#because like!!! soft 3 am dew is adorable and i love him

[rainy-anon]

New hc, I'd Dew/Sodo wakes up in the middle of the night he has a chance to get super emotional very easily. Like if someone starts talking about how he did bad he will sniffle softly and come curl up on their lap and apologize and they'll be so confused because they were playfully scolding him?? But he thinks he really upset aether yeah its aether now. He thinks he really upset aether and he's apologizing and aether is just there like "dew? Hey,, Bubba it's okay,, you're alright I was just messing with you,," and aether would gently hold and rub his cheek, throw a hand at his back and rub and soon he's rocking him back to sleep, whispering sweet things about how it's okay, he's here and he forgives him and even kisses the top of dews head. Dew is still mumbling about how he's sorry and aether will pull his hand back from his cheek to even find tears. Aether realizes 3 am Dew is a very soft dewdrop.

[fourlittleocto]

i'm really bad at headcanons in general so i'm sorry if these are not good, but thank you for the ask! also with midterms i've been super busy so i hope everyone can keep being patient with me, i promise i am working on asks it just might be another week <3

starting with some cute ones (thank you @pyrefection)

dew loves to rub soft stuff on his face. if the closest soft thing happens to be a person, so be it. he doesn't want them to touch him, just let him hold their hand and rub it over his face. this always somehow turns into their fingers in his mouth, since they're softer and nicer than his

with that thought, even though he doesn't need to teethe he still wants to stick everything in his mouth, just to see what it's like. some sort of instinct. however his fear of getting in trouble trumps this need, which means he'll spend way longer than most cgs have patience for crawling over to objects that look good, holding them up, and then pouting when he's told no, he can't put that in his mouth until it either has to be pried out of his weirdly strong grip or mountain (because let's be honest he thinks this is adorable and is the only one who actually tolerates it) gives in and let's him put it in his mouth "but just once dewbug!" it's better that he's doing this when someone's watching anyway, and then he'll never need to try again

dew loves to draw and hates coloring. he doesn't like that he can't control his hands enough to keep it in the lines, especially since little rain is a little ocd and always gives him judgemental stares when they color together. he loves to draw though, and even though they're usually just colorful squiggles aurora (his new favorite caregiver) has taught him how to draw some shapes and to associate certain colors with certain emotions, so he feels like he can communicate when he's drawing and it's really relaxing to his troubled brain

i also love moonbeam's hc that tiny dew loves to clap. it's a movement that's easy, and it's small and loud just like he is, and he knows how to clap sarcastically to get a laugh. whenever anyone in the pack does something stupid he claps and giggles, and it sends aurora into a laughing fit every time.

i put some stuff about dew's childhood/regression under the cut cause it's a little heavy/sad so feel free to skip it

just as background, i think dew goes really small, like usually he can't walk or talk but sometimes he can get as big as 3, where he's toddling, but even then he can't talk cause as a child his parents refused to talk to him so he didn't learn to until he was interacting with other kits. It's part of why now he's really slow at reading and gets frustrated when he has to describe something cause words just don't come easily to him. it's also the reason that when he's tiny he likes to hide, he doesn't want anyone to see him so vulnerable so they can't use it against him. (however, this has made him incredible at hide and seek. one of the older littles or aurora will hold him and follow where he points and they always win)

he also can't drop on purpose, it's entirely trauma/stimuli-based. i definitely think it's something that started for him after the elemental change, but no one except mountain knew about it until aurora was summoned. She mothered him about his attitude while he was big enough times that one night, while in the middle of a bad flashback, he babbled something just coherent enough for mountain to know he was asking for her, so now they trade off taking care of him and know who he needs based on what happened/what kind of mood he's in (it's always bad, but sometimes it's MUCH WORSE than others, and aurora has to take him when he's specifically having elemental change flashbacks cause mountain still has too much attachment to the events and they trigger flashbacks for him too)

either way, since aurora has joined the pack she's helped dew not feel so scared about being small, to the point where even if he can't be with a group of adults, he's able to sit with her and watch little rain and phantom and cumulus play. she's also slowly teaching him to do things that 1 to 2-year-olds are supposed to be able to do, and it's helped him feel like he has a lot of control over it even if he still can't control the action of his mind dropping.

[gyroshrike]

Gamzee for the ask game? (I think I can guess the otp :) )

For the “Send me a character and I’ll tell you…” ask game

Oh ho ho ho, yesss, one of my boys, thank you.

My NOTP for them - I... Do I have any Gamzee notps? None of the general ships you see around really get to me all that much?

This is gonna sound weird, but I'm so picky about end game gamtav that it ALMOST creeps into notp territory. It's really, really hard for me to enjoy endgame/Earth C gamtav unless it's very specifically done. It's so hard for me to see a future for Gamzee at the end of Act 7. They're at such points in their lives that I absolutely would NOT want to see them in relationship immediately at the end of canon. There would need to be countless amounts of emotional progress, growth, and/or redemption on their own terms first, THEN they can get together :3

Not a notp, but I am pretty strictly pale gamkar. Not a flushed gamkar person, but I still find it cute so shrug???

My BROTP for them - GAMZEE AND TEREZI. TEREZI AND GAMZEE AND TEREZIIIIIIII. THAT BADASS SUBJUG AND LEGISLACERATOR COMBOOOOO. DEADLY. DON'T FUCK WITH THEM. FUCK YOU HUSSIE THEY'RE QUAD CORNERS AND WOULD KILL FOR EACH OTHER.

Actually, also really like Gamzee and Cirava getting to just hang out and smoke together. That's all I want.

My OTP for them - pfft. Psssh. Pft. Uhhhh, like I even need to say this one. I can survive off the dew of a single ginko leaf, the energy of the universe, and pbj sandwiches. (Link is to my 3k+ word rant on why gamtav is my absolute otp of otp’s. I would absolutely kill for them.)

My second choice pairing for them - Pale gamkar all the way. Love me some opposite moirails. I realized recently why I think Gamzee is so good for Karkat.With almost anyone else Karkat talks with, Karkat gets push back in some way, and I’m not saying that’s a bad thing! Or that it’s bad for Karkat! I was just thinking about that one chance Gamzee got to calm Karkat down post murderstuck and it was Karkat literally just so ready to fight and Gamzee is just “nah man :o( just maybe thinking you should try to calm down a little” and Karkat just seemed... so floored? By the lack of fight? And he’s basically just, “OH. RIGHT. OKAY. YEAH, YOU’RE MY MOIRAIL. YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO CALM ME DOWN. OKAY. I’M CALMING DOWN.”

And it just made me think of Karkat not knowing how to deal with Gamzee’s lack of pushback so he just... runs out of steam? Because he has no conflict to cycle off of? And idk it just makes my heart soft...

And speaking of opposite moirails, Karkat is just the HIGHEST strung motherfucker while Gamzee can be THE most pliable pile of soft goo. They balance each other :’D

My fluffy pairing for them - Not a romantic ship, but I adore a familial relationship between Gamzee and Calliope and Caliborn. Either with him just really caring about them as babies or AU's where he can be more of a dad to them (CALLIOPE SEEING GAMZEE AS A DAD POST CANON FUCKS ME UP DON'T TOUCH MEEE I'M IN THE THROES OF EMOTION.) Or humanstuck AU's where he's actually their dad, older brother, or adopts them ugh they get me. Dads who don't know what they're doing, all they know is they care a lot and trying their best? So good.

OH AND I GO STARK RAVING MAD FOR PARENT/CHILD DYNAMIC KARAKO AND GAMZEE. OLDER TEEN/YOUNG ADULT KARAKO TAKING IN TINY BABY GAMZEE??? AHHHHHHHHHHH???????

My angsty pairing for them - This is just copy pasted from my Terezi ask:

 If I don't fully indulge with bffs Gamzee and Terezi in an AU, then I love me some ashen Gamzee♣️Rose♣️Terezi when it comes to more canon compliant material. With how upset over his qudrants Gamzee was in openbound? Plus it being post murderstuck? PLUS Rose having to deal with some of the most difficult trolls? I feel like there's a whole slew of really delicious angst just waiting there. A Gamzee afraid of losing Karkat, a Terezi lost in her guilt over killing Vriska, and both tearing into each other in some ugly, misdirected pitch flirting, Rose would absolutely have her hands full and probably get a kick out of it. I also love the idea of Rose just seeing it as a fun social learning experience "oooh troll quadrants and getting to play therapist" type thing, but then she really starts to understand the depth of the bonds ashen relationships have and she really comes to care so much for both of them.

Honorable mention to pitch Aradia♠️Gamzee with Gamzee being full on servant of Lord English and Aradia trying to be the keeper of time and the two of them meeting and clashing over and over throughout time and space as two opposing forces.

My favorite poly ship for them - Oooh, ho ho ho, love me some Gam♥️Equius♥️/♠️Tavros. Gamzee adores Equius so much tbh. Gamzee was just a huge sweetheart to Equius pre-game and just loved talking to him. Equius seemed pretty pitch (and I love Gamzee♠️Equius) towards him, but I think I like the idea of Equius letting himself be loved and recieve soft red affection from Gamzee is so cute.

I have a lot more thoughts about them, but it mostly focuses on Tavros and Equius’ dynamic, so I’ll save it for my Tavros ask.

My weirdest pairing for them - Probably the weirdest I've got for Gamzee is him pailing his auspistice, Arsast Aporia, a fantroll from Miracle Child. I call it "The Naughty Auspistice" series. It really all started while talking about the idea of Gamzee and Arsast kissing in a hypothetical game of truth or dare and then they realize, "Uh oh, they kind liked it," then Arsast gets the funky idea to distract Gamzee's desire to pail Sephar (the other ashmate), by pailing Gamzee himself. It's just... I've explored 'rails with pails before, but this is this the first time considering clubs who pail (there's probably a more clever term for it out there). It's just some silly thing I've come to really enjoy eheheh, especially with the social inappropriateness of it and them kind of needing to sneak around to do it.

[lysmune]

demon’s kiss

24/7

(OM! Demons/Reader)

i: Satan -  5:35AM

      Satan’s kisses are sunbursts, rimmed sweet from morning precipitation as he guides, goads, without a breath of hesitation. Nipping, skimming your bottom lip, he engulfs wholly, utterly, and you’re always left a little mesmerised, a little giddy.

     Fingers running up your side and down, and you giggle into his mouth, into the quiet evaporating gasps when he pulls away and he pecks the tip of your nose with emerald-flecked mischief.

     “Wide-awake, are we?”

ii: Diavolo - 6:30 AM

     Diavolo’s kisses are open-mouthed, hopping from your lips to your jaw, to the dip of your neck and your clavicle. His body wash lingers, warm, faintly musky as you ball the fabric of his shirt, tugging him a little closer.

     Laughter shivering your skin, biting at you playfully, nuzzling into you, his hair tickling before he reaches up to your lips once again. It’s a little rushed, a little sloppy, but you find that it suits him just as well, and he cradles you when he pulls away, even if it’s brief.

     “I have to get up,” is his soft, chuckling plea and, as much as you’d like him to stay, you surrender him to his work. Brushing your hair to the side, he whispers the promise of his return, a dinner together and a reward you’d very much like to sink your teeth into.

iii: Beelzebub - 12:00 PM

     Despite his intimidating build, Beelzebub’s kisses are tender, mellow, bitter caramel and pudding between his teeth. He handles you with a delicate touch and you’re precious in his arms, your hands up against his chest, the strong beat of his heart thrumming under your palm.

     Never pushing, never forcing, he always seems to back away just before you do, your name tumbling in honeyed dulcet tones. An endearing smile smoothed by affection, warmed by the kitchen heat, you raise your hand to cup his cheek and he gladly presses into you.

     “You taste sweet,” he confesses, thumbing a peck into your palm, and you chuckle at how unabashed, how honest he always is.

     “Thank you.”

iv: Asmodeus - 2:00 PM

     Coloured in rose perfume, Asmodeus’ kisses flatter you, coiling in an intoxicating swirl of indigo and peach as he pins you down against his bed, his knee between your legs and his hands flitting across your figure. You shudder into his caress, back arching when he traces the length of your abdomen, the swell of your hip, the curve of your thighs.

     Giggles spill into your mouth, the shell of your ear, unsparing in his touches as he bares warm flesh to cool air, to warmer palms, relishing in the way you’re sighing his name in praise. He adores you with sugared compliments, his lips grazing every inch of you in fluttering pecks, a topaz gaze transfixed by the blush of your body.

     He always stops, just as you’re at the precipice of it all, coyly slinking back, taking you into an embrace while he smooths you out.

     “Sorry,” he winks, grinning, knowing. “I got a little too carried away.”

v: Belphegor - 5:45 PM

     Taking all the time in the world, Belphegor’s kisses are, oddly, patient. He nips at your bottom lip as his thumb strokes your cheek, humming your name, brushing your hair back. Through violet eyes, he admires.

     When he finally presses his lips against yours, everything around you seems to flicker ablur, quelling into a silence as you ease in his arms. Mint peppery on your tongue, tart with raspberries and dewed in stardust, holding you tighter still. He’s gentle, if not unyielding.

     No matter how many times he breaks away, gives you space, he’s never really distant, his lips hovering yours for a few heartbeats before he captures you again. Languorously, he showers you with quiet affection, fingers running across your arms, resting at your waist, and you always feel ethereal in his touch, as though you’re floating, as though you’re in a dream.

     Pulling away for the last time, you watch him in a daze as he thumbs a light kiss to your eyelid, the crescent of smile etching itself before he chuckles at the sight of you.

     “Again?” he asks and you nod. Wordlessly, without any hesitation, he lulls you back in.

vi: Barbatos - 7:00 PM

     Earl grey and rose petals, and crème Chantilly; that’s the only indication of Barbatos’ kiss today. You swear you feel him soft against your lips, the ever slight hand on the small of your back, his hair tickling your eyelids when he bends, but when light floods your vision, he’s a good few spaces away.

     You’re not sure if you’re to believe it happened or not, your fingers skimming your  bottom lip as though it would jolt the process of a recollection. You hear him chuckle quietly and you look up to meet the serpentine gleam of his gaze.

     Pressing a finger to his mouth, a smile curling at the edges, he sends a small hush that makes you warm with blush, the thrill of your intimacies being kept under wraps tingling across skin.

     “Later,” and with that, he assures you that this isn’t the last you’ll be seeing of him today.

vii: Mammon - 10:25 PM

     Under the flickering fluorescence of a dying street lamp, the aftermath of a sudden shower, the slight bittersweet tang of Demonus, Mammon’s kisses are uncharacteristically bold.

     Hands clinging, wandering, roaming the side of your thighs, your waist, your face as he pulls you flush against him with his other. Balling his shirt in your fists, you tug and he deepens the entwinement, teeth skimming your lip before his tongue tangles yours, brash as he always is, though the way he strokes your cheek is as kind as ever.

     Hovering, lingering, when you break for air, he shies his gaze away and you’re met with the sight of him, blushed twice over to the tips of his ears. You laugh, wondering where all his bluster’s gone, pressing a peck onto his cheek that stiffens him straight as he looks at you, wide-eyed and nothing short of surprised.

     “Y-ya can’t jus’ do tha’ outta nowhere!” he stumbles, frowning as he does, though the soft look he fixes on you betrays it. Without so much of a warning, he hoists you up and you yelp, your arms finding purchase on the strong line of his shoulder while your legs wrap around his waist, his hand slipping under your thigh to support you.

     “Mammon!” you yell and he lets out a giddy, unrestrained chortle.

     Kissing the top of your cheekbone, he smirks. “Payback,” and he captures your lips once again, rapturous.

viii: Leviathan - 12:00 AM

     Leviathan’s kisses tremble in your mouth, quivering ever just when you return his affections in earnest, hugging you tighter as you lean back against his chest. He’s awkward, unsure, but he holds you with a tenderness that makes your heart melt.

     He leaves the ocean on your lips, mellowly sweet and herbaceous, and you shift in his lap to bury your head into the crook of his neck, the scent of brine and saltwater clinging to him like second skin.

     “D-don’t do that,” he stutters out. You peek out from below and raise a brow in question, and he seems to slump, the sunset across his blue eyes dulling. “I smell; I’m a yucky otaku after all.”

     Pressing your hand to his chest as you rise up to peck the edge of his lips, and he stumbles at the suddenness. “You’re not,” is your answer and he bites the inside of his cheek, looking away, flustering and fumbling before you raise your hand to his cheek to focus on you.

