pulled up several different apartments that could work for them with their budget and made a list of out of the links based on how close they were to Eddie’s hotel.

Steve showered and got dressed. He packed up his stuff and threw it in the back seat of Eddie’s rental.

The first one was a bust. Literally. A pipe had burst the night before and the owner had been working on getting it fixed, so he hadn’t updated the site. It wouldn’t be livable for two months. Well past when Steve or Eddie needed to be moved in by.

So they moved on.

Crumby landlords, obvious signs of pests, and high prices struck again.

They stopped for dinner.

“Fuck,” Eddie groused. “I’m going to be making a fair amount, but not enough for these prices.”

Steve nodded. “It’s why I was living with Robin. Everything is just too expensive these days.” He chewed on his lip for a moment.

“Move in with me!” he blurted.

Eddie looked up at him with wide eyes.

“What?”

“We both loved that third apartment we saw,” Steve explained. “It had two bedrooms and two full baths. It had a nice kitchen and was already wired for internet. Neither of us can afford it alone, but...”

Eddie gulped and pursed his lips. “And you’d want that, with me?”

Steve nodded.

“Yeah,” Eddie said with a fond smile. “Let’s do that, then. You can move in right away and get things set up and then when I move to Chicago at the end of the month, I can just slide right in.”

Steve kissed him fiercely and then called the landlord.

Two hours later they were the proud renters of a brand new shiny apartment.

A lot of their friends thought that they were moving a little too quickly getting an apartment together, but Eddie and Steve knew it was the start of something wonderful.

And really that was the best outcome either one of them could have hoped to dream for when they had made plans for Eddie to come out to Chicago.

Robin and Chrissy got along so well, that before classes even started in the fall, Robin had moved into Chrissy’s bedroom and they turned the second bedroom into a dance studio for Chrissy.

Nancy tried getting back with Jonathan a month later as Steve predicted, but he told her to get therapy and moved back to California to be with his mom, who had retired out there.

Steve didn’t know if she ever got the therapy she needed, but he hoped she did.

Eddie’s band was making lots of great progress on their album and the company was getting ready to release their first single. A little song about finding love right when you needed it most.

Steve had gotten a teaching position at a middle school as their basketball couch and US history teacher.

He was happy with the life he had, he didn’t need to worry about the life he’d lost when he broke up with Nancy all those years ago.

It was too soon to think about marriage, but Steve had a ring that he had bought years ago that he thought would look good on Eddie’s hand. But they had time.

And wasn’t that just amazing.

****

Tag List: @mira-jadeamethyst @rozzieroos @itsall-taken @redfreckledwolf @emly03

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@useless-nb-bisexual @disrespectedgoatman @counting-dollars-counting-stars @tinyplanet95

[whorewriter-lol]

Create Those Ultimate Moves! (pt.2)

Since Aizawa walked in on mine and Bakugos’ fight, we were both sent to our dorm rooms early. I seethed in my bed, my earbuds blasting music in my ears while I tried not to burn my blanket with how hot my hands were. What the hell is his problem anyways? Aizawa wanted us both in his room early the next morning, so I decided to turn over and get some sleep.

I woke up groggy and still mad from the night before. I put on my uniform and got done with everything else before making my way to the main building. I sighed as I approached Mr. Aizawas’ room. Entering through the blue sliding doors I glanced around to find Bakugo sitting at his desk with his legs stretched across the table. I rolled my eyes and sat down waiting for Mr. Aizawa to show up. When he finally did arrive he called us both to come up to his desk. Then he started speaking.

“I want you both to understand that what you did was insubordinate. I should be suspending both of you, however, I’ve come up with a compromise. Today's class will be geared towards battle training and discovering your own  special move, something only unique to you, something that can't be copied.” He paused, stopping to study our faces “You two will be training together, since you’re so eager to fight one another. You’ll fight in a way that’s beneficial to myself and the both of you, and help each other learn more about your quirks.”

Are you, FUCKING kidding me? I was staring at Aizawa, face twisted into a look of shock. Before I could even gather my thoughts the living firecracker next to me interjected with his loud mouth.

“No way in hell I’m doing that! I-” Mr. Aizawa interrupted Katsuki before he could finish whatever bullshit he was going to spout out.

“You’ll cooperate or face expulsion.” He stared coldly at Bakugo, who seemed to back down with those words. Then, his angry red eyes turned to me. Katsuki inched his face closer to mine.

“I won't go easy on you” Then he shoved me with his arm “Out of my way.” My eyes fell onto Mr. Aizawa, I scoffed before quickly exiting the room.

About an hour later, we all met Mr. Aizawa at the training center. They were new so none of us had seen them. When we entered we found all types of different terrains, as we gazed around Aizawa started to speak. “These are your new training grounds, there’s things here that both suit and challenge your fighting styles. Your goal today is to…” I tuned him out since he had already told me and Katsuki what our goal was. I snapped my head at the sound of his familiar, annoyingly angry voice.

“Let’s get to work, I don't want to waste my time with you more than I have to.” He grabbed my shoulder and I immediately recoiled, scowling at him.

“Don’t touch me.” I glared, his gaze sharpened and I rolled my eyes. 

We walked on to one of the terrains, it looked like a city block. I looked around as I spoke “So, how are we star-” my question was cut short when I felt an intense blast of heat fly past my right side. I gasped and jumped back “What the hell!?” I snapped my head to look at him, my eyes wide with shock and irritation.

He smirked, all cocky and shit “Villains don't give warnings, don't let your guard down.”

“We’re training! You’re not supposed to try and kill me!” I clenched my hands into fists, gritting my teeth.

“Maybe, or maybe you’re just too slow to act quick enough! You’re not cut out to be a hero, pathetic.” Katsuki scoffed at me. I was gonna wipe that look off his face. My eyes narrowed and I took in my surroundings, I headed for a wall. Running, I charged up the flames in my body and pushed them out of my palms to accelerate me up the side of the building. With a grunt, I pushed myself off the wall and blasted him near his feet. I knocked Bakugo over before landing next to him, rolling over to pin him down.

“Not cut out huh?” I glared down at him. He looked shocked first, then angry.

“Get the hell off of me!” He grabbed my wrists and tried to force me off, I fought back but he overpowered me. I grunted as I felt my back slam into the ground. Then I gasped when I was lifted up by my suit. He held me there, hand raised behind him with sparks shooting from his palm. With a small yell, I grabbed his wrist and used my quirk to heat up my hands, burning him. He shouted and dropped me, holding his now red wrist. “I’m gonna kick your ass!” He charged me, hands raised with explosions already bursting from his palms. I shrieked as his hands made contact with my shoulders, opening my eyes to look at him curiously when nothing happened. He looked equally confused until we heard Aizawa.

“Bakugo, we’re training. Killing your classmates will get you more than an expulsion” Suddenly, I felt a tight fabric wrapped around me, immobilizing my body. I looked over to see the same had happened for Katsuki, I smirked smugly. Aizawa started talking again “you two won't ever be fit to work with agencies if you cant even work with each other. At this rate you’re both looking at bad publicity, not to mention qualifying for your provisionals to begin with.” He paused, stopping to rub at his eyebrows, he reminded me of my dad whenever me and my sister would fight “I’m going to have midnight come over here and supervise you two, i’d do it myself but i’d rather spend this class working with students who are willing to succeed.”

My eyes lit up “Mrs. Midnight!?” Smiling brightly, I jumped about as much as I could with Aizawas’ scarf binding me. Katsuki scoffed and I whipped my head to look at him “She could beat you any day, don't act so high and mighty Kats” I grinned wickedly. He started to try and fight his restraints which made me laugh.

“You shut the hell up! I could kick your ass and still have enough energy to tear her down!”

“Tear who down?” her familiar, sultry voice loomed over us. We both turned our heads and there she was.

“You! You damn-” He was muffled as more of Aizawas’ scarf wrapped around his mouth. I busted out laughing until I felt one come around my mouth too.

“You’ll do as she tells you, unless you’d rather stay here all night with me to work on your cooperation with each other.” He slowly unwrapped the both of us.

Katsuki scoffed next to me and I leaned over to punch him in the gut “Shut up damn it!”

“Okay kiddos! Let’s get to work!” Midnight wrapped an arm around each of us, grinning at me.

I was totally sore after training, groaning as Mina, Jirou and I relaxed in Minas’ dorm. 

Jirous had an ice pack pressed against my back where my skin had started to peel from Katsukis’ blasts. “God I can’t stand him! And now we have to train together!? I mean come on, he totally fucked me up on purpose!” I crossed my arms.

“Hey at least you know he actually sees you as worthy competition, he wouldn’t give anyone but you, Ochaco, and Izuku a second thought” Mina shrugged, taking a sip from her juice box.

“Whatever, I hate him either way” I shook my head.

“I don't know, I think you guys would make a cute couple!” Mina giggled, kicking my leg playfully with her foot. In a second, I had a pillow flying at her face, a pillow fight ensued, and I forgot all about the day's troubles, but really? Me and Katsuki, a cute couple? Yeah right.

[lawain-dimensional-heroes]

"...Time flies, huh... Guess...This is the day."

Drabble - Final Concert(?)

The day started off like normal, everyone in the house went out of bed on time, had their normal breakfast and all that before heading off to school. This was a special day, a potentially sad day, but a special day nontheless.

Where normally Maroon and Hanaka were parkouring, now with the last day, with the three Vocaloids having lived together with them for so long they've decided to walk with each other, maybe for one last time, with the twins walking next to each other and Miku, while on the other side Hanaka was walking next to Maroon and he next to Miku.

"...So, today's the day," Maroon spoke up as he looked at the sky, his hands resting behind his head. He was about to say something, but looking at the three's faces it was clear what the atmosphere was going to be.

"...Right.. Sorry." He lowered his hands as he continued to walked more upright rather than laid back. Two more familiar faces came to join on their way to school: Akari and Tsukine. The two were talking quietly to Hanaka while the other four remained silent.

"...Did something happen, Hanaka?" Tsukine spoke up, before Akari responds.

"It's their last concert, Tsukine."

"Oh I know it's their last concert," she responds. "It's just that they seem so...Dead on the inside."

"...Seems it's their way of coping with what's to come." Hanaka spoke up. "They're idols after all, they are pretty popular and not only that but they're not from Lawain City. Add that to the 2 years of being here and the relationships they have with a lot of us now and--"

"Hanaka." Maroon spoke up, overhearing the three's conversation. His face was serious, a similar kind of serious she saw when danger was around the corner. She knew why he was looking at her like that, so with a nod, she was silent. The two tried to ask why, but Hanaka tried to shush them, before pointing at the three's expressions. Tsukine sighed, wanting to think of a way to cheer them up, but in the end she decided it's best to be silent.

Once they were near the park, Maroon spoke up.

"...Rin, Len. You two are going to the secondary school, correct? If you take the path here on the left you'll be there on time. Hanaka, Akari, Tsukine. Can you two accompany them to their school this one last time?" The three girls nodded before the five waved goodbye, leaving only Maroon and Miku heading to school.

As they were heading to school, Maroon looked at her, her face as stoic as if she had no emotions whatsoever. A moment of silence came before he decided that if it was the last day, he rather want to head there whilst holding her hand than to act like they weren't in a relationship anyway, so with that, he walked closer to her and wrapped one arm around her waist whilst holding her hand.

"..." He looked at her direction and noticed she was finally looking at him again. They didn't exchange words, but their eyes already told each other the story.

Once they arrived at school, Hanaka and their friends arrived just in time before school started. And with that bell ringing, Miku's last school day started.

The atmosphere of the class was unusually calm. Mostly the classmates were talking here and there from time to time, but not this time. This time everyone was calm, like there was tension surrounding the class.

Once lunch break happened, they were allowed to have lunch outside of the school building, but with Maroon, Miku and co they were on the rooftop eating lunch and even then, they were silent. In Miku's mind, she was monologuing.

'...Only a couple of hours, then another lunch break, then 2 hours more until school ends...After that, it'll be time time to say goodbye to my classmates...I'm going to miss them.'

And with that, a familiar voice echod in her mind.

'....And they will miss you too.'

"!?" Miku turned to look at the one who she knew where that voice belonged to: Maroon's, who was softly sighing, before looking back at her, what the voice said got her to cry. She decided to cling to him Maroon meanwhile wrapped one arm around her once more. gently letting her lean more to him.

Once lunch break ends they continued to study till the next lunch break. And then continued studying once the second lunch break ended.

Once that final bell rang, they were leaving school, but it wasn't a normal end. No, once Miku and the group were outside they saw the whole school making way for them-- for her. Words were unclear as each schoolmate said something different from the other, but the ones that were audible were that of encouragement.

"Do your best out there!" and "Knock it out of the park!" were one of the few that could be heard. Maroon and Hanaka were almost expecting her to cry, but like there's a switch flipped in her mind, she was...Smiling? It almost seemed like she wasn't worried about it at all.

Once they were heading to the center city area where the concert was going to be held, they were met with the twins, greeting the group calmly. The two had a calm smile to them, but their eyes? Almost lifeless. Maroon noticed and recognized that look anywhere, before he turned to look at Miku's face. She had that smile still, but her eyes were just as devoid of life...

Those eyes confirmed it. That happiness was an act in front of the schoolmates, which did cause him to be stunned in silence.

The whole way was silence once more. All the way until they arrived at the concert in question. The same concert where it all began, only there weren't fans waiting in the line yet as it was too early.

"...Well then..." Maroon spoke up as he looked at the building in question. "...Here we are. The time is almost upon us...And by us I mean you three." He looked at the twins and Miku. Miku nodded slowly before checking in her bag.

"Hold on-- let me give you all something."

She pulled out four tickets from her bag. They were tickets to the very concert they were standing near to.

"...V.I.P seats. Hopefully you can all enjoy the performance. Just...Enjoy it. We'll go out with a bang I promise. I'll be fine. We'll be fine..."

"Meek's right," Rin responds with a nod. "This isn't our first rodeo after all. Probably won't be our last." And then Len spoke up. "We've dealt with situations like this too, even if this is a bit different from our last one."

"...Right, now all we need is Rin taking a military drone and me trying to catch it again and we'll be back to square one." Maroon joked.

Rin flinched at that joke, a shine in her eyes showed for a moment. "H-hey, why'd you say that all of a sudden!"

"...There it is." Maroon responded, noticing the life in her eyes return as he ruffled her head a little bit. Rin almost wanting him to stop but she couldn't as he cheek reddened a little bit of embarrassment. Maroon meanwhile had small cocky grin on his face as he nodded a tiny bit. "Just enjoy yourselves and we'll enjoy your performance. Okay? That goes for everyone of you...And especially you too." That last part he looked at Miku, who was looking at him for a while.

The two were silent once more, waiting for one to speak up. But the one who spoke up wasn't either of them, it was Tsukine.

"...If you two need to bang each each other, there's still time for that."

The two flinched at that, while Akari and Hanaka couldn't help but chuckle at that comment.

"Okay, we can come early, but it's no time bed talk, okay?" Maroon responds, cheeks a bit red but other than that reacting normally.

"Okay okay," Tsukine responds, chuckling a bit. Miku and the twins looked at eachother with a raised eyebrow, wondering why the behavior, before bundling it up to as another coping mechanism.

Maroon patted Miku's shoulder before taking a couple of steps back. "...Do your best out there. Once that's done, we can celebrate, right?"

"..." Miku and the two were silent upon that question...But in the end Miku nodded. Without saying anything else, Miku stepped inside the concert, with the twins following soon after they waved goodbye at the four.

With the three now away from the four, the heroes and guardian can finally speak on their mind.

"...They're hurting." Tsukine said. "You can just see in their eyes. The dead look while faking a smile, not to mention we saw Miku literally crying at school."

"..." Maroon nodded at that comment. "...Yes. They've been living in here for months if not two years by now. Miku seemingly being affected the most out of the three."

"Gee, I wonder why." Hanaka responds, eyeing at her brother. The other two females looked at him too. Maroon noticed the three now eyeing at him.

"O-o-okay, maybe I wanted to spend a bit more time with her than usual, but can you blame me!? Especially these last few days too!! I know Miku is going through a lot, but it's not like I alone was the reason-- okay sure maybe a bigger reason but not the only reason!"

Akari sighed, lightly pinching the bridge of her nose. "...Still, she's going to through a lot today."

"...Trust me Akari. I know she's going through a lot...But I also know that she wouldn't want me to worry about her...But something tells me that won't stop her from breaking down and cry...I just hope she knows to stop when she needs to."

Meanwhile in the green room, the three were already dressed, but they didn't say much to each other. Len was leaning against the wall, Rin was on a chair, wrapping her arms around her legs and Miku was just rubbing her arms, her fingers slightly twitching here and there.

"..." Len normally wasn't the one to talk much, but in this situation he felt like needed it.

"...You know, in these two years...Even in the first day-- we didn't really treat this as just another set of concerts to go through including the free days, did we?"

He got no response out of them. Miku was silent and even Rin, who he knew would speak a lot is silent. Knowing the atmosphere of it all and how they're feeling, he let out a sigh, a little bit frustrated about them.

"Right, this is why the manager never wants us to make long lasting friendships with anyone outside of our work circle. We get too attached to the point where we don't want to leave. And worst of all, one of us has more than just friends now."

Rin give him a very light punch on his shoulder, causing him to flinch. But it was clear to him that she wasn't in a good mood either. All three of them weren't.

"...But we're too close to call it quits now. We can't delay it, now can we..?"

The sun was setting, the three girls outside of the concert were already dawning their hero outfits. As for Maroon? He was dawning his royal attire that he got from his big sister and her family. By now the crowd of people are starting to gather infront of the ticket booth. It's only a matter of time till the concert begins.

The people in the crowd meanwhile did notice them-- they were known figures in the city after all, being heroes and all. Even Maroon had some attention, regardless of his former reputation, with him now having a reputation of a prince.

"Excuse me, are you all the genuine heroes of this city?" One bystander spoke up. "Sorry, sir- my liege-- have you come to see the concert as well?" The other said. Soon they had a small group surrounding them. The group was surprised to se the attention.

"U-uhhh, I guess we're famous here, huh...?" Hanaka spoke up, nervously chuckling to herself. "What do you expect? We're heroes after all." Akari responds, "We're bound to gain some attention or two." "True, but still..." Hanaka looked at Maroon and Tsukine who weren't taking it too badly. "...At least some aren't affected by it much."

"Yes, I have," Maroon responds to the other bystander. "We were just about to enter and it'll be really nice if everyone can make way, alright? W-we are in a bit of a time cramp here."

"Time cramp right." Tsukine responds with a raised eyebrow.

This attention didn't last long. Soon enough they had room to get inside. As they were walking, memories of the time the three spent with them all flashed back in their minds. From just meeting the, to the first concert, to having them experience the heroes in action, etc. to the last few months...

And it has all come down to this very day. The VIP seat wasn't the front row seat, but one of the hanging platforms on the sides. Why it was on the sides who knows, but they had a free seat picked by Miku.

Akari and Tsukine were partly excited for it regardless of the situation, mostly because it is their first time seeing them perform on stage, while Hanaka was looking a bit concerned, before looking at her brother who had his arms crossed, looking at the center stage waiting for the performance to reach a certain point.

The performance took a bit to get going, but once the start it looked as if everything seemed to go smoothly. The crowd went wild and it seemed like the three had it under control. While Akari and Tsukine were joining in the hype, the way Maroon was calmly observing the performance didn't make Hanaka feel any more at ease. Maroon leaned against a small crack in space time he used as a wall as he kept observing.

"...Is something wrong, Maroon?"

"...Look closely at their faces-- or rather the quick glances they give to her." His eyes squinting as his pupils sharpened. "...Watch. We might have to help her out soon."

"But how--" Hanaka asked.

"...We'll just have to wait and see."

A couple of songs were of the three, then with the two. The fun seemed to continue...

Then it was time for Miku to be solo on stage, the star herself. But she always wanted to say things first before she continued to perform and today was no exception. So here she was, centerstage, with the twins watching from the backroom. While the twins exchange glances, it was clear from their expressions that they weren't confident.

"...Do you think this is the tipping point..?" Rin asked to Len. "...Unless she can keep her mind in the game? Likely..."

Silence surrounds the concert for three seconds as the tealnette took a few seconds to calm herself before speaking up.

"...Thank you, everybody! Thank you all for coming to see this performance in this city. It has been a blast performing for you all here and it has been a blast experiencing the wonderful things this city has to offer."

It al seemed fine so far, nothing seemed wrong....

"Two years really flew by and I couldn't be more happy to have performed for you all. Two years. A lot can happen in such a short time. I've met some great friends in here, friends who I never expected to end up to be so amazing and..."

...Until the hard part came.

"..And I...I..."

Silence came from the crowd. At first, it seemed like to the crowd it wasn't sure what she was going to say.

"...Am going...To miss..."

But as moments passed, it started to become more audible, sniffing, audible talking turned into wimpers. It started to become clearer what was going on.

"....ALL. OF. THEM."

The reality of her time in Lawain City being nearing it's end was setting in her mind, realizing that her heart was never ready for this moment, no matter how much she may wish it was the case.

Everyone but the wimpering idol taking center stage was quiet. Those on the front row were see what was on her face and it already was clear to the group what was on her face.

This last performance was broadcasted live, making it known not only to the people of the concert or the people of Lawain City, but across not only this world, but multiple worlds, maybe through the whole universe that this idol was at her breaking point.

But she had to push on, even if it hurts.

"...So I'm...."

The worst part? Memories of the past 2 years being in Lawain city was rushing in her mind, as if her body is reminding her that all these moments she have had on this planet is just temporary and the friends she has made she can only visibly see them for at least today and probably at best a day or two extra.

On the VIP seat, the girls were already talking to themselves on what to do, before they were going to ask Maroon, but he wasn't present. They knew exactly what he is doing right now.

"...I-I...."

her mind overflowing with these moments to the point where her fear was taking ahold of her. It became visible, very visible now, that accompanied by the sniffling and the wimpering...Were tears. And as much as she was trying to be prepared for this moment...

"...CAN'T DO IT!!!"

She screamed as she had to let that go, before she was on her knees, her head lowered as she can't even muster the courage to let the audience see her face.

All of this was too much for this was her breaking point. By now she had dropped the mic which rolled to the side. The twins were about to step up and try and help her, but they heard the door being kicked open. And they knew who was the one the moment they saw that familiar blonde haircolor.

"B-brother--" Len spoke up, "What're you doing here? You should be-"

But by then he already walked passed the twins and went onto the stage.

The crowd suddenly noticed him entering the stage, making his way forward, all the way to her. He was kneeling before the idol. With his dual reputation, the crowd was more confused than anything, but watches what is going on.

Looking at her tears, her fear having come to light, Maroon gently felt her left her cheek. He could feel the tears dripping from her face before softly speaking.

"...Hey, Miku." He lightly wiggled his thumb, rubbing her little cheek a bit. With the tears she's shedding it was hard to see for her who it was, but even then the silhouette was clear who it was. So instinctively, she clinged to him again. burrying her face against his chest. This in return made him wrap one hand around her.

"...Can you go on?" A question with an obvious answer. He could feel her head shake. Without much to say, he looked for the mic she dropped, once he found it, he picked it up, before he tried to stand with her. He turned to look at the silent audience while Miku, who still was in tears and covering her face, was now looking away from the audience.

"...As much as this performance would last a bit longer, we have some pressing matters to attend to. We apologize for the abrupt ending. I hope you all understand what she is going through and we once again apologize for the sudden ending and we still wish you all have a fine night. Goodnight everyone and we hope to inform you all soon."

And with that, he walked with her to the back rooms, before he and the twins and soon the rest of the friend group was around to comfort the girl.

This didn't end with a banger or at a satisfactory note, no...