     He holds his breath for a moment then, before his shoulders relax. He doesn’t ask for any confirmation, he just simply allows himself to trust your words, to hold you tighter with a little more confidence. Tugging the blanket that swaddles the both of you closer, you can only sigh as he starts to hum, soft and melodic, and not nearly as often as you’d like him to.

     With the waves crashing frail at the shell of your ear, you rest yourself flush against him, clutching his shirt, eyes fluttering close. A featherlight kiss onto the top of your head and the sea swallows you into a fitful slumber.

ix: Lucifer - 3:30 AM

     Incandescence rims him gold, the smell of juniper spiced and woody, grating the metallic tang of fresh ink as his fingers brush your cheek. Underscored by bitter coffee, Lucifer’s kisses are the aftermath of countless sleepless nights.

     His lips are harsh against yours, clashing, bruising, the hand on the back of your neck pushing your forward as his teeth skim your mouth. Breaking away, your fingers twine his hair, tugging him closer when he trails kisses down your jaw, shuddering as he bites and suckles on a particularly sensitive spot on your neck, your hand coming up to his chest, the other gripping the chair’s arm.

     With one last peck to your newly formed love mark, he pulls apart, drinking in his handiwork with a proud gleam. “Beautiful,” he hums and you flush, clicking your tongue at him; he raises a brow. “No?”

     “Somewhere less obvious would’ve been better,” you huff out. Chuckling, he brings your hand from his chest to his lips and a shiver runs through you when he levels a devilish gaze at you.

     “That would’ve completely missed the point,” he answers and you roll your eyes, shaking your head, but he’s unperturbed, thumbing a kiss to your wrist. “Besides, red suits you.”

     As if to prove him right, warmth floods your cheeks and he laughs once more, a little freer this time, with less of an arrogance. You lean forward, just slightly, before you glance at the clock on his table. He appears to have followed your line of sight, because he clears his throat and straightens his back.

     “You can go ahead and sleep first,” he encourages, assures; you shake your head.

     “Not unless you are,” you assert and his mouth opens in protest, yet you shush him by continuing. “Paperwork can wait, your sorry excuse of a sleep schedule can’t.”

     He frowns at that. “I have a sleep schedule.”

     “Last I checked, three hours isn’t a sleep schedule,” you retort.

     “It’s still sleep.”

     “Lucifer.”

     At that, he complies, allowing you to disentangle yourself from him as he stands. He’s still reluctant, you can tell, so you reach up to cup his face in your hands and pull him down to meet your eyes.

     “Please, get some rest.”

     He tenses for a moment, though it doesn’t last long. His stare softens as his mouth curls into a small smile, his hand taking yours before he nods.

     “Alright.”

     Tenderly, gently, he leads you to the bed and takes you into his arms in a rare display of intimacy. Fingers carding through your hair, his chest falling and rising in rhythm, you drift off with his heartbeat in your ears.

[elsanna-shenanigans]

June Contest Submission #4: Flash Point

Words: ca. 5,500 Setting: mAU Lemon: yes CW: swearing, alcohol consumption, mentions of hunting, weed, tobacco

Why was it so damn hot?

The Sun bore down with unusual cruelty, and the air was so heavy it felt damp against her skin, too thick to breathe, and if the dog at the other end of the leash she was holding’s panting was anything to go by, Anna was not alone in her feeling. They hadn’t even gone far, yet the Vizsla was pulling towards a shaded patch of grass and plopping down with a little whine. 

“I’m not carrying you home, so you better hurry before it gets really hot,” she grumbled. On the other hand she couldn’t exactly blame him. She’d spent the last five years studying abroad, two years in Oslo and three at Uppsala University. The Scandinavian Summers were comparatively cool and mild when contrasted to the hot, humid Summers so typical of the Eastern part of the North American continent. Her dog was born in Europe, and at the ripe old age of 3, had quite literally never known such high temperatures. 

“Tűz, fot!” 

The dog lifted his head to look at her then let out a noise of complaint before he got up and very slowly made his way to a heel position, looking forlorn. She chuckled a little at how dramatic he was being and gave him a gentle pat. 

“Duktig hund!“

A crown of dew formed around her temples and coated her shoulders and her neck. Given it was only 8:30 am, she dreaded to think what the rest of the day would be like. At least, she figured, her parents and the rest of her family likely wouldn’t want to leave the cool respite of the central AC.

She quickened her step at the prospect, hurrying back to the modest house her sister had began renting sometime after Anna had left for Europe. As much as she adored her parents, she’d been overjoyed when Elsa asked her to stay with her, and she’d been eager to make up for lost time. Of all the things she’d missed while studying, her older sister was what she’d missed most, leading her to question whether it was possible to be homesick for a person.

As she walked through the door, she found Elsa in the kitchen, frantically shoving a granola bar into her bag, along with a sandwich and some gatorade. Without looking up, she reached for her car keys and brushed passed Anna, only pausing briefly to kiss her forehead and mumble “good morning” which immediately drew a smile on Anna’s lips.

“Got everything?”

“Yeah I think I left most of Tűz’s stuff in the car.” 

“Alright, let’s go.” 

-x.x.x-

The drive to their parents place was a little over 20 minutes, but fortunately brought Elsa a little closer to the work errands she had ro run that day. Anna was a little bummed she wouldn’t be spending most of the day with her, but took comfort in the fact she’d come join them as soon as possible. Her eyes studied the edges of Elsa’s cheekbones, admiring her chiseled features, and the way the stray strands of blond escaping from her messy braid framed her face. Anna hoped that she had thought of applying sunscreen before leaving, though she somehow doubted it, given how hectic she’d been just before they’d left.

“Is it okay if I don’t take you all the way down?”

Pulled out of her reverie, it took her a moment to process the meaning of the question, until she remembered her older sister was referring to the downhill driveway that led to their parent’s house. 

“Oh sure! I forgot how tricky it is to turn around and come back up from there.” 

“How could you forget you very nearly wrecked the paint job on dad’s brand spanking new car?”

Anna cringed with embarrassment at the memory, but a reassuring ruffling of her hair cued her in on the affectionate nature of the teasing. The car stopped and Elsa turned to face her with a soft smile.

“I’ll try to be quick ok? I’ll text you as soon as I know when I can come meet you.”

“Okay, I’m pretty sure we aren’t going very far in this weather anyhow.”

The car’s thermometer indicated an outside temperature of 37°C at the moment and she had a sense the felt temperature would only get worse. She grimaced, until Elsa reached over to hug her. She twisted in her seat, reaching to embrace her, leaning in to give her a quick peck on the cheek, only to find they were both leaning in the same direction with the same idea. She readjusted, and so did Elsa, so they both course corrected once more, this time fully confident that she’d accomplish her task at hand. In their hurry to affectionately see each other off, the momentum they’d gained was too strong to brake, and somehow they both landed smack dab in the middle, their lips colliding in a soft peck.

Anna felt a little spark and let out a giggle, shared by Elsa who immediately looked up at the ceiling of her car, mortified, but unable to shake the wry smile of amusement. 

“Nothing like a little accidental incest to get your day going huh?”

She shook her head and reached up to tuck a strand of hair back behind Elsa’s ear, shrugging nonchalantly, genuinely amused because what else could you do at such a ridiculous situation? An accidental kiss, with her older sister warranted laughs, and she was sure the rest of the family would find it hilarious when she’d tell them.

“It’s just like that Folgers commercial: the best part of wakin’ up, is incest in your cup.” 

There was a glint of mischievous amusement in her eye, in spite of the sheepish grin, almost apologetic for what she had just said (rather than what she had done).

“Dear lord, Anna, just take your dog and go. At the very least this day can only improve as I’ve just hit rock bottom.” 

Doing as she was told, she got out of the car, retrieving her dog from the back seat along with their belongings before she turned to Elsa, offering her a bright smile, the hint of a smirk still lingering in amusement. 

“Bye, I love you, drive safely!” 

“I love you too, see you later.”

She watched as the car pulled back up to the top of the hill, waiting for it to disappear, just long enough to feel the weight of the heat begin to crush her, Sun searing her skin with eager malice. Anna turned to look downwards, recognizing the solar panels on either side of the roof, and the glass roof of the integrated green house. It felt so familiar to her, and as she walked towards it, it gave her a sense of comfort even if it no longer really was home. 

Subconsciously she reached up with her fingertips tracing her lower lip where the ghostly sensation of the peck crackled with electricity, forcing a little quirk of her mouth as the thought of it tickled her. How funny, she pondered, that she’d felt more from an accidental kiss with her sister than she’d had the last time she’d kissed someone. If that wasn’t the most obvious indicator of lack of chemistry, she didn’t know what was!

Knocking on the door she couldn’t wait to catch her parents up on this, tell them about the mishap, and couldn’t wait to see who amongst their relatives would have joined them for Anna’s welcoming home party. 

However, when her mother opened the door and embraced her tight, prompting excited tail wags and jumping from her dog, and asking her how she was, Anna found herself unable to speak it, suddenly second-guessing whether Elsa would appreciate her telling them, and wondering if it would come across as weird after all, rather than strictly funny. She couldn’t shake the feeling, and wasn’t sure why.

A while later, the moment had passed with relentless overthinking on her part and even still as she drank coffee and ate croissants with her mother, father, her uncle and her cousin, the sensation of the spark lingered on her lips, leaving her flustered with butterflies at the thought of her older sister’s mouth. 

That thought was soon cast aside however as her dog tried climbing into her lap which prompted her uncle to ask her about him.

“What kind of dog is that?”

Though the breed was becoming more prevalent in North America and increasingly popular with hunters it wasn’t quite as well spread in Canada as it was in the USA. 

“Tűz is a Vizsla.”

“Gesundheit.” 

She rolled her eyes, wanting to correct

“It’s a Hungarian Pointer breed. Pretty ancient, excellent and versatile gun dogs. I had him evaluated by a trainer in Sweden who said he was a natural bird dog. His name means ‘fire’, in Hungarian.” 

Even as she was listing out her boy’s illustrious origins she figured it likely sounded just the slightest bit improbable to her uncle Frederic, given how said majestic hunter was currently curled up in her lap with his front paws on her shoulders. 

“Huh. Y’know nothing beats a good Lab in my opinion but he sure is cute. He even looks like you, redhead and all!”

“Y’hear that? Uncle Fred thinks you’re cute! Don’t tell him you could outrun his lab in upland hunting any day.”

She turned to give her dog a little kiss on the cheek, but her mind immediately went back to the tingling she felt there, which seemed to amplify as she replayed the earlier moment with Elsa in her head, from start to finish. Her kopfkino was overshadowed with a much more pressing sense of dread however, when she heard her father’s warm voice cheerfully ask:

“Alright, who’s ready to rock and roll?” 

-x.x.x-

Though Anna had been distinctly less than thrilled at the prospect of going back out into the the fiery pits of hell her hometown had become, she took some consolation in the fact they were headed to her favourite, fully air conditioned lake front eatery. To sweeten the deal, Tűz had been so charming and well behaved, the staff didn’t question his coming in, and he immediately laid down under the table as he had been taught to do. 

The plan had been to eat first then head out to the beach for a swim. Of course no one had informed her prior so she hadn’t brought along a swimsuit, and she did her best to eat her lunch as slowly as possible. She’d failed to do the same with her drink though, the thirst was real and the long island iced tea was sweet. It had taken everything in her power not to text Elsa so as not to bother her (and avoid looking like the clingy younger sister she’d always worried she came across as). 

Trying to ignore her phone as she shared anecdotes and tidbits of her time spent overseas, she almost missed the notification from her older sister.

Hey, I’m close to finishing up here. Where did you guys end up going?

Mid-sentence, Anna interrupted herself to focus on typing back a quick response. 

We’re at The Captain’s Favourite, we’re almost done eating then we’re going swimming. Meet us at Faux Fjord Beach?

Awesome I’ll be there in about 15ish. Btw can you get me one of their Vodka Lemonade Slushies? Please and thank you! Can’t wait to get hammered on the beach and finally catch up with you ;* ( <- fully intentional, not accidental incest this time)

Anna blushed the slightest bit at the emoji, subconsciously biting her lip as it tingled again, and she giggled at the joke initially. At the very least, it was reassuring to know she hadn’t been the only one to think about their silly little incident this morning. 

Omg I forgot this place did frozen cocktails, that’s an amazing fucking idea. Same tho, can’t wait! See you soon <3 (not sure that’s legal)

“So Anna, are you going to tell us about your boyfriend?”

Her eyes shot up from her phone to find her cousin Rapunzel with an eyebrow quirked and a knowing smirk, along with the rest of her family looking at her expectantly.

“My what?”

“Girlfriend? Whoever that was that just texted you! Clearly you’ve been holding out on us because dang girl, you’ve got it bad.”

Anna stifled the urge to grab her glass of water and toss it at her cousin’s face, force of habit from their youthful roughhousing days. The cycle of merciless teasing and correspondent indignation was just as part of being home as the rest. 

“Chrissake no that was Elsa! I was laughing at one of her stupid jokes, she was asking where to meet us.” 

Unimpressed green eyes looked at her with skepticism, unconvinced that Anna was telling the truth. Her first impulse was to show her the text exchange to prove it, but she then realized that the out of context inside joke would land with the current audience. 

“C’mon, the girlish giggling? The lip biting? The blushing?”

Her ears felt hot and a flash of defensiveness flared up within her but she exerted just enough self-control not to throw herself into an argument about wrongful perception. Instead she pointedly ignored that line of questioning and relayed her older sister’s message to the rest of their family.

“She said she’d be here in 15 minutes, and I told her to meet us down by the beach.” 

A familiar, warm, curious little head poked out from under the table, golden eyes round and hopeful.

“I said beach, not bitch.”

Laughter erupted around her and she let out a quiet sigh of relief under her breath, patting her dog softly as she leaned backwards sinking into the booth seat. 

-x.x.x-

Anna was looking out at the water with a slightly forlorn expression, watching her dog swim out to her folks, then back to the shore on a loop of manic joy, wishing she could join them. Alas, with no bathing suit the best she could do was tie up her tank top, sitting in her daisy dukes under the sunshade, though she licked her wounds by sipping on the Bourbon Peach Lemonade Slushie she’d ordered. 

When a pair of arms embraced her from behind, nonchalantly sliding over her shoulders she immediately perked up at the recognition of the familiar scent that accompanied them. Before she could say anything however, Elsa was kissing the side of her cheek (successfully this time), and her heart skipped a beat as she smiled in response.

“Hey, didn’t feel like swimming?”

Anna turned to look as her sister sat down beside her, scooting into the shade, though not before her eye had caught sight of the dew on her skin betraying the heat. It was a little nicer on the lake, a pleasant breeze kept it from feeling completely unbearable, but still it would have been so much better if she could’ve gone swimming.

“No one informed me either, remember? Didn’t bring my bathing suit.” 

Reaching for Elsa’s drink which she managed to time almost perfectly before her arrival, she handed it over and took another sip from her own, her ears twitching slightly at the sound of the crushed ice compacting with the liquid. 

“Thanks,” was the murmured acknowledgement.

“Guess that means you’re stuck drinking with me.”

Her sister reached up to ruffle her auburn hair affectionately and Anna raised her mason jar with a smug little smirk showing that she was already well under way. 

“Way ahead of you, you’re gonna be playing catch up now.” 

“Hm is that a challenge or a warning?” 

Elsa’s tone sounded playful but her polarized aviator-style sunglasses hid the extent of her expression, making it somewhat unreadable. Anna shrugged, starting.

“Well if you aren’t a coward, it’s- ah!” 

She shrieked as she felt sharp, cutting cold against her bared shoulder. Glancing over, she saw that Elsa had pressed her still perfectly icy lemonade against her skin, amusement curling her mouth as she took her first gulp through the bendy straw. Anna’s resent at the sudden cold melted like… well, snow in the sun as she noted the genuine mirth in her sister’s mischievous gesture and the way her perfect, bow-shaped lips wrapped around the straw.

“Don’t get cocky, getting hammered was my idea remember? I’m gonna see it through.” 

Anna had scoffed but been unable to respond anything right away, instead distracted by the way the unruly strands of platinum that pried themselves loose from Elsa’s braid either floated softly, or stuck to the gentle sheen of her neck. Unable to resist the urge to try and tuck them back at times, it earned her an easy, quick smile whenever she did.