It ended with the #1 idol breaking down live, crying out of fear of leaving her new found friends and family.

[mayra-quijotescx]

Made it to and from the gallery on public transportation today, proving to myself It Can Be Done and I am a Strong and Independent Possum Who Need Not Get In A Car.

And I am satisfied with the knowledge that I can do this and it's only (i know, i know) like 2.5-3 hours out of that day.

but good lord.

(whining under the readmore)

Every step of the journey felt like a goddamn song by Muse from the aughts with how unsubtly and copiously it beat me around the ears with how profoundly shitty our society is.

first of all, we have a 7-mile trip taking an hour and 15 minutes each way in a major city. Even in other parts of the US, that's rightly regarded as absurd. Local Route is once every 30 minutes and mandatory to reach Trolley, on which I spent most of my journey, and from Trolley I had a fifteen-minute walk through one of the most desolate neighborhoods within the Loop to reach Gallery.

METRO has a $1.25 fare expectation of riders (having a Q Card helps because then you can stretch that fare across multiple buses instead of having to dump change at every bus you get on.) It also wastes an exorbitant amount of its budget (probably more than it gets from the fares itself, though I can't prove it) on hiring fare inspectors, whose sole purpose is to swan about on our laughably tiny trolley network harassing anyone who looks poor to make sure they paid before getting on the trolley, and to write them $75 tickets if they didn't. (I carry an extra Q Card in case this happens in front of me, and have had to intervene in such a way three times in the last year. And I don't go outside much.) Coming and going, there were three hanging about in each trolley car I was in, so I felt like I had to be vigilant the whole time.

By the time I reached [Trolley drop off point] on the towards-gallery part of the trip, I was glad for the 15-minute walk ahead of me because it meant I could clear my mind from what was a very loud trip... until the walk took me from the bail bondsman mini-district into the area directly around Gallery, which is getting flipped up into a dumping ground for new real estate investment properties despite having no nearby grocery stores, no immediate-vicinity bus routes, one food place (costly brunch joint that may or may not be a side hustle of Close Proximity Bail Bond Office #2), and downright fuckall else. There's a hastily-kludged bike line if that sweetens the deal, which I walked in for the final stretch due to the sidewalklessness of it all.

There are a couple of other gallery/studios embedded amid the runaway construction of Generic Luxury Apartment Block No One Can Afford #8953-8957, and one mostly built Generic Luxury Apartment Block No One Can Afford, lazily named "The Artist" after the class of people least likely to be able to make rent there. Lest one accuse it of being a mere unoriginal clone of 50 other similar giant boxes found in the turbogentrified Greater Heights/Montrose area, there's a small piece of genuine vintage railroad track installed out front between the sidewalk and the pothole-studded road. The piece of track leads to nowhere and connects nothing. It's too obvious to write a poem about.

I would be hopeful that all this runaway development would at least bring more people to the vicinity of Gallery and the nearby studios, but again, these look like additions to the investment/tax dodge portfolio for some rich jackoff who's like as not to have never set foot in Houston, not places that real people are going to be able to live in.

Anyway, I'm home safe, and was at least able to immediately launch myself into the shower after sweating buckets from 30 minutes of walking around in 75F weather in February, which I won't dwell on because I might get fully seized by a climate doom spiral if I do : )

[andthebubbles]

so uh i’m kinda getting the urge to make a lot of seb gifs; i also still wanna change my ao3 icon/make a seb gif for it (i know exactly what i want) ... i also am getting the urge to write... and i also wanna play cities skylines. perhaps i should do one more day of CS, and tomorrow i’ll probably have more of that nagging feeling of wanting to write? (i also have Actual Work to do, but it’s not urgent, and it’s really boring, so it’s not being done sksjnkfjgnfkg)

so there was one day where i only played CS for a few hours, so i never made a progress report/post on it.

ETA: have some pics!! i took screenshots, i forgot i did:

the SPUI! ^

and from above:

(i should probably change the big roads colour to match the highways... later...)

i also got rid of the flowers on the roundabout... and actually today i can replace the cobblestone one way road with a normal tarmac road:

and i did line markings for this junction, but it’s out of date now/i upgraded it yesterday to 3+2 lanes going up to Hill (and forgot to take a screenshot), so, yeah:

also i had my first fire. not bushfire lol. i don’t mind fires ig but hmm i thought the spread was just a bit too far/unrealistic. however, idk, i’ll leave it for now/not look for a mod

ANYWAY, as for yesterday, well i spent most of the day playing CS haha... even though the anarchy mod broke gkfjngkfjkfdj. anarchy makes your life so much easier... plus i couldn’t do some stuff yet without that mod so i just left it unfinished. anyway i hear it’s working again so hopefully when i start up/get into the game, it all works fine!

okay, pics time:

overview!

i mostly worked on Bottom last night. i gave it a metro station, which i may change to a train station... idk yet. not really clear how i should use metros tbh because we only got metros really recently

Bottom is looking bottom-ey:

the metro station! i went and got some non-vanilla ground metro stations, i’ll see if they’re nice/work and if i like them i’ll swap this one out. also i have a bus terminal for future use/i’ll need it

yeah i still don’t know exactly what i wanna do with the Services 1 district/how big/small to make it:

so i made this lil thing and i thought it was nice!

some terraces at Far Bottom:

i seriously love RICO rn

i made a metro depot/repair yard (yeah i know it doesn’t look right with those tracks, that’s why idk if i’m keeping it as metro (if the tracks i got today with wires overhead work, then yeah maybe) or changing it to trains (after the train traffic jams i got in my previous big city, i wanna stick to metro, or have train lines entirely separate from the intercity/cargo ones)):

more terraces at Bottom (the uglier/more industrial side of it):

and rundown tiny houses (sort of like those old working class cottages before they got all spruced up in the 2000s or something here):

and this is central station... although, again, it might be completely changing depending on whether i pick metro or trains for the main rail transport within the city...

gonna put an intercity bus terminal around here too. and a big tram interchange when i get the trams in!

okay that’s all for now!

[vulpeskorsak]

Day 16 of Whumptober 2022: Twitching whiskers

Day 16 of Whumptober 2022!  

No. 16 NO WAY OUT

Mind Control | Paralytic Drugs | “No one’s coming.”

Timeline-wise my current shorts go: Day 2 -> Day 15 -> Day 5 -> Day 16 -> Day 1 -> Day 13 - > (Day 4 -> Day 9*) -> Day 3 -> Day 7 -> Day 8 -> Day 6 -> Day 11 -> Day 12 -> Day 14

*Day 4 and 9 do not happen in the same AU where Ludwig exists.

Day 10 is a modern AU.

Victor is my human fleshsmith inventor (KibblesTasty Homebrew class) from a long-running DnD adventure.

Lady Lourencia “Caiman” Doe was his lover, a noble woman secretly running the biggest gang in the sea-side city they live in, who is able to transform into a large anthropomorphic caiman.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/42505074 (AO3 link)

Twitching whiskers

“I am unsure why you don’t just relax and rest.” Victor shakes his head, circling the surgery table to get to the cabinet at the back of the room. “Paralysis is not something that can be broken through sheer will or whatever it is you are trying to do. It’s not like a put you under a spell. It’s just chemistry.”

The tabaxi woman tries to glare at him but fails at turning her head. All she can do is move her facial muscles slightly. Enough to open and close her eyes. Maybe she should follow her captor’s advice. Save her strength. But everyone has always told her she is stubborn. And she is not about to prove them wrong.

She tries to move something once again. Her whiskers twitch for a few seconds but not a single useful muscle does.

She should not have come here. She was told the doctor is pretty much a harmless pushover. She was clearly lied to. The man is cunning and ready to defend his clinic. The moment he noticed her he just threw something on the ground and a gas filled the room. She was able to escape into the corridor and almost reach the door when her knees buckled and she fell. The doctor followed her calmly. No mask, no respirator covering his face. The gas had no effect on him for some reason.

And now she is lying on his surgery table. Not even strapped to it. This tells her of his confidence in the gas. Or his ability to apply more of it when it starts wearing off.

She has no idea what he plans on doing to her. It has been an hour and nothing really happened. He just went about his business. Tinkering with something at his workbench. Hopefully, he is not working on a torture tool. But she cannot really see.

“My dear… whatever your name is, you really should take a rest. Your fate will be decided soon.” He informs her. “So save your strength in case the decision is negative for you.”

Victor gets a vial of the new version of necrostim out in case the tabaxi needs to be returned to talking condition. When Caiman comes, he will have to put a blindfold on the cat to make sure his lover is not recognized.

Caiman mentioned that a female tabaxi has taken part in an attempt to rob her estate a month ago. So if he has accidentally managed to capture the one she needs, she will be very pleased. And if she isn’t the one, then maybe the gorgeous leader of the biggest gang in the city can give him a hand in scaring the shit out of the thief and subsequently her potential accomplices to make sure none of them try robbing him again.

Either way, he hopes she is in the mood for sex afterwards. He is pretty sure she has nothing else going on today anyway.

The tabaxi on the table bristles again but as always nothing happens. Victor sighs and is about to shake his head in disapproval of her irrationality once again when he hears the front door open and a familiar step pattern begin crossing the corridor.

“Give me a second!” He shouts out to his beloved Lady Doe, grabbing a blindfold out of a drawer. “There is one thing I need to prepare!”

[rey-chos-ness]

R A N D O M

Sat, May 6, 2023 12:50 A.M.

It is my day off from work today, and because I have cleaned my room during the morning. My body got tired and so I'd slept at the afternoon. I set an alarm at 5:30 PM because I will be heading to the laundry shop, however it rained. So, I just stayed at room and look for food instead.

Tonight rains heavily, so after I've had my dinner. I picked up my phone and scroll on to my fb account as pastime. Moments later, I felt sleepy already, so I go to bed again. But then, I had dreamed of something that wakes me up. So, I go straight to the CR to relieved myself. Gotten back to my room, I look to my clock and it is still 11:49 PM. I thought I had sleep long enough, but I have not. I only slept for about 2 hours or more. To my surprise, I searched on to the google if it's really the time or my clock was frozen. Instead of going back to bed, I scrolled on to my phone again and there's a lot of update from my review mates about the incoming LET results. Everytime I see a post about it, I would say 'very soon, LPT, by God's grace'.

After a couple of minutes, I decided to go to bed again since I still have work to do tomorrow. Anyways, I am a call center agent, graveyard shift. But, after a few times turning around and do all the sleep positions. I still can't be able to go back to sleep. There is still something that's running to my head. So, I stand up and step on my table and turn on my laptop. Instead of putting these emotions through my phone, I resort to typing it up on my laptop. I installed 'Tumblr' and begun to write what's on my head. Since then, when I was in high school. I do really find time making diaries of what I will be doing and what happened that day. So today, I started again what I normally do back then.

So, here goes the story.

During the pandemic, I travelled back home to New Israel where I lived with my grandparents. I was still having my online class that time and it is challenge for me to attend classes due to the weather is bad, power interruption, and intermittent internet connection. So one day, since I need materials for my kitchen lab experiment. I went to Kidapawan City to purchase all the lab apparatuses and materials. As I rode on the vehicle (multicab), I chose to the passenger seat next to the driver. And this driver was just finished having lunch. We waited for at least 15 minutes for other passengers before we leave Bulatukan.

As we go, the driver ask me

Driver: Sir, pwedi ko manigarilyo? Giluod man kos akong gikaon dras kanto.

Me: Sge lng kuya, nagamask man sad ko, basta sa imong left side lng ibuga imong sigarilyo.

Driver: Sge sir. Since nakamask man pod bitaw ka.

Moments later, the driver himself tend to initiate a conversation with me by flexing his car.

Driver: Diri ra gyud siguro ka makasakay sa akong multicab sir ba na hinlo, unya ang driver kay humot di manimaho'g ilok. Maligo man jud ko taga adlaw sir kay para presko sa mga pasahero ba.

And siyempre ako, wala nalang sad ko nikontra sa iyaha kay tinuod man sad. And so, I replied with appreciation.

Me: Bitaw kuya, murag well-maintained jud ang imong sakyanan.

Driver: Kinahanglan jud sir kay mao lng man gud ni akong panginabuhi og pangsustener sa akong tulo ka college na mga anak.

Me: Aah, asa man sila nag skwela karon diay po kuya?

Driver: And duha naku ka studyante, katong babae, naa sa USM-KCC nag skwela, 4th Year. Education to ilang kurso. Unya ang akong laki kay naa dira sa MIST nag skwela, 1st Year.

Me: Aah, maayo noon kuya kay college naman diay imong mga anak.

Driver: Lagi sir, pero dako na lagi kaayong gastuhonon. Pero, bintaha nalang jud siguro sa akong part kay wla nman ko nagabayad sa ilang tuition og boarding house kay naa ra man sila nagpuyo sa among balay. Ang problemahon nalang jud naku kay ang ilang allowance adlaw-adlaw kay tulo baya sila kabook pod.

Me: Bitaw sad diay kuya. Pero maayo nalang kay naa man diay kay padulong mugraduate na.

Driver: Hinuon, pero usahay jud sir, makabsan sad ko'g ikahatag nila kay gamay nalang man ang pasahero. Pero, ayo nalang sad kay naa ko'y nakuha na bolante. Tig hatud kos materyales ddto sa Amas. Dugang nalang sad sa akong income. Kay kaning akong tulo ka mga anak, ginabudgetan jud ko na sila'g 150 per day ka usa sa ilaha. Pero, matingala nalang man sad ko usahay kay mangayo pag pamalit og bond paper og pang print kuno nila.

Me: Ana jud na ya kay graduating naman diay imong anak. Daghan jud na sila ipaprint, parehas sa ilang thesis kay kanunay naay pang usabon ang ilang research adviser og kanang gamit nila sa pagtudlo kung nagsugod na ilang internship.

Driver: Mao diay sir? Usahay makasab an sad naku akong anak ba gumikan lagi kay gamay ra sad tag kita, mahutdan sad ko'g ikahatag. Makapangutana gud ko usahay kung gihubog-hubog ba nis akong anak akong kwarta o ilaag-laag ra ni nila? Pero bilib lang jud kos akong mga anak kay wala may bisyo, sama naku na musigarilyo.

Me: Aw, maayo noon diay ya. Bitaw ya, dakong advantage jud sa usa ka graduating student na anaay printer. Kay from time to time na naa sila'y kinahanglan iprint, maprint og mabuhat ra dayon na nila. Pero, kung graduating na imong anak unya wla nay musunod na mugamit sa printer. Okay ra sad na di nalang usa ka mupalit og printer.

Driver: Bitaw sad sir no. Maong agwantahon nalang usa naku ning kahago naku total padulong naman mugraduate akong anak. Sunod ana, magboard exam na sad. Pero murag gamay gamay nalang jud sigurong gasto ana og makapangita nag trabaho akong anak anang panahona, kaluy an.

And murag, taas taas pa tong nahisgutan namu sa driver during sa pag adto nakus Kidapwan. And I realized that day, unta naa sad pareho kay manong driver nga amahan, duna'y pangandoy sa iyang mga anak og andam na musuportar sa pagpaskwela sa iyang mga anak.

I grew up in a broken family, since kindergarten pa ko. I remember na niapil kos Christmas party namu during Day Care na wala ko'y dala because wla naman mi kwarta ato na time. Pero ako, decided jud ko muadto sa maong party. Maayo nalang jud kay naa ko'y iyaan na mao'y nagpalit sa akong gift and food during the event. Kay if wala, wala ko kabalo mag unsa ko didto's skwelahan.

Going back, wla na nku nakuha or napicturan ang multicab or nakuha ang name ni kuya driver. Siguro, he's in his late 40s or early 50s na. Wala lang, I was too amazed having conversation by this man kay daghan kaayo ko'g mga narealized. And naopen akong paghuna huna sa unsa kalisod mahimong usa ka ginikanan, dili lang kay usa ka amahan. Daghan pweding mahimong amahan, pero dili tanan kayang mutindog isip responsableng ginikanan.

Don't get me wrong ha, I grew up man gud with my grandparents. Even naa ra akong amahan, pero di naku mabati nga usa siya ka ginikanan. But, thank God, I found that with my lolo and lola. I know we are not well off, pero I never seen them giving up on us. Sila ang nitindog na ginikanan sa amoa, inspite sa among kapobrehon. Although naa ko'y allowances sa akong pag skwela from scholarship. Pero naa jud tay time na madelay pag download ang among allowance and since online class man mi. Dili kay usahay, pero nagapangayo jud ko'g kwarta sa ilaha para makaattend sa klase. And what amazes me, even 25 pesos na nabilin na kwarta sa akong lolo, ihatag gihapon niya sa akoa kay para di daw ko mabiya sa klase. My grandparents especially my lolo is not very vocal about my studies, pero pag mahubog siya didto ra siya mag ingon about my achievements. Pero, number one motivator jud nku is akong lola. Always jud ni siya naay mga advices everytime mag uli ko from Davao.

And didto jud naku sila naappreciate during my review kay nag uli man ko before new year. Wala pa ko'y tulog ato na time. So, pag abot naku, si lolo lang og among silingan ang naa, kay sila ate and lola daw is naglakaw sa Kidapawan. Nag bless ra ko then nisulod sa balay, tapos nangagda sa ilaha na naay pan and bingka from Digos. Then, pagkahuman jud naku'g ilis, I slept sa room nila lola kay naa didto tanang banig og habol. Then, taud taud, nisulod si lolo asking unsa akong dala. I told him na naay pan and bingka from Digos, then nilili sa kwarto. Matulog ka?, he asked. Yes lo kay wala pa ko'y tulog. Around 12 noon na siguro ko nauli kay gikan ko'g Davao then lahos sa Kidapawan nalang sad. Then, pag abot kay tulog jud kaayo.

Then, later, mga 4pm siguro, I overheard akong lola and ate. Tapos, may step sister came. Nakadungog siya about my name, and she asked, kinsa na JunJun la? Imong kuya ba, naa dra sa kwarto natulog, she replied. So, she run to me and gave me hugs and kisses. Ambot oy, clingy kaayo ni siya. Spoiled man gud kaayo sa akoa. Anyways, nagdako man gud ni siya sa amoa, and ako ang tig bantay og very spoiled to me kay bisag unsay pangayuon. Tua palitan dayon. Number one na tigkuha sa akong mga biscuits and so on sa study table. Di pa na siya matulog og di ko mag merienda at night. So, ginatagaan nalang nku daan para matulog una. And nagasabay pod siya'g sulat sulat sa akong table while ako nag note taking sa among lecture sa morning or if nagabuhat ko'g assignment.

Going back sa akong grandparents, during that night sa akong pag uli. My lolo rarely talks about me jud na kami rang duha. Pero pagmata naku, they had dinner na. So, I ate muna, after that, I watched news with them. Then, my lolo said, you look thin, lahi ra tong wala pa ka nagtrabaho. Unsa diay oras imong duty na? I said, it starts from 4PM and ends in 2AM. Then, I will be heading back to my boarding house, and sleep at 2:45 or 3:00 A.M. I would wake up at 6:45 A.M. because I have my review class at 8:00 A.M. to 12:00 NN or so, or it might take up to 5:00 PM. Then he responded back, I see, sagdi lang, nagaampo jud bitaw ko na mupasar kas board exam nimu karong March 19, 2023. And I replied, mupasar lagi ko, basin pa gani mag Top kos LET. I said it with conviction. Pero, wala gud ko kabalo pas mahimong resulta kay this month pa man. Pero hoping, constantly praying, manifesting and claiming na By God's grace, mag LPT ta this May 2023. And such a bonus na kaayo jud siguro na mag top pa sa LET.

To cut this story, since it's aroung 2:47 A.M. naman in the morning. There's one thing I have realized, many of us would have told our problems to our parents/grandparents. It may be in a form of finances, in education, projects, mga kaaway sa schedule og atong mga naagian sa school, we told or share it to them about the hardships that we take. But they never told us about how hard they been trying and struggling just to provide, sustain and manage our home. I think, manong driver does not want to talk about it with his children because they are preoccupied with their studies and does not want to bother them with what adult problems experience. I've never ask if he still have a wife to discuss about it, or he just want to pour things over due to the responsibility he is dealing. Now that I am in an adulting stage, I slowly understand how hard it takes to earn a living and to provide your own needs. But, I am just thankful that I am slowly reciprocating back the sacrifices and hard work my grandparents had been through to earn a degree. The job that I have landed right now might not be the path that I am heading to and I have prepared in college. Still, I am grateful that through this job, I can be able to provide my grandparents the needs. And soon, by God's grace and by God's willing, I can be able to provide what they deserve to have, but that time, I will be a License Professional Teacher. And I am constantly praying and claiming it this month, May 2023.

So Lord, please prepare me for what I am praying for.

Topnotcher sa May2023

LET Passer sa Mayo!

AMEN!

[umichenginabroad]

Barcelona <3

Hi everyone, and happy spring break :) 

This week started out very similar to my others here so far. Monday and Tuesday are my study days - and once again, I’ve found a new favorite coffee shop. This one is called Cafe Agrado, and I actually came here a few weekends back for brunch! All of my normal spots were pretty packed earlier this week, so I decided to visit and I can say that this is my new favorite place. It’s a bit more hidden away, so there are always seats available, and it has plenty of natural lighting. I had the best iced coffee here, which is integral to studying for me. I also tried a slice of their homemade pistachio - strawberry cake, and although I’m not much of a sweets person, I finished this in about 2 minutes. I love this place so much that it’s actually where I’m writing my blog from today! So safe to say I will be here a lot in the coming weeks. 

Wednesday night I had some free time, so I visited Temple de Debod, which is the perfect sunset spot. On the weekends it can get pretty packed, but on weekdays it’s gorgeous. There were various musicians serenading the crowds as the sun set, and it was super peaceful. 

This past weekend, I was able to travel to Barcelona and visit one of my good friends from high school. I’ve been trying to use some of these “colder months” (lol not compared to Michigan) to explore the cities of Spain, and so far Barcelona has to be my favorite! I arrived Friday morning as we had class off, and immediately started exploring. We visited Park Guell, which is home to beautiful mosaics and views. My only complaint about the park is that you have to pay €10 to get in - isn’t that crazy? But, I was really excited to explore the park so I went anyway. 

The famous mosaic bench was created by the artist/architect Gaudi. He has a huge influence throughout Barcelona, and I’ll cover some more of his works that I saw later. The bench was beautiful, and the rest of the park was also super pretty! There were a lot of musicians around and I even saw a woman dancing Flamenco. 

After visiting the park, we visited the Arco de Triunfo in Barcelona. I actually was unaware that there was one in Barcelona as I’m familiar with the one in France. It was pretty, and it serves as a gateway to the Parc de la Ciutadella, another famous park in Barcelona. Luckily, we did not have to pay for this park. It was a beautiful day, so we passed a lot of people on picnics on our way to visit the big fountain within the park. 

After this, we took the tram to go on a cable car to overlook the city! This was super fun, and the views of the city from the cable car were gorgeous. At the top, there's a castle and beautiful views of both the city and the Mediterranean. We booked a round-trip ride, so we enjoyed the view for a bit before heading back down the mountain/hill. Later on Friday, we enjoyed a delicious dinner and then visited a local cocktail bar before relaxing and heading home. 

Saturday was once again a jam-packed day. We started off our morning pretty early to visit the Sagrada Familia. I knew I had to visit this while in Barcelona, and I’m so glad I did! I will say, the price to go inside was a bit steep (about €38) but I didn’t want to miss my chance to visit and regret it. I was a little worried about the light shining through the windows as it was more of an overcast day, but this didn’t matter at all. The inside was breathtaking, and the colors from the stained glass windows were gorgeous. Gaudi was the main architect behind the Sagrada Familia, and now that I’ve seen several of his works I’m so interested to learn more about him. The Basilica was so intricate, I was blown away by the creativity and detail that went into it. 