They’d remained mostly in comfortable silence, Anna stealing glances at Elsa’s exquisite face, trying to guess her expression behind the glasses she wore, studying how much she had changed, and it what was she was still identical to the way she remembered her. She wondered if her older sister was in any way aware of the stunning beauty she was. 

If they spoke, it was with a mixture of familiarity and uncertainty, like they were both re-learning to speak each other’s language without having ever really left one another. In truth, even before she’d gone to study abroad, It hadn’t always been easy for Anna to read her older sister, penetrate through the wall of ice she guarded herself with. And yet, she had never felt like she was being treated with anything besides love and tenderness. She relished in the small touches, the tactile displays of adoration she had missed so dearly from her and marvelled at how ravishing and confident she managed to look with such a simple and laidback style. The ripped jeans, beater-boy tank top and the shades were achingly cool and suited her all too well. 

She knew their parents were overly proud of her for getting a fancy degree overseas, and that they generally avoided discussing Elsa’s lack of direction in life. It didn’t matter one bit to Anna, she would always look up to and admire her older sister, maybe even more so because in spite of her struggles she’d managed to gain her independence. 

A brush of the hand against her shoulder, a gentle stroke in the nook of her palm. Fingertips brushing her hair out into her back. Fuck, while she hadn’t been isolated the whole time she was away and had her share of memorable trysts, this kind of intimacy sent pleasant tingles down her spine, and she only just realized now how much she’d missed it. It made her own fingers twitch with the need to touch, to stroke, to hold but she kept her foot on the pedal, once again afraid of coming across as clingy. 

When they had found the bottoms of their drinks, likely far too quickly for the amount of alcohol that were mixed in, Anna was resting her head on her older sister’s shoulder. Elsa had turned around to rummage through her bag, before handing Anna a bottle of spray-on sunscreen. 

“Really? I’d like to remind you I tan m-more easily than you…” 

Elsa laughed at that point and shook her head, reaching for Anna’s free hand with her own and giving it an affectionate little squeeze. 

“That’s the point, I want you to put some on my back, you know I’m old and crunchy and cannot reach for shit.” 

She snatched it out of her sister’s hand and scoffed.

“Firstly, shut up, you’re not old, you have a good two years of immortality left ahead of you.” 

Popping off the lid she shook the bottle as per the instructions on the label before. It felt slippery with her palms so sweaty, matching the rest of her body’s glow. While the drink had been refreshing on the way down, she regretted the way the alcohol made her skin flush and feel hot at this point. 

“Secondly, lie down, don’t make this harder than it has to be.”

“Overheard in the town of Arundel. Out of context sisters.”

She felt like an idiot for laughing, but she couldn’t help that Elsa got her sense of humour so well and threw zinger after zinger about this since that very morning. Anna then waited for her to lay down on her stomach over the giant beach towel that had served as a makeshift picnic blanket. 

Her heart felt suddenly a little more forceful as it beat faster in her chest when she looked down at the exposed shoulder blades and lower back revealed by the hiked up shirt. Her mouth felt strangely dry and she didn’t for a second question the notion of finding Elsa genuinely gorgeous as she began to spray the solar protection onto the pale, fair, just barely freckled skin. 

Not wanting to hurt or surprise her, she very gingerly began rubbing to spread it more evenly. It soon became clear however that from this angle she wouldn’t be able to get the coverage the lotion needed in order to be effective. She swallowed quickly and subconsciously wet her lower lip with her tongue. Her head started racing as thoughts swirled in her head and she felt almost feverish. She knew she’d be better off straddling Elsa to apply the lotion properly, and she knew it was no big deal, yet still felt she should ask before doing so. On the other hand, asking might make it weird, and while they were enjoying their running gag from earlier this morning, this was a whole new level. 

God. Was she really overthinking helping her sister to put on protective sun lotion? This was fucking ridiculous. 

Buck up, or shut up.

Finally getting over herself, she swung her leg up, straddling Elsa’s thighs, trying to watch for any signs of discomfort as she went to work. 

“Mh, do you mind pressing a little harder against my lower back? Cause that feels really nice.”

Elsa’s skin was already damp, but somehow mixing it with the sunscreen made it feel silky, rather than sticky to the touch and Anna obliged, hoping she wouldn’t lose track of where she’d already rubbed, or that the sweat beading at her own crown wouldn’t start dripping down on her sister because the thoughts and implications there were maybe a little bit much, even for her. Yet the more she spread out her touch, the more she thought about their earlier text exchange, suddenly fixating on the parenthesis and the emoji, and the accidental kiss and… truly the unbearably hot weather was getting to her head and she’d have half a brain cell to be convinced she had a fever. 

“Leave some for yourself, in spite of what you think you still need to protect yourself too. I’ll even return the favour.” 

Anna gulped, almost audibly.

Miles away clouds gathered hanging heavy and jealously holding the crushing humidity hostage, unbeknownst to them which in turn only cranked up the heat Anna was struggling with being subjected to. It created a restless tension within her, an unconscious anticipation. 

-x.x.x-

The rest of the afternoon and evening Anna had been torn between the trepidation of going back to Elsa’s (their) place, and the secure comfort of her parents home. She’d avoided her cousin’s exacting questions about her European paramours and at dinner had been unable to focus on conversation as she’d felt Elsa’s occasional touch. The brush of her ankle against her leg, the innocent stroke of her hand on her side when she’d reach over for something on the table. 

She’d told herself she was just exhausted from the heat and stimulation and simply wanted to get back to an environment where she could decompress.

And while it was true a huge part of her stress was lifted the moment they’d arrived back at Elsa’s (their) place, the excitement of being alone together crackled with an unfamiliar weight in the air. Tűz had gone immediately to plop down in the love seat closest to the AC unit and almost instantly had began to snore. 

Elsa had dropped her keys on the kitchen counter, grabbing a pair of beers from the fridge, handing one to Anna before she’d walked towards the kitchen door leading to the patio.

“I packed a bowl this morning if you want. Just gonna have a quick smoke.” 

Anna had nodded and gone to sit down on the couch, feeling weirdly tense, shaking a little as she’d reached for the glass pipe on the coffee table and the lighter next to it. She put a flame to it, igniting the smoke and breathing it in deeply, hoping it would help ease the knot in her stomach. The entire day had passed and yet, whenever she thought of the accidental kiss they’d shared this morning, the spark still felt vivid, like the simple thought was enough to reignite the sensation. She couldn’t remember sharing an intentional, yet alone an accidental kiss with anyone else that left the same imprint. She wanted to ask Elsa if it was the same for her, if the element of surprise was simply being mistaken by her mind and body for excitement.

After all, this was her sister. It couldn’t possibly mean anything else. The idea of it being anything more was preposterous and inconceivable. Right?

But when Elsa returned with the smell of tobacco mingling into her natural scent, and the woody notes of her perfume, mixed into a sweet, soothing and… attractive blend, Anna could only move towards her as she sat on the couch and looked up at her, a sleepy smile hiding the slight trembling in the rest of her body. 

When she felt two hands cradle the sides of her face, her whole body went tense. Elsa’s icy gaze burned down into her eye and Anna’s breath caught in her throat, her heart pounding so hard she could feel it at the edge of her lips. She dared not twitch a muscle as the moment lingered and Elsa’s thumbs stroked her cheekbones with a heartbreaking gentleness. 

A strike of lightning flashed outside, quickly succeeded by a crack of thunder.

Anna’s eyes closed as she felt soft, pink, perfect lips against her own, and her mouth parted invitingly on instinct as she leaned forward. The fever, the restlessness, the mania that had built up throughout the day exploded as torrential rains beat down against the window pain, and Anna pressed her upper body into Elsa, her hands finding the edges of her tank top, savouring the taste of her, especially as she suckled at the tip of her tongue. 

Quiet gasps and sharp, shallow moans floated between them, and she hungrily kissed her back, nails scratching at the now exposed skin of her sacral area. She hooked her fingertips in the fabric of her shirt pushing it up with an urgency that was perhaps borne out of the clamour of the formidable display from the heavens outside. Though she’d have been lying to herself if she’d said it wasn’t also spurred on by the clenching she’d felt in her own lower belly any time she’d thought of her sister’s mouth against hers that day. 

She broke the kiss, though not before she’d given Elsa a little nip of the teeth to her lower lip, and only long enough to hurriedly discard both of their shirts, giving her a coy, heavily lidded glance as she noticed her older sister’s gaze on her now exposed, freckled breasts and pert nipples. She’d not been wearing a bra because, well, it had been too hot, and she could in fact get away with it. 

Confidently, Anna reached for the nape of Elsa’s neck giving it a littler squeeze to bring her back to herself immediately sliding her tongue between her lips. Her other hand caressed her side, the expanse of her stomach then travelling to the fabric of her bra. Meanwhile she produced little mewls of pleasure as she felt her sister’s hands cup her breasts hungrily and she shifted her position without missing a beat, pulling her down with her as she laid back on the couch, legs falling open, needing to feel the weight of her ribcage between her thighs. 

The hand she’d held the back of Elsa’s neck with began flirting with the damp, soft skin and toying with the stray platinum coloured baby hairs. She felt Elsa shudder above her and felt her hand wrap around her wrist, pinning it above her head, which elicited a moan from Anna. Her hips rolled upwards and she felt instant frustration from the denim creating an unwelcome barrier between them and she wished it gone.

Her wish was apparently Elsa’s telepathic command. 

Before she knew it they were squirming out of their respective skin tight denims with the clumsiness only eager urgency could bring. Her heart was thrumming to the relentless and unforgiving rhythm of the raging elements, and as her fingertips brushed against Elsa’s pulse, she knew hers was beating in time with them too. Chills went down her back at the thought of it and she left the harbour of her sister’s mouth to find that same point to the side of Elsa’s throat, kissing and nipping at it, causing their hips to connect frantically. One of her hands was still pinned above her head and her eyes burned with tantric desire as she looked up at Elsa, features magnified and deified each time the lightning flashed out of the living room window. 

Anna let out a whine as she felt Elsa’s free hand slide between their two bodies, slick with sweat now and she knew she was blushing when she felt just how wet she was once her sister’s finger parted her folds, the heel of her palm teasing against the engorged bundle of nerves at the apex of her sex. Her hips bucked upwards with need, both in shock of the sensation and in desperation for more. 

Eyes flew shut as Elsa now pressed her own hips against her hand, creating a firm inescapable pressure against Anna’s bud, and her finger pumping deep inside of her. 

“Fuck!”

It was not so much exclaimed as it had been hissed as Anna’s entire body rocked into Elsa, fingertips now tugging more firmly at the blonde roots she’d been gripping, as if clearly communicating she wanted her right there, and no further, desperate to feel her as close as possible, feel their nipples brushing against one another, bodies ravenously hungry for each other. 

They found a rhythm though it started off hot, frantic and messy and they found themselves pressed forehead against forehead, mouths slightly agape in the beatitude of sin, and the unbridled lusts of their animalistic pursuit. Thrust upon thrust, roll upon roll of the hips, caused electricity to spark and course through the burning of her lower stomach, tensing and clenching as she felt herself flutter against the welcomed intrusion of Elsa’s touch. Her nervous system pulsated it seemed with the same electricity that ravaged the outside world, protecting rather than threatening their unspeakable passions. 

“Elsa,” she breathed almost pleadingly as she felt a storm building inside of her, one to rival the majesty of the the fierce Summer storm rattling the windows with a reckless force.

“Anna,” was the sultry, husky reply. And not that she had any way of knowing this prior to that particular moment, but she could tell that Elsa was on the edge, just as close as she was, possibly closer. Her thighs squeezed harder around her sister’s hips, ankles locking together to keep her even closer than what was thought possible until that point. 

She could feel it tugging at her loins almost painfully now and she dug her nails into her own palm, the sting and bite of the pain cracking her closer. 

They cried out in unison as their climaxes crested in synchronicity, but the sounds were drowned out by an emphatic strike of thunder, so loud they could’ve sworn the house shook were it not that their own bodies were sent into a shaking mess of trembling frenzy. Overwhelmed and needing to channel it somehow as lightning and fireworks exploded in her mind’s eye their lips met into another electric, full mouthed kiss. 

Waves of pleasure crashed over them, unrelenting until they could take it no more, the tension evaporating as they fell limp, heart to heart breathing tickling each other’s ears, the sensation of which enough to titillate them into wanting to continue. 

Exhausted, Anna buried her face in the nook of Elsa’s neck, breathing in her sent deeply. Though driven by post-coital bliss, at the back of her mind a dark cloud gathered, fear attempted to bubble up, trying to ruin the glow. She nuzzled Elsa softly, kissing the sweat covered skin, humming gently at the taste as she deliberately avoided thinking about the mess they had made. 

They had a lifetime ahead of them for her to process the guilt and the shame. Or unpack the fact she did not feel any regret in the immediate aftermath of the unspeakable.

My God, what had they done?

[frogocado]

Business and Pleasure (Shayne Topp x Damien Haas x Reader)

I began writing this over a year ago and I think I’ll continue it somehow because I really love the dynamic I created. Please let me know what you think!

You work as an editor for Smosh and are lowkey Damien and Shayne’s third. You’re assigned to accompany the boys to help film a Damien and Shayne Road Trip Series.

Day three, 8:31 AM

Shayne is asleep next to you, one arm over his face to block the sun coming in through the dirtied glass, the other still around your waist. You slip out of the blankets, pulling on a discarded flannel. You rummage in the back seat, finding a somewhat clean pair of underwear and jeans. Crawling back across the bed and out of the hatch, you squint in the sun. You take in the sight of everything, standing still for a few minutes to wake up to it all. The sun is warm, lifting the fog off the lake. Everything is golden, a bright sheen. The frost from early this morning seems to have turned to dew in the morning sun. From far away, birds are singing to each other. And in the midst of it all is Damien and a small campfire close by.

Damien is sitting on the top of a wooden picnic table, a steaming cup of coffee on the wood next to him. You wander over, barefoot, pushing yourself up to sit next to him. He smiles over at you, offering you his cup of coffee. “Hey, angel,” he greets, Shayne’s t-shirt tugging at his shoulders and middle.

You smile, welcoming the warm ceramic between your cold fingers. “Thank you.” You kiss his shoulder, leaning against him as you take a sip.

You make a soft noise of approval and he looks down at you, smiling gently. “Yeah? Better than yesterday?”

“It isn’t diner worthy but much better than the continental breakfast yesterday, absolutely,” you respond, passing the mug back.

The two of you are quiet. A few yards away, some ducks float out on the lake.

 Day four, 3:02 PM

“Look at him, he’s beautiful,” You say, gesturing to Shayne and the small brown puppy playing in the dirt.

Damien let out a heavy breath. “Who? Our boyfriend or the dog?”

“Does it matter?” You respond, bumping shoulders with Damien. Shayne is grinning as the dog licks his face, dirt paw prints smearing across his white t-shirt. “Have you ever seen anything more adorable?”

“I’ve seen a few things that could rival it,” Damien shrugs, jingling his keys in his jacket pocket. “We aren’t getting a dog.”

Shayne looks toward the two of you, pouting. “It has a collar, Shayne!” Damien shouts to him. “And now we have an extra outfit to add to our already overflowing laundry.”

You frown, tucking yourself underneath Damien’s left arm to hug him tightly. “Why do you always have to be the voice of reason, Dames?”

“Because one of us has to remember that we’re attached to Smosh in all of this. We gotta get back on the road.” Damien looks down at you and he softens, sighing. “This can’t be a business and pleasure trip, Y/N.”

You’re confused, since both seem equally wonderful combined between the three of you, just like it always is. “Ten more minutes?” You ask instead, deciding to push it just a little bit further.

Damien chews his lip as he meets your eyes. “Fine.” He stops jingling his keys and lets out another breath, leaning against the van. He quietly watches Shayne before turning toward you again. “Well?” He says, raising his eyebrows and gesturing toward the second boy. “Are you going to join him or what?”

 Day five, 10:07 AM

“Hi, checking in,” Shayne says, adjusting his duffle on his shoulder. Damien stands next to him, an arm casually draped around Shayne’s waist. As Shayne is giving the concierge his name, Damien’s hand began to devilishly explore underneath the blonde’s shirt.