After this tour, we grabbed brunch and went to Las Ramblas. Las Ramblas is similar to Gran Via in Madrid, as it is the main street full of restaurants and shopping. We were able to kill a few hours here. After exploring the street and side streets for a bit, we went to El Paradiso. El Paradiso is one of the most famous bars in Barcelona (and the world), and was ranked #1 in the “World’s Top 50 Bars.” A friend of mine had given me some helpful information to get to the bar at 4pm when they open and sign up for a virtual queue, as the place is so popular it takes hours to get in. I am so thankful for this tip, or else we would have never gotten in! We went home, relaxed, and then signed up for the queue around 7pm. We then went back to the area around 9pm for dinner, and then finally got into the bar around 11pm. It was so cool - I would say similar to the idea of a speakeasy. We walked in through a very inconspicuous cabinet that actually happened to be a door, and the inside was dim and intimate. We ended up trying 3 drinks, and all were delicious with a fun artistic flair. It was my favorite bar I’ve visited so far, and definitely worth the wait. We spent a few hours there and then ended our night. 

Sunday morning I took the train back to Madrid, and then immediately went to sleep when I got home. It was a long weekend, but so so fun. 

Abbey Almeda

Industrial and Operations Engineering

UP Comillas

[dourpeep]

OKAY time for a college au!!

You 3 know each other from before college

You and kazuha were seating next to each other during your first year of high school you became close enough to greet each other whenever you guys pass by each other

And you and Xiao were best friends from kindergarten to 2 grade but unfortunately you had to move suddenly you two tried to keep contact but the two of you made new friends and kinda lost contact with each other

So when you go to college you meet kazuha at the front desk when you're trying to get your schedule and yall are like "omg I'm so happy to see someone that I know here!" and when you guys check your schedules it turns out that the two of you have the same class during the first period

And you're like "we've got 30 minutes wanna go grab a cup of coffee and get lost together?" and kazu knows that you playfully flirt with your friends so he jokingly says "are you asking me out for a date? Because if you are then I accept!" and you guys talk on the way to class and the two of you barely make it on time

Class ends and you're sad to say goodbye to the only person you know on campus but then all of a sudden he hits you with a "by the way can I have your number?" so you two exchange numbers

Later you're going to your last class and it turns out that this class doesn't have many people you go sit in the back and someone comes up to you and is like "can I sit next to you? " you say yes obviously

But the thing is... there is something very familiar about this guy and you just can't put your finger on it so you kind of stare at him without realizing it

Of course he noticed how hard you've been staring at him and turns around and is like "what? Is there something on my face?" that's when it finally clicks

And you're just like "XIAO??! IS THAT REALLY YOU?!!" but the teacher comes in so you two can't really talk

But the moment class ends you tell him who you are and take a few minutes to catch up

Though I say catch up it was mostly you teasing him saying shit like "I can't believe the shy kid who used to tear up whenever his turn on the swing was taken would grow up to be this handsome!" (he's starting to think that maybe he should have sat somewhere else)

So you're like "hey how we go actually catch up I've got some coupons for this café I went to this morning with a friend"

He doesn't have a reason to say no so he just accepts the invitation

When you guys get there who do you meet? KAZUHA! This man actually works there!

When you see him you're like "kazuha why didn't you tell me that you work here?" but he pretends not to know you and is like "oh? Well who might this fine customer be?" you can tell he's joking by the way he's trying not to laugh so you decide to play along

Poor Xiao is starting to regret coming with you (but don't worry he got 2 plates of almond tofu as an apology)

-no primogems (I'll make another part later where you 3 become roommates)

YES I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS-

dhfaeiahe I realize now that I should've just posted this as is since I wasn't planning on adding to this but might as well add in some thoughts I've had about this lovely trio eh??? tbh I didn't add much I just slipped in a few little things hehe

Can you guess the roomates?? Also the bio professor is Albedo ehe

Anyway!!

Considering it's the first semester of college, you haven't yet decided on your major. Luckily, you have quite a few general education classes to take, so you register all in one night.

You'll have the time to figure it all out as time goes by, no?

The rest of summer is spent juggling moving into the campus' dorms, working, and keeping up with some friends from high school. While you've kept contact with a few friends, you definitely kicked yourself in the ass for forgetting to ask Kazuha for his number...how could you forget one of your best friends?

But, you suppose that he's far off in a whole other city with his wish to experience more. You can't help but wonder what he's up to.

Then, the first day of classes starts.

How did you not figure out where everything is first? Instead of moping, you trudge to the administrative building early to ask for directions and, even better, a map of the large campus.

Instead, you find a familiar head of cream-colored hair.

Immediately, you gasp and he turns around in confusion, only for a soft smile to spread over his features. It's only been a summer but it's a relief to see that you know another person. Comparing schedules, he points out that you both have Communications 1301 together.

For once, you're glad you have to take these mandatory courses...

But with an abundance of time (as Kazuha just so happens to know where the class is), he accepts your jokingly firtatious proposal to head to the cafe just across campus to grab a morning drink.

It's hardly been long since you've last spoken to him, but there's still so much to talk about! It turns out he opted to rent out a small studio apartment just a few blocks away from campus! Naturally, he invites you over sometime.

He's also admitted that he decided to major in English--something you're not surprised to hear. After all, Kazuha's a natural at the subject, exceeding the assignments and always so eloquent.

If you recall correctly, he used to tote around a little notebook full of little musings and poetry during high school. You wonder if he still does that.

You talk about how you've just moved into the dorms a week ago, how you're lucky to be rooming with two musically inclined (if not a bit rowdy) people. You're sure that he'd take a liking to them once everything is calmed down a bit. Kazuha just raises a brow in half-doubt.

Before you know it, it's been an hours and, to your horror, your first class starts in five minutes. Not to mention that it was back closer to the admin building and you were on the opposite side of campus.

But it's still fun, Kazuha laughing as you jolt up and tug him to stand, the two of you running to get to class on time. With heaving breaths and flushed faces, you make it just a few minutes late. Luckily, your professor didn't mind because it was the first day...

Following class, you have to make your way to Bio 1301, Kazuha having a major-specific English course to get to. Before you can speak, though, he offers his phone to you. It's newer than his old flip phone you'd tease him about all the time, the screen clean save for a few stray fingerprints.

After you put in your number, he beams and quickly sends you a call so you can have his too.

"Call me after you're done with classes, alright?"

You promise to and the two of you set off.

Biology proves to be uneventful, a full hour and a half of the (rather attractive) professor going over what to expect as well as passing out lab waiver forms. A necessary precaution, he said with a reserved sigh. You wonder what happened.

When the hour ends, you have some time before World History, followed by a Trigonometry course.

By the time you find your trig class, most of the seats are already taken, making that feeling of dread fill the pit of your stomach. Nothing is worse than being forced to take whatever seat is left. But, noticing a seat by the windows, it's not so bad.

You're in the back, though, settling your bag beneath your chair and picking out a pen and schedule book.

At some point, someone walks in and asks if the seat in front of you is taken. You don't bother to look up long as you fish out a notebook, letting him know it's free.

As class goes on, you realize that the guy in front of you most likely hasn't been paying attention. Considering that the professor has been rehashing stuff from Algebra...you're not surprised. But something about his dark hair catches your eye. Not to mention his striking gold eyes...hm.

It's not until you catch his profile as he stares out the window that it clicks.

"Xiao."

His eyes dart to look at you, a confused look washing over his face. You repeat his name.

"Yes?"

Part of him is just about ready to leave as recognition floods your expression, smile wide. How could you possibly---

"I can't believe the shy kid who used to tear up whenever his turn on the swing was taken would grow up to be this handsome!"

The tips of his ears turn red fast, something that you remember very well about him, and his gaze quickly flicks over to the professor still dragging on. When gold settles back on you, they're practically begging for you to lower your voice.

"It's been forever--I can't believe that you-"

"If you're going to talk, do it outside of class."

Ah. Oopsie.

Time seems to drag on while you buzz in your seat, excited to see your childhood friend after loosing contact. You've missed him over the years, always wondering what happened to him, how he's been. And finally, when class ends, he gets up and waits for you.

Naturally, you want to catch up, so you invite him to go to the cafe with you for a late lunch.

"You still like almond tofu right? It's all you used to eat when we were little." Laughing, you nudge his shoulder and the color returns to his cheeks as he mumbles a yes.

When you step into the cafe, a familiar voice greets you.

"If I knew a cute customer would be coming, I would've gone on break."

Kazuha leans on the counter, mirth in his eyes and you gasp. It makes sense now, why he's so well acquainted with the campus and why he'd already known what to order when you arrived for drinks-

"What can I get for you today?"

"Your number."

Xiao's face pales at the blatant flirting, wondering if he should've just declined the invitation to the cafe until the two of you burst into laughter. Though, it's hardly better.

"Sorry, sorry- This is Kazuha, one of my friends from high school. Kazuha, this is my childhood best friend Xiao."

With a day so filled with nice coincidences, you doubt that life can get any better than this.

Oh, how wrong you'd be.

[deadprocess]

Hide Away Part 2 (The Trickster x Male!Reader)

//Hi there! A lot of you requested more Male!Reader and I had some Inspo. Enjoy!

T.W: NSFW, Violence towards Reader, mention of alcohol//

Your mouth hung open, fists gripping soft lilac locks as the popstar bobbed his head. Ji-Woon's eyes were closed, cheeks flushed and hallowed with every upward movement, gagging softly when you pushed your hips forward to force more of yourself into his mouth. God, he was beautiful sucking your cock on his knees in some elaborate black harness getup, makeup smudged and hidden away behind a clothing rack back stage.

It started six months ago when he first shoved you into the wall, kissing you with such vigor and desperation that you were instantly hooked. You understood the secretiveness. The hiding in the shadows, a quick rendezvous in your dressing room, the private meetings in a tinted limousine with the driver being bought into silence. You were very much so his dirty secret and you really did feel some ounce of sadness deep down, but it never managed to surface.  You couldn't find it in you to care too much when he fucked himself on your dick or had your legs high on his shoulders.

It was the thrill, the passion and the pleasure. The whirlwind that is Ji-Woon and his lifestyle.

xx

"Do you love me?" The question knocked the wind out of you as your thrusts came to a stuttering halt, balls deep with the Korean man nearly bent in half under you. Your face stayed buried in his neck as you caught your breath, trying to decipher if what you heard was correct.

"What?" The popstar pried your face away from his neck, forcing you to look into his eyes. Today's colored contacts were an icy blue.

"I said do you love me?"

Your face must have been a mess of emotions as you thought about the question. Panic, shock, confusion...you hadn't really thought about the relationship between you two. Neither of you had even brought up the subject of dating, but you did have feelings for the other man. With a few months of constant touching and flirtatious behavior, who wouldn't? You two spoke nearly everyday either in person or on the phone except for the few times he would inexplicably disappear just to come back, apologizing for the lack of response before cheerily announcing he has a new song in the works.

"I...yes. I love you." you said dumbly, unable to place the emotions inside your heart which quickly began hammering in your chest as a grin broke out on the popstars face.

"Of course you do, how could you not!" his cocky laugh rang out and you shoved him hard into the mattress and scolding him for springing that on you, his laughing turning into a high pitch moan when you rolled your hips. You set a brutal pace, burying your face in his neck once again to hide the disappointment and shame evident in your expressions. He didn't say it back.

xx

He wanted it rough most days. His requests went from mild to hardcore within the following month. He wanted to scratch your back hard enough to draw blood, hear your screams, be choked till he passed out, chain you up and whip you...It was manageable for awhile before the the final straw came.

"No," your eyes narrowed and focused on the blade in his hand, "you're not coming near me with that."

"Come on, I promise you won't even feel it! You'll be too busy feeling me bounce on your dick to notice!" you closed shut your eyes, releasing a shaky breath. You could imagine that feeling.

"I said no."

When you opened your eyes again you were face to face with the other man, clear anger splayed across his face as his pink contacts seemed to glow brighter with said displeasure. You'd seen him mad before, of course. The long hours in the studio, the plummeting sales, the meddling executives weighing in on his creative freedom...but you had never seen that anger directed at you before.

"You can't say no to me, you stupid boy," his hand fisted the front of your shirt into a ball, the knife glinting in your peripheral vision, and for once a genuine feeling of fear struck you, "you love me, remember?"

Ji-Woon was dangerous.

"Of course, sweetheart," you kept your tone level, loving and gentle, bringing your hand to cup his face. You brought the k-pop star close, beginning to rock side to side, "I do love you. How could I ever say no to you?"

A sweet kiss was enough to temporarily disarm Ji-Woon and the minute his grip loosened around the knife, you ducked out.

You sprinted out of the unlocked front door, scrambling to make it down the stairway, the sounds of furious screaming and clattering behind you as the other man gave chase. You barely managed to disappear within the crowds once you stepped out of the building. Your saving grace was the flood of paparazzi that swarmed your pursuer, blocking his path.

You would see a disheveled Ji-Woon on the front page of Seoul's popular tabloid within the next few days, questioning headlines about why the popstar was half undressed in the front of his apartment building and cursing at the top of his lungs. Most popular speculation was drugs.

You would claim it was an unofficial breakup after that day. You resigned from your position as a dancer for The Trickster, sold your apartment and moved to the states. You never told your folks or friends what happened, not that they would have believed you anyways. You left it all behind and never spoke to the hurricane of a man again.

Well...you at least never answered back. Ji-Woon messaged you at least twice a day. From simple "hey, how are you doing?" to short snippets of his cock deep in some girl's pussy.

Other messages were aggressive. Telling you that he could easily find where you ran off to and it would be nothing to drag you back to Korea by the hair. But the ones that truly dug into your skin were the audio messages. Most were of similar nature: conversational, lewd, abusive...then there came the desperation. He would audibly sob into the phone, pleading with you to come back or at least answer him once. Listening to his wailing almost broke your resolve.

You deleted the past chats and every new one that arrived from then on. The only message that made you pause before erasing was a virtual invite to his performance for the Mightee One committee; a VIP spot and a first class round-trip plane ticket scheduled for next month.

You obviously didn't go and when the news broke that a mass murder had taken place at said concert, you could only feel a pit sickness forming deep inside you.

It was reportedly a slaughter, all victims in attendance were confirmed dead. However, the bodies Yun-Jin Lee and Ji-Woon Hak were not amongst  the confirmed dead. They were nowhere to be found.

You did manage to move past those terrible events within the following year. Hell, it was somewhat easy to now that Ji-Woon wasn't ringing your phone everyday. Part of you had always wondered if he was acting the entire time, only messaging you so he could be sure that you wouldn't forget him. Another part of you thought about his disappearance.

Was he alive? Was he okay?

You swirled your drink, sinking deeper into your couch. The tv played some old show but you couldn't be bothered to pay attention. Your mind replayed some old memories that crushed you with a peculiar emotion you couldn't place. Allowing yourself to drop your head back against the top of the cushions, you tried to relax and move past those painful times.

Flashes of Ji-Woon interrupted your peace. Your body entangled with his, hands delicately tracing patterns in your skin and noses touching from the close proximity. The city's colorful lights peaked through the window blinds, illuminating his figure to you. Yellow contacts piercing in the dark as you held each other, mumbling sweet nothings.

Your eyes closed, bleary with the drunken reminiscing of the past.

You didn't see the fog rolling through your room.

xx

"Did you love me?" you gurgled out.

The Trickster kneeled to your level as you sat crumpled against the rotting wooden palette.

Your body seized slightly as the trauma to your head began to override adrenaline, your eyes trained on him to the best of their abilities but the darkness began to seep through. A hand reached out to tilt your head back up. The killer (your killer) held your stare, admiring the horrific beauty of your broken iris caused by the harsh strike to the side of your temple.

"Of course, you stupid boy." The Trickster chortled, thumb softly tracing circles into your cheek. You were fading fast, but there would be no relief or solace in your fast coming death, "I still do."

You closed your eyes as he leaned forward, pressing a kiss to your forehead.

You didn't want to see him. You didn't want to see those yellow eyes.

"If I didn't, you wouldn't be here. I loved you so much that it brought you to hell for me."

The abyss took you and all you could do was accept the momentary peace of transition before you were thrown back into his hands.

There was no more hiding. No more prying eyes nor spotlight. Just him and you, interlocked permanently in this game that even death could not do you part.

[bobohu4eva]

Pink Lace - Chapter 9 (M)

Characters: Baekhyun x Reader (feat. EXO members)

Genre: College AU, stripper AU, fluff, smut, slow burn

Summary: Baekhyun, a philosophy professor with mysterious wealth, got himself completely fucked over a girl who can’t let him into her life.

Word count: 6.1k

Warnings: sex work, mentions of sexual assault, adult themes/situations, smut

 Tag list: @smolbeanmika @leave-me-in-the-summertime @totallynerdstuff @bbhmystar @nana-banana @kimyhappy @thegreatandi @geniusloey @deligxt @baekswifey @bbhyun506 @lovebuginlove @bellamendoza @baekyeonoreo @bobohumyonlyboo @wooya1224 @strawbaeri-s @xiuweetbbh

Masterlist

Saturday had finally arrived. It was 6am when you woke up, but you were far too excited to go back to sleep. You tossed and turned for a little while, trying to convince your body to give you a few more minutes of rest just so you wouldn’t get tired early but it was no use. The last time you’d felt like this was when you were a kid and there was a big class field trip coming up, or on Christmas morning. That sense of child-like excitement was something you didn’t even realize you’d missed so much. As an adult waking up in the mornings was almost always shitty, but today you were so excited the idea of sleep didn’t even sound appealing anymore. God. Maybe you were just as whipped as him.

 After giving in to your excitement you got up, and started making breakfast. You were worried that you’d be tired or groggy on the date so you made sure to add an extra shot of espresso to your morning latte. Falling asleep hadn’t been easy either. You kept thinking about all the different possibilities of where he might take you, and you had been especially distracted by Baekhyun’s promise of what would come after. 

You had put a great deal of effort into looking nice for the club last week, but this week you didn’t even know where to start. Getting ready for a real date was very different than getting ready for the club. At the club you could cover yourself in glitter and body oil and do the most extra makeup looks one could imagine, and there wasn’t much to the outfits anyway. But what the hell were you supposed to do for a date where all you knew was that it was outside? You wanted to put in effort still, of course, but doing too much might be weird if it’s more of a casual thing. But Baekhyun wouldn’t just do something casual right? It would be something fancy for sure. But then what were you supposed to wear that was relatively fancy but worked for being outdoors? 

You still wanted to be able to be comfortable so after some time and careful deliberation, you decided on a sundress and simple makeup. The sundress also had the advantage of allowing you to forego wearing a bra, and it was remarkably easy to remove. You had a feeling Baekhyun would appreciate that later on. 

As the morning went on you tried your best to keep your mind occupied and prolong the process of getting ready in order to leave as little time as possible to get anxious, you knew as soon as you would get bored the nervousness would start. So you kept yourself busy. 

3:00pm drew closer and closer and despite your best efforts you felt yourself becoming restless. You internally cursed Mia for being busy all day so she wouldn’t be there to help you not freak out.  

Unfortunately you were ready by 2:00, leaving you an entire hour to mull over your thoughts as they made you more and more antsy. 

After an hour of pacing around the house and checking your hair and makeup way too many times, you finally heard a knock on the door. You basically sprinted across the house at the sound. 

To your relief Baekhyun wasn’t dressed very fancy, just a white short sleeved button down tucked into black shorts. But oh did the sight of him still make your heart flutter. His hair was perfectly styled and he just looked so good.  

“Hi, you look beautiful,” He said as his eyes traveled up and down your body. “You ready to go?” You responded with a nod and threw your arms around him for a hug, which he happily returned. “Come on then.”

As you approached his Audi he opened the door for you to get in, and it somehow looked even fancier than you had remembered, although you had been slightly drunk when you’d last been in his car. 

You stayed quiet, and Baekhyun put on some music as he pulled out and started driving. After a few minutes you heard him softly singing along, and you wondered why he didn’t tell you sooner that he could sing so well. 

“You have a really nice voice.” You spoke softly, and he turned to look at you briefly. 

“You think so? I was in a band in high school, and I think I was pretty good but I never kept up with it, although I do still like singing.” 

“You should do it more if you like it, or you can at least sing to me anytime.” 

He shot you a smile and continued singing along to the music, but now with more confidence.

Everything about him just seemed to get more and more perfect. No man had ever impressed you this much, had made you feel this lucky and special. It made you even more scared that you would do or say something that would mess everything up. 

“Nervous?” He asked, noticing how quiet you were being. 

“Yeah, I just, I don’t know. I don’t wanna make things weird and mess everything up.” 

He placed a hand on your thigh, and once the car was stopped at a light his eyes met yours. “Don’t be, I promise there’s nothing you can do that will make today any less magical, the fact that I’m getting to take you out at all is enough for me.” 

The warmth in the way he looked at you then helped melt away some of your worries. He was right of course, you knew he liked you too much for you to really be able to mess this up, but the mystery of where he was taking you made you worry nonetheless. 

For about another 30 minutes Baekhyun drove the two of you further and further out of the city, until eventually he parked at the bottom of a large hill, seemingly in the middle of nowhere.

‘Um, Baekhyun, where are we? You’re not about to murder me are you?” 

“No” he chucked, “definitely not, just follow me.” 

He took your hand and started walking you up the hill until you were about halfway up and you could almost see to the other side. 

“I need you to close your eyes.” 

You did as you were told, and he kept guiding you by your hand as you blindly followed. Your heart rate had gone up significantly, still not having any clue what he had in store for you. Especially now that you were out here seemingly with nothing and nobody else around. 

A few shaky steps later he told you to open your eyes, and with your heartbeat loudly thumping in your ears, you finally did. 

What you saw had not been what you were expecting at all, though you hadn’t had a clue what to expect in the first place. 

On the other side of the hill was an enormous balloon that was slowly being inflated. 

He was taking you on a hot air balloon. 

You could feel his eyes on you, waiting for some sort of reaction, but all you could do was stare in awe at the giant colorful mass in front of you. In your mind you started to think about how the hell he even pulled this off, how he even had the resources for something so extra, and for a first date. The longer you looked the more you felt the guilt start to set in. He had probably spent a ridiculous amount of time and money setting this up, and you had pestered him about the secret like some ungrateful child. Eventually the whole situation had tears brimming in your eyes from pure disbelief. 

Baekhyun quickly took notice and pulled you forwards to face him. 

“What’s wrong? Do you not like it? We can leave and do something else if-” 

You grabbed his face and cut him off with a kiss, as you felt a tear escape.

“You’re fucking insane. I can’t believe this is what you were planning, how the hell did you even get a hot air balloon?” You said as you wiped away another tear, but the smile that had made its way onto your face let Baekhyun let out a sigh of relief. 

“It wasn’t that big of a deal, really. Jongdae, I don’t know if you remember him from the club, but he’s got all kinds of connections and he did this for him and his wife last year so I got him to help me out.” 

You still just shook your head in disbelief. “You’re crazy.” 

“Crazy about you,” he grinned, “now come on.” 

He grabbed your hand again and started pulling you towards the balloon again, which was now almost upright. As you got closer you noticed the picnic set and bottle of champagne that were sitting on a small table in the center of the basket, with a bench on either side for each of you to sit on. 

The man who was operating the balloon gave the two of you a quick safety briefing before you stepped into the basket and he closed the small door behind you. 

After a few moments you felt yourself lift off, and slowly the balloon lifted the two of you up towards the clouds. 

“Um, Baekhyun?”

“Yes sweetheart?”

“What if I’m afraid of heights.” 

“I’m right here,” He grabbed your hand between his own, “You know I won’t let anything bad happen to you. I’ve also been told it’s not so bad as long as you don’t look down.” 

Luckily when you were seated you could only see the view off in the distance, so it wasn’t too frightening. As the balloon ascended further and further you started to realize how beautiful it was. The scenery from this angle was breathtaking and this high up in the sky there was a pleasant cool breeze as well.

You were torn out of your train of thought when you saw Baekhyun grab the bottle of champagne along with two glasses. He popped the cork out, which went flying out of the confines of the basket, plummeting down to earth. 

“Oops.” 

You giggled and he poured both of you a glass before reaching for the picnic basket. He pulled out two black boxes, and he opened yours and set it down in front of you revealing one of the most beautiful arrangements of sushi you’d ever seen. 

“God you are unreal.” You breathed out as you examined the meal in front of you more closely. 

“You like it?” 

“Yes, of course, I love it. I love all this, I- I don’t even know what to say. Nobody’s ever done something like this for me before.” 

“As long as you’re enjoying yourself.” He grinned back at you. "I wanted to do something that was different, something that you would hopefully be able to look back at later as a nice memory for us to share together. I know this technically is our first date but we’ve known each other a while so it really didn’t feel that way to me.” 

The way he treated you, spoke to you, touched you, still seemed too good to be true. The question used to plague you, but now you wanted to know more out of the selfish need for validation more than anything else. 

“Baekhyun, why do you like me so much? You’re around pretty girls all the time, why me?” 

He let out a small breathy laugh, took a drink of his champagne and met your gaze. “You make me feel like a kid again.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“When I first saw you that night at your work, I remember thinking you were so sexy, so beautiful, so way out of my league, talking to you made me feel like a silly teenager with a crush on a girl who wouldn’t show him the light of day anyway. I hadn’t felt like that in almost a decade, but just in that one night you made me feel it again. That’s why I knew I had to come back, too. The more I talked to you the more I felt we actually had a connection too, although I didn’t think it was really real, I thought you were just good at talking to me, but it made me feel so good I didn’t really care. I never thought you’d end up actually liking me this much. Two weeks ago at the club when you were drunk and started to get more touchy with me I thought I was going insane, I couldn’t believe that you might actually be attracted to me like that. I’m 30 now and I spent basically all of my 20′s trying to please other people and make those around me happy, even if it meant I had to settle. I would let coworkers or my family set me up with people who seemed, I don’t know, proper. But it was never fun or exciting, always just one boring dinner date after the next, with people I felt nothing for. I regret it a lot now, but I’m so thankful I got to meet you, cause I feel like now thanks to you I can finally experience those parts of my youth that I missed out on.” 

You were speechless. Your mind was in overdrive, trying to find some words that would live up to what he had said, to properly express what you were feeling, but they just didn’t exist. He stared at you as you stared back, desperately trying to get something to come out of your mouth but it felt impossible.

“Sorry, I know that was a lot at once, but I’ve wanted to tell you for a while now. Meeting you is the best thing that’s happened to me in a very long time.” 

His words had you flustered and cheeks tinted pink. “Meeting you is the best thing that’s happened to me in a very long time too. Maybe ever.” 

Baekhyun felt like his heart was about to burst. “When did you realize you liked me as more than just a customer?” 

You had thought about this a lot, trying to decipher when in your own mind you had come to the realization, because you had fought it so vehemently. 

“When I let you touch me. I never allowed anyone to do that before you, and I wouldn’t admit it to myself until later but it was that night.” 

“Why were you scared to admit it to yourself?” 

“I think I was still worried about letting you into my life, since I never do that with people from work. I don’t even hang out with the other girls there, I want to keep that part of my life separate. And once you were my professor I was even more scared because I knew in the back of my mind that I did like you but now there was even more to worry about because I didn’t want to get you in trouble. That still worries me a lot.” 

“You don’t need to worry about that, I know what I’m getting myself into and I know the risks. I wouldn’t be serious about this if I wasn’t willing to take that risk. But I think things will end up fine. As long as nobody finds out while you’re my student, nothing can happen. We just have to be a bit careful. That’s actually another reason I chose this for the date, I didn’t want to risk somebody seeing us, as much as I would love to be able to show you off.” 

“This is perfect, really. I can’t think of anything more magical.” You said as you took a bite of your sushi and looked around at the view surrounding you. “I’m definitely going to remember this for a long time.” 

The date went on and the two of you laughed together while enjoying the view, the food, and the champagne. It really was magical, you felt like you were in your own little fairytale world up in the sky with him, you were convinced nothing could beat this feeling. The way Baekhyun spoke to you always made you feel so comfortable and he could make you laugh so easily. Whenever the two of you were together, things just felt right. 

Eventually you finished your meals, and it was time to make your way back down to earth. As you watched the slow descent you started to think about what was coming next. The thoughts had plagued you the night before as well. You were getting closer and closer to Baekhyun finally having you, and now it was almost time. 

You worried that you might disappoint him. Men tended to think that strippers were always the most wild, the most experienced in bed, but you were still quite shy and inexperienced. At your job you could easily fake confidence to strangers, but actually having sex with someone you cared for wasn’t something you’d done often. The thought made your palms sweat in anticipation as you and Baekhyun finally landed and got back to his car. 

“Where do you want me to take you?” He was making sure you still wanted this, still wanted him. 

“Take me home with you.” 

He only nodded, and pulled out to get the both of you on your way. 

The car ride back was silent. You could feel the tension hanging thick in the air, both of you had your minds on what was coming next. He placed his hand back on your thigh, but this time higher up, slightly pushing up the fabric of your sundress. The action alone was enough to make your breath uneven, and with the deafening silence surrounding you, you knew he noticed. 

By the time he was pulling up to his place, your heart was hammering in your chest and you felt warm all over. 

He stepped out of the car and came to your door to open it for you. When he extended a hand for you to hold as you stepped out your eyes met his. The look on his face was blank; completely unreadable. You wondered if he was feeling just as anxious as you, if he was just hiding it better. You knew with the way you looked up at him in that moment that he could see right through you, that he could see all the tension and desire that had been building within you clearly on your face.

Your thoughts were confirmed when a small smirk formed on his lips and he was soon pulling you through the entry way and into his home. 

His house was beautiful. It wasn’t anything extremely flashy, though it felt comfortable and so much like him. The walls were lined with bookshelves, he had a large leather couch in his living room along with a marble coffee table, and everything was perfectly clean and well kept. It felt elegant and high-class but not in a way that was intimidating, it felt homely. 

As lovely as it was, you were far more focused on the man occupying it now. Once you’d had a chance to take off your shoes and look around for a bit you felt Baekhyun’s hand on yours once again as he pulled you into his chest. He gazed down at you and you could see it in his eyes this time. Both of you had been waiting for this moment, him even longer than you. You saw the want, the lust, and you felt it as well. When you felt his lips finally press against your own, you knew there was no going back. 

The kiss started slow, but you could tell he was holding back. His hands shook slightly as they made contact with your waist to pull you against him tighter, and you felt how his heart was racing when you placed a hand onto his chest. It was you who deepened the kiss, letting it become more and more lust driven as the both of you let yourselves give in to the feeling. His hands started to wander across your body. First they went down to your ass, giving it a squeeze before traveling upwards to grope your chest. 

“Fuck, are you not wearing a bra?” He breathed out between kisses as he felt a nipple harden under his touch. 

“Undress me and find out.” 

Baekhyun didn’t respond, instead you felt his hands on the backs of your thighs, prompting you to jump, so you did, wrapping your arms around his shoulders and your legs around his waist. 

You were surprised how easily he lifted you up and carried you into his bedroom. The whole time you clung on to him, leaving kisses on his neck as he walked you through the house. 

When you entered his bedroom he sat down on the edge of his bed with you on his lap and continued to kiss you, now moving his way down to your neck. The marks he had left on you before had faded through time, and he missed the sight of them. Something about seeing marks on you, knowing he was the one who left them there, drove him crazy. Although he wasn’t able to go show you off publicly, he was still able to claim you as his own that way. His self control was quickly leaving him as he once again started to suck and bite at the smooth skin, leaving splotches of purple in his wake.

He pulled away and lifted you off his lap making you whine at first, but once you were standing before him between his parted legs his hands found the hem of your dress, and your heart rate picked up even more. He lifted the fabric slowly, and you allowed him to pull it all the way over your head before being discarded on his bedroom floor, leaving you standing in nothing but your lacy underwear. 

Despite the fact that Baekhyun had seen you like this more times than you could count, you felt the need to cover yourself, crossing your arms over your chest. This felt so different from the club. Being naked there just felt natural, normal to you, it was the whole point of your job, and you didn’t care what the men there thought of you. But here and now, with nobody but you and Baekhyun and his eyes running up and down your body intently, you were shaking. 

When he noticed you try and cover yourself, he quickly grabbed your arm and moved it aside. “Am I making you nervous? You don’t have to be so tense, you know how beautiful I think you are.” You felt your cheeks start to tingle as he grabbed you and laid you on his bed before instructing you to lay on your stomach. “Let me help you relax.” 

His expert hands started to work the muscles in your back, and you realized he was right, you had been extremely tense. After a few seconds you let your eyes flutter closed and melted into the feeling of his hands massaging you. Your breathing and heart rate slowed down and you were overwhelmed with bliss as your muscles relaxed under his touches. Your arousal combined with the feeling made you feel high, and you couldn’t help but let out soft moans whenever he would work on a particularly stiff area. 

Baekhyun felt like he was going insane. Your skin felt so soft and smooth beneath his palms as he caressed you, and the sounds you let out made him twitch beneath his shorts. You looked exquisite like this, bare aside from the barely-there lace thong and your backside on full display. He leaned down to kiss your neck, leaving you shuddering at the sensation of his breath on your ear. “Can I touch you?” he whispered, and all you could do was nod, your mind too foggy with lust to form real words. 

His hand made its way down to your ass, touching you so close to where you wanted him, but not quite. “Let me hear you.” 

You took a deep breath, and forced out the words, “Yes, Baekhyun, please.” 

You felt him smile against the skin of your neck as he kept showering it with kisses, and his hand finally moved between your legs to where you needed him most. He made you gasp as he slowly began rubbing your clit through the thin lace of your underwear. “Turn around for me princess.” 

Once you were facing him, and your eyes met, your arousal was amplified even further. He was laying on top of you now between your spread legs, and you felt annoyed at how much he was still wearing. 

The first thing to go was his shirt, as you impatiently fumbled with the buttons before pulling it off of him completely. You knew that he was in pretty good shape but you still weren’t prepared when you finally saw him bare, and you knew that he saw how you stared by the pleased smirk on his face.

Next he moved off of you to remove his pants, leaving him in only his briefs. He soon moved back over you and resumed the motions of his hands between your legs, making you whine. He pulled you into a kiss so heart shattering you could feel yourself shaking with desire as he continued his ministrations. He was smothering you, pressed against you completely but you still wrapped your arms around his back in an effort to bring him even closer. 

His kisses started to make their way down your jaw and towards your neck, and then slowly to your chest. He took one sensitive bud between his lips and your back arched off his mattress and your hands found his soft hair. He used his fingers to tease the other side as well, enjoying the feeling of your hands running through his hair and the soft sounds falling from your lips. 

As much as Baekhyun had been looking forward to this, he still wanted to hear you beg for him, even if that meant having to be patient. Luckily, however, you were just as impatient as he was. 

“I n-need more, please.” You gasped, the sensation of his hand on your pussy and his lips on your breasts edging you on without giving you the relief you craved.

“Say it again for me.” 

“Baekhyun, please.” 

“Mmmh,” he smiled down at you, “good girl.” 

His kisses moved down to your ribcage and stomach, leaving marks on the way until he was hooking his fingers into the waistband or your underwear and dragging them down your legs. He soon positioned himself between your thighs, and you felt hyper aware of his eyes on the last part of you he’d had yet to see. 

Instead of giving you what you wanted, Baekhyun started to kiss your inner thighs, leaving marks there as well, slowly creeping closer and closer to your waiting pussy. The feeling of him sucking and biting on the skin so close to where you wanted him was maddening. You let out another impatient whine, and finally, you felt his lips press against your clit. He was still taking his time, leaving soft kisses at first, but eventually he let his tongue lick a stripe all the way up your folds, making you shudder. You knew you wouldn’t last long with how tightly wound up you already were. When he started to quicken his motions, licking and sucking at your most sensitive spot, you started to crumble. Your hands abandoned his hair, instead opting to grab at the pillow behind you, out of fear that you might yank his hair out otherwise. A lewd moan slipped out from between your lips as your back arched and you started to move your hips against his face, prompting him to push you down to keep you in place. The feeling was overwhelming your senses and the only thoughts left in your mind were of his lips and tongue on you as you chased your high. 

When you felt one of his slender fingers enter you, you knew you were gone. Only a few pumps later you felt the damn break and you moaned his name unabashedly and the pleasure flooded your body. Your vision went white and you felt yourself twitch against him as he kept licking and kissing you through your climax. Eventually he pulled away, and you went limp, closing your eyes and relaxing into the post-orgasmic haze. 

“Don’t fall asleep sweetheart, I’m not done with you yet.”

A few moments later he was on top of you again, kissing you, only this time you could feel his hard member against you separated only by the fabric of his briefs. You reached down to try to pull the fabric away, but he stopped you before you could have any success. “So impatient.” He whispered before taking your hands and lacing them between his own and pinning them to the bed on either side of you as he continued to cover your face and neck with deep heated kisses. 

You couldn’t stop whining and squirming beneath him, trying to get some sort of relief, but Baekhyun wouldn’t do anything until you asked for it. “What do you want baby?” He breathed in your ear and placed more kisses on the sensitive spot on the side of your neck, sending jolts of pleasure down your spine.

“I-I want you.” 

“You want me to what?” 

“I want you to fuck me, p-please.”

Baekhyun ginned and leaned back to admire you, relishing the way you were panting for him, chest heaving up and down, cheeks flushed. “So beautiful.” 

He got up to remove his last remaining piece of clothing before finding his way back between your spread legs. One hand moved downwards and you felt two fingers enter you, testing your readiness. You moaned out at the intrusion, but just as quickly as they entered you his fingers left you as well. “So wet for me.” You heard him mutter.

When you finally felt his tip press against your folds you threw your head back and wrapped your legs around his waist in an effort to pull him further into you, but to no avail. 

“Y/n, look at me.” He said as one of his hands cupped your face and you opened your eyes, immediately meeting his. “You ready?” 

You nodded frantically and felt him position himself. The anticipation was killing you, but finally he brought his face down to yours to press a kiss to your lips as he sunk himself into you. He was larger than you had expected, making you gasp against his lips as he stretched you out. Once his length was fully inside you he waited for a moment to let you adjust, despite the urge to just let go and fuck you senseless. You opened your eyes and saw his squeezed shut, jaw clenched as he held himself back. Baekhyun had wanted this for so long, had waited for months and now that he finally had you underneath and around him, it felt too good to be true. 

When he felt your hips shift to take him even deeper, he took it as a sign to start moving. He pulled out almost completely before sinking himself back into you, starting a slow and steady pace that had you whimpering and clutching at his shoulders, trying to bring him impossibly closer. 

He continued to kiss you as he slowly fucked you, and you couldn’t help but think how sweet and romantic it still felt. As cheesy as it sounds, he wasn’t just fucking you, you felt like he was truly making love to you. You let your body melt into his movements, rolling your body up against his to push him even deeper inside of you with every thrust. 

His lips traveled from yours down to your ear, “So, so, perfect, such a good girl for me.” 

His words sent shockwaves down your spine and through your limbs, exciting you even further as you lost yourself to his expert thrusts. Your mind was blank, unable to form any coherent thoughts aside from how good he was making you feel. Every time he sank back into you you could feel him hit that special spot that had your eyes rolling to the back of your head and your toes curling.

You were enjoying his slow, calculated, movements, but the knot in the pit of your stomach was building and you knew you’d need more to be pushed over the edge.  

“F-faster.” You breathed out in desperation. 

Instead of giving you what you wanted Baekhyun stopped his movements completely, leaning up to look you in the eyes. “What was that sweetheart?”

“Faster, Baekhyun please.”

He smirked at your plea, “Since you asked so nicely.” 

He resumed his motions, this time picking up the pace while one hand moved to knead and pinch at the sensitive skin of your breasts. 

Your legs had wrapped themselves tightly around his waist and your hands were gripping onto his back so tightly it would probably leave marks. The sensation was completely overwhelming, and you were reduced to a whining, moaning mess beneath him as you felt your high getting close again. With him drilling in and out of you at a faster pace, and the ministrations of his hands on your chest, you knew the pressure would soon snap. 

“Are you gonna cum for me baby?” He could tell by how tightly you were clenching around him, you were close. 

All you could do was nod and let out a series of lewd noises, and the hand on your chest moved down to your clit. “Let go, let me feel you.” 

A few seconds later you felt the pressure release, waves of euphoria flooding your body sending jolts of electricity through your limbs, making you twitch uncontrollably as he kept thrusting into you. You clamped down on him so tightly you heard him let out a pained grunt as he chased his high as well, losing control as his movements got less consistent. 

“Fuck, no condom.” 

You felt him start to pull out but locked your legs around him before he could do so, “I’m on the pill, please don’t stop.” 

He let out a guttural moan and a few thrusts later he was emptying himself inside you, pressing his lips to yours once again, this time with so much force you felt yourself being pushed further into the mattress. 

Once you had both come down from your highs he all but collapsed on top of you, and you unhooked your legs from his waist. Your arms stayed wrapped around him and the both of you laid there, sweating and panting against one another as you slowly came back to reality.  

“Worth the wait?” He asked breathily.

“Fuck yes.”

He laughed, and you felt his chest vibrating on top of you. “Glad to hear it. I didn’t hurt you, did I?” 

You shook your head before cupping his face and bringing it down to yours for a kiss. “It was perfect.” 

He smiled back at you with that smile that felt like it could single handedly melt every glacier on earth and then some. Despite the fact that his weight was starting to make it difficult for you to breathe, you still whined when he pushed off the bed and slipped out of you to get the both of you cleaned up. He disappeared into the master bathroom, eventually returning with a wet washcloth to rid you of the sticky mess between your thighs. 

Neither of you bothered putting any clothes on when he returned to bed and pulled you close, resting your head on his chest as the rest of your limbs tangled together under the sheets.  

You lifted your head from his chest, meeting his eyes, “Can I stay the night?” 

“Of course baby, get some rest.” He said and pressed a kiss to your forehead. You laid your head back down, closing your eyes. 

You hummed at the feeling of his hands drawing circles on your bare back, and you dozed off to the sweet feeling and the steady sound of his heartbeat in your ear. 

With Baekhyun, you felt like you had found your own little slice of heaven. This was the definition of bliss. 

A/N: this is my first time writing smut so please be gentle with me, I tried my best 🤧

Next Chapter

[verymuchimmortalcat]

Museum Shenanigans

For Bio Dad Bruce Wayne Month Day 2: Family/Friends

ao3

@maribat-bdbwm ​

Marinette and her class were at the Louvre for a project. They’d been randomly divided into groups of four, Marinette was with Alix, Nino and Juleka. The whole class was spread out throughout the museum but Alix had wanted to check in with her dad and the three of them had joined her, joking that she was their guide for the museum and that they’d be lost without her. Alix had gone with it and the four of them were headed to her father’s office.

They could hear two voices as they neared his office. Alix had stopped in confusion, probably because she couldn’t recognise the voice since they weren’t someone from the museum. Unfortunately, Marinette did. This was bound to be interesting. The four of them walked into the office to find M. Kubdel speaking to a black-haired blue-eyed boy in a suit.

“Isn’t that Tim Wayne?” Alix whispers from besides her. Nino nods, gaping.

The two of them turn to look at her group, she sees the exact moment her brother recognises her and wishes she could sink into the floor.

“M. Wayne. My daughter, Alix, and her friends.”

Marinette glares at him silently as he shakes hands with all of them.

“Maybe we can join your daughter and her friends, I’m sure you have a lot of work to be done. We won’t be a bother at all,” Tim suggests.

We?

“If they’re fine with it, you can join them.”

When the others nod, Alix tells her father that the Waynes can join them.

As they leave the room together, she whispers, “I will kill you if this goes wrong,”.

He smirks and whispers, “Do I look like I wanna get on Tam’s bad side?”

“Don’t you somehow always manage to?”

He just grins and says, louder this time, “my brothers, Duke and Damian are here too, they should be by the entrance.”

They find Damian and Duke where Tim says they should be. They must have gotten there after her class had arrived at the Louvre, there’s no way she would’ve missed them if they had been there.

Duke spots them first and waves at them, and then he’s grinning and telling Damian something. Damian looks up and locks his gaze on their group. Whatever it is they’re going to do, Marinette wants in, it’s always better to be on the side of chaos.

As Alix leads them throughout the museum, they do actually try to work on their project. But her brothers have fallen behind and are probably planning something. Letting her friends go ahead, she falls in line with her siblings.

“So…are you here on a mission or just normal PR stuff?”

“Both. Some case Diana and B were working on together for which Diana said there was information her but since she can’t come, we’re here instead,” Duke says, “Anyway, what’s the plan?”

“Tt, we already have the plan. Father reviewed it with us several times before we left.”

“Not that plan. The plan for how we’re going to mess with Nette’s friends.”

Marinette grins, “I may have an idea.”

 .oOo.

 “Marinette, I’d like to go the wing with the pre-classical Greece artifacts,” Damian stated.

“You’ll have to ask Alix, Dami. I’m not the one who knows the museum like the back of my hand,” she replies casually.

Her friends are staring at the two of them open mouthed. “Marinette, you know the Waynes?” Nino asks.

“Don’t be asinine, I’ve never met Dupain-Cheng before today.”

“You literally called her Marinette two seconds ago and she called you Dami,” Alix spluttered.

“You must have misheard, Alix. There's no way I would know the Waynes”

None of them let their masks slip. The rest of her siblings would be proud of their excellent use of Bat training.

“Fine,” Alix mutters, “the artifacts you want to look at are in the lower ground floor which is where we’re headed.”

 .oOo.

 “Hey Nette?”

She hums in response as Duke joins her and her friends where they’ve been for the past fifteen minutes staring at the Egyptian artifacts.

“What’s your project about?

“Well, glowstick, we were just told to look around the museum and make a presentation about some of the artifacts tomorrow.”

“Sounds fun, I’m gonna go back to Damian and Tim before something goes wrong.”

“I don’t think they’ve been alone long enough to destroy anything yet.”

“You never know Mari,” he says in fake solemn voice and heads back.

Marinette tries not to grin as she turns back to her friends who are yet again looking at her like someone completely different.

“I thought you said you didn’t know the Waynes,” Juleka says quietly.

“I don’t.”

Alix’s eye twitches, “He called you Mari and Nette.”

“You could have simply missed the other half of my name.”

“You called him glowstick!”

“Hmm. Did I? Don’t remember doing that. We should get back to our project.”

 .oOo.

 They finish in another half an hour and return to next room where they left her brothers. They’re just casually standing around. Probably got whatever it was they came for. And then there’s a rumble and the floors are shaking. Her brothers tense into a fighting stance and Marinette just sighs. Akuma attack. She can see her friends come to the same conclusion.

Nino whispers, “we’re not all going, are we? We can’t just leave the Waynes here.”

“But Adrien wasn’t allowed to come, something about a photo shoot. We'll need more people,” Juleka points out.

“We don’t know what the situation even is yet and Alix obviously can’t come but the remaining two of you come with me.”

“And the Waynes?” Nino asks.

“We’re right here,” Tim says from behind them.

“So, here’s the plan: Alix head back to your dad, Juleka and Nino come with me and the three of you can help civilians and not get involved at all in the fighting. And since I haven’t created a PR mess, I’m not in trouble with Tam.”