He’s betraying the one rule he had created in the van before the three of you had gone inside. “This place is like, way too fancy for us,” Damien had said seriously only five minutes prior. “If we’re too weird—“

Shayne rolls his eyes with a scoff. “You can just say it, Dames. If I’m too gay—“ You gently take Shayne’s hand in yours, lips ghosting over his knuckles. His shoulders immediately drop as he draws you close to his body in comfort.

He was already uncomfortable about the idea of staying anywhere with Smosh’s money, but Matt had insisted he could “smell the state of Y/N’s station wagon” from the first vlog and insisted. The situation put all three of you on edge, but the boys most of all. Damien’s eyes softened at Shayne’s comment. “That wasn’t what I meant,” he murmured apologetically, reaching out a hand to trace Shayne’s jaw.

But now, as his hand dipped underneath your boyfriend’s clothing, your hand instinctively extended to swat at Damien. Damien wiggles his eyebrows at you before stepping back in line with you as the concierge double checked all of the final details. “A third floor room with a balcony and one queen sized bed—correct?” The three of you nod in agreement and the concierge looks up at the three of you expectantly. “Would you be more comfortable if I added a roll-away cot to the room?”

There’s a full beat of thick quiet before Shayne begins to laugh, loudly and manic. You can feel Damien’s pulse through his palm as he takes your hand protectively. “Would a roll-way cot make you feel more comfortable?” your boyfriend counters.

“I’m… sorry, sir?” The concierge looks between the three of you, growing increasingly more pale.

Shayne begins to open his mouth, but always the pragmatist; you step between your partners and approach the desk. “Just the keys please, sir.”

Without another word, the young man behind the counter passes you two sets of keys.

“Can we get a third?” Shayne interjects, but Damien shushes him as the three of you begin to collect your bags off the polished lobby floor. The three of you had already pushed your luck enough for a single day. And, although Shayne seems to have forgotten, the three of you are also supposedly on a business trip.

“We already have a third, remember?” you remind both boys, pushing the button for the elevator.

 Day nine, 8:45 AM

The plan was a final day for just the three of you. You and Damien had planned it the night before while Shayne slept soundly next to both of you. Occasionally, Damien would chew the cap of his pen and look over at the other man. You’d then be just as distracted, watching both of them. You loved the way Damien took quiet moments to appreciate what all three of you had. It was back to LA tomorrow and you know that during these quiet moments, your bashful brown-haired boyfriend slowly melted more in love.

Shayne was curled around Damien as the two of you tried to write out the itinerary, starting with a walk up the mountain you had parked under and making out once you arrived on top, followed by a celebratory bowl for you and Shayne. Damien, always the gentleman, had offered to drive the first shift back.

The plan, unfortunately, unfolded faster than you expected. You wake up with a gasp, sitting up as you realize you’re alone. The sun is glaring in through the glass of the van and you squint, immediately lying backwards onto the mess of pillows and comforters. As you adjust to being awake, you hear Shayne’s voice in a soft rhythm outside. You lean over to check your phone’s time, wondering how long Damien has had to stall before you woke up. Seeing your small LED screen glow, you sit up with another start before pushing the back door of the van open.

“Why did you let me sleep until noon?” You scream, barely able to feel the gravel against your bare feet. Squinting in the sun, you approach the boys. “Damien, what happened to our plan?”

Shayne looks up from his favorite tattered poetry book underneath a large tree close to the van, Damien curled around him. Shayne gives you a playful glare before putting a finger to his lips. Damien is half asleep, both hands interlocked around Shayne’s waist. “Plan?” He murmurs, nearly pulled out of his sleep state. Shayne’s hand returns to playing with Damien’s hair as your anger subsides in your approach. Both boys look so soft and at ease.

“I accidentally foiled the plan,” Shayne whispers to you, giving you a soft grin. “I’m sorry, angel. You looked so peaceful sleeping. Both of you have been working really hard and—”

You feel a soft swell in your chest and press a gentle kiss to his lips. “S’okay,” you mumble against his skin. Carefully, Shayne tucks his book into the pocket of his jacket, trying to turn delicately without waking Damien.

As your lips connect with Shayne’s a second time, you hear Damien grumble as he begins to wake up. “Did we reach the top of the mountain?”

[pendragonshoard]

Riley’s Davekat Fic Rec Masterpost

Long post under the cut...

Davekat, Pre Retcon: 

Paint the Roses Red - SFW - Multichapter - Complete - Humanstuck highschool AU

You can't love someone else, and you can't expect someone else to love you. Not when you can't love yourself. It takes a special kind of person to make you understand what that means, though, and an even more special person to help you embrace yourself. Sometimes, if you're very, very lucky, this person will find you all on their own, and they will never really know about the spell that they cast on you because you were too busy working your own accidental magic on them. 

The Morning Dew Betwixt Thine Thighs - NSFW - Oneshot - Humanstuck

You had thought he’d been so adamant about you coming over after school today to ask you out. And instead he gives you a fucking dick in a box and you tell him to take off his pants. Fucking great. Wow you suck.

Two Characters Encounter Alternate Versions of Themselves Doing Things and Then Proceed to Build up Amounts of UST Before Getting Over Themselves and Getting Their Acts Together. - NSFW - Meteor Fic - Multichapter - Complete

Instead of taking the bait, you store your sickles in your specibus and punch him instead. He catches that too, and forces you back against the table, knocking your book clean off the top, and pressing you into it fiercely. His sword is away too. Fucking how is this your life?

The next thing you know, his knee is between your thighs, pressing against your sheathe and nook, and you have a mouthful of Strider, pulling your hair. Your bulge tries to wriggle out, but the pressure over the sheathe is too much, and it's nearly painful but a humiliating pain and it's so perfect you moan and chitter into Dave's mouth, and he bites your lip

Lousy Stupid Goddamn Pretty Troll Boy - NSFW - Oneshot

John introduces his best human friend to his best troll friend. Maybe the three of them sit down to watch romcoms, maybe they're just hanging around a lab in the veil, but whatever the circumstance, Dave has trouble paying attention to the conversation at hand. Karkat is good looking and distracting and it's just not fair. Naturally, he begins distracting Karkat while John's talking. Little touches, lip licks, etc. Karkat gets flustered, Dave is thrilled, John is oblivious. It turns into a competition to see who can flirt the most without alerting John to their UST-fueled game. 

Improvidence - NSFW - Series - Complete - Meteor Fic - Post Game Speculation

Oh, I Miss the Kiss of Treachery - NSFW - Multichapter - Complete - Humanstuck

Your name is Karkat Vantas, and you would be damned if you were going to miss the Grimdark concert because of a cold.

In which Dave is the lead singer of a band, and Karkat has front row tickets.

Gray and Red - SFW - Multichapter - Complete - Soulmates AU - Humanstuck

The flower—the flower, it's . . . it's delicacy and strength. There's an imperceptible fragility to the boldness of the color. It looks loud, out there and brave, it looks like passion and heat, but a cooler, more human kind of heat. It's striped with a paler version of itself that emanates an ethereal kind of refreshing springtime feeling. It is, to put it in a nutshell, fucking beautiful. In which you only see color once you meet your soulmate, and the first color you see is the same as your soulmate's eyes.

Finally Out -  SFW - Oneshot - Post Game Speculation

The beta kids are released from the juju after a long time. Dave wants to see Karkat and is worried about him. After being gone so long.

Midnight on the Demon Patrol - NSFW - Multichapter - Updating - Demon Summoner AU

Fighting fire with fire is okay in theory but Detective-Summoner Dave L. Strider figures trying to summon corporeal demons to the mortal plane to fight other demons is likely to backfire spectacularly. Sadly for him his inner Knight gets the vapors at the thought of letting anyone else play guinea pig.

Yup, he is totally hogging the demon. What could go wrong? (Oh no, Dave, why did you have to think that.)

Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures - NSFW - Oneshot - Heatfic

Karkat starts his heat cycle and Dave becomes more culturally aware. Best bros or not, desperate times call for desperate measures. Screwing your best friend? That's definitely a desperate measure.

Wherein our resident ornery troll spends about a bilunar perigee doing almost nothing but examine the specifics of his relationship with our favorite coolkid (the krabby 2 dope remix) - NSFW - Oneshot - Sequel to “Lousy Stupid Goddamn Pretty Troll Boy” - Karkat POV

You are Karkat Vantas, and you’re pretty sure a certain human is burning up your lifetime supply of chill. Not that it was a substantial amount to begin with.

Not Friends - NSFW - Oneshot - Sequel to “Lousy Stupid Goddamn Pretty Troll Boy” - Dave POV

You're still Dave Strider, and you're pretty sure a certain troll is burning up your lifetime supply of chill.

Dave has convinced himself that the thing he has with Karkat is about lust and only lust -- yet when the curiosity of his his closest friends forces him to examine it in more detail, he's acutely uncomfortable with what he finds.

Closeted - NSFW - Oneshot - John POV - John sits in the closet while they fuck basically - Onesided johndave

PWP AU Where John Is A Prankster But His Prank Lands Him In VoyeurLand.

I Don't Know What I Want - NSFW - Oneshot - Humanstuck

It's two AM and you aren't sleeping.

Dave Strider's Stupid Fucking Jawline - SFW - Oneshot - Humanstuck

“So Karkat has a crush on Dave,” Jade says.

You and John both choke on your ice cream. “Where the fuck did you hear that load of garbage?” you demand.

---

Generic high school AU. Dave's jawline is really distracting and Karkat does NOT have a crush on him (shut up, Kanaya).

I Just Wanted You To Marry Me - SFW - Oneshot - Humanstuck

It's Dave and Karkat's 4th year anniversary of dating, and Dave knows he's ready to take the next step.

Curiosity Killed the Cat - NSFW (in the second part) - Series - Complete - No SBURB AU

Paper Hearts - SFW - Oneshot - Humanstuck

This Valentine's Day just might be worse than all of the previous ones, because someone had been leaving you a paper heart every day for two weeks, and you STILL had no idea who it might be.

Status is Green, Captain Vantas. All Thrusters Go. - NSFW - Oneshot - Meteorfic

The first time you'd ever tried to fool around with Karkat, you'd gotten your hands onto his hips and then stopped because he'd started doing that thing where he breathes too fast then feels sick and gets dizzy and has to hide in his room because suddenly being around people makes him feel trapped. The second time it was you who'd backed off, wondering if he'd think you were some disgusting scrawny alien with too many scars and not enough wits to avoid earning them. He'd just pulled you against his broad chest and fallen asleep curled almost protectively around you. You couldn't look at him for a week. This time, so far both of you are still a green for go.

Post Retcon: 

Your Interpersonal, Intergalactic Relationship: A Beginner's Guide - SFW - Oneshot - Meteorfic

A beginner's guide to playing hopscotch, overcoming internalized homophobia, and falling in love with your alien best friend.

Disclaimer: results may take up to three (3) years to appear.

Albinos, Deaf Baristas, and Nosy Friends - SFW - Oneshot - Humanstuck

Your name is Karkat Vantas, you're deaf, and you work at a coffee shop with your best friend, Eridan. Also, some asshole named Dave is way too attractive for words and you can't seem to get your shit together enough to ask him out.

Ambigram - NSFW - Oneshot - Humanstuck

His lips are soft and sweet. They taste like mint and wax and you find it kind of funny that you can separate the taste of his chapstick from the taste of his mouth. With him hovering over you for a change, he’s quick to take charge, tongue dipping down between your lips. You have yet to figure out if he’s naturally a total top or if he’s trying to compensate, but either way it’s adorable; you love it.

You love him.

Damn.

(Sequel to The Morning Dew Betwix Thine Thighs)

To Defy Gods and Devils - SFW - Oneshot 

You're a demon, and he's an angel, and you suppose it was always bound to end like this, ironic or not.

Sugar and Spice - NSFW - Multichapter - Complete - Humanstuck

You remember the first time you really realized you were fucked up.

You were five. First year of kindergarten, miserable as all fuck. The teacher told the boys to line up on one side of the room and the girls on the other. You don't even remember why. You just remember the result.

Within, Without - NSFW - Multichapter - Complete - Meteorfic

Dave just wants to be left alone. What's the point of anything when what's broken can never be completely fixed?

This is the story of Dave Strider and Karkat Vantas, on the longest journey of their lives.

Transstuck Davekats - NSFW - Oneshot - Humanstuck

[Davekat have a sleepover]

I'll Write On Your Cup (Until You Ask Him Out) - SFW - Oneshot - No SBURB AU

"Yeah, well, that means your bestie over here has been writing pick-up lines on my cups for a month, acting like it was you."

---

The one where Karkat and Dave are oblivious idiots and you have to be the one to set them up. Obviously.

Sxyvaan - NSFW - Series - Complete - No SBURB AU

Karkat is a singer with a gorgeous voice and an affinity for simplicity. He’s got a gift for words, a love of classic things (like his ancient VW Beetle), and a truly magnificent temper, and he’s fluent in eighteen foreign languages. Dave is an ace at literally any instrument under the sun, with a master's degree in classical composition. He’s got a stupid-ass poker face, an unbelievably tiny apartment (which he rarely lives in anyways), and a truly magnificent collection of stringed instruments, and he’s a ridiculous idiot. How the fuck they ended up starting a rock band is a mystery to all.

How they made it to number one, on the other hand, is a mystery to no one.

Don't Forget the Sun - SFW - Multichapter - Discontinued but honestly still a very good read

Karkat Vantas always accepted the fact that he was not going to live past nine sweeps. It was just a certainty of his sad, miserable life. At least, that was until his friends found out and decided to hatch a plan to get him out of the Alternian empire. A plan that actually worked.

Now, he was stranded on an alien planet, at the mercy of some strange creature that was either trying to help him or going about some freaky ritual of flirting with your food before you eat it.

Also, aliens have sunglasses.

He was better off dying on Alternia, wasn't he?

The Curse of the Boyfriend Sweater - SFW - Oneshot - Meteorfic

Knitting, it seems, is one of the most dangerous skills that one can acquire. You lose sleep, your fingers bleed, your relationships crumble, you have to fight every iteration of Sollux Captor for the right to--

Why are you laughing? What, you think I'm kidding?

Of Heaven and Earth - SFW - Multichapter - Discontinued but again still a very good read

Dave Strider is part of an organization that eradicates evil creatures that kill humans for food. No one knows where these spirits come from, only that the sooner they are destroyed the better. That is his mission right now, to hunt down a weak new spirit before it can kill anyone and grow stronger.

Karkat Vantas is fucking dead, and if that wasn't horrible enough, now he's being hunted by some sword wielding maniac. At least there seems to be others like him in this world to help him adjust to this mindfuckery.

I spy - NSFW - Multichapter - Complete - Part 1 of a series - No SBURB AU - Rosemary in the sequel

You're just trying to get home, have a peaceful trip, stay as calm as a troll like you can until you get back to your moirail. All that shit. You didn't expect to make any lasting connections on the train, especially ones that live in your area. You definitely didn't expect to meet anyone quite like Dave Strider. Apparently the universe likes to prove you wrong.

Somehow after that train ride, he fuses himself into your life. Another stubborn fucking barnacle with an uncanny ability to inconvenience you at every possible moment. Even while sleeping. But somehow, despite all the trouble, you still feel like he has the potential to make your life infuriatingly better. And you definitely can't act on it or let him know. Definitely.

Perspective - SFW - Multichapter - Complete - Meteorfic

ORIGINALLY TITLED: In which Dave Strider and Karkat Vantas are Bored as Hell and Eventually Grow Close to Each Other in Multiple Ways

Karkat wants nothing more then to be entertained, Dave can supply that entertainment.

A story of friendship turned crush between my favorite dorks.

Act one: complete Intermission one: complete Act two: complete Intermission two: complete Act three: complete

We Could Be Wonderful Together - NSFW - Multichapter - Updating - Humanstuck

There comes a point in every man's life when he must ponder the merits of marrying his best bro and roommate of ten years. Or maybe that's just you. Yeah, actually, it's probably just you.

Don't Tap On The Glass - NSFW - Multichapter - Complete - Meteorfic - bonus smutty sequel

When Dave makes two terrible mistakes in the space of 24 hours, he finds himself dealing with them in a body that's not his own.

Astronomy in Reverse - SFW - Multichapter - Updating - No SBURB AU

Dave and Karkat are intergalactic pen pals, originally paired together for an extra credit school outreach project. Now, three years of correspondence later, they're best friends... and Karkat is finally immigrating to Earth.

how...did you tell your friends - SFW - Multichapter - Complete - Earth C

Unfortunately, you don't fancy your brother's suggestion on how to break the news to John... There's no other way out of it, you're going to have to just tell him.