“You could still get in trouble with B about revealing everyone’s identities,” Tim replies.

“There’s no one in this room I don’t trust. Now go!”

“Fine,” Damian grumbles, “only because it’s your city.” And the three of them run off.

“You actually do know each other?” Nino screeches.

“Explanations later. Akuma now.”

 .oOo.

 The three of them, she’d told the others it wasn’t necessary for them to come, handle the akuma pretty quickly. Her siblings helping with getting the civilians out of the way simplified it a lot more and let the three of them focus on the akuma.

Now they’re at her room and she’s trying to explain the whole thing to her friends. They’ve already gone through the whole keeping each other’s identities a secret. Marinette’s sure it won’t be an issue.

Roaar and Fluff certainly found it funny, Tikki had long since stopped trying to advise her when she was around her siblings and Wayzz was eating peacefully.

“So, the Waynes are the Bats?” Alix repeats for the tenth time.

“Yes.”

“Bruce Wayne is Batman? The man who made international news last month because of something stupid he did at a high coverage event is Batman?”

The four of them wince. Galas are always painfully embarrassing for them. Not that they aren’t equally as chaotic but they’re not the ones who look like idiots.

She sighs, "yes."

"Huh. Who would've thought?"

Her friends leave soon after. Once they're gone she flops onto her chaise, “so what was it that Dad and Diana wanted?”

[dialovers-translations]

Diabolik Lovers DARK FATE ー Sakamaki Prologue

← RETURN TO GENERAL PROLOGUE

ー The scene starts in the classroom

Yui: ...I’m going home by car today.

Female student C: I see. Well, we might be getting some bad weather, so that is probably a wise choice.

Yui: Eh? Really?

Female student C: Yeah. They said so on the weather forecast. I’ll be heading home then. Bye bye!

Yui: See you tomorrow! Bye bye!

ー The scene shifts to the outside of Ryoutei Academy

Yui: ( Speaking of which, Ayato-kun didn’t attend classes today. )

( We both went to school together, so I wonder if he was skipping class somewhere? )

( He should know he’ll be in big trouble if Reiji-san finds out though... )

Driver: ーー My apologies for the wait.

Yui: Thank you very much.

ー She gets inside the car

*Thud*

Yui: I’m the first one here. That’s neーー

Ayato: Yo, Chichinashi!

Yui: Ayato-kun! I haven’t seen you around all day, where have you been?

Ayato: Aah? That’s none of your business, is it?

Yui: That’s true but...

Laito: ーー If you’re curious about Ayato-kun’s whereabouts, I spotted him over at the infirmary...Sleeping soundly with a cute expression on his face. Nfu~

Ayato: Wha...!? Cute!? Stop spoutin’ disgustin’ crap!

Laito: Eeh~? I’m complimenting you, so you should just honestly thank me.

Yui: And where did you hang out instead of attending class, Laito-kun?

Laito: Bitch-chan, you want to know my secrets? If you insist, I suppose I could tell you...

Every・single・one, okay~? (1)

Yui: No, I’ll pass.

Laito: Geez! I wish you wouldn’t turn down my offer so quickly?

Kanato: What made you think she would be curious about your secrets? I wouldn’t want to hear about those even if I was forced to.

Yui: Kanato-kun!

Laito: Kanato-kun, how cruel! You don’t have to be so mean, do you?

Kanato: Being forced to listen to something you don’t want to hear is pure torture after all...

That being said, Laito. The space next to her. That’s my seat so could you make some room?

You move away a little further too, Ayato.

Ayato: In your dreams! (2) The seat next to Chichinashi is obviously mine!

Kanato: Haah?

Shuu: ...Noisy as always. I could hear you guys’ voices all the way from outside the car...

Yui: Shuu-san...!

Laito: Oh geez~ You’re acting as if you’re the only outsider.

Shuu: I’m not picky about which seat I take after all.

I understand why you’d want to sit close to her, but making too much of a fuss proves that you’re all still kids.

Ayato: Aah!? Who are ya callin’ a kid!?

Reiji: ...Good grief. You lot are at it again?

Laito: Nfu~ Nice observation, Reiji. I can’t believe you’d guess we’re quarreling.

Reiji: This happens every day after all. How ridiculous. Do you not think it is about time you fight over a different topic for once?

Furthermore...Shuu. Could you not hog the seats all for yourself? You are in the way.

Shuu: There’s plenty to pick from right? Just take one of the other ones.

Reiji: If I sit on the opposite side, I will have no choice but to pain my eyes with the sight of you, no? Come on, make way.

Shuu: Haah, annoying...

Reiji: I am not being ‘annoying’. As the first heir to this family...

Subaru: Can’t you guys pipe the fuck down?...Geez...

*Thud*

Yui: Welcome back, Subaru-kun.

Subaru: Y-Yeah...

Oi, you shitheads. Move out of the way. I’m sittin’ next to her.

Kanato: Hah? You want to sit next to her as well?

Subaru: I never...! It’s not like I want to sit next to her...

I just like the way that seat feels.

Laito: Nfu~ Dare I say that’s a rather cringy excuse? Kukuku~

Subaru: Aah!?

Yui: ( Somehow seeing the guys are still the same as always makes me feel relieved. )

ー The car starts driving

Yui: ( Quite a lot has happened since I came to this house, but I’ve sort of gotten used to it over time... )

( I might just be imagining things, but I feel like the guys have become a lot kinder compared to when I first met them as well. )

( I guess feelings really do change... )

Reiji: ーー Speaking of which, did you all hear?

Ayato: What?

Reiji: Apparently there will be two transfer students coming from the campus in Great Britain.

Yui: Yes, now that you mention it, our teacher said something about that.

Subaru: Props to those guys for goin’ through the extra trouble.

Laito: Do you know something about them?

Reiji: No, not really.

Laito: Then why would you bring that up?

Reiji: It’s simple idle talk. The silence was getting on my nerves.

*CRASH*

Yui: ...!

Kanato: That was the thunder.

Ayato: It started pourin’ as well. What a dragー

Yui: ...The sky is pitch black as well...

Shuu: I mean, it’s night-time after all, so obviously it’d be? What are you saying?

Yui: That’s true but the moon was out earlier so...

Ah, speaking of which, the lunar eclipse will be happening soon, right?

Subaru: The eclipse?

Yui: Yeah.

Reiji: Exactly. I actually wanted to give you all a warning regarding said topic.

Laito: Eh~? What is it~?

Reiji: As you should be well aware, we are not unaffected by the lunar eclipse.

Yui: Eh? Is that so?

Reiji: Well, I doubt there will be any large changes.

We might say or do some things which are out of the ordinary...As well as grow somewhat unstable.

Yui: I see...

Ayato: Oh? Are you worried, Chichinashi?

Yui: Just a little.

Shuu: ーー During last time’s lunar eclipse, the Old Man was so fussy about it, I thought I was gonna go crazy.

Laito: ...Ahー ...I just remembered. We were still living in the Demon World back then, weren’t we?

Kanato: The night is much longer over there, so it was the worst...

Ayato: I remembered. He locked us up inside the castle, didn’t he?

I wonder why that old fart was so wary of it?

Kanato: I picked up some things about that. Apparently...There is a possibility some evildoers could come and attack us...

Yui: Evildoers...?

Ayato: Yeah! You know! He means the bad guys!

Laito: Do you want us to applaud you for that answer? (3)

Reiji: Either way, please be even more cautious than usual, understood? 

Unlike the one in the Demon World, the eclipse will be over in just a few hours this time. I am sure you can at least endure it for that long?

Yui: ( Out of the ordinary...Will everything be okay? I’ve gotten a little worried. )

Laito: Nfufu...

Subaru: The fuck you chucklin’ for, Laito...? It gives me the creeps.

Laito: I figured out what’s on Bitch-chan’s mind~

Yui: Eh...?

Laito: You were wondering just now...What exactly he meant with ‘saying or doing things out of the ordinary’, no?

Yui: ...!

Laito: I figured it out by looking at your expression. You really are such a lewd girl~

Yui: Wha...!? Why does it translate to that!?

Laito: You want to experiment, don’t you? Doing all sorts of things...While we’re being toyed around with by the moon...~

I mean, it would be different from usual, right? I totally relate to you wanting to switch things up every once in a while, nfu~ 

Reiji: ...Laito. I think you’ve said enough. You are corrupting my ears.

Yui: ( The lunar eclipse, huh...? I hope it passes without anything happening. )

*TIMESKIP*

ー The scene shifts to the living room

Yui: It’s this late already...? I suppose I should hit the hay soon.

Reiji: Oh dear? Going to bed already?

Yui: Yes. It is starting to become a little light outside as well.

Reiji: How about a cup of tea before bed? I got my hands on this new brand of herbal tea.

I would not mind treating you to some?

Yui: Ah, I’ll gladly have some!

Reiji: Very well. Then please wait a few.

ー Reiji walks away as Ayato enters the living room

Ayato: Oh, who do we have here! Not goin’ to bed yet?

Yui: Reiji-san offered me some tea, so I’ll get some rest after I’ve finished my drink.

Ayato: Che...What’s so good ‘bout that crap which tastes of grass?

Yui: Grass...? No way, it’s delicious. 

Ayato: That’s what it tastes like to me. I’m a carnivore (4) rather than a herbivore after all! ...This stuff’s more my ‘cup of tea’. 

ー Ayato moves closer and pins her down

*Thud*

Yui: W-Wait, Ayato-kun! What are you...!? 

Ayato: Lemme suck you. I’m thirsty for blood right now...

*Rustle rustle*

Yui: ( ...At this rate, he’ll take my blood...! )

R-Right! Ayato-kun, did you know?

*Rustle*

Ayato: Aah!? 

Yui: ーー S-Speaking of carnivores, I heard this rumor about a wolf being spotted in the city...

Ayato: A wolf!?

Yui: Y-Yeah. Apparently tons of people witnessed it, so the rumors are spreading like wildfire...

Ayato: Che. What bullshit are you spoutin’? You actually believe there was a wolf!?

Yui: But you know, at school...I alsoーー

Laito: Spotted~ (5)

Yui: L-Laito-kun!

Ayato: ...Laito, don’t get in my way.

Laito: Oh no no. If you want to suck Bitch-chan’s blood, you have to get my permission first.

Ayato: Why do I have to get your permission for everythin’, huh!?

Laito: Ehー? Why, you ask? Well...

*Rustle*

Yui: Kyah!?

Laito: Because Bitch-chan belongs to me~ Right?

Say, Bitch-chan? Wasn’t this ‘wolf’ you saw wearing a hat?

Yui: Eh!? 

Laito: The Big Bad Wolf wearing a hat always has his vision locked on the cute Little Red Riding Hood, you know~?

Ayato: Keh. ‘Big Bad Wolf’, my ass! Anyway, Chichinashi. Did you seriously see a wolf?

Yui: Y-Yeah...Probably...

Laito: When? Where?

Yui: After classes today. On the rooftop at school...

Ayato: Aah? The rooftop? Hah, ridiculous. I bet you just mistook some shadow for a wolf.

Laito: Besides, that’s exactly where I was after classes today.

Reiji: ーー Why were you there after school?

Laito: ...! R-Reiji. Didn’t see you there.

Reiji: Yes. I sure am. Is that a problem for you?

Laito: Not really~?

Reiji: Good grief. With you guys, I never know what to expect the second I take my eyes off you.

You’re either trying to suck her blood, or skipping class...

Ayato: ...! H-How do you know I tried to bite her just now!? You weren’t around earlier, were you!?

Reiji: ーー It became clear as day to me the second I saw her disheveled clothes.

Yui: Eh...! Ah...

*Rustle rustle*

Reiji: You lot truly are beyond hopeless.

ーー Here you go, Yui. I’ve prepared your tea.

Yui: T-Thank you very much!

*Cling*

Reiji: ...Well then, regarding what you said just now...

Yui: Eh?

Reiji: Could you fill me in on the details?

Yui: You mean about the wolf?

Laito: It was just Bitch-chan’s eyes playing tricks on her, no?

Isn’t it like those people who say they can ‘sense’ ghosts after they’ve been told a place is haunted? 

Reiji: I am talking to her.

Yui: U-Uhm...

ー Yui tells him the full story

Reiji: I see.

Yui: However, I’m pretty sure I just saw a wild dog or something along those lines...

Subaru: ...What would a wild dog be doin’ up on the roof? That was a wolf.

Yui: Subaru-kun...?

Subaru: You probably don’t know, but in the Demon World, there are other demonic species who can alter their appearance into those of a snake, eagle or wolf.

We’re livin’ here too, so it wouldn’t be that far-fetched for some wolf to show up.

Yui: T-Then, a resident of the Demon World has changed into a wolf and come to this city?

Subaru: Guess so? There aren’t any wild wolves livin’ ‘round these parts, right?

Reiji: I considered that possibility for a second too, however...

Ayato: What?

Reiji: The Wolf clan living in the Demon World is extremely territorial. Well, the same could be said about the snakes too...

I simply cannot fathom they would come to the human world.

Laito: Ahー ...Now that you mention it, they really are.

I went through hell and back once after messing around with a girl on Wolf territory...

Subaru: ...Then how do you explain the wolf wanderin’ ‘round this city!?

*Thud*

Yui: S-Subaru-kun, calm down.

Reiji: Exactly. Do you really need to lose your temper over everything?

Ayato: Can’t we look at it this way? It’s probably not that concerned ‘bout us.

Vampires aren’t territorial after all.

Reiji: That might be the case for us, but I doubt the same can be said about them.

It is part of their natural instinct after all...

Laito: Nfu~ Then, basically you want to say that the wolf which has been sighted in the city is just a regular one?

Reiji: Or rather, there is one other possibility I can think of.

Yui: Another possibility...?

Reiji: In the Demon World, one more species going by the name of the ‘First Bloods’ exists.

They are said to be the ancestors of every species living in the Demon World.

Ayato: The fuck? That’s a first to me. Besides, I’ve never run into one of those over at the Demon World either.

Reiji: Of course not. They suffered defeat in a war against our Father and Demon Lord Burai, before being banished to a castle.

They are forbidden from leaving.

Laito: Then wouldn’t it be impossible for them to show up here in the first place?

Reiji: You are indeed right. But well, they possess the abilities of the wolf, eagle, snake and bat all at once. 

Therefore, it would be possible for them to transform into wolves as well. I simply wanted to bring it up as one possible explanation.

Subaru: Well, I don’t give a damn. Whether it’s a Wolf or a First Blood.

If they get in the way, I’m gonna crush them!

Reiji: Well, a wolf is hardly a threat to us, but I suppose it would be dangerous for a human such as yourself.

Please be careful, okay? If things take a turn for the worse, do avoid being eaten. Understood?

Yui: Y-Yes...

( Seems like there’s still many things about the Demon World I don’t know. )

( Also the rumored wolf in town...I wonder if he actually exists? Then what I saw might just be... )

( ...I don’t really know yet, but I should definitely be careful for now. )

*TIMESKIP*

ー The scene shifts to the classroom

Yui: ( Today’s first period is English, huh...? I should take out my textbook and notes...My homework sheet isーー )

*Rattle*

Homeroom teacher: Oiー. Everyone, sit down. I’m going to introduce the new transfer student.

He won’t be transferring into this classroom, but I’ll at least let him introduce himself.

Shin: ...I’m Tsukinami Shin. Nice to meet y’all.

Ayato: ...That guy...

Yui: ( Ayato-kun...? )

Homeroom teacher: He only recently returned to the country after living in Great Britain, so he’ll be taking class in a special classroom for quite some time.

That being said, you’re all students of the same academy, so treat him well, okay?

Homeroom teacher: Ahー Also...If possible, I’d like for someone to show him around the campus.

Shin: Sensei, may I?

Homeroom teacher: Yes, what is it?

Shin: I would like to ask the young lady over there to give me a tour of the school.

Yui: Eh? M-Me?

Shin: Exactly. Can I count on you?

Yui: ...I don’t mind but...

Shin: We’ll see each other during the break then?

ー He leaves the classroom

Yui: ( ...Why me? )

*TIMESKIP*

ー The scene shifts to the hallway at school

Ayato: Oi, Chichinashi.

Yui: Ayato-kun? And Kanato-kun as well? ...What’s wrong?

Kanato: No, I simply had...somewhat of a weird hunch...

Yui: A weird hunch...?

( Could they be talking about Shin-kun? )

Ayato: You’re gonna show that dude ‘round the place now?

Yui: Yeah, that’s the plan.

Kanato: Do you truly believe you have the right to decide that?

Yui: ( I-I should have figured they’d be upset about that. )

B-But he asked me out of the blue...and the teacher also told us to be nice to him...

Ayato: ...I know that, but still.

Listen up. Be careful of that dude. ...I can’t really put it into words, but he’s givin’ me bad vibes.

Yui: Eh?

Kanato: ...I shall warn you as well. Although I believe it would be best for me to tag along.

For some reason, I feel like I want to keep my distance from him...

Yui: You too, Kanato-kun...?

( I wonder why the two of them are so wary? )

Ayato: Well, we’re ‘round as long as you stay on campus, so it should be fine.

Don’t let your guard down, ‘kay? Understood?

Yui: Y-Yeah.

Kanato: Ah...He has arrived. Well then...

ー Ayato and Kanato leave

Yui: ( ...I wonder what he meant with ‘bad vibes’? )

Shin: Hey, thanks for earlier.

Yui: Yeah. Well then, let me show you around right away...

Shin: I don’t need to see the campus. Instead, why don’t we drop by the rooftop?

Yui: Eh? The roof...? I don’t mind but...Why...?

Shin: ...I figured you might want to witness the lunar eclipse.

Yui: Aah, now that you mention it...

Shin: Also, the inside of this school really reeks (6) for some reason...

Yui: Eh?

Shin: Nothing. Let’s hurry up and go.

Yui: Yeah...

ー The two of them walk away

Shuu: ...

ー The scene shifts to the rooftop

Shin: Aah, the eclipse has begun.

Yui: You’re right...!

( The moon’s colored a bright crimson...slowly becoming chipped, amazing! )

Shin: Is this your first time witnessing one?

Yui: Yeah. It’s a first for me...How beautiful, don’t you think?

Shin: Beautiful, huh?

ー Somebody walks up to them

???: ...Shin.

Shin: Hey, Nii-san.

Yui: Eh?

Shin: Let me introduce him. This is my Nii-san, his name’s...

Carla: I’m Tsukinami Carla.

Yui: N-Nice to meet you...! My name’s Komori Yui.

( I see. Now that you mention it, when the teacher said two transfer students...He must have been talking about Shin-kun and his older brother. )

Carla: ...

Yui: ( ...That being said, he is somewhat of an intimidating individual... )

Shin: Neither of us are used to living here, so we’ll be counting on your help, okay?

Yui: Yeah...If you’re fine with me...

Carla: Shin.

Shin: Yes, Nii-san?

Carla: Take a look.

Shin: Eh?

Yui: ...Ah...!

Shuu: ...

Yui: Shuu-san?

What’s the matter? Are you perhaps here to watch the Lunar Eclipse as we...

Shuu: Haah? Does it look like that to you?

Yui: ...Right.

ー Shuu walks up to Yui

Shuu: ーー Let’s go.

Yui: Eh? M-Me?

Shuu: Yeah. Hurry up.

Yui: B-But...

Carla: I don’t mind. Go if you must.

Shin: Nii-san, are you sure?

Carla: Yes.

Yui: T-Then...See you later. Please tell me if you need anything. Now if you’d excuse me.

ー Yui leaves with Shuu

Shin: Nii-san, do you think we’ll be able to use her?

Carla: No chance.

Shin: Eh? For real? Geez. I was kind to her for nothing then...

If she won’t be of any use to us, why don’t we take her down alongside this school which stinks of Vampires...

Burning everything to the ground...Kukuku. What do you say?

Carla: While it would be impossible in her current state, if we cleanse her, she might just...

Shin: Cleansing, huh? What a drag. For one, I doubt I’ll be able to stand the stench of those Vampires.

But, if we have no other choice, guess it can’t be helped.

Carla: Get everything in order by the end of tonight. Understood?

Shin: Roger. Well, I could probably win against those Vampires while they’re weakened by the lunar eclipse using just one arm.

Carla: Do not let down your guard. That man from just now...He seemed to have caught on somewhat.

Shin: I know.

ー The scene shifts to the hallway

Yui: Wait, Shuu-san!

Shuu: ...Did those guys from earlier tell you anything?

Yui: Eh? No...nothing...

Shuu: I see.

Yui: ...What’s gotten into all of you? I feel as if you’ve been very wary of those two this whole time...

Shuu: You saw it too, right? The lunar eclipse has started.

Because of that, our intuition is off compared to usual. Reiji mentioned it yesterday as well, remember?

We may act or say things out of ordinary...And at the same time, our five senses don’t quite work as well.

Yui: ( Right...That’s why everyone is even more on guard than usual. )

I understand. I’ll be careful.

( I wonder if everything will be okay...While they’re under the eclipse’s effects? )

*TIMESKIP*

ー The scene shifts to inside the limousine

Yui: ( Phew, I’m glad the day passed without anything happening in the end. )

ー Ayato boards the vehicle

Ayato: Hm? It’s just you today?

Yui: Yup. Where’s everyone else?

Ayato: How should I know? Since they’re not here, I guess they’re not going home by car today?

Yui: ...

Ayato: What are you making that face for?

Yui: No. I’m just a little worried, considering the lunar eclipse has begun as well.

Ayato: Keh. I’m the only one you should be concerned about.

Driver: ーー May I start the vehicle?

Ayato: I don’t mind.

ー The car starts driving

Yui: Will everything be okay...?

Ayato: Are you that worried? You piss me off. You’re just a Chichinashi too!

Yui: I mean, you were all acting kind of off today as well...

Ayato: Che. They’re no kids, I’m sure it’ll be fiーー

ー The car suddenly comes to a halt

Yui: Kyaaah...!!

Ayato: Woah...!?

Driver: A-Ayato-sama...!!

Ayato: ...The fuck was that...!?

Driver: W...Wolves are...!!

Ayato: Aah!?

*HOOOOOOOOWL*

Yui: ...!

Ayato: Oi, Chichinashi...! Move closer!

*Rustle*

Yui: Ayato-kun, what on earth is...?

Ayato: I don’t know...

Either way, don’t leave my side...!!

Yui: Y-Yeah...

*HOOOOOOOOOWL*

Yui: ...!

Ayato: Rest assured...Chichinashi, you belong to me. No way in hell I’m handin’ you over to some wolf!

Yui: Ayato-kun...!!

ー One of the wolves breaks through the window

*SHATTER*

Ayato: Che!!

ー Ayato is attacked by the wolf while protecting Yui

Yui: Ayato-kun!!!!

Ayato: Fuck...That hurt! The fuck’s your problem!!? 

ー The wolf continues its assault

Ayato: Guh...Chichinashi, don’t you dare move from underneath me...!!

Yui: B-But...!

Ayato: Shut up...Guah...!!

*RIIIIIIP*

Ayato: ...Guh...Uu...!!

Yui: ( Oh no, at this rate, Ayato-kun will...!! )

???: Tsk...Where did you all come from...!? Fuck off...!

*THUD*

ー Subaru enters the car

Subaru: What are you doin’!?

*THUD*

ー The wolf backs off

Yui: ...Subaru-kun...!

Subaru: Che...Things are this bad even tho Ayato was ‘round? ...Take that!!

*THUD*

Ayato: Che...

Yui: Ayato-kun...! Things will be okay now...! Hang in there!

Subaru: Oi. Which one of you bastards is next, huh!!?

*Whistle*

*HOOOOOOWL*

Subaru: ...!? Makin’ a run for it...!? Wait...!!