Thirteen And A Half Mixtapes - SFW - Multichapter - Complete - Humanstuck

"What is it? What is it?" Nepeta presses right up against his shoulder to get a better look. "It's a cassette." Karkat is dumbfounded, "Where the shit do you even get a cassette?"

"Is there a note?"

"No, nothing." He checks the packaging one last time. There's not even a return address.

"Any idea who would send you a cassette?"

"Fuck if I know." Karkat says, "Definitely not John or Jade, though I guess Jade might have access to one. But she would have covered it in stickers or something, not just left it blank. Sollux would have sent a disk, if anything. He'd probably have just emailed me a file instead of going to all this trouble anyway."

"Well, whoever it is, they really don't want you to know that it's from them." Nepeta is inspecting the tape, "This is crazy. This is like..." Suddenly, her big, brown eyes seem to light up, "This is just like a rom-com! A mysterious tape... From a lover!"

tank time - SFW - Multichapter - Complete - Humanstuck - Part 1 of a series

>User: Karkat Vantas Objective: Sabotage any and all customer attempts to purchase a live pet from the undermanaged retail hell you call a job.

>User: Dave Strider Objective: Obtain a cat before your sister's birthday next month.

Match: begin.

In Name and In Deed - NSFW - Multichapter - Complete - Dragon Rider AU - Part 1 of a series

“Two brothers face off for the year title in the relay division, against the infamous Scourge sisters all the way from ALTERNIAAAA! Watch these athletes defy the ODDS and the WIND as Ruby and Gold stand up to Turquoise and Aquamarine in a STUNNING show on the beach at mid-afternoon!” Or so the poster had advertised. Yeah right.

OR:

The story of the recovery of one Karkat Vantas, Colonel of Her Majesty's forces, after losing close to a fifth of himself in the war.

So It's Going - SFW - Series - Complete - Retconned No SBURB AU

The kids wake up on earth with a couple very... unique issues. Oh, and eventually there are trolls

Hard To Stay And Watch You Walk Away - SFW - Oneshot - Meteorfic

I thought too hard about scenes that happened in the GO timeline that we never saw the retcon version of and then this came out. The "will we still be able to be best bros" conversation re-imagined for post-retcon. Somehow Karkat is even more insecure. Also I always wanted Rose and Karkat to talk in canon so hey have a bunch of them too, thanks.

Dave Mutters to Self and is Gay - SFW - Multichapter - Complete - Meteorfic

"Alright, bite the bullet here Strider, admit it to yourself. The first step to healing is acceptance. Or at least the last step of grief. Maybe? Why does everything gotta be an AA program, handing out steps left and right. Except instead of all admitting that we're middle aged men with an addiction to getting sloshed and beating our wives it's more 'Step 1: have homolust thoughts. Step 2: freak out. Step 3: who the fuck knows. Step 4: acceptance."

What.

“Hey wait shit is someone here?”

Fuck you said that out loud.

Red Ties - SFW - Oneshot - Soulmate AU - Humanstuck

Dave Strider's eyes never turned the color of his soulmates. With his rare eye-color, there's next to no chance they simply share an eye color.

One day he meets Karkat Vantas.

The Eurydice Suite - NSFW - Multichapter - Complete - No SBURB AU

Dream-sharing. A highly illegal little industry in which agents delve into people's dreams and unearth their deepest secrets and memories. And the Strider-Lalondes are the best in the business.

Until Dirk Strider gets his fool ass trapped within the confines of his own subconscious, with his Auto-Responder playing malicious prison warden. To save him, it's going to take a team of the world's most talented dreamers to save him.

Backed by the token rich friend, lead by the surliest extractor ever bribed out of retirement, haunted by the shade of the l8est and gr8est agent in the biz, and on the run through a dangerous tiered dream in a hostile mind, it's going to take a miracle to pull this one off.

Oh Orpheus, sing to me all night...

You're So Fucked - NSFW - Series - Complete - Humanstuck - first part of series SFW 

[Dave and Karkat reunite at a DnD campaign due to mutual friends. Shenanigains ensue]

For Who Could Ever Learn to Love a Beast? - SFW - Multichapter - Complete - Beauty and the Beast AU

Karkat is just having an awful birthday. It's raining, cold, and he has finals tomorrow. Literally the only thing that could make it worse would be if some witch from six hundred years ago decided to come cast a curse on him that would make him into some ugly horned monster until he could find true love. If true love is even a thing.

Helter Skelter - NSFW - Oneshot - Post Canon - 2 Daves 1 Karkat - exactly what you think

Dave gets a visit from Future Dave, and between the two of them, they give Karkat the night of his life. Over and over again.

A Bump in the Road - SFW - Oneshot - Humanstuck - this will give you a toothache

After earning his Master's degree in education, Karkat can't find a teaching job, so Kanaya gets him a job as a toddler teacher at a daycare, much to his chagrin. Dirk is his quietest and most behaved student; in fact, Karkat has never heard him speak, and he's curious. What kind of person could raise such a child? And just how long will Karkat's patience last in a room full of two year olds?

Here We Pokemon Go Again - NSFW - Multichapter - Complete - Humanstuck - Part 1 of series

Karkat and Dave meet at a Pokestop while playing Pokemon Go.

Karkat is a 25 year old teacher on summer break who really likes Scythers. Dave is a 23 year old (not so) secretly nerdy DJ who really likes Karkat.

OR Wherein Karkat and Dave meet, catch Pokemon, and maybe fall in love.

Coming To Terms - SFW - Multichapter - Complete - Meteorfic

Your name is Dave Strider, and you have skeletons in your closet. Literal skeletons and a metaphorical closet. There's a lot to come to terms with.

In Which Dave has Abs, Karkat has a Nice Ass, Jake Wears a Binder, Dirk Has to Socialize, and John Wields the Power of Balloons - SFW - Series - Updating - Humanstuck - Multiple Other Ships

Also known as "When the fuck does John Egbert find time to fill balloons with shaving cream?"

Also also known as "Despite the title there's going to be a fuck ton more characters."

All I Can Taste Is The Sugar In Your Hair - NSFW - Oneshot - Post Game

Trickster Dave is a god damn treasure and no one can tell me otherwise.

Some scenes from the Rosemary wedding, but really, this is about Dave being high on cherub candy and really, really, really wanting his boyfriend to fuck him. (Not intended to be dubcon, but if you have issues with altered mental states or pushy partners in the context of an established relationship it might be not great for you! Take care.)

In Contrast - SFW - Multichapter - Complete - No SBURB AU

Your name is Karkat Vantas, and you are a mutant, a freak of nature with red blood, which is frowned upon. You have been safe for many sweeps, but now your eyes have betrayed your blood color and you have beem practically exiled onto an alien planet. It's a suicidal mission that only your superiors know about, and not one of your friends do.

You are captured and taken into captivity, where you are tortured for information and studied like a caged animal because your species is alien to these...To these humans. These awful humans with their needles and weapons of torture, trying to hear you scream and decipher a language out of it, to see how you react to blood of animals.

Eventually one of your friends hears of your capture and gathers a rescue team, but you have fallen for one of the humans there.

Now your friends don't trust you either. You have affiliated yourself with the humans who have tortured you, and they don't know if you are a friend or an enemy. Everything is so mixed up and screwed that you feel like vomiting your own blood.

Midnight's Son - SFW - Multichapter - Complete - No SBURB AU

Dave Strider's father, a prominent detective, is tasked with infiltrating the Midnight Crew. Dave, worried about his father's safety, decides to do a little undercover work of his own and tries to befriend the boss's son, Karkat Vantas.

If I Lose Everything In The Fire - SFW but its not finished yet so - Multichapter - Updating - Pacific Rim AU

The Kaiju - or Horrorterrors, as the trolls call them - first invaded Earth through a transdimensional rift at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. Serving the Condesce in her quest to add Earth to the Alternian Empire, these monsters have terrorized humanity for twelve years. With the help of rebel troll factions and the adaptation of Alternian mind integration technology - The Drift - the Interspecies Defense Program has fought back as the last line of defense between the Kaiju and Earth.

Karkat Vantas was a Jaeger pilot, fought for freedom in the Assault on the Breach that brought trolls to Earth. The loss of his co-pilot left him bitter and full of rage, but desperate times have lead to him being recruited to join the fray once more.

Dave Strider is the best and brightest the Interspec program has to offer. Jaeger Restoration Project Head, highest simulation score on record, and younger brother of the Deputy Marshal - except he's not allowed in a Jaeger.

Nobody expects them to be Drift Compatible.

If I lose everything in the fire, I'm sending all my love to you...

Flight Recorder From Viking 7 - NSFW - Multichapter - Complete - No SBURB AU

Dave Strider is a way-too-lonely transport pilot assigned to a high-pay low-stakes mission over the Christmas holiday. He's got a blistering hangover, a conscience full of nightmares, and an angry copilot. All he needs now is a nice bout of feeling worthless and-- well would ya look at that, he's got that, too. Time for takeoff, Houston, the water's just fine.

Or: In which Dave Strider discovers a modicum of self worth while stuck on a trip through foreign space, with a short, irritable, and annoyingly attractive troll as his only conversational partner for the next two weeks.

i'm at the combination dunkin donuts & urgent care - SFW - Oneshot - Humanstuck

Karkat Vantas is convinced beyond a doubt that his neighbor is some variety of murderer, until they actually meet in person. Highlights include blood at the laundromat, Dave's weird obsession with candles, and a box of shitty swords.

I Love Cheap Thrills - SFW - Multichapter - Complete - Part 1 of series

You’ve been trading memes with an international pop sensation, and your drunk ass had no idea.

Classic.

Disengage - SFW - Multichapter - Complete - Meteorfic

In which Dave attempts to confess his feelings to Karkat through a mirror and ends up enlisting the aid of the Mayor upon realizing that mirrors do not, in fact, talk back

IN WHICH TWO SETS OF HUMAN BROTHERLY BONDS ARE ESTABLISHED, SEVERAL CORRUPT INSTITUTIONS OF MORALITY ARE IDEOLOGICALLY DEMOLISHED, A DOG WITCH USES GOD POWERS TO MESS WITH EXQUISITELY CAREFULLY PLANNED INFRASTRUCTURE PLANS FOR SOME TREES LIKE A JACKASS,-- SFW - Multichapter - Complete - Post Game - This one is just as much dirkjake as davekat

--APPROXIMATELY A BILLION FUCKING CONSORTS AND CHESS PEOPLE, ALONG WITH A LOT OF USELESS GOD MODED LAYABOUTS ARE LEAD TO SUCCESSFUL COLONIZATION AND ESTABLISHMENT BY A SUCCESSFUL AND COMPASSIONATE LEADER, AND LONG-SUNDERED SOULMATES TORN APART BY FEAR AND DEVASTATING, MIND-BOGGLING STUPIDITY ARE REUNITED AT LAST BY A WISE, COMPASSIONATE BOSS / GUIDANCE FIGURE AND HIS LOYAL, EFFICIENT RIGHT-HAND MAN. THERE ARE AT LEAST THREE CRYING SCENES, TWO KISSES, AND OVER TEN TOTAL MINUTES OF REAL-TIME DESCRIPTION OF LONGING GAZES AND TENDER HUGS. 2 RESOUNDING ENDORSEMENTS OF BELOVED MUNICIPAL OFFICIALS. PRIMERS ON HUMAN/TROLL INTERSPECIES ROMANCE.

THIS TEXT IS SUGGESTED SCHOOLFEEDING MATERIAL FOR ALL REASONABLY GROWN HATCHLINGS GAZING OUT ON THE BLIGHTED WASTELAND OF THEIR PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS, WISHING THEY WERE DEAD, AND DESPERATELY YEARNING SOMEONE WOULD CLUE THEM IN ON JUST WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON.

RATED 8(17)+ AND UP.

You Do Not Disappoint. - NSFW - Oneshot - Humanstuck

He's still staring at you, his milky red eyes are eerie, red in a different way to yours, yours are so brown they look a bit ruddy in some lights. They suit him, and there's so many ways you want to worship his body that he'll sneer at you for. This is just sex Vantas. Get your head in the game. And then when he's riding you he'll smirk down at you and say 'Wildcats' as you finish, and ruin it. You can't have nice things, because Dave isn't inherently nice. He's enough for you though.

It's not so bad. - SFW - Oneshot - Humanstuck - this one is just so sweet ok

A simple 'good morning' can turn into 'we'll get through this together'.

M.C. Escher that's my favourite MC - SFW - Multichapter - Updating - Part 1 of a series - Soulmate AU

Dirk has a plan, when he's 18 he's going to take Dave and get him the fuck out of their terrible lives and start over. Until then being the barrier between Dave and Bro is his only job, his soulmate is just going to have to wait goddamnit. Dave has a plan, it involves getting internet famous and not going gay, easy right? Karkat also has a plan, to repeatedly track down his dumb as rocks soulmate and get him to actually talk to him for fuck's sake.

Ever After - SFW - Multichapter - Complete - Mind the tags - Humanstuck - Royalty AU

The job will be nearly impossible. Karkat Vantas - as skilled an assassin as he may be - has never been assigned such a high risk target. But the pay drives him to accept. He will kill the heir to the Dersite throne, and live like a king for the rest of his life. It should have been straightforward and emotionless. When he meets a peasant on the street and gets attached, however, he begins to question whether or not the risk is worth it when all he needs is Dave.

Who Are These Douchebags? - SFW - Series - Updating - Meteorfic - Post Game

Linked stories about douchebags being douchebags.

  Doc Scratch's School for Supernaturally Gifted Adolescents - SFW - Multichapter - Updating - Humanstuck

One minute you get a mysterious message from a man who types all in white like a jackass, and then the next thing you know you're being whisked away to a mystical school for kids with superpowers. If you weren't Dave fucking Strider, this sort of thing might bother you.

A Stunning Tour De Force - NSFW - Oneshot - Earth C

"A triumph." -Dave Strider, about getting his dick sucked for the first time

They're definitely dating - SFW - Oneshot - Meteorfic

She realizes that Dave and she had been holding hands during their entire conversation with the trolls, and idly wonders what they thought about that. Probably just that they were clingy siblings.

Time Displacement: Side A - SFW - Multichapter - Updating - Post Game - Part 1 of a series

After the events of the game, Dave wakes up in a universe that is familiarly unfamiliar. Sburb didn't happen, all their guardians are alive, and Bro is...different.

Knight of Blood (finally) - SFW - Oneshot - Post Game

Ascending? Post-game? It's more likely than you think.

The Calm Is Terrifying When The Storm Is All You've Known - SFW - Multichapter - Complete - Part 1 of a series

There were two kinds of trolls who went to Earth: rich shitheads with too much money and free time, and desperate assholes who couldn’t survive on Alternia, even with the best efforts of the young Condesce. Karkat hated the planet almost immediately, but with his home planet too dangerous for mutants, he really didn’t have any choice but to hide out on this weird little diurnal planet. At least he’d be safe. Or so he thought, right before blundering his way into an accidental friendship with the son of an anti-troll terrorist.

Slow burn, shifting perspectives; romance really isn't the focus here but it'll still play a significant part; extra content warnings will be posted with each relevant chapter.

two for mirth - NSFW - Multichapter - Updating - No SBURB AU - Part 1 of a series

“Now about that gift I got you, remember how you’ve been all wistful about your concupiscent quadrants? Well I got you something to fix that.”

“What,” Karkat said blankly. “Gamzee no, tell me you didn’t get me sex toys.”

The good news is that it's not sextoys

The bad news is that it's a person.

Off Court - SFW - Multichapter - Updating - No SBURB AU

Your name is Dave Strider, and a hospital wasn’t the setting you had imagined when you thought of seeing your twin again.

Your name is Karkat Vantas, and having Terezi drag you around her weird human legislacerator training probably wasn’t the worst way you could spend the rest of your sweeps.

And then you meet him.

A Ten Step Plan For Wooing Karkat Vantas, Featuring A Multitude Of Illustrations By Your Esteemed Authors, As Well As Tips For The Aforementioned Wooing - SFW - Multichapter - Complete - Meteorfic

Kanaya, because she's a saint, makes you a list.

The list is entitled "A Ten Step Plan For Wooing Karkat Vantas" and features a multitude of illustrations in purple pen.