Yui: Subaru-kun...! Wait! Please...Don’t go...!!

Subaru: Che...Fuck...

Yui: Ayato-kun is...!

Ayato: Ugh...

Subaru: He’s out cold...Did he protect you?

Yui: Yeah...!

Subaru: Che...He’s got bite wounds all over...Fuck...They were Wolves from the Demon World after all.

Oi, you. Lend me a hand for a sec. Support this shoulder...

Yui: Okay...!

*Rustle*

Subaru: There we go. I’ll handle the rest. Let’s go. We gotta head back home asap.

Yui: ...Is Ayato-kun okay?

Subaru: Dunno. I’m not a doctor. We gotta show him to Reiji first.

ーー Oi, driver! Che...Our Familiar was beaten as well...

*Whistle*

Yui: What are we gonna do?

Subaru: I called over my Familiar for now. We can leave things be here. Let’s go!

Yui: Okay...!

( Why were we suddenly attacked...? )

( Also, those Wolves from earlier...Where did they...? )

*TIMESKIP*

Yui: Ayato-kun, stay strong...!

Reiji: ...His wounds are rather severe. We will have to make a visit to the Demon World to receive help from a clinic.

Kanato: Is it that bad?

Reiji: If he had been a human, this number of wounds would have resulted in an instant death. 

Yui: ...!

Laito: Ayato-kun tried to play the hero all by himself...

Reiji: We were fortunate Subaru rushed to the scene at once, if he had been even a second delayed...

His throat might have been ripped up to shreds.

Subaru: ...The fuck did those wolves want...? Is the Wolf clan trying to declare war on us!?

Shuu: ...How did you feel about the situation? You’re the only one who actually went head to head with them.

Subaru: I don’t know...I just felt like they were kinda different from the Wolves I would often spot ‘round in the Demon World...

Reiji: If I recall correctly, our Father and the King of the Wolf clan have always been been on good terms.

I find it hard to believe that they - who are so loyal to their own leader - would come and assault us.

Subaru: Then what are they!?

Shuu: First Bloods...

Laito: ...Aren’t those guys locked up in a castle at the Demon World?

Shuu: They should be. However, there’s a possibility they have managed to find an opening to leave the castle.

Reiji: Either way, let us return to the Demon World at once, Shuu.

Shuu: Yeah. Let’s go back. We need to report this to the Old Man too.

Laito: Good grief. We have to return to the Demon World during the eclipse again, huh...?

Kanato: ...We have no other choice...

Yui: Uhm, I...

Shuu: You will stay behind here.

Yui: Eh!? But...

Shuu: The Wolves attacked Ayato. Which means you aren’t their target.

Reiji: That sounds like a good idea. Furthermore, the eclipse is ongoing over at the Demon World as well.

We do not know what may happen. You are a human as well.

Yui: ( Good point...If a human such as myself goes to the Demon World, I’ll only end up slowing them down. )

( I’m worried about Ayato-kun and the others but... )

You’ll be able to come back once the lunar eclipse has ended here, right?

Laito: I’d love to, but I’m not sure?

Reiji: Depending on the wolves’ identity, we might have to end up staying at the Demon World for a while.

Yui: But, there’s an eclipse going on over at the Demon World as well, right? Isn’t it dangerous since you don’t know what may happen...?

Subaru: That’s true but the castle’s bein’ protected by our shitty father’s magic, so don’t worry.

Yui: ...

Subaru: Oh come on, don’t look so anxious. I’m hesitant to leave you all by yourself as well...

Shuu: Haah...It’s a pain but we have no other choice. Oi, let’s get going guys.

ー They start walking away

Shuu: I’m leaving the house in your care.

Yui: Yes...

Laito: It saddens me to have to leave your side...But we can’t leave Ayato-kun like this either.

Kanato: I’ll let you have my pudding, so please wait here like you’ve been told to, okay?

Reiji: Well then...Subaru, please carry Ayato.

Subaru: Haah!? Me again!? Don’t be shittin’ me!!

Yui: ( You guys... )

( Please don’t let anything happen... )

*TIMESKIP*

Yui: Haah...

( Everyone left for the Demon World so I’m all by myself...Somehow the manor feels even more spacious than usual... )

*Rumble*

Yui: ...!!

( I’m a little lonely. Actually, now that I think of it, since I’m alone here now... )

( I could just run away, right? It’s not like anyone’s keeping an eye on me... )

( But...It’s not like I have anywhere to go still...Besides, is there still even a point in running still...? )

I wonder since when I’ve gotten this used to my life here...? 

( At first, I was so terribly scared. It still hurts to have my blood sucked even now...But. )

( Through getting to know everyone, it’s only still a little but...I... )

*HOOOOOWL*

Yui: !!!

( Oh no, the wolves again...? They didn’t target me last time though... )

( Don’t tell me, they think everyone’s still here...? )

...Uu...

ー The scene shifts to the underground waterway

Yui: Haah...haah...!

( In this case, I should try going to the Demon World, even if I end up being a burden. )

( Who knows what will happen to me if I remain here... )

( I’m sure...He will for sure save me... )

[ Choose Shuu ] [ Choose Reiji ] [ Choose Ayato ]

[ Choose Kanato ] [ Choose Laito ] [ Choose Subaru ]

ーー TO BE CONTINUED ーー

Translation notes

(1) He literally just says ‘my secrets’ and pauses between each syllable of secret (ひ・め・ご・と). However, in English ‘se・crets’ doesn’t have the same effect since it’s only 2 syllables, so I changed it a little. He already mentions ‘secret’ in the previous sentence, so it doesn’t change much about the meaning of this interaction.

(2) やーなこった or ‘yaanakotta’ is a very childish and playful way to say ‘no’ or ‘don’t want to’ in Japanese. 

(3) Literally Laito asks if that is the answer they get after he puts on airs while proudly proclaiming his words. Laito often makes these low key sarcastic or snarky comments at Ayato, so I wanted the English translation to have that same feel to it. 

(4) The term 肉食 or ‘nikushoku’ may mean ‘carnivore’, in recent youth culture, it is also used as a synonym for man or woman who are very assertive when it comes to relationship and sex. Meanwhile 草食 or ‘soushoku’ is used for the exact opposite, referring to those who are hesitant to interact with the opposite sex. I don’t know if Rejet intended for it to have this hidden meaning, but I found it an interesting theory nevertheless!

(5) When Laito says ‘見ちゃった’ or ‘micchatta’ here, it can be taken two ways. Either he refers to him walking in on Ayato trying to suck Bitch-chan’s blood, or he actually finished Yui’s sentence, referring that she saw a wolf at school. 

(6) While におう or ‘niou’ could mean ‘to smell’ in general, when it is written as 臭う, it refers to a bad smell. 

[supercorpkid]

Recovery is hard, but not far.

Part 5 of T is for Trauma - The Series

Supercorp, Kara Danvers x Daughter!Reader, Lena Luthor x Daughter!Reader

Word count: 2580.

Warnings: Injuries. Just a small amount of angst now.

Previously on the series – part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4.

It’s been a couple of days since you’ve left the DEO. Kara flew you home, and soon enough all the yellow sun lights were placed around your bed, and you’ve been lying under them ever since. Things are still hard. You still feel very weak and heavy-hearted. You don’t know how to explain the feeling, but you feel that something broke inside you.

Your moms never leave your side. They look as beaten up as you do. Lena looks tired, like she hasn’t slept in weeks. There are bags under her eyes, her hair is a mess, and she’s wearing nothing but jeans and sweaters. It’s distressing. Kara looks wretched. You’ve never seen your momma looking so miserable all your life. And she hasn’t left her sweatpants in days. You don’t think they have worked in weeks, and sometimes you want to ask them about it, but you’re scared that will send them away, and you can’t see yourself being alone right now.

Jamie visits every afternoon. And the only time you feel slightly like a normal person again is when she’s telling you about school, and the people from it. Alex also comes by a lot, but it’s all very medical. She examines you, makes you talk, walk, and checks if you’re recovering. Kelly came by a few times and tried to access how you were feeling, but you couldn’t tell her, because you don’t even know exactly how it is. To the surprise of no one, she pointed out that you need therapy, and you agreed to do it once you’re feeling strong enough.

You don’t talk much. Not because your voice is still not coming out, but because you don’t have much to say. Your powers are still not back, which feels weird. Even though you can’t control them very well, you’re used to having them. So, you’re feeling very empty inside.

“Hey, you’re awake. Did you sleep well?” You hear Kara’s voice as soon as you open your eyes. You agree with your head, so she knows you can hear her. “Do you need to go to the bathroom? Or do you want to eat first?”

“Bathroom.”

Kara picks you up and takes you to the bathroom. You appreciate the help; your leg still hurts a lot when you try to walk. Probably because you don’t have your powers. But it feels weird being carried everywhere, and helped with everything.

“Are you done?” Kara asks from the other side of the door.

“Mhm.” This is almost humiliating, isn’t it? She goes back inside and picks you up again. “Bed, please.”

“But your mom made a huge breakfast for us, all of your favorites are the-”

“Not hungry, momma. But thank you.” You try to smile at her, but it’s not a real smile. You haven’t been able to do that in a while. Kara puts you back in the bed and lays down next to you. “You can go if you want to.”

“Do you want to be alone?” She asks, and you know she’s only worried you might be feeling suffocated with them around you all the time, but your heart starts beating fast with the thought of being alone, and she hears it. “It’s ok, it’s ok. I’m not going anywhere. I’m right here. Hey, hey, baby.” Kara puts her hand on your chest to feel your heart, even though she can hear it. “You’re ok. Mommy is here.”

“I’m sorry.” You try to hold your tears and even your breath.

“Baby, you don’t have to apologize. It’s ok.” She kisses your temple, and wipes the tear that is falling to the side of your face.

“Can you hold me, please?” You’re not even finished with your request and Kara already has her arms wrapped around you, and she pulls you so close you can hear her heartbeat. You like that.

You don’t know how long you two stay like that for. Probably hours. You only let go of Kara when you hear her stomach growling loudly. Jamie walks in right at that moment, and Kara can finally leave you and go eat.

“Hey little Danvers.” Jamie throws herself in your bed and looks at you with a smile. “That looked nice. Does it mean you talked to them?”

“About what?” You ask, confused.

“Well, you know, about the science fair thing.” Jamie props herself up in her elbows to look at you. She knows you haven’t by the look on your face. “Seriously? They’re in here all the time and you haven’t had the single most important conversation possible?”

“That all seems really stupid after you almost die.” You mumble under your breath, but she can hear you either way.

“Yeah, ok. I get it.” She shows her hands trying to admit defeat. “But it’s how you feel. And once you recover, things like that can happen again if you don’t let them know how it affects you.”

“Aunt Kelly said I need therapy… Does she know you say things like that to me?” You try to say it as a joke, but Jamie knows you better than you know yourself, so she’s aware you’re just trying to deflect your feelings.

“Listen, I’ve known you my whole life. You’re funny, smart and powerful.” She sits back on the bed and holds your hand. “There’s no one like you. Really. Aunt Kara is powerful, but she’s not smart like you. Aunt Lena is smart, but she doesn’t have powers. You have both. And to top it all up, you’re a genuinely good person.”

“What do you want? Money?” You raise an eyebrow at her and she breaths deep.

“See, this is what I’m talking about. You can’t even take compliments!” Jamie rolls her eyes. “You literally saved National City from destruction while our parents were frozen in time, and when everyone started applauding, you ran away from it! Why is it so hard for you to accept appreciation?”

“It’s not!” You defend yourself, but you can see her face of disbelief. “Well, you said it yourself, I had to. It was up to me. I had to save everyone.”

“No, you hadn’t! I was just trying to make you overcome your fears. If you didn’t exist, I’m sure Superman or like, the entire Justice League, would've shown up and done something about that.” You furrow your brows thinking about it. “But they didn’t have to, because Superkid was there to save the day. And Superkid was there to save her mom from being killed, and you, dipshit, created a mind reader, just because I went like ‘ok make me a mind reader’. I mean, who does that?”

You don’t answer, you just keep looking at her, waiting for her to get to the point. Which you kind of already know what it is.

“I think, and I’m not a therapist so I might be wrong, but-” Jamie holds your hand again and smiles at you tenderly. “You keep underselling yourself, because you’re afraid your moms are not going to be impressed by anything that you do.”

“I-I am-WHAT?”

“You put them on this pedestal and you look at them like they’re some goddesses who are never wrong, and you feel you can never be wrong so you can be a part of this family. But I have to tell you, little Danvers, they’re not perfect. And you… You have to stop trying to be.”

“Um…” You don’t even have words to what she just told you. Is she right? Did Jamie just read you perfectly?

“Well, anyways, I brought your homework.”

She drops the subject just like that, and takes both of you guys homework from her backpack, so you could do that instead.

“You know what’s not fair? You haven’t been to class in almost a month, and your grades are still better than mine.” She fakes complain and you roll your eyes at her. “Mom said you can go back to school when you want to. You can use a leg cast or something.”

“I don’t have to go to school, I already have better grades than you.” You joke and she sticks her tongue out at you.

Jamie spends the afternoon with you, and when she leaves Lena takes her place next to you, so you’re never alone.

“Did you manage to get any work done today?” You ask when she sits next to you. She pulls you to lay your head on her lap.

“Eh, who cares about that?” Lena says, while stroking your hair. “What I care about is that you didn’t eat enough today. You didn’t have breakfast, you barely touched your sandwich at lunch, and I saw that Jamie had to force you to eat your snack. So, what do you want me to make for you to eat, baby?”

“I’m ok.” You say and you hear a loud sigh in response. “Really, mom, you don’t have to worry.”

“Oh baby, all a mom does is worry.” She smiles and strokes your cheek. “Especially when her little monster stops eating.”

You smile at her, and close your eyes, getting comfortable enough to sleep. But you can’t, because Jamie’s words are in the back of your mind, and god dammit, she was right!

“Is, um, momma on a Supergirl call?” You ask, and your answer is Kara poking her head on your room.

“Nope. Why? Do you miss me already?” Kara says with a playful smile and she sits on your bed too. “Or do you want to talk to us about that thing Jamie was talking to you earlier?”

“Eavesdropping much?” You joke and Kara smiles at you. “It’s nothing. It’s old news.”

“Well, I would still like to talk about it.” Lena says and she helps you sit on your bed so you can look at them. “You were right baby. The reason why what you said hurt us so badly, it’s because you were right. We made a promise, and we should’ve kept it. I don’t want you to think that my job is more important than you. It is not. Nothing is.”

“Yeah.” Kara scootches over and wipes your tears. “CatCo, Supergirl, all of it, it’s just a job. This family is way more important than any of that. You know that, right?”

“I know it. I just don’t feel it sometimes.” You shrug, and you feel Lena kissing your temple, and Kara kissing your forehead at the same time.

“It’s our fault. And we’re going to work very hard to get better at that, ok?” Lena says and you agree with your head.

“But baby, you have to tell us how you feel. You can’t keep saying it doesn’t matter to you, when it’s hurting you so badly. We need to know, so we can do better.” Kara holds your hand and you breathe deep. Guess it’s time to say how you feel.

“It’s just… Everyone in school hates me. When I’m up there, after winning something, there’s no one in the crowd, besides Jamie, looking happy or proud of me.” You’re crying a little, but your moms are crying hard. “I guess I just wanted to see someone looking happy for me.”

There’re a few minutes of loud sobs, desperate noises and your moms repeating ‘we’re so sorry’ over and over again, until any of you can make up a complete sentence again.

“Baby, we’re sorry we never saw things like that. You just kept saying it wasn’t a big deal, and I guess we convinced ourselves of it because it was easier.” Lena is the first one to recover, wiping her tears on Kara’s shirt.

“We don’t want you to feel that you winning something, it's not important, no matter how small you think it is.” Kara squeezes your knee, reassuringly. “Everything you do is important to us. All your inventions make me so proud. I keep wishing that I was smart like you, just to create something out of thin air.”

“And your powers? And you saving me over and over again? You’re just a kid and you saved my life so many times it’s unbelievable.” Lena completes and you give her a little smile.

“We are so proud of you and everything that you accomplish, little one.” Kara cups your face and looks in your eyes. “So proud.”

“It’s nothing compared to what you two do.” You shrug, dismissive.

“Baby, you’re sixteen! You can’t compare a sixteen-year-old life to a forty-six.”

“Or seventy.” You say as a joke and Kara laughs tickling your waist.

“Prankster.” She smiles and, for the first time in a while, you smile too. A real one. “Besides, at sixteen I was in school getting passable grades and not saving a single soul. I didn’t even use my powers at your age! So, you’re better already.”

“I was in college, but I have to tell you, I was inventing way less important things than you’re right now.” Lena adds. “You don’t have to undersell your achievements. Because no matter what it is, we’re always very proud of you.”

It’s the first time you thought about it that way. You always thought that you saving two or three people, defeating one or two bad guys was literally nothing. And compared to your momma’s numbers it is nothing. But she has so many years in this superhero life, and you literally just started. People are just now knowing your name. It was not long ago when you got your first super suit. So, it’s not fair to yourself comparing your achievements to Kara’s.

And the same goes to Lena’s inventions. She obviously made the world a better place with all the things she created, and all the projects she supported with L Corp’s money. You haven’t even had the courage to put any of your inventions to mass production yet, so you can’t compare to them or you will never be satisfied with yourself.

Besides, they might be living pretty impressive lives, but you know they’re not perfect. There were some people Kara weren’t able to save, and there were breakthroughs Lena never had. They are amazing parents, but they’re not perfect, and it doesn’t matter, because you love them either way. And they will love you if you’re not perfect too.

“What’s going on in that big brain of yours?” Kara asks when you don’t talk for a while.

“That I have the best moms in the world.” You smile and they hug you at the same time. “No one can’t be perfect all the time. Not even the big Kara Zor-El or the great Lena Kieran Luthor.” You say, making her chuckle. “But you two come pretty damn close to it.”

“Yeah. No one is perfect, and we shouldn’t try to be.” Kara squeezes your face between her hands. “Being yourself is more than enough.”

“Oh, yes. You are more than we could ever have dreamed of, babygirl.” Lena adds and your heart almost jumps in your chest out of happiness.

“I’m glad you two are feeling like this, because I need a ride to the bathroom.” You look at Kara raising both of your eyebrows at the same time, and she picks you up immediately. “And mom? I think I can eat now.”

“I’ll order everything!” Lena gets up from the bed right away and you smile at them.

Yeah, they’re not perfect, but who needs perfection when they’re this awesome?

[satendou]

⟼ makes the heart grow fonder

⍣ 365 days of sun series | previous | 2/2

・‥…━━━━━━━☆☆━━━━━━━…‥・

⇢ pairing: iwaizumi hajime/reader/oikawa tooru

⇢ au: 365!au, poly!au, college!au, pro!oikawa

⇢ summary: prequel to 365 days; everyone always calls paris the city of love, but love can come anywhere, especially the unlikeliest of places

⇥ masterlist

⇢ warnings: pre-relationship, polyamory, fluff, kinda angsty, alcohol use

⇢ word count: 11375 (oops)

Oikawa was nothing if not a creature of habit. He woke up, texted the two of you, showered, ate, went to classes and left for practice, which had been nonstop since he arrived in San Juan. When he got home, he would text you and Iwaizumi-- if he remembered between eating and crashing-- letting you know how practice had gone.

Sometimes he would get home to find some endearing, supportive message from you, letting him know you were going to sleep but that he needed to eat or pay his phone bill. You knew him too well, even from across the globe, and it made him smile, the stinging pain of something missing never stronger than in those moments. It was something he could ignore most days, exchange it for the radiating heat of a ball meeting his palm and forget for a while, but when he was slapped in the face with reminders of what he’d left behind, they were almost impossible to deal with.

He didn’t get to talk with the two of you half as much as he wanted, the 12 hour time difference making it nearly impossible to sync your schedules up, but on the rare nights where everyone was still awake and not quite tired enough to fall asleep yet, he lit up in ways he’d never experienced when he lived with you. 

It made him wonder how much he’d taken for granted.

He couldn’t deny that a part of him was jealous that the two of you got to stay together. That same selfish part of him had come close to picking up the phone and saying he was coming home multiple times after he arrived in Argentina, the feeling was so strong. But the other half, the part that was equally selfish in a different way, couldn’t give up his dreams, not when he’d worked so fucking hard to get there.

On those days, you seemed to know what he was thinking and either you or Iwaizumi, with near psychic accuracy, would call him on his bullshit and things would be okay for a while. Those days had slowly grown less frequent the longer he stayed away, but the jealousy had simply been replaced with longing.

So when you had mentioned a break from school that just happened to coincide with his very first game, he couldn’t resist. Besides, he wanted some familiar faces in the crowd, and who better than you and Iwaizumi? Or his family, but they hadn’t been able to swing it for a myriad of reasons.

Then you had said yes, which was why Oikawa was standing up on his tiptoes at the luggage carousel, trying to see over the people for a glimpse of familiar faces. If he wasn’t looking at the crowd, he was staring at his watch.

Your plane had landed nearly twenty minutes ago, so you should have already disembarked. So why weren’t the two of you there in his arms yet?

“Oi, Brattykawa, you’re looking the wrong way,” a familiar voice sniped from behind him, and he whirled around, nearly losing his balance in his excitement.

“_____! Iwa-chan!” he yelled, throwing his arms around your necks and sending you faltering backwards. 

Only Iwaizumi’s strength kept the three of you up, his arm wrapped around your waist and legs braced under Oikawa’s weight.

“You damn idiot, quit making a scene,” he snapped, but only pushed his friend back far enough to rebalance before squeezing him tight, his fingers curled in the back of the thin t-shirt Oikawa wore.

Your free arm came up around him as well, not nearly as strong but just as familiar and welcome and even though you all secretly swore you wouldn’t cry, tears still spilled over. The feeling of relief, of being whole again was overwhelming, and you linked your fingers with theirs as you moved through the crowd. Oikawa carried one travel case, Iwaizumi the other, and you lugged the shared carry-on bag you had brought. 

Coming out of the airport after a twenty hour flight was a bit jarring and, though the two of you had prepared for a few days in advance and even slept on the plane, you could still feel jet lag kicking in. San Juan time was directly opposite Japanese time, so though you had gotten on your plane in Tokyo in the pitch black, Oikawa had carefully planned the flights and layovers so that you had arrived early in the morning.

The sun beat down from a cloudless sky, and you started sweating almost immediately.

“I can’t wait to show you guys around. But first, you’re probably hungry, right? There’s this cafe right around the corner from our apartment that has the most amazing churros I want you to try,” he rambled as the driver loaded your luggage in the trunk. Iwaizumi slid into the backseat beside you with Oikawa on your other side, all your fingers still linked together. “Oh but I guess we could go after you unpack. Don’t want you to have to drag your luggage everywhere.”

“Thank you for realizing, Shittykawa,” Iwaizumi griped, and Oikawa laughed.

“Sorry, sorry, I’m just so excited for you guys to be here! It’s only been a few months but it feels like a part of me has been missing,” he said, and his fingers squeezed around yours tighter. It was exactly how you had been feeling since he left, like things were off kilter.  

The conversation after that was mostly questions about the flights and the layovers, and how the jet lag was. The longer Oikawa watched and listened, the more he thought something was wrong. 

It wasn’t...wrong wrong, it just seemed like there was something new and different to your interactions with Iwaizumi and vice versa. He would just have to keep an eye out for it, to see if he could discern what it was.

The apartment was the one Iwaizumi had picked out for him months ago, not that anyone was surprised. Usually when he suggested something, Oikawa took it without question. 

As soon as the door was open, you were slammed with the familiar smell that you associated with Oikawa. That light and airy cologne permeated everything, like he had spritzed it everywhere, mixed with the detergent you used at home, or as close as he could get, you would guess. It was a double whammy-- you realized what you had been missing as soon as you got it again, and realized that when you left you would lose it.

It made you wonder what walking into your own apartment would be like.

Before you could get too lost down that train of thought, Oikawa put his hand to your back, leading you further in. Almost absently, Iwaizumi took your hand, letting Oikawa lead both of you to one of the large windows.

Light flooded the large combined kitchen/living room area. He had put curtains up, but they were currently tied back, leaving the windows exposed. The view was breathtaking, just high enough that it rose above most of the other buildings and gave you a long view of the city, marred by other highrises here and there.

He pointed out a large, strange dome shape in the distance, light reflecting off the top back into the city. 

“That’s our stadium. I’ll show you around it later today, if we have time.” he said with a lopsided grin. “Anyway, your rooms are this way! You can pick which ones you want.”

His fingers linked with yours-- it seemed as if he couldn’t get enough of feeling your hand in his-- as he led you down the hall opening first one door and then the other.  Both rooms filtered plenty of light, curtains tied up and exposing the decent sized rooms. A bed and dresser decorated each, but that was it. A simple beige color coated the walls and a ceiling fan spun slowly while the air conditioner kicked on. You set your bag down beside the bed and turned to face them again.

“I didn’t expect them to be this big,” you said, looking around. It was across from Oikawa’s, versus Iwaizumi’s, which was right across from the bathroom and closest to the kitchen.

“Sorry they’re so sparse. I figured I’d let you decorate them how you saw fit,” he said, leaning against the frame of the door. “The master is even bigger, but I said the same when I saw them the first time.”

Iwaizumi stood behind him, peering over his shoulder as you surveyed the room, close enough that Oikawa could feel his chest brush against his back. “Are you sure you should be giving these rooms away to just us? You’ll have other guests, won’t you?”

As nonchalant and almost coldly, he shrugged. “They can sleep in here when you aren’t, and there are hotels around the corner. But these rooms were never meant for anyone but you.”

With that, he steered Iwaizumi back down the hall to his room with you hot on his heels. Rifling through his closet, he threw two sets of light aqua sheets at you and Iwaizumi.

You stared at them for a moment, and then Iwaizumi coughed. “Did you pick these colors for a reason?”

Oikawa, busy restacking the things in his closet, stopped and gave him a quizzical look. “Uh, not really. Why?”

The two of you snickered behind your hands, sharing a knowing look before you held the package up higher. “Doesn’t this remind you of anything. A certain uniform, perhaps?”

The color faded from Oikawa’s face just before it all returned in force, a pretty shade of red covering his cheeks. His hand met his face with a loud smack, and he groaned. “I cannot believe I did that. I really did though, didn’t I?”

More snickering met his ears and his lips turned down in a pout. Before he could start to really get into it, you looked up at him and said, “It’s fine, Tooru. They’re very pretty anyway. I like them.”

Beside you, Iwaizumi sighed, his lips quirking up just the slightest bit. “They’ll do. You probably just closed your eyes and picked though, huh?”

Stomping his foot, Oikawa stuck his tongue out, pulling one eyelid down in a very familiar move. “Did not, Iwa-chan! Don’t be mean or I’ll kick you out!”

But Iwaizumi had already turned and headed back across the hall, missing Oikawa’s childish display, while you tried to breathe through your giggles. “Sure you will. You can try, Brattykawa.”

“Poor ______, how have you put up with him without me all this time,” Oikawa asked loudly as he followed you back down the hall, his fingers gripping the back of your shirt. There was this an urge to constantly be near you or touching you in some way ever since he’d first seen the two of you at the airport. It was like there was a magnet, drawing his hand to your back or your hand, a small zing of anxiety and a desire to make sure you were really here. It even extended to Iwaizumi, which he found unusual. Separation really was playing havoc with him.

--

As the day progressed, Oikawa slowly began to realize that your interactions with Iwa weren’t just different, they had changed. The way the two of you revolved around each other was new and a part of him felt shut out as he watched you go about your day. The conversations you had, the stories you told, he didn’t understand any of it and it left an empty feeling in his chest as he realized that in the few months the three of you had been separated you and Iwaizumi had started living a whole new life.

“Oikawa,” you said for the third time, and watched him blink as he refocused on you. You frowned, putting your hand on your hip as you stared up at him. He had been showing you around some of his favorite spots in the city with little enthusiasm and it was starting to worry you. “What’s going on with you? You’ve been out of it for hours now.”

The sun was relentless, so you had stopped at a street vendor for some shaved ice and moved to the shade of a large oak tree. Most of his had melted as he stared off into space, making the paper cone soggy and you watched it drip to the grass. Iwaizumi had thrown away your own garbage and was now staring at Oikawa, waiting for his answer.

But he hesitated, trying to figure out how to explain the foreboding feeling clutching at his heart. It had never occurred to him just how much things would change when he left Tokyo, too focused on himself to consider anything else.

His mouth opened and closed several times, his chocolate brown eyes wide and swimming with an emotion you could only describe as sadness and your stomach clenched. When you reached out to him, he drew you into his arms, burying his face in your hair in a familiar gesture, but even your shampoo had changed.

“Tooru, what’s going on?” you asked, feeling another hand land on your back, overlapping Oikawa’s. You turned your head to look up at Iwa, your heart pounding in your chest. Oikawa’s fingers were twisted in your shirt, and you could feel his heart racing under your hand until you wound your arms around his neck.

Iwa looked down into your face, taking in your wide, nervous eyes asking him to help, but he shook his head and shrugged. He had no more idea of what was going on than you did, but knew that Oikawa would explain when he was able. Whatever had gotten into him was clearly big, and he just needed time to figure himself out.  

It was a few minutes before Oikawa moved, and you were sweating in his hold. There were other people walking by, whispering and pointing, but they quickly scurried off when Iwaizumi turned his ferocious scowl on them. When he did finally shift, it was only to stand up a little straighter and set his chin on the top of your head, locking eyes with Iwaizumi.

“It feels like so much has changed since I left. Like there’s some space between us now that wasn’t there before, and you two are standing on one side and I’m standing on the other,” he said at last, and he sounded as empty as his eyes looked.

Iwaizumi knew that look, it was the “I’m about to shut down and refuse to acknowledge that I’m an idiot and overthinking things” look. If it wasn’t stopped in its tracks right now, the rest of the day was going to be miserable.

Before Iwaizumi could smack him upside the head though, you piped up, voice small and fragile as you clung tighter to Oikawa. All the pent up worries and emotions you had hidden from Iwa flooded out, and he was a little aggravated that the two of you had decided to do this right now in the middle of ninety degree weather.

“I know how you feel. I’ve felt the same for the last few weeks, wondering what it was going to be like seeing you again knowing that you have a whole new life here. I was afraid that-- that you would have changed so much that-- I don’t know,” you tapered off, and then whispered, “I thought you wouldn’t want us anymore.”

He laughed at that, a tight, high noise that carried no humor, but the cold feeling in his chest abated and he relaxed, his hand sliding up to cup the back of your head and suddenly he was comforting you. “Never ever in a million years, _____. You’re too precious to me. Even Iwa-chan, who’s done nothing but bully me all day. I’d never try to replace you. I’d never let anyone replace you.”

And it was so easy to believe he meant it when he held you like that. Rubbing your face against his chest, you smiled. “You’re still such a sap. I should’ve known you hadn’t changed.”

He whined and pinched your side. “Don’t you be mean to me too, _____. I couldn’t take it.”

Squealing, you pushed him away, but he didn’t let you get far. It was hot and your palms were sweaty and it was uncomfortable, but when he laced his fingers with yours, you didn’t complain.

Iwa did though.

“Are you two done? It’s like, 100 degrees and I am melting. You two are such idiots,” he said, scowling at the two of you. His face was red and shiny with perspiration, and he looked seriously annoyed but he was also watching you with a fondness you’d only recently begun to notice. Since that night a few weeks ago, he had been far more affectionate and open, which was saying something because you were already so casually affectionate to begin with.

Poking his tongue out at him, Oikawa tugged you along down the sidewalk with renewed vigor. Iwaizumi grumbled behind but allowed himself to be led by the hand as Oikawa told you about the next place he was going to bring you and about the game in a few days.

“Unfortunately, I have to go to practice tomorrow, but feel free to wander the city, of course. Just please don’t get lost,” Oikawa prattled on, turning a corner onto a street lined with shops. 

The rest of the day was spent investigating every one of them, Oikawa insisting that you get whatever you wanted to decorate your rooms and you obliged only to appease him. It was a little uncomfortable having him pay for everything, but you were weighted down with bags by the time you left the last store. It was mostly clothes, so that you wouldn’t have to pack so much when you visited again and some other small knick knacks that he bought even though you argued against it.

Iwaizumi was carrying far less bags-- at least until he took yours-- mostly because he refused to give into Oikawa’s puppy dog eyes and threatened to maim him if he continued to nag. But Oikawa couldn’t be stopped completely and picked up the things Iwa expressed interest in anyway. Iwaizumi wasn’t happy about it but the look of happiness on Oikawa’s face as he chatted with you, the bags swinging lazily from his arm, made up for it, and he found himself smiling.

The walk back to the apartment was considerably more pleasant without the heat of the sun cooking you alive, and the way first Oikawa then Iwaizumi laced their fingers with yours only made it that much better. There was an indescribable pressure in your chest as you took in the city lights and chatter of people around you. The sounds of sizzling food and smells wafting from street vendors made your mouth water, and Oikawa stopped to purchase a plate of kebabs from one as you passed by.

“You really don’t have to do all this, Tooru. We aren’t poor, you know,” you commented as he passed one to you and then Iwa. Grease dripped down your fingers, and the first bite you took was an explosion of different flavors over your tongue, making you groan. “Shit, this is so good.”

Oikawa watched you with a soft grin, holding his own kebab in his hand but not eating it just yet as he said, “Well there’s not much I’d rather spend it on than you, my little _____.”

The wonder in your eyes as they reflected the lights crisscrossing the street was doing strange things to his stomach, and when those eyes landed on them and the wonder deepened to something more intense, it exploded into butterflies. Something in his head clicked as it changed and he realized you were absolutely beautiful right then and there.

“Shit,” he muttered, and your brows furrowed in confusion as he shook his head. What a weird thought to have, and an even weirder reaction overall. Of course you were beautiful, he had always known that, so why had it hit him so powerfully all of a sudden?

“You alright?” you asked, wiping your mouth with a napkin. Setting your empty stick back on the plate in his hands, you picked up your second one. “You look like you’re in pain.”

He blinked and took a moment to answer, locking eyes with Iwaizumi, who was watching him with curious amusement. “Yeah, I’m okay. Just tired, I guess. It’s been a while since I’ve run all over town like this. The heat must’ve gotten to me.

The heat, huh? Iwaizumi smirked, watching Oikawa watch you with a newfound fascination. He wondered if he even realized he was doing it and how long it would take him to recognize it for what it was.

“Oh, well,” you said, your cheeks heating up for reasons you couldn’t identify. The look in his eyes had changed, emotions you couldn't identify swirling around in his soft brown irises, but it caused your heart to stutter. “Maybe we should go home then. You have practice tomorrow and I’d hate for you to get sick or something. And just before your game too.”

You began to walk as you polished off the last of the food, still struck with wonder at the liveliness of the city. It was different than Tokyo, if no less crowded. Your city was quiet in a lot of ways, tame, whereas this one was wild and loud and raucous. It was enough to make your head spin, and you wondered if you were experiencing culture shock. Only the pressure of Iwaizumi’s and Oikawa’s slightly greasy fingers kept you from wandering off into the crowds, absorbed as you were with the lights and music.

Oikawa understood all too well, having experienced the same thing when he first arrived as well. He had been grateful for his guide, who had kept him from getting lost and probably mugged or worse in his first few weeks there. Now he knew the layout of the places he most frequented, at least, and he mainly stuck to those.

The street his apartment was on was quiet, the streetlamps casting soft light on the dark buildings with the sun just barely visible on the horizon. You could still hear the faint sounds from the main street, but it was muffled and filtered and you were surprised to find it was almost comforting. It was only nine o’clock, and he wasn’t quite ready to go to sleep yet, even though he knew he really should. He would be up early tomorrow morning and busy all day and probably into the night getting ready for his big game.

There was a sudden rush of nervous energy, one he was used to just before a game, and it never failed that it would keep him up for a while longer.

“Wanna watch a movie?” he asked, gesturing to the TV. He had a wicked setup, high definition, ultra-surround sound, the works, along with a collection of DVDs and probably every streaming service imaginable to boot. 

But he looked exhausted. There were dark circles under his eyes that you had failed to notice before, and you kicked yourself for not realizing sooner. Stupid, stupid, Oikawa!

“I-- maybe we should head to bed, instead,” you suggested, giving Iwaizumi a pointed look. 

He was quick to catch on and gave Oikawa a once over as the three of you stood in the kitchen The man looked ready to collapse, his hands trembling ever so slightly, but there was some manic glint in his eyes that he recognized as pre-game jitters, and he groaned internally. Oikawa was going to work himself to death, same as usual, only here there was no one to tell him when to quit because it was his job.

“Goddammit,” he muttered, glaring at him. Dealing with Oikawa really was a full time job, even from halfway around the world. Louder, and to your annoyance, he said, “Actually a movie sounds good. I’m not tired quite yet.”

Oikawa perked up from the slump he had gone into and nodded, scurrying across the room to the TV, and you used the opportunity to turn on Iwaizumi.

“Hajime, he looks like he’s going to drop dead. He needs to sleep,” you whispered, eyeing Oikawa. But he was so absorbed in setting up the sound system that he didn’t even realize you were still in the kitchen. “I-- I’m worried.”

Iwaizumi sighed, cupping your cheek. His other hand squeezed your shoulder, and you realized he was no less worried than you. “I know, but what can we do? He’s an adult and not our responsibility anymore.”

Both of you had been with him through his overzealous competition with Kageyama, one or both of you having to literally pick him up from the floor when his knees wouldn’t hold his weight more than once. There had been too many fights and sleepless nights with him about overworking himself and his obsessive need to defeat both Kageyama and Ushijima that you didn’t want to think about what he was doing to himself without someone to yell at him now.

And the way Iwaizumi talked hurt because it was true. He wasn’t, and hadn’t been for months. You hadn’t even really stopped to consider what he might be doing to himself without you and Iwaizumi to knock some sense into him, but it was plain as day that he was working himself to the bone when you stopped to really look at him.

“I know that,” you muttered, but you didn’t really believe it. It was second nature to take care of each other, and that didn’t change just because of a few months apart. Years of friendship trumped that by miles and you weren’t sure that would ever change. “Still…”

“Look,” Iwaizumi said, glancing at Oikawa again. He was still messing with something and in a rush Iwa continued. “He’s too worked up about the game, so he won’t sleep anyway. Let’s just stay up and maybe we can help him relax--”

Oikawa’s voice cut him off, playful but a little suspicious, making the two of you jumped. “What are you two whispering about?”

Feeling guilty at the betrayed expression on his wan face, you opened your lips but no sound came out. There were words stuck in your throat-- worried reprimands and demands-- but you knew they would do no good. Not with his very first game on the international circuit looming in just two days time. Nothing you said would make a difference, and to stress him out with a fight before that wouldn’t be fair, or at least no more fair than he was being to himself anyway.

Picking a fight right now would only ruin your vacation and make everyone miserable, so instead you closed your mouth and reached out to take Iwa’s hand, which squeezed yours so tight you could feel your bones grinding. “Sorry, Tooru, just chatting about tomorrow. Didn’t realize we were whispering.”

Your smile didn’t quite reach your eyes, though, and Oikawa’s narrowed, his lips turning down. Everything had been fine until you had gotten back to the apartment, but now you and Iwa both looked withdrawn and distant, unable to look at him for more than a moment before finding each other. “Are you...sure?”

The air filled with a tense silence, and once again you felt like a chasm was between you, with you and Iwaizumi on one side and Oikawa on the other, and you wondered if it would ever truly close up again. He looked so alone on the other side, drawn into himself and insecure, that you had to clos the distance to him and took his hand. It created a chain between the three of you until Iwa reached out for Oikawa, and you breathed a little easier for it.

“Everything is fine, Tooru, if you are,” you said, and he heard the pointed question in your tone. 

Iwaizumi groaned internally. He should’ve known you wouldn’t just leave it alone.

For Oikawa’s part, he should’ve known you would notice, no matter how hard he tried to hide it. But he didn’t feel like getting into it with you on your first night in-- if at all-- but he knew he would have to let you fawn over and get onto him following the game. He just hoped you would drop it until then.

“I’m tired, _____, but I’m okay. Things will slow down once the game is over, I promise,” he said, and you picked up on the thin warning in his voice. 

Another tense silence followed as they waited for you to make your decision, and you ultimately sighed, dropping his hand. You understood his sentiment all too well, and knew that Iwaizumi was right when he said it would be better to wait, but that didn’t mean you were happy with what Oikawa was doing to himself.

Breathing a sigh of relief, he gestured to the collection of DVDs lining the shelves. Ultimately, it was left up to you and you picked out something you knew everyone would enjoy: The X-Files. The way Oikawa’s tired face lit up was a testament to that, even if Iwaizumi huffed in exasperation. At least you hadn’t pushed the issue with Oikawa, letting it devolve into a fight. He really didn’t feel like having to mediate between the two of you tonight.

Three episodes in and Oikawa was drooping onto your shoulder, eyes fluttering with the effort to remain open. The hand he had been using to hold yours was slack, fingers loosely intertwined, and he whined when you pulled away, reaching out for it again. But you were pushing at his shoulder, guiding him down to lay in your lap, and he hummed in contentment. A blanket landed on him, the one from the back of the couch, then your fingers were brushing through his hair, nails scraping his scalp and he was drifting, images of the day flickering through his mind’s eye. They mixed with some weirder things, like a giant cat and running through Tokyo away from an alien, and he stopped fighting to bring the other images back.

His breathing evened out, his full weight coming to rest on your legs, and your fingers stilled. Eyes locked on the screen, you said, “Sorry, Iwa, for earlier. I know you’re right, but I can’t help but worry.”

Iwaizumi already had the remote in hand, fiddling with the buttons until he could figure out how to switch the screen over to Netflix, and he sighed as he flipped through the shows. “I know how you are, ______, but you know how Oikawa is. He’s always been that way.” He wasn’t patronizing as he said it, just pointed, making you flinch.

“I know that, but is anyone down here going to keep him from killing himself? You know he doesn’t know his limits,” you said, watching as he clicked into the info screen for Mad Max. The opening title played and you relaxed into the back of the couch, propping your legs up on the coffee table.

He sighed, eyes fixated on Charlize Theron coming down on her platform. He loved that movie, watching it almost as often as Godzilla. “Yeah, I do know. But there’s nothing we can do, is there? He’s halfway around the world from us and texting him about it will only get ignored.” His arm came down around your shoulders, squeezing you to his side, and you let your head fall to his shoulder. “He’ll be alright, _____. Once this game is over, he should settle down. He’s probably just desperate to make a good impression.”

You chuckled at that as you watched the movie, Iwa’s warmth surrounding you and the steady rise of fall of Oikawa’s shoulders lulling you into a stupor. You knew he was right because Oikawa had always been like that-- desperate, for some reason, to make sure everyone knew he was worthy of the praise he received. As if you didn’t already think he was.

You didn’t even realize you had fallen asleep until Iwaizumi was nudging your shoulder. The weight on your legs was gone and you jerked awake to find Oikawa sitting up, rubbing his eyes and glaring at Iwaizumi.

“I was comfortable,” he whined, draping himself over you dramatically. You giggled, your eyes stinging with sleep, but pushed him off you gently. “Not you too, _____.”

“We should go to sleep,” you reprimanded, letting Iwa help you up off the couch. Holding your hand out to Oikawa, you were almost pulled back down by his strong grip, and heard him snicker. “Don’t be a brat, Tooru,” you said, pinching his side and listening to him whine.

You parted ways in the hall, the resonating click of three doors closing before silence reigned, and you changed quickly. Collapsing onto the bed with a sigh, you breathed in the fresh smell of laundry detergent and smiled as you realized that, somehow, Oikawa’s damn cologne had stuck to the sheets too.

--

The next day, you and Iwaizumi wandered around the city again, following Oikawa’s suggestions of sites to check out. The city center was beautiful but packed, the fountain gurgling away happily, and that’s where the two of you had lunch. Following that, you went around to a museum, taking a tour where the guide explained the founding of the city and other interesting facts. Iwa accidentally ripped the pamphlet, causing you to laugh at the confusion on his face as he tried to figure out how it happened.

The last place you visited was an absolutely beautiful park. There were people everywhere there as well, sitting in the grass and on the benches littered around the lake. Iwa casually reached out, taking your hand as you walked down the riverwalk, gazing at the serene blue waters, and your heart skipped a beat. 

When you returned to the apartment, greeting the doorman on your way by, it was still dark, and you set the ingredients you had purchased down on the counter. On the way back, you had mentioned how Oikawa had probably not had any homemade food since he moved there, so Iwaizumi had suggested making onigiri for him. 

The two of you worked in quiet tandem, putting the rice on before turning to help Iwa make the fillings. You had opted for a few different ones, and you were overflowing with rice balls by the time you were done. To an outsider, it would look like too much, but you knew your boys all too well-- they would eat every single one of them before the night was through.

As you worked, you asked, “How long do you think he’ll be?”

He shrugged in response, molding rice around a tuna filling. His muscles flexed with the effort, veins popping naturally all along his forearm, and you found yourself lost in watching him work. It was something you were always prone too, but lately thoughts of a different nature were popping into your head, thoughts you really, really didn’t want to be thinking.

It took him a moment to realize you hadn’t said anything more, and he looked up to find you staring at him intensely. “See something you like?” he joked and watched you jump, your face flushing as you turned back to your own work. His eyes narrowed at your unusual reaction-- normally you would come back with a defensive “No,” or some quip about how there was nothing to see at all. 

“Anyway, I can’t wait to see the game tomorrow,” you said, and he could hear the strain in your voice. You were packing the rice balls with more tenacity than normal, obviously determined not to look at him again, and something about it soothed the low burn in his chest that had been there for some time, diligently ignored.

He nodded, even though you weren’t looking, and picked up the next onigiri. “Oikawa is gonna be amazing out there, like always. I’m glad we get to be here for him.”

“Me too,” you said, and then laughed. “Imagine if we hadn’t come. He would be blowing us up right now, whining about how nervous he is and how we don’t love him anymore.”

He laughed with you, imagining Oikawa stomping his foot as he complained about being abandoned. “Thank god we came then. We would never survive his wrath.”

When the onigiri was done, you plopped down on the couch, putting on Family Guy on Hulu for background noise while the two of you played on your phones. Your feet were in Iwa’s lap as you tapped away at a game on your screen, the sound drowned out by Peter’s loud laughter, and that was how Oikawa found the two of you an hour later.

The sound of his entry was covered by the TV, and something heavy settled in his stomach when he opened the door and called, “I’m home.”

He snickered when you both jumped, twisting around to look at him. A smile lit your face while Iwa just looked unimpressed.

“Welcome home!” you said, throwing your arms up with dramatic enthusiasm, and Oikawa snickered.

“Awe, you even cooked. My little housewives,” he cooed, picking up a rice ball from the plate on the counter. He took a bite, nostalgia and longing filling his heart at the familiar flavors. It reminded him of home-- not Japan, not Tokyo, not Miyagi, but you and Iwa. 

“Watch it, Shittykawa,” Iwaizumi growled, scowling up at his friend, and was stopped short by the expression on his face. It was so tender it was almost painful as he stared down at the rice ball in his hands, and then he turned it full force on the two of you.