"So we're doing this," you say. Your mouth threatens to twitch into something dangerously smile-shaped.

"Yes," says Kanaya. "We are making this happen."

"Hell yes."

Just A Thing We Do - NSFW - Oneshot - Post Game

“Apparently, you inspired him to try initiating amorous… activities… over these stupid devices!” Karkat waved his phone at him, punctuating the accusation. “Do you actually just casually proposition Dirk while he’s busy with other people?!”

Jake shot him a wide-eyed look, freezing halfway through shoveling a handful of popcorn in his mouth. He slowly lowered his hand, blinking rapidly, eyebrows furrowing behind his glasses. “I -- well, what’s that to any of you, exactly?”

(Or, as I have been calling it, The DaveKat Sexting Fic. ENJOY)

Turnt Heck Godhead - NSFW - Multichapter - Complete - Part 1 of a series - Post Game

Dave Strider is feeling different. Really, everyone is. Steps seem to carry more weight, voices seem to echo more, bodies seem thicker and more full of life and comfort. Something is changing here, on this new planet, in this new universe. The cans of the town seem more real than the buildings of society ever did. And sometimes if you close your eyes and listen there is something like a chorus, or an echo, from a place where things are different--but not by much.

All at once, the feeling becomes too much to ignore, and Dave needs to find out what's happening. But doing so means coming face to face with his old sprite, now become something totally unbearable and unfathomably graceful and self-assured. And now it seems Dave's curiosity may awaken in this new being a hunger...

A hunger for the illest beats ever dropped in the history of paradox space. Beats that could change Dave, and all of his friends, in ways they could never have expected.

Welcome to Davepeta and Jasprose's grand venue: Good drinks, dim halls, chill beats and comfy bean bags The Turnt Heck Godhead is open for business as long as you're open to the feelings it can cause.

Meditation - SFW - Oneshot - Teen Titans AU

"Order is good. It’s balanced. Don’t think on the fly. Don’t try anything funny. You’re not that thing anymore. Not that person you mean. Can’t afford to freestyle. This isn’t a spotlight solo on stage. Don’t start swinging when you can’t afford it. Don’t you dare start swinging.

Focus. Zone in. Zoom in. Focus."

In which Dave attempts to meditate and things end badly.

Book Covers - SFW - Multichapter - Complete - Humanstuck - Part 1 of a series

Karkat has had a shitty life and has had to bust his ass for everything he has. He has no patience for spoiled, delusional, lazy people and this is exactly what he thinks Dave Strider is. They get paired up together for a project in their college English class and when Karkat accidently learns that Dave is fighting to keep custody of his younger brother Dirk, he learns that he may have been completely wrong about Dave and shouldn't have judged a book by it's cover. A story of two damaged boys coming to each others rescue and growing as people. <3

[alltheimaginationofme]

A Different Kind Of Glasgow Kiss- Drew McIntyre

Lil’ bit of Drew loving, not requested but oh so needed!

Tags: @blondekel77 @calwitch @chanelxberlinstark @briqueenofthenorth @fioportella @wrestlingfae @whocares006 @dancefaeirie @ramsaypants @alibob687 @lunarchaosqueen @keepyourdreamsalive @meremaidqueen @demonqueen29

 WARNING SMUT AHEAD

P.S: Let me know how I did with it!

Dolph was a pain in the ass. He couldn’t ever keep his hands to himself or his nose out of other people’s business. Since his return, he’d been nothing but trouble for everyone backstage, but he apparently took a liking to me in particular. I think because I didn’t take his shit without giving some back made it a challenge to him.

But where I’m from, you don’t back down.

“Hey sweetness, wanna go for a drink? Or should I say shall we go for a tea break?” Dolph swung himself onto the nearest crate that I was folding clothes on and I rolled my eyes at his attempt at an English dig. Another annoying aspect of Dolph was his relentlessness. Now he KNEW he could get a rise out of me- he never stopped until he did. I collected the pile of clothes and ignored him, turning to another stack that needed my attention. “Comeon babygirl, you don’t need a big red bus- I’ll give you a tour of me for free.” He cackled at his own joke and I cringed, it only ever seemed to be London jokes with him. Dolph jumped from his crate and into the seat that I was going to put clothes in. “You can’t hold out on me forever, I know you. Maybe I should ask my Scottish friend for tips?” He wriggled his eyebrows at me and I sighed.

“Perhaps I should ask your Scottish babysitter to come pick you up, we all know you get annoying when you drink too much Mountain Dew” Dolph grinned in triumph at me and I frowned, I usually lasted longer than that against him. It was whenever he brought up the skulking Scotsman I always tried to end the conversation early. There was something about Drew that I couldn’t shake, he was like kryptonite to me. Obviously the large man was insanely attractive, but whenever he was around me I just seemed to freeze.

I grunted at Dolph’s grinning face “Get outta here Ziggler, some of us have work to do.” Dolph got right up in my space and murmured “And some of us wish that work was on a rather large and heavily accented man.” His face was close to mine, and the temptation to head-butt him was astounding. If I did that, I would lose my job and the game would be up- no doubt Dolph would make a public scene to further add to my discomfort. So I played him at his own game.

“Actually Dolph, I was rather hoping for someone smaller, blonde, shit eating grin… And definitely can’t tell the difference between Dorito orange and sunkissed tan.” I put my hand on his shoulder and pushed past him, laughing as he spluttered for a comeback.

Apparently, Dolph would get his revenge a week later in the form of a wardrobe malfunction. When I arrived to his call I was beyond shocked to learn it wasn’t Ziggler with the problem- it was his partner. My eyes widened when Drew held out his trunks to me and looked almost apologetic. I narrowed my eyes at the trunks, the split was too clean to be wear-and-tear. Dolph snickered in the corner and I sighed, of course he would cut the trunks. “No problem McIntyre, give me 10 minutes tops.” I took the clothing and turned from the room, not giving either man a chance to speak. Dolph would only anger me, and Drew would only make walking away more difficult.

I sat at the sewing station about 3 minutes later and was beginning the repairs on the trunks when someone walked up behind me. It could honestly be anyone in this department, but when I felt someone leaning over my shoulder I bristled. “Repairs for Drew McIntyre.” I didn’t look up from my work and the person was still there when they spoke “Aye love, I came ta see how ya were doin”

I froze. Luckily I was sat down, or else that voice curling around me would’ve made my knees weak. Drew walked to the side of my work station, grabbed a chair from another and sat. He motioned with his hand and I shook myself out of the stupor and began to work again.

The work wasn’t actually difficult, I was just making sure I checked and rechecked everything in front of him- I didn’t want anyone complaining about my handiwork. Drew had sat and watched silently the entire time, and although he was trying his best to be quiet he still cut an imposing figure watching me work.

When I was finished, I held the trunks to him and avoided making eye contact with him. He grunted and stood, towering over me. I felt him hesitate and he took the trunks gently, our fingers stroking as he did so and I shivered. “Thank ya love” His deep timbre vibrated through my body and I nodded, almost closing my eyes at it. I didn’t see his grin as he walked away. I was too busy trying to remain calm after staring at his thighs for the past 5 minutes.

I managed to avoid Dolph for the rest of the night, meaning that I also avoided the Scotsman. It was a relief to be able to get work done without Ziggler bombarding me with cheesy lines, but it also meant that I wasn’t able to ogle Drew either. Clouds and silver linings I suppose.

I couldn’t get Drew’s soft voice out of my head. He spoke with such a harsh accent but made it sound almost melodious when it wrapped around words. The small interactions we had made my mouth water, the size and look of him made my thighs tighten. He had the look of a life ruiner in all the best ways about him.

I rounded the corner with armfuls of clothes and gear when I head Dolph’s laugh. I backed off into the corner and willed myself to not be seen by the irritating Ohioan. “Man, what more can I do for you? I’m annoying her in every way possible and dropping you in every conversation! Ya know she only reacts when I mention you anyway…”  Dolph faded into background noise as my face started to become redder. Dolph KNEW he was being an annoying kid! But he was doing it for a reason…

I left it for a while before I came out of my hiding place, walking with a purpose towards my destination- with a lot of questions about what I had just heard. Who the hell had he been talking to?

 I got my answer soon enough in the form of Ziggler. From what I had heard, the sweaty orange man had just lost his title and from the defeated sigh and slump into a chair he had lost something else as well. “You’re getting fake tan everywhere Ziggler.” Was my only comment to him. It was odd to see Dolph without his usual bravado about him, and I wanted to feel bad for the title loss but I just couldn’t bring myself to care. He rubbed his hands across his face and looked at me “He’ll kill me for this, but I just lost because of him.”

I raised an eyebrow at the pronoun game, and guessed he was talking about the Scottish Terminator. Dolph leaned forward and shook his hair out of his face. “He likes you. Like, LIKES you. He’s too much of a wimp to say anything.” He smiled sadly at me “I already know you like him too sweetness. I promise I’m not actually this much of an asshat…” He smiled into the distance and stood from the chair. He clapped me on the shoulder as he went past, I had long since stopped folding ring gear into the box. My eyes glazed over and I thought about what Ziggler had said- Drew actually liked me! Me! I smiled to myself, perhaps the awkward McIntyre was explanatory, but it made him adorable to watch me work.

I finished my work for the night with a smile on my face, partly because I was Ziggler free. Mostly because of the secret Dolph had told me, but I was slightly concerned that I hadn’t seen Drew. It was unusual backstage to have one tag partner away from the other in case they made a last minute change to story.

I had been heading out to the car park when I heard him.

“Hey love, ya fancy letting a Scottsman in yer ride?” Drew looked sheepish, his hands stuffed down his front pockets and a few strands of hair hung in his face. I smiled to him and gestured towards the car. He grinned and moved his case towards it. I finished loading up and got in the drivers’ seat, giving him time before I grilled him. I didn’t have time, as Drew had to fold himself into the car to even fit and I burst out laughing. Still chuckling, I reached over his lap and pulled the bar at the side of the chair to slide it backwards for him- Drew had tensed the entire time. I dared to look into his face and dark eyes met my gaze.

I lost my nerve at his look and slowly returned to my seat, starting the car and focusing on driving to the hotel. On the way there I saw Drew look over at me a few times and go to say something, only to purse his lips and look away again. I didn’t want to bring up what Dolph had said, but other than that we hadn’t really spoken before.

We pulled up in the parking lot of the hotel and Drew grabbed the bags from the car while I was checking in. Our rooms were on the same floor. It felt nice walking side by side with Drew, he had this air around him that nobody messed with- he was calm but radiated power. I snuck a peak up at him as we entered the elevator to see he was peeking down at me too. We both laughed and I burned red.

“Drew… What happened with Dolph?” I don’t know what prompted me to suddenly turn so serious, but it tumbled from my mouth before I could stop it. I felt him freeze next to me. He sighed and I ducked my head, wishing I hadn’t said anything to him.

“Ziggler and I… Never really got on. Tha locker room stuff was all we agreed on, and even then my opinion differed.” Drew tucked some hair behind his ears. “He wanted ta be more aggressive. I got tired of being such a bad guy. I still am a bad guy, jus aimed different.” He smiled sadly at me, and I had a feeling that he was giving me the polite version of what happened. I knew that some politics happened backstage, but I was never privy to knowing the details.

Drew’s hand reached out and smoothed my hair out of my face, his fingers lingered on my cheek and I took a breath in. “I kinda want different things now.” My breath stopped altogether at that. There’s no way I could be misreading things, so I went all in.

I had to go on my toes, and even then I wasn’t tall enough to reach his lips- luckily for me he lent down to me and we met halfway. Drew’s beard tickled my face and his lips were a soft contrast to the hair, caressing mine in a dance that saw me loose but I still ended up with his tongue in my mouth. Drew’s hands could completely cover half of my face, but he cradled my head and was so gentle like I was something he was scared to break. The doors opened and we broke the kiss for me to ask one question:

“Your room or mine?”

Drew smiled “Whicheva we get to first.” I grinned back at him and grabbed his hand. Yes I ran down the hall and he barely got past a speed walk with his legs, but I doubt anyone would laugh at us right now. My room appeared first and I thanked God when we came upon it, I was shoving the card in every direction at the lock for it to open while Drew kissed down my neck. “You’re not helping here” I was breathless, and not from the brief sprint.

When the door finally opened, Drew picked me up from behind and carried me into the room- somehow managing to drag the bags in after us. I was thrown on the bed and promptly began to undress. It seemed Drew liked the competition as he raced me to get down to nothing.

I stopped as Drew was taking his trousers off. The man was thicker than a tree and endless apparently. The situation dawned on me, I was about to get into bed with a guy that I had been crushing on for months.

Drew took me in his arms and wrapped himself around me. He kissed me softly and smiled down at me “This’ll only go as far as ya want it.” My own smile turned playful and I stepped closer to him “And how much do you want it Drew?” My smile soon disappeared as he took my hand and placed it over his boxers, onto his cock that did not disappoint. I licked my lips and kissed him. Drew took that as his confirmation and picked me up to put me on the bed.

“Ah, can’t wait to be inside ya” I noticed his accent got thicker the more turned on he was, and suddenly the accent that made me weak in the knees had me wetter than a cup of water. I pulled his face back down to me as he settled between my legs. His tongue explored my mouth and I rose from the bed to meet his hips. Drew started to trail his mouth down my neck and found a particular spot before grinding his hips down into me. The feeling of him made me rake my nails down his back, the moan he let out in reply vibrated through me.

His mouth had made its way down to my chest and his hands could cover the entirety of my small amount of boob to offer. Drew’s tongue circled a nipple whilst his hand massaged the other. I moaned up into his touch when he began to suck on one and my hands ran down to his last article of clothing- I tugged on the waistband.

Drew’s face moved back up to mine and he looked into my eyes. He seemed to be searching for something, and when I met his gaze the entire time he smiled. We rolled apart and stripped the last bits of clothes covering ourselves. My thong had just dropped to the floor when Drew’s arm wrapped around my waist again and dragged me onto the bed.

I landed underneath him and he settled between my legs again. “Ah would love to be slow…” As he spoke he dragged a finger through my folds and made me whimper. “I think we both need this.” He spoke with finality and I reached up to bite his lip. He kissed me with his full force and I felt myself get pushed back into the bed. The fact that he would be in me doing that soon was enough to make me lightheaded.

Drew rolled his hips and guided the tip of his cock in my folds, coating it before he found my entrance. I held my breath. With another roll that screamed experience he pushed inside me. I arched up and moaned in his ear, the feeling of being stretched yet perfectly full made me gasp. No one else had ever felt like this to me. I doubt there had ever been anyone as big as Drew was either. When he was fully in me he groaned and hung his head.

I became impatient underneath him and rocked my hips into his, Drew cursed and began to pump slowly. We both began to moan in tandem as he picked up his pace, our kissed became sloppy and open mouthed. Each time I came out for air his lips found mine to steal it again. Even with all of this going on, I still felt the need to tease.

“Go harder, I’m not going to break Drew.”

I whispered them into his ear and he growled, the look of passion gone from his face. His hands grasped my hips and turned me over onto my stomach. My face was stuffed into the mattress, and before I could say anything, Drew was pounding into me with renewed vigour. Each time he bottomed out my hips were pushed further into the bed, and I could’ve swore at one point I was bowed with the force he put into it.

It wasn’t a surprise that I didn’t last long with the enthusiasm he was putting in, but when I did come it was a shock. I screamed until my throat was sore and it went black behind my eyes. Drew was relentless, not stopping until I went lax on the bed. He stuttered after one thrust and grit out through his teeth “Where do ya want it”. I managed to lift my head and look over my shoulder to whisper “Inside” He grunted his approval and I dropped my head again, my hands gripping the sheets as he continued. I could hear him taking deep breaths now, trying to last longer.

Drew came with a shout and dug his teeth in my shoulder blade, slamming in with finality. I cried out at the feel of his bite and the come slowly spreading into me. Drew’s arms were shaking as he rolled to his side and began to cuddle me from behind. I felt exhausted. Before I could fully drift into sleep I thought would tease him once more. “I could get used to those kind of Glasgow kisses.” I felt him chuckle behind me.

“Aye love, I’ll wake ya up with one.”

[fearfilledvirgil]

Ivity and Anx: part nineteen

Summary: Virgil and Roman hate each other to the core of their beings, but both become friends with a new stranger via the Sarrahas Project. Virgil takes to Creativity as well as Roman does to Anxiety, but they don’t know the true identity of the ones they’re slowing falling for.

Warnings: Swearing, descriptive panic attack, intrusive thoughts, mentions of abuse

Word Count: 7166

Pairing: Logicality, slowburn Prinxiety

A/N: the skeleton war is over and we lost

masterlist

Taglist: @rileyfirstname @verymuchanidiot @definentlynotjustanotherlemon @silversmith-91 @kanejandkruge @sander-fander-sides @lovecrazyjennybear @the-incedible-sulk @hexdream18243 @crows-with-hats @monikastec @definenormalifyoucan @i-am-absolute-fandom-trash @applecannibal @cats-with-blogs @bubblycricket @witchcraft--and--wizardry @bunnyartie @quietlypondering @elusivefalsehoods @hghrules @royallyanxious @quietwords-loudthoughts @squishynonbinarytwink @sortablue @illogical-anxieties @savingshae @a-fander-named-skittles @thelowlysatsuma @ughthatsprettygay @im-so-infinitesimal @certifiedtrashxx @karmels-stuff @sanders-sides-trash-blog @musicqueen1239 @the-average-loner @nicological1 @oh-star-how-the-mighty-fall @surleytemple​ @nervous-collection @asapmy @super-magical-wizard @arandompasserby @serenitythepanther @ijustrealizedhowdumbmynamewas

Patton pulled up to the airport, and checked his phone. It was 6:03 a.m. and Logan’s plane landed roughly ten minutes ago, which meant he should be getting his luggage now. Patton was absolutely vibrating with excitement. It had been so long since he saw Logan, or at least it felt like it. They never really got together outside of the Gay Straight Alliance club, but their time there was special to Patton. Logan was special to Patton. Quickly, he sent Logan a text to tell him where he was waiting in his small Kia Soul.

Patton Heart <3: Hey Lolo! I just pulled up to the airport. I’m waiting outside of terminal 23. See you soon! <3

In the process of checking the notifications he had received while driving, Patton realized he had a text from Roman. It was sent roughly at four in the morning the night pior, which made Patton worry slightly. Still, he opened the text.

Prince Roman: Tell Logan how you feel on your way from picking him up. Might be surprised at what you find

Before he could respond or try to decipher the weirdly convoluted message from his best friend, his phone pinged with a message from Logan.

Logos Brain: I just picked up my luggage. I will meet you there in approximately three minutes.

Patton’s heart soared at the message. However, his stomach also twisted itself into knots. He was going to follow Roman’s advice and tell Logan how he felt. The worry that Logan would abandon him weighed heavily on his mind, but he didn’t think Logan would truly leave him. But that didn’t stop the dark thoughts from creeping into his mind every once in a while.

A soft knock on the window startled Patton from his dark train of thought. He smiled widely and got out of the car to greet Logan. “Hey there, kiddo!”

Logan’s heart sped up slightly at the brightness of Patton’s smile. “Salutations, Patton.” He barely had time to put his suitcase down before he got a bear hug from the younger boy. Gently he wrapped his arms around the other.

“I’ve missed you so much, Lo.”

“As have I, Patton. I wish I was returning under better circumstances, but I am very glad to see you.”

Patton couldn’t help but smile wider at that. “I’m glad to see you too! Why don’t we put your stuff in the car and grab a coffee? I haven’t had one yet.”

“That sounds pleasant.”

Logan put his things in the trunk of the car then got into the passenger side. Patton got back in the driver’s side and started to drive off when both were buckled in. He opted to take the back roads so he could drive slower. A long embedded fear of driving reckless after several bad experiences kept him from going quickly. The two talked about how the prior day went and how Logan’s flight was. After that conversation died down, there was a quiet lull in the car.

Come on Patton. You can do it. He isn’t going to hurt you. I know it’s hard to open up but you can do it. “Hey, Lo?” Patton’s heart was beating too fast for it to be normal. He didn’t know if he was going to be able to get the words he needed out of his mouth enough for him to actually confess. He didn’t even know the first place to begin confessing that the feelings that he harborded for Logan were far more than just platonic ones.

“Yes, Patton?”

“Can I tell you something without you getting upset?”

“As long as it isn’t another dad joke, I believe I will be alright.” There was a smile on Logan’s face that released some of the tension Patton felt.

“You’ve made a few yourself, you can’t say much.”

“They were never intentional.”

“Whatever you say,” Patton stayed quiet for a moment, trying to figure out how to say it. Logan remained quiet, but watched his friend intently, curious about what the father figure wanted to ask. “I really like you. And I think it is as more than just a good friend.”

That was not at all what Logan was expecting. He was expecting a question about Virgil or perhaps if he believed that Virgil had feelings towards Roman. But nothing had prepared him for a confession like that. Logan realized he was taking too long to answer when he saw Patton’s face start to change. It looked as if he was trying to hold back tears.

“Patton…”

“If you hate me I understand.” The tone of Patton’s voice broke Logan’s heart. He never wanted to hurt the other boy. He cared deeply for him, more than deeply even. He only just recently had this revelation of his own, abit later than he should have, but it was as good of time as any to put a label to how he was feeling. Now, that label was paying off.

“I could never hate you, dear Patton. Could you pull over for a moment and look at me?”

Patton couldn’t help but sniff. Tears were already threatening to pour down his face. Logan hates me Logan hates me Logan hates me Logan hates me Logan hates me oh my god this was such a stupid idea! How did I ever think this was even close to okay!? “Yeah. Okay.” He pulled over, but still refused to look at Logan.

Logan unbuckled himself and turned slightly so that he was facing Patton. “Patton. Please. Will you look at me?” When he saw Patton shake his head, Logan gently took one of the other’s hands in his. “Patton. I have never been good with emotions. I have been teased for most of my life about not having any, but it isn’t true. And that has never been more apparent to me then now. I-” He swallowed and tried again. “I feel the same about you. And I am not telling you a falsehood.”

Patton looked at Logan, tears still in his eyes. “You do?”

“Yes. I didn’t realize just how deeply I cared about you until… recently, but yes.”

Patton quickly unbuckled and threw himself into Logan’s arms. Logan held him tightly and gently carded his fingers through the ginger’s hair, whispering soothing words. Patton cried in the older’s arms, this time tears of joy. The two stayed in each others arms for several minutes, Patton feeling several different emotions, but love and relief being the major two. He was so relieved that Logan felt the same way. He was relieved more so that Logan didn’t shut him out or make fun of him.

“Patton?”

“Yeah, Lo?”

“Come on.” Logan vaguely stated before peeling away from Patton to get out of the car. Patton scrambled to follow, stopped to grab a blanket he always kept in the back seat in case they wanted to sit down in the meadow they were parked near. At least, Patton thought that was Logan’s idea? The early morning sun shone off the dew that blanketed the meadow, causing it to sparkle green. Logan gently took Patton’s hand and led him into the grass.

“I apologize for causing you so much alarm in the car, Patton. It’s hard for me to express emotions.”

“It’s okay, Logan.”

Logan shook his head. “It isn’t. Not truly,” He took a deep breath. “My parents weren’t the most supportive of my more emotional endeavours. I believe they thought it would get in the way of my learning. They were told I was a ‘gifted’ child, so that took precedence. I remember playing with my friends and laughing at some of the most ridiculous things, but those got pushed aside for my learning,” He paused and Patton squeezed his hand reassuringly. Logan returned the pressure. “I have always loved to read, but it used to be fairy tales or fun books like that. I had a great adoration for Dr. Seuss. I enjoyed how nonsensical they were but they still had a lesson that was taught.

“Once my time shifted to school work I lost the time for those types of stories. I turned to the classics because there was still some small form of escape, even if it wasn’t as large as the escape fanticy used to bring me. And I... I lost a lot of my emotional connections to things. The only fraction was the Saturdays when my babysitter would take me out to a field to read. I got lost in a lot of the emotions of the stories then instead of dealing with my own. Since I was old enough to not need one anymore I haven’t been able to do that. I wasn’t able to feel anything. I didn’t have a teacher or parents or really any adult to help me through how I was supposed to feel. So I can only assume that I dealt with the unknown by shutting them off. I wasn’t sure if what I was feeling was normal or not. Then Virgil came into my life.

“He was the first friend I had in probably five years. He was also the first person to help me, well, feel again. Virgil is hard to understand at first but there’s something about him that just...I’m not sure. It almost felt as if he sent a signal that he needed someone. He had been in the library having an attack when I walked in and I was able to help him calm down. We spoke a little then about what happened, and he told me later that the factual way I speak is grounding. He also helped me through some of my own emotions. Worry was the first. In case you didn’t know, it’s something Virgil understands quite well.”

There was a small smile on Logan’s lips. “He was the teacher I didn’t have, at least partially. He also helped teach me to love? He’s the brother I never had, and therefore taught me how to love my own sibling when she came along. But then, he started to shut me out. I understand now it was out of fear of what his father might do, but it hurt. Then I started speaking with you. Patton, you are a well of emotions. You can help others understand emotions better than anyone else I have ever seen. Inadvertently, you helped me understand more of my own just during the times we spoke. You showed me love and kindness and tenderness and so many different emotions. I have to admit that sometimes it was a lot to handle for me. I wasn’t used to it so it was overwhelming, but I wasn’t uncomfortable with them. They were soothing as odd as that seems. And when I left I knew that nothing there could compare with how I felt around you. I had isolated myself again. Then when we spoke last night it all came flooding back. That’s when I realized that the emotions I felt around you were so different from those I felt around Virgil. I love Virgil with all of my being, but it is familial love. He’s my brother. With you it wasn’t the same. Last night is when I realized that I was IN love with you. That realization… it hit me hard. I believe I had tried to suppress those feelings because they were unknown. They were not something I could do research into and get a clear understanding of. But you have always been so kind and loving. You’ve waited for someone to love you with all of their heart and you were waiting to return that love. You deserve that love because of all the love you have given others. I hope that I can give you even a tenth of what you deserve.”

Patton looked at Logan. He never thought that he would hear so much of the other’s story. What he knew was that he was going to teach Logan everything he could about his emotions. No matter how long it took.

He pulled Logan into a hug, carelessly dropping the blanket into the wet grass. “I’m glad that I could help you with your emotions. And I will do everything I can to help you. We’re in this together.”

“Together.”

After the two pulled apart, Patton leaned down and layed out the blanket, then sat down, gently pulling Logan with him. He then snuggled against the one who stole his heart. Logan wrapped his arms around the boy who taught him to love. He took the time to admire how the light hit his auburn curls, showing off more of the red than normal. The young man looked almost angelic against the morning light.

Patton leaned his head up small amount, wanting to kiss Logan, but letting him decide if he was ready.  Despite the fear, Logan leaned forward and met Patton’s lips. However, because of that same fear, he didn’t let the kiss linger like some would. Logan moved away from it after a short moment and looked at the other boy fondly, with love clear in his eyes. It was the first emotion that Patton ever could see clearly in the other’s eyes, despite them being windows to the soul. Patton figured that Logan was just unsure on a lot of the romance stuff, but he was glad that Logan had kissed him back.

Logan hated that he wasn’t comfortable with a lot of the romantic gestures, but he wasn’t sure how to explain that to Patton. It was a problem that he would deal with later. Right now he was glad that he was able to express himself enough to make it clear to Patton that he loved him. That he didn’t have to hide his emotions anymore. Patton would help him understand them and work through them at his own pace.

After a long while, Patton’s voice broke through the early morning serenity. “Logan?”

“Yes, Patton?”

“I think that you’ll give me a lot more than a tenth.”

A soft smile pulled on Logan’s lips. “I hope so. You deserve as much love and kindness as you can possibly get.”

“So do you. You’ve done so much with keeping Virgil safe. You have a kind heart, Logan. I think just because you didn’t understand emotions doesn’t mean you didn’t have any. You just showed them differently.” Logan moved one of his hands to be able to card it through Patton’s ginger locks.

“How do you mean?” he questioned, looking at the rising sun peaking out from the tops of trees on the horizon.

“Well,” Patton started, shifting his position so that he could get maximum hair playing. “Your ‘good morning’ texts and our conversations on our sleeping the night prior shows a lot of care. And I’m sure that there’s something that you and Virgil have to say that one of you is hurting. Codes between people are just a way to discreetly say that you care and want to know stuff. But not really Morse Code. I guess in the proper circumstance it could…”

Logan moved his head to smile down at Patton, taking in the view of the lovely boy’s face. Looking down at his love in the morning light, with the rising sun's rays glowing on Patton's face, was the most beautiful thing that Logan had ever experienced. It was more than anything could have imagined as Patton rambled on about how Logan shows he cares, about his theories and sneaky ways of suggesting healthy habits that he himself doesn’t perform as a way to say ‘I love you.’ It was amazing. It was sweet. It was so Patton.

“Logan?” Patton asked after stopping his small speech. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, my apologies,” Logan shook his head with a small smile. “I was just thinking how amazing it is for me to have you here, in this beautiful morning light.”

“You are surprisingly such a sap.” Patton started to giggle, which in turn made Logan let out his own huffs of laugher. After a few seconds, Logan realized that neither of them had asked the main question yet. The big one to start everything off.

“Patton,” Logan stated rather softly, but still with a tone that required to be listened to. Patton stopped giggling and met Logan’s pure ocean gaze. “Would you maybe… like to go on a breakfast date with me?”

At that, Patton squealed. He buried his face into Logan’s sweater, happiness leaking from his eyes in the form of another round of happy tears. Logan had said it first. Patton was absolutely terrified of saying those fateful words, but he wanted to say them. He yearned to say them to Logan since the two started actually talking, but Patton never had the courage. Logan did. Suddenly, Patton realized he didn’t actually give a vocal answer to Logan’s question.

“Yes,” Patton all but cried into his Logan’s chest. “Yes, a million times yes.”

Logan let out the breath that he was holding at the end of that sentence. Patton could feel it, but he just hugged onto Logan tighter. Logan personally didn’t exactly know how to feel about all the white-hot touch that Patton provided, but in the moment he liked it. He wrapped his arms around the shorter in his lap, leaning down to kiss the top of his head.

Logan smiled down at his Heart for the millionth time that morning. His eyes flicked upwards at the rising sun again, peace filling the ever circling cavity inside his chest. The pair needed to get to Roman’s house eventually, but that wasn’t necessary at the moment. Right now, in the early morning air, it was just the two of them existing together with love swirling wildling inside of them for one another.

Roman woke up first. He felt the slight weight on his chest which told him that Virgil was still there. There was nothing he could do about the slight blush that crept along his cheeks. Careful not to move the sleeping boy, Roman grabbed his phone from the table. There was one text from Patton that was sent about an hour prior.

Pappy Padre Patton: Hey kiddo, we’re going to be a little late. Logan and I are going on a breakfast date!

Roman broke out into a smile, happy that the text that he decided to send the night prior worked it’s magic. Thinking for a moment, he would have giggled at the odd position he was in if he could without waking Virgil. His head was turned toward the side so that he could see the phone in his arm that was dangling over the side of the couch. Virgil was still half on top of him, his head on his chest. Not only was his physical position quite odd, but the relationship that he was building with Virgil was entirely amazing, weird, and frustrating all at the same time. Roman found himself wishing that his hand was playing with Virgil’s admittedly greasy looking hair. He wanted to see that soft face that knew so many grimaces to smile, to flush with color, and for his eyes to light up like his words did when he talked about something he loved. Roman wanted Virgil to be happy, comfortable. He wanted Virgil to love.

Putting all of these revelations in the back of his mind as Virgil continued to steadily breath on his chest, Roman typed out an unsteady reply with one hand.

Prince Roman: Its alrigjt we had a late night. I just woke up ans Virgils still alseep.

Almost as soon as he hit send, Virgil began to stir. He groaned and shifted, probably assuming that it would be easier to shift than it actually was. Upon being stopped of turning with the pain in his arm and a body underneath him, Virgil snapped his eyes open. The dark abysses almost immediately caught onto Roman’s soft eyes.

“Good morning, Boy Against Humanity.” Roman’s voice was still gruff with morning sound, and it just went directly to Virgil’s already growing blush.