“I really missed you guys,” he said, and then laughed. “And onigiri, and takoyaki, and Japan.”

He brought two more over and squeezed between you, practically sitting on top of you, slinging his arm over Iwa’s shoulders. You exchanged a glance with Iwaizumi, who just shrugged in amusement.

“What’re you doing home so early anyway?” you asked, returning to your game. You were only 500 points away from beating your highscore, and you tapped away to get there. Oikawa watched over your shoulder, his warm breath tickling your ear, and a shiver ran down your spine.

He was unusually quiet and focused as your character moved across the screen, avoiding obstacles and slashing at small blob monsters in your path. “Uh, they wanted us to rest for the big game. Speaking of which, I have your passes in my bag, so don’t let me forget to give them to you otherwise they won’t let you in.”

You hummed, avoiding a blob only to get killed by an arrow on your last life. “Goddammit.”

Exiting out of the app purely out of spite, you locked your phone and looked up at Oikawa. His face was closer than you had realized and your face heated up when your nose bumped his. He seemed as startled as you and jerked back, his cheeks turning a pretty red underneath his tan. His brown eyes were wide with surprise, lips parting slightly, and his arm slid off Iwa’s shoulders.

Iwaizumi watched the whole thing with something that could have been amusement, but he couldn’t quite tell. There was a flareup of something in his chest, and he might have named it longing if he hadn’t been trying to ignore those feelings. Clearing his throat, he continued to scroll through his phone and watched the two of you shift, trying to ignore the tension in the air.

“Anyway,” you said, picking at the hem of your shorts. You picked your phone back up and unlocked it, clicking into Twitter. “Do you know where our seats are?”

Back in familiar territory, Oikawa perked back up. “Well...I got you front row seats! And you’ll meet me in back after the game is over to go to the afterparty.”

“Oh, we get to party with the great Oikawa still?” Iwa asked, snickering at the way Oikawa huffed.

“Not with that attitude, Iwa-chan. Maybe I’ll just take _____ and leave you at the stadium,” he said, wrapping his arm around you possessively. It seemed whatever strangeness had occurred earlier was wiped from his mind as he pulled you into his chest.

You laughed into his shirt, fingers wiggling against his stomach until he squirmed and let you go. “You can’t be that mean, Tooru,” you chided, curling your legs up underneath yourself. Liking one of Bokuto’s tweets, you continued, “What would we do without Iwa there to keep us from getting too drunk?”

“And going home with the wrong people again?” he piped up, and Oikawa flushed bright red again.

“It was one time, Hajime. Stop bringing it up!” he whined, hiding his face in his hands. “_____, help me!”

Instead, you snickered and said, “That was the funniest fucking thing I’ve ever seen. You should have seen how confused they were when you stumbled up to them screaming Iwa-chan, _____ I’ve been looking all over for you!”

Iwa burst into laughter while Oikawa groaned. 

“I hate it here,” he said, muffled by his hands. “Why does everyone hate me?”

Patting his back, you choked out, “It’s because you’re pretty.”

“Ugh.”

--

The game that day was absolutely fantastic. Oikawa was flawless, encouraging his teammates and commanding everyone’s attention-- then again maybe that was just you projecting, but if anyone asked you would say it was true-- and it seemed they won the game without effort.

They all clapped him on the back in the middle of the court, laughing and cheering and, when they turned to acknowledge the crowd, Oikawa’s smile was all for you.

A security guard approached your seats a few moments later, gesturing you towards the set of doors the team was heading towards, and Oikawa fell into step beside you, slinging a sweaty arm over each of your shoulders.

“God, Oikawa, you’re disgusting. Get off us,” Iwa snapped, shoving at his arm, but Oikawa was undeterred.

Still regaining his breath, he asked, “How was I out there? Amazing, right?”

“If you already know,” Iwaizumi said, giving up the fight with his arm, “why are you asking?”

“Because I want to hear you say it, of course,” he answered, guiding you towards the locker rooms. There was a series of benches lining the hall and he stopped in front of them, grinning. “Wait here. We’re gonna have to do a few more interviews and then we’ll go to the venue,” he said, turning towards the locker room.

It was almost thirty minutes before the team finally trudged back out, still in high spirits, and another thirty to deal with the throngs of reporters and news crews who wanted interviews. Finally, you loaded up onto the bus, stuck between Oikawa and Iwaizumi. The whole ride was loud and you laughed at the antics of the team. Iwaizumi was right at home amongst them, as if he were right back in highschool, riding the high of a win.

The party was being held on the rooftop of a nearby hotel, complete with an open bar, DJ, and more athletes, friends and family of said athletes, and reporters than you could count. You were introduced to the team and their spouses before being dragged off by a few of them to dance. Iwaizumi found you a little while later, three drinks in and giggling maniacally with the libero’s wife, Trish. She was telling you about when she first met her husband at a party just like this one and how she threw up on his girlfriend at the time’s shoes. He had laughed so hard she broke up with him right then, and you couldn’t help but laugh even though it was kind of sad.

“Hey, princess,” Iwa said, and you shouted his name happily at the sight of him. His cheeks were flushed and his eyes slightly unfocused, and when you took a sip from his cup you were overcome with the taste of vodka. “Oikawa was looking for us.”

“Oh,” Trish teased, pushing you a little harder than intended in her drunk state. You fell into Iwaizumi, who only caught you out of habit. “Are you dating our little all star?”

“W-What?” you shrieked over the loud music, shaking your head wildly. Your hair fell into your face and the sky spun, then you started giggling again. “No, no, it’s-- nothing like that?”

“Are you asking or telling, _____?” she asked, but Iwa was pulling you away, pushing through the pulsating crowd towards the bar.

Oikawa was standing there, eyes bright with drunkenness as he chatted with someone you didn’t recognize, and he waved as you stumbled up. Pulling you from Iwa, he said, “_____, this is Andre. He’s from the Swedish team. This is my best friend from Japan.”

You straightened up, the haze of alcohol clearing as you focused on the tall man in front of you. He was smiling kindly at you, a cup in his hand like everyone else, and nodded at you. He spoke with a Spanish accent as he said, “It’s nice to meet you, _____. You’re very beautiful.”

Eyes widening, you stuttered as you said, “T-Thank you.”

His grin grew bigger, and you missed the way both Iwa and Oikawa tensed to either side of you. If he saw it, he ignored it, asking if you wanted to dance.

Your friends let you go with reluctance, a pained expression on Oikawa’s face as he looked to Iwaizumi. Neither knew what to say-- they knew it would happen eventually, you couldn’t remain unnoticed forever. 

“She’ll be okay,” Iwa said, pouring himself another drink. It was his fourth so far, and he was careless as he poured his alcohol. “We’ll keep an eye on her.”

Oikawa didn’t like the calmness in his voice when something ugly was raging in his chest, something he had been ignoring all this time whenever you talked about other people you expressed an interest in. But alcohol made him loose and the jealousy reared up sharper than ever as he caught glimpses of you twirling and swaying with the beat of the music. Andre’s hands were on your hips and you were laughing at something he was whispering-- at least as far as Oikawa could tell-- into your ear. 

His hands were tight around his cup, squeezing and crinkling the cheap plastic, then it was being tugged from his fingers and another was replacing it.

“Drink,” Iwa said, sipping from his own cup. “Jealousy looks ugly on you.”

“Iwa,” he snapped, watching your arms loop around Andre’s neck, “how can you be happy about this?”

Iwa tensed beside him and pinned him with a glare that would have cowed him if he was less drunk or less irate. “What makes you think I am, Oikawa? But she isn’t-- she’s not ours.”

Ours echoed in his head, and for the first time he really looked at Iwaizumi. He realized that the jealousy never flared when he was around, and watching the two of you curled up together on his couch never elicited the emotion either. It felt like home watching the two of you, and yesterday was the first day he had actually looked forward to coming home. Seeing Iwaizumi’s spiky black hair over the back of the couch and your smiling face as you welcomed him home had made all the difference to him, and he took a large swig from his cup, the rum burning on the way down before he spoke again.

“She could be.”

It was said so quietly that if Iwa hadn’t been standing shoulder to shoulder with him he wouldn’t have heard him. His head whipped around, swimming a little with the alcohol, and narrowed his eyes.

Oikawa could feel his eyes on him, meeting his gaze head on. He wasn’t joking, the mix of jealousy and alcohol wouldn’t let him. Iwaizumi’s face was blank, but he could see the gears turning as he processed his words as best he could with his level of intoxication. 

At last, he seemed to reach a decision, the blankness morphing into a calculating look and he said, “What about her? Does she want that? And us? Oikawa, we can’t hold her back because we don’t want to let her go.”

Oikawa looked back to you and sighed. You were now dancing with Andre and one of the other wives whose name he’d already forgotten, laughing without care. “If she doesn’t want us, then we’ll let her go. But I can’t-- Iwa, you feel the same, don’t you?”

“Of course I do,” he said, admitting to it at last. It felt like the weight of finally confessing was lifted only to be replaced with the weight of acknowledgement, and he wasn’t sure he liked it any better. “For both of you, but it doesn’t mean anything if she doesn’t want it. What will you do if she rejects you?”

“Then I’ll beg her not to cut me out of her life, of course. And she’ll forgive us because even if she doesn’t love us, she loves us,” he answered, and said it with such certainty that even Iwaizumi believed him. He sighed, clapping Oikawa on the shoulder and, as if the gods were listening, you disentangled yourself from Andre and approached them.

Even in the dim light they could see how happy you were, skin flushed with a light sheen of sweat. A few strands of hair were sticking to your forehead, and you pushed them back as you greeted them. “Hey, guys, what’re you just standing here for? This is a party for you, Oikawa!” You were shouting over the music and reached out, taking Iwa’s cup from his hand. Taking a swig, you grimaced. “How are you still standing, Haji?”

Iwa chuckled while Oikawa took a long swallow from his cup.

“You’re right, princess. Let’s go dance!” he said, and took your hand. You grabbed Iwa’s at the last minute and pulled him after the two of you, his drink sloshing as he stumbled to keep up.

You found yourself pinned between the two of them, the heat radiating off of them and everyone around you making your brain fuzzy. Your arms looped around his neck when you handed Oikawa’s cup back after stealing a sip, body swaying to the beat of the music thudding from the speakers. Andre was all but pushed from your mind as his hand settled on your waist, Iwa’s landing on your other. His back was pressed flush to your back, your chest touching Oikawa’s, and suddenly nothing else existed.

The smell of his cologne filled your nose, mixed with the heady scent of alcohol and sweat. Your head spun when Iwa pressed his nose into your hair, pulling it to the side to expose the back of your neck, and you breathed a sigh of relief.

The song changed, more intense, and you lost yourself in the feel of their bodies against yours, tall and protective. Spinning around, you wrapped your fingers around Iwa’s neck now and his fingers tangled in your hair.

“Having fun, princess?” Oikawa whispered, a breath of air ghosting over your ear making you shivered. His hand was low on your hip, squeezing as he pulled you back into him, and you nodded. “I could use another drink. Keep her warm for me, Hajime.”

His warmth disappeared and you instantly missed it and the feeling of security. Nuzzling closer to Iwa, the beat shifted again, slowing down and going darker, and you shivered as the bass thrummed through you. His hand drifted lower, settling just below your hip, and you looked up at him. Both their drinks were a lot stronger this time around, and you could feel the effects on you in the way everything swam. You couldn’t focus on anything but Iwaizumi and the way he was staring at you with dark, hooded eyes. You were sure he was as drunk as you, but you didn’t even realize you were leaning up until he stopped you, giving you a soft smile.

“Not here, princess, not while you’re drunk,” he said into your ear, and you flushed under the spinning strobe lights. You were too important to him to do this when you weren’t sober, and he wanted to talk before you made any decisions.

His words held a promise you didn’t expect, and you swallowed thickly around the cloying taste of vodka.

“But when I’m sober?” you whispered, and it was only because you were still right by his ear that he heard you.

He chuckled, nodding as he rested his sweaty forehead against yours. “If you remember, princess. Yeah.”

“What have we here? I thought you had more chivalry than that,” Oikawa said from beside you. He slid back into his place behind you, resting his cheek on your shoulder, lips a hair away from touching Iwa’s forehead. “By the way, Andre is not happy. Isn’t it great?”

Iwa snickered, kissing the tip of your nose before he took in Oikawa’s shit eating grin. Leaning in close, his nose brushed Oikawa’s. “You take way too much pride in that, Shittykawa.”

“Don’t you? Our _____ is a desired woman, after all,” he said, eyes narrowing as they dipped down to look at Iwa’s lips. The temptation was strong enough that it caused him to lick his own before meeting Iwa’s again, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallowed. He was following the beat of the music, swaying side to side with you. It had shifted once again but remained low and resonating, the others around you pushing and pulling you with the flow. Your head tipped back to rest on his shoulder, eyes half-lidded and amused.

“What do you mean our?” you asked, teasing. You snatched the cup from his hand and took a drink, playing keep away from Oikawa when he reached for it. You weren’t expecting for Iwaizumi to take it from your hands and drink from it, both of you laughing when Oikawa whined. 

His arms wrapped around you, pulling you to him while Iwa held onto the cup, laughing brashly. Maybe it was the alcohol, but he was feeling lighter than air, and he looked at you and Oikawa, draped around you like a blanket. Love flooded his system, mixing with the drink and his head spun at the intensity. He wondered if he would feel that way tomorrow, but decided that was a problem for another Iwaizumi. He came back to you, arm slipping around you both as far as the could to curl in Oikawa’s shirt.

The party was still raging, and he was going to enjoy it with the two of you.

--

You didn’t stumble into the apartment until the early hours of the morning, when the earliest risers were getting ready for work, and half-assed the removal of your makeup. Hands had grabbed you the minute you exited the bathroom and dragged you back to the living room, where you collapsed in a pile on the couch. You passed out until mid afternoon and woke up tangled in long and muscular limbs, remaining makeup caked and the lingering taste of alcohol in your mouth. How you had managed not to throw up was a miracle, and the men only groaned when you untangled yourself from them.

Stumbling into the bathroom, you cleaned the rest of the makeup off your face and snagged some of Oikawa’s facial cleanser before hopping into the shower. Flashes of last night came back to you. Dancing with Andre, listening to him whisper into your ear and laughing at things that weren’t that funny now, then finding Oikawa and Iwa and being dragged back into the crowd. That caused your heart to race, remembering the way they had pinned you between them, hands groping at your hips and moving against you. Oikawa had disappeared and it was just you and Iwa, the intense look in his eyes as he stared down at you, leaning up and--

God, you had almost kissed him. And he had-- he had said if you remembered when you were sober. Your heart was thumping so hard that your hungover brain was spinning. The question was, did he remember?

Feeling marginally less dead but more nervous than ever before, you dressed and headed back into the living room to find Iwaizumi and Oikawa both sitting up with their heads in their hands.

“I haven’t gotten that drunk since my last party in Japan,” Oikawa groaned, massaging his temples. He remembered a surprising amount about last night, but most clearly was the conversation with Iwaizumi, and he knew without asking that he remembered it too. Neither of them were drunk enough to forget, but after that was a different story. All he remembered was dancing with you for the rest of the night, your hands in his hair and on his chest, body moving against his, and his heart throbbed in his throat.

Iwa chuckled at that and then winced when the action made his head throb. “Weak. But same.” His schedule was always too packed to get that blitzed, so he stuck to two drinks and then went home.

The door to the bathroom opened and you came out into the living room wearing one of their shirts-- they didn’t even know whose at that point-- and sat down between them on the couch.

“You look like trash,” you said, snickering when they grumbled.

“I’m gonna go shower now,” Iwa said, standing up from beside you. He gave the lightest touch on your cheek before disappearing down the hall. The sound of water running met your ears, and you fidgeted with your hands.

Oikawa groaned and flopped sideways down on the couch. “I ordered takeout already. It should be here soon. I need something greasy, so I hope you don’t mind burgers.”

Your stomach grumbled at the mention of food, reminding you that the only thing you had eaten were some hors d’oeuvres at the party. “That sounds absolutely amazing.”

You put on Netflix while Oikawa replaced Iwa in the shower, the air tense between you two. The words from last night replayed and you were working up the courage to see if he remembered as well when he turned to you.

“Hey, uh, _____, do you-- I mean, what do you--?” he said, and the doorbell rang, indicating the food was there. “Well, nevermind.” He stood up and answered, the smell of greasy food hitting you after a moment.

“Gimme gimme,” you said, taking the box he handed to you. 

The shower cut off and a few minutes later Oikawa joined you, groaning as he took a bite of his burger. “Nothing has ever tasted so good.”

You continued to eat in silence, a tense weight hanging over the three of you and the longer it went unacknowledged the more nervous you got. The scene kept playing over in your head, exhausting you more than the hangover, your stomach rolling with anxiety. At last, you couldn’t take it and pushed your burger away.

“Listen, guys, um, I have something to say and I really hope that you don’t freak out but I--”

“Do you remember last night?” Iwaizumi asked, cutting you off. You flinched beside him, eyes wide as you nodded, and he reached out, taking your hands. “Was that real? Is it something you want?”

Your mouth went dry as he moved closer, leaning in like you had last night, and your lips parted, but no words came out. Oikawa shifted behind you, unaware of what you were talking about, but Iwa’s eyes locked with his over your head and he understood that whatever it was, it was promising. 

Heart in your throat, you nodded, and that was all Iwa needed. 

Your first kiss with him was soft and sweet, his hands coming up to cup your face, and he tilted his head to the side to deepen it. Oikawa groaned, fingers digging into your sides and letting his head drop to your shoulder. Somehow, what he had talked about last night was actually happening, and he fought the urge to pinch himself to make sure it was real, just in case he was in the midst of an alcohol induced dream. 

When Iwa pulled back, his eyes were hazy as they stared into yours, hands rough and warm against your cheeks. He dipped in again, stealing one more before letting go, and Oikawa wrapped your hair around his fingers, guiding your face around so he could get his.

That kiss was heavy with unspoken emotion, needy and hot and you reached up behind you to tangle your fingers in his hair, pushing back into him to get closer. His arm wrapped around your stomach, hauling you into his lap and when he pulled away, he was panting. It didn’t stop him from diving in several more times, moaning at the taste until he rested his forehead against yours, eyes closed and lips swollen.

“I love you, princess. And not just as one of my best friends,” he whispered, his thumb rubbing your stomach through your shirt. You gasped at that, eyes misting over as you stared up at him.

“I-- really?” you whispered, and he chuckled at the disbelieving tone of your voice.

He nodded, and Iwa distracted you by taking your hand and lifting it to his lips, kissing each knuckle in turn and then pressing your palm to his cheek. “I love you too, _____, if that’s okay.”

“W-Wait, I don’t-- I don’t want to choose between you,” you breathed, and they snickered at the panic in your voice. Dumbfounded, you fell silent, looking between them and waiting for an explanation.

Pulling your hand down, Iwa set it in his lap, stroking the back of it with callused fingertips. “You don’t have to choose between us, if you want both of us. We’ve already talked about it.”

“When?” you asked, overwhelmed by the information. Your two best friends, both of whom you’d managed to fall in love with over the course of the last few months, were confessing they both loved you and both wanted to be with you. It was almost too much.

Iwa colored red while Oikawa snickered again, turning your face to him again. “Last night, actually. Speaking of which, what were you talking about that happened last night?”

It was your turn to be embarrassed, and you hid your face in his neck, mumbling it to him.

“You tried to kiss him?” Oikawa laughed, rubbing your back. “Oh, _____, you little minx.”

“Shut up,” you whined, smacking him in the arm. 

He continued to laugh at you, locking eyes with Iwa again. He looked amused, his cheeks still faintly pink but the smile he was wearing was so beautifully genuine that it almost hurt to look at, and Iwa’s words from last night flashed back to him.

Of course I do. For both of you.

His eyes dipped down to Iwa’s lips and, when he looked back up, he was wearing a knowing smirk. He shifted you slightly to the side, keeping you steady with an arm around your waist, while Iwa scooted forward. His knee pressed between yours as he leaned forward, cupping Oikawa’s cheek before his fingers slid up into his hair.

Your mouth fell open as he pulled his head down, slotting his lips against Oikawa’s. It was tentative at first, testing the waters, but then Oikawa’s fingers curled into his shirt and tugged him closer, groaning into the kiss.

Their pupils were blown wide with wonder when they pulled apart and, when they looked back to you, they found you wearing the widest grin imaginable. There was a pause where no one said anything and then Oikawa pushed you into Iwaizumi and threw himself on top of you. Iwaizumi grunted at the impact as his back hit the couch while you laughed loudly.

“You fucking brat,” Iwaizumi snapped without malice, while you wiggled around trying to get Oikawa off of you. He fell to the side between you and the couch, and Iwa held you to his chest, hand rubbing your back.

Oikawa braced himself up on his elbow, gazing down at the two of you with a bright smile, radiating happiness. He finally understood the ache that had sat in his chest since he announced he was leaving for Argentina, the fierce longing to see you and touch you ever since you had arrived explained by the fact that he was unconditionally in love with you. He wondered how he had only realized it after he left, when the signs had been there for a lot longer than that. Maybe he had simply taken what he had already for granted, or maybe he had just been blind to it.

Knowing him, it was probably both.

Your eyes had closed, listening to the steady beat of Iwa’s heart in your ear, but you suddenly jerked up, looking excited.

“Does that mean I can call you my boyfriends? Everyone is gonna freak,” you said, and Oikawa snorted and burst into laughter. Under you, Iwa groaned, clapping his hand to his forehead.

“You are unbelievable, _____,” he huffed, but he was smiling again, and you could see he was trying not to laugh. “But yeah, I guess you can. I will revoke the right if you abuse it, though. Both of you.”

Oikawa’s eyes lit up at that, and a mischievous smirk lit up his face. “Wonder what we’d have to do to make that happen.”

“Oh, no. I am not gonna risk that,” you said, pushing his face away as he leaned forward. “I just got the right, I’m not gonna lose it already.”

“You’re no fun, _____,” he pouted, grabbing your hand. He kissed your palm, listening to you giggle at something Iwa whispered into your ear. “Already keeping secrets from me, hm? I’m not sure you--”

“I love you, Tooru,” you said, and he sputtered and turned bright red, dropping your hand in favor of covering his face with his, whining in the back of his throat. You burst into laughter while Iwaizumi snickered, high fiving you.

“Why are you two so mean to me?” Oikawa asked through his fingers, though he was grinning hard enough to hurt. His heart thumped in his chest at what was probably an unhealthy rate for an athlete of his caliber, but if he died of a heart attack right then, he’d be alright with it.

It was Iwaizumi who answered, pulling his face down into his neck. Oikawa went willingly, listening to the deep timber of his voice as he said, “You didn’t really think anything would change did you, Brattykawa?”

“Well I had hoped, since you love me and all,” Oikawa admitted. He was starting to feel tired again, his eyes heavy as he soaked in the warmth of your hands on his back and Iwa in general. 

“Nope,” you said, popping your lips on the ‘p’. You settled yourself on Iwa’s chest again, pushing your fingers through Oikawa’s hair. He seemed to purr at that, murmuring as he snuggled closer into Iwa’s side. “I could go for a nap.”

“Same,” Iwa said, proving his point with a yawn. Tucking his arm beneath his head, he let his eyes close with a sigh.

Oikawa was already asleep, his breathing deep and even and warm against Iwa’s neck, and he thought you were too until you murmured a sleepy, “I love you too, Haji.”

His lips ticked up, his heart skipping a beat at the quiet confession. They were words he had been longing to hear for a longer time than he cared to admit, and he sighed again.

“Love you too, princess. Now shut up so we can sleep.”

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