Virgil pushed himself up with one hand on the couch and the other on Roman’s surprisingly hard chest. He got himself into more of a sitting position, but was still on top of Roman’s legs. Roman, realizing that Virgil probably didn’t want to touch him at the moment, retracted his legs. Honestly, Virgil wondered how the two were able to sleep in a position like that while still in their jeans. Instead of saying anything, Virgil grunted out what Roman assumed was something along the lines of “Gonna get changed.”

Afterwards, with a blush still rising on his face, Virgil walked up the stairs into the bedroom that held his clothes. He grabbed out one of the purple shirts and one of his new black jeans, his mind wandering. He couldn’t figure out why he had blushed so badly at laying on Roman. Was is because of the close contact? Was it because of the night before in the recording studio? A shiver ran down Virgil’s spine at the memory. The fond memory. Virgil eventually got changed and got to the bottom of the stairs when the doorbell rang.

“Virgil, can you get it?” Roman called from the kitchen where Virgil assumed he was making coffee.

Virgil made a grunt of sort to signify his answer, making his way to the door from the stairs with a little too much knowledge. Upon opening it, his heart stopped.

Logan was at the door.

Why the fuck was Logan at the door?

“Logan?” Virgil finally found his voice after several seconds of staring. His grip on the door handle fell in astonishment. Logan was supposed to be in Massachusetts. He wasn’t supposed to be here. “You’re supposed to be at Harvard.”

“And your life was threatened,” Virgil visibly paled. Logan wasn’t supposed to know about that. “You take priority.”

“I don’t--” Virgil stumbled on his words. He lifted his arm to wave it around to prove a point, but the pain that jolted upwards said otherwise. He winced, which made Logan’s concerned face show itself. Virgil hated just how much of that face that he saw.

“Virge?” A soft voice asked behind Logan. Virgil took his eyes off of his button up and sweater clad friend for a moment, just long enough to see Patton behind Logan. “Virgil, honey, can we come in?”

Virgil must have waited a moment too long in not replying, because Logan took a step forward. On instinct in his still shocked state, he took a step backward. Logan took a visible deep breath, all while keeping his eyes on Virgil. The oldest out of the four boys shifted his messenger bag before slowly raising his arms. Logan rose them slower than he took the first step as a way to show Virgil that everything was alright. He took another agonizingly slow step forward to be able to gently place his hands on Virgil’s shoulders.

“The sun has set; the danger’s gone,” Logan started. Virgil visibly relaxed. Logan’s hands on his shoulders held a specific weight. His hands were softer than Roman’s, bigger than both of theirs, and more squared off. They were his, not like anyone else’s. “Je suis là pour t'aider, mon frère. Laisse moi aider.” I'm here to help, brother. Virgil’s mind didn’t need to translate it. The French words were known better than their English counterpart. Let me help.

Patton had no clue what was happening with the two older boys. He didn’t know what Logan just said, as he had taken Spanish instead of French. What he did know, though, was that Virgil was visibly relaxing, and that was a good sign. His shoulders returned to their normal place, non-hunched. Virgil did move his shoulders up and down for a moment, most likely to feel the weight of Logan’s hands again.

After a few more seconds of Logan and Virgil just standing together, breathing, Virgil made a move. He returned his hand to the door, slowly opening it as Logan dropped his hands. Patton could have sworn he hummed something softly. He being Logan.

The three then retreated into the house, Virgil leading the way to where Roman was in the living room. The boy with blackberry hair was hunched over, arms around himself in a self hug, and completely shut off. His facade of being strong and uncaring was nowhere to be seen. He didn’t need it. It was obvious to the boy that the people here already knew about the broken, scared, and scarred boy underneath the grimace he usually wore.

“You told them?” Virgil asked in a weak tone as Roman looked up from his phone. Virgil kept his eyes on the ground. Logan and Patton shared a look as Roman stood from where he was sprawled on the couch.

“You couldn’t yourself, and I know for fact that you wanted to tell Logan.” Roman tried to back himself up and he walked forward to the other three. Upon hearing his name, Logan looked toward Roman and obtained eye contact with him. The two stared at each other for a moment before Logan reached out to shake Roman’s hand. Roman compiled and took the larger hand inside his own.

Virgil watched the odd exchange from the outskirts, slowly shrinking in on himself. Logan would be mad at him that he didn’t tell him the full truth the night of its occurrence. Patton would scorn him for not telling him sooner about all of the shit that had happened. Roman would hate him for putting the pressure of what happened that night onto his shoulders. Hell, he probably already did. They all hated him. The three most important people to Virgil certainly hated him now. There was no way around it, or at least there wasn’t in Virgil’s mind.

While Logan and Roman were caught up in their silent thanks to the other for protecting Virgil, Patton noticed Virgil getting smaller and smaller. Patton considered Virgil’s hunching in on himself something that he did when he felt threatened, or afraid, but that was with the minimal information that he was going on off of him. Patton didn’t know as much as he would like to know, but he still would attempt comfort for his love’s best friend.

“Virgil, it’s okay. None of us are mad at you for what happened, or how we found out.” Patton started, which made Virgil’s head pop up again.

“Indeed,” Logan continued on for Patton, retracting his hand from Roman’s and going to hold Patton’s instead. “Besides, from what I understand, you or Roman could not have said what happened more than once. I don’t blame you for that. It is best that we all knew… just so that we three could be able to be a better support system for you.”

“But-” Virgil choked on his words. Stop being so weak. Stop showing so much weakness. “But now Patton, he… I?”

“You don’t have to worry about protecting me, kiddo.”

“You don’t have to worry about protecting any of us,” Roman said. “You’ve spent so much time taking care of others that you haven’t been able to take care of yourself. We’re in this together. We’ll all protect each other.”

“Indeed,” Logan used the word to agree again. “Virgil, you’ve kept me safe before. I’m going to return the kindness. We are going to do this together.” He directed his voice at Virgil, which was honestly amazing for the younger. He hadn’t heard his voice so clear and so close in too long.

It made Virgil relax slightly, but he still tried to groan in protest. They don’t mean any of the things they’re saying. His darker thoughts started to rage. They’re pretending they care but they don’t. They can’t. They don’t care about you. His vision was becoming blurry. They’ve probably talked with your father and he’s making them give you a false sense of security. Virgil couldn’t see. Tunnel vision was taking over. Or was it that he closed his eyes? You’re going to lose everything you thought you cared about.

“Virgil, Virgil.” Logan’s cold and soft voice swayed into focus.

He could see Logan’s hands, so his eyes were open. Both of them were on his shoulders now. Virgil didn’t know when that happened. He couldn’t hear anything but the mantra in his head. Who are you kidding? They never fucking cared about you. It was all just a fucking joke to them. They don’t care. They don’t care. They don’t care. They don’t care. They don’t care. They don’t. They don’t. They don’t fucking care. They never fucking did.

Virgil was shaking hard. His breathing was shallow and erratic. He was still hunched in on himself, but Logan’s hands as a weight on his shoulders was preventing him from hunching farther. It was preventing him from his legs becoming weak, or his breathing get to the point to where he couldn’t breath out at all. He still couldn’t see, though. Or could he? He couldn’t tell. The only clear thing was Logan’s hands and the fact that no one cares nobody fucking cares about you.

“Pat-love, can you and Roman please go grab the information we need for the case?” Logan’s voice was clear as day, though everything else was murky. Everything but Logan was twelve miles under the ocean water. Virgil was drowning. He was drowning. He was drowning. Footsteps away, muddled and almost unheard but definitely there. “Virgil, Virgil,” Logan’s crisp voice broke through again. “You’re safe. The sun has set; the danger is gone. He can’t get us here, I promise. I swear on it.”

Logan never swore on anything he didn’t believe in. Never. Virgil’s breathing started to become less erratic.

“The chances of him discovering where you are right now are one in 33.2 thousand. Even so, Roman as a bodyguard on speed dial. We are safe. You are safe,” Logan took a deep breath in, held it, and exhaled. Virgil’s breathing pattern. “We care for you. You are the reason I am breathing fine. You mean so much to me, Virgil. Virgil, Roman cares for you. Patton cares for you. On those two facts I also swear.”

Logan never swore on anything he didn’t believe in. Never. Virgil’s breathing calmed more. It was easier to take in breaths now.

“We just want to help you, Virgil. Virgil, we love you and care about you. I want you to be safe. I don’t want you to be in fear anymore. That’s why I’m going to help you anyway I can,” There was a pause. Logan’s hands held onto Virgil’s shoulders harder. “I want to help you go to the police. It’s scary. It’s frightening, but I will be there. Patton will, and so will Roman. We are here for you. For you. On this I swear.”

Logan never swore on anything he didn't believe in. Never. Virgil’s breathing calmed back to it’s normal pace. He lifted his eyes to look at Logan.  

“There you go, Virgil. Virgil, you’ve done so well.” Logan’s calming voice told him. The voice was full of love and kindness. He did not remove his hands from the other’s shoulders. Virgil liked hearing his name over and over like what Logan did. Only he did it, and it only was when he was panicking. It was safe, calming, and something to signify that Logan was there for Virgil. They had a lot of those, Virgil was realizing.

Roman was amazed at how calming Logan was for Virgil. From what he could see from where he was at the kitchen table, Virgil was panicking a tenth of what he was when he was in Roman’s care. He could have to ask Logan for tips on how to calm down their friend. Or, at the very least, talk to Virgil about what helps him recede from panic.

“I’m proud of my kiddos.” Patton said, a genuine smile on his face.

“Wait, so you and Logan didn’t go on a breakfast date?” Roman stopped laying out papers in favor of giving Patton a perplexed look.

“Oh no, we did! Old habit of calling him kiddo.” Patton was unfazed at his friend’s confusion, instead still sorting everything that Logan had brought with him. Roman honestly didn’t know when Patton grabbed Logan’s messenger bag, but apparently it happened at some point.

Virgil didn’t know what to say. His darker thoughts were still screaming at him like they always did, but the confidence in Logan’s voice was pushing them away. He believed Logan. The older strayed away from lying the best he could, and swore to never lie to Virgil. It was comforting that Logan was there, that Roman was just in the other room waiting for them. Patton, the sweet bean who barely even knew Virgil, was there too. He had support. He had people who want to help him. His brain and muscle memory told him that he couldn’t trust them, that they would turn on him when opportunity struck, but he was solid in Logan. Logan wouldn’t let them hurt him. He wasn’t alone.

“Glad I don’ haveta do this alone,” His voice was barely above a whisper, words still slightly slurred with early morning grogginess, “Might take some time to get used to... not being alone.”

“Take as long as you need, Virgil,” Logan reassured him. “Virgil, I believe we all would be more concerned if you changed how you felt quickly. Healing and changing a mindset takes time, but it will be well worth it.”

Virgil didn’t know why, but he slowly opened his arms as an inquiry to hug Logan tightly. He wasn’t sure if it was a hug of thanks or a hug of affection but he didn’t care. Logan was here and ready to help him. Nothing would stand in Logan’s way. Virgil knew that when the oldest boy set his mind to something he would do everything in his power to make it so. That was grounding in a weird way.

Logan wrapped his arms around the lanky boy. Virgil didn’t seek touch often, so when he did, it held a lot of meaning. Usually, Logan would hypothesize why the other wanted the contact, but right now he could care less about that. All that mattered was giving Virgil all the support and love he needed. Logan gently began to card his fingers through the purple hair soothingly. I failed you in keeping you safe sooner, but I will not do so anymore. I will make sure you’re free from harm Virgil. I swear it.

Virgil pulled away a moment later, turning to see that there were others in the room. Roman’s gaze still held a flame that was both terrifying and soothing, his body stock still and raised to his full height. Protective. Patton’s eyes held love and understanding, his arms wrapped around himself with a slight bent in his posture. Comforting.

“What do we do now, Logan?” That sounded like Patton, but Virgil couldn’t tell for sure. He was looking at Logan again, eyes fixed on the star necklace that he gave him hanging from the older’s neck. He wondered when that came out from underneath the older’s shirt.

“I believe we should get the information together that we have. There may be gaps in what Roman and I have collected that Virgil might be able to fill in for us. I know it’s painful to speak about, but it will be beneficial.” Logan’s look held an apology.

Virgil breathed deeply, closed his eyes, and nodded. You can do this. Logan will protect you. Last night with Roman wasn’t a dream. He’s there for you too. He tried to psych himself up for what was to come. He could do this. The positive reinforcement that he was trying to give himself felt oddly foreign in his head, but Virgil still tried his best at it. If he were to truly not have to go back home, he needed to talk about this stuff. Virgil needed help. He didn’t want to go back to that godforsaken apartment. He couldn’t.

The four moved to the dining area once again, the papers on the table sorted into piles based on month. The months with excessive amounts of notes were further sorted into weeks, but those only started after July. Virgil was shocked by the sheer amount of data lying along the space available on the circular table. Logan was impressed by how efficiently the two were able to sort things.

As much as Logan wanted to start at the very first piece of paper, he knew that the most important ones were when his data and Roman’s overlapped. “Roman which pile is the first one containing your information?”

“This one.” Roman picked up the July pile for the previous year. “We split the month apart into just your information and when mine started on the 19th.”

“That was an incredibly smart idea,” Logan took the pile and gave a impressed frown-sort of expression. “Patton, would you be willing to take any additional notes?”

“Sure thing,” Roman handed him a composition notebook. “Thanks, Ro.”

The four got to work. Logan and Roman compared information and gently asked Virgil to elaborate if they felt it was needed. Every once in a while Patton would interject when he felt that Virgil was starting to get worried and curl onto himself. Virgil was glad for Patton in those moments. Being asked to relive those parts of his life were hard, the hardest thing he’s ever done, but knowing that the people around him were understanding and wanting to help made it easier.

With one date, things started to slow.

“March 21,” Logan breathed, which made Virgil suck in a sharp breath. That was the worst date. “This is the worst date, to my knowledge.”

“It was… Actually the 20th, a few weeks after I started to shut R... Princey out,” Virgil switched the names mid thought. He didn’t need this to get personal when Roman was sitting across from him. He pulled away from Patton, who let him. He pulled his sleeves further over his hands, then wrapped them around his middle. “He was mad I was skipping classes,” Virgil shook his head and took a deep breath. “It’s the day my mom died too.”

Logan nodded, writing a few things down with a somber but concentrated look on his face. He had that look on his face for a while now. Roman was staring at Virgil, to which Virgil shifted uncomfortably. He removed his gaze and grabbed another piece of paper. Just like that, things started moving faster again.

The only breaks any of them took was when they had to use the restroom, and when Patton insisted they stop for lunch. Virgil only picked at his sandwich that Logan made, considering his stomach was doing flips, but the others understood. Patton tried his best to soothe the lanky boy with smooth tones and light touch. Roman and Logan also gave him words of encouragement throughout the process, of course. All three of them brought their own way of comfort to Virgil. Patton was warm, soft, and gave physical touch. Roman was solid, protective, and gave both touch and many concrete words. Logan was cool, collected, and gave reassuring words. It was a mixture that Virgil needed to get through this.

Around one in the afternoon, the pace was slowing. Virgil was stressed, basically hanging off of Patton as he closed his eyes and recounted why he came to Logan with bruises on his neck and a cut in his side. Roman was stone faced, something that no one at the table saw regularly, if at all. He was in the middle of a sentence when the unmistakable sound of creaking stairs filled the space.

Immediately, Virgil stopped, Logan stopped writing, and Roman whipped his head around. There was a few more footsteps, and suddenly Roman’s Ma was standing in the entrance to the room.

“Honey?” She asked, confusion entering her features when she saw the four boys surrounding her table.

“Hi, Ma.” Roman said slowly. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Virgil hunch onto himself a little.

“What’s going on, Roman?” She asked, noticing all of the papers.

Virgil kept folding in on himself. If she sees any of these papers she’s going to kick you out. She might even kick Roman out for helping you. You can’t risk Roman losing his home. God, Virgil, you’re such a fucking idiot. Why did you believe this was a good idea? She’s going to find out and hate you too. She’ll probably even call your father. Before he knew it he’d started to pull slightly on his hair.

“Just some papers we all worked on for a summer assignment. We wanted to make sure we had everything.”

Andrea raised her eyebrow, not fully believing the story. “Alright,” She said, figuring there was a reason Roman was keeping something from her. “I’m willing to help in any way-”

Logan cut her off, his voice polite but with a tone that left no room for any argument. “Actually that isn’t necessary. We were just collecting the paperwork we needed. Virgil and I will be out of your hair in just a few moments.” He started to pick the papers up, sending a worried glance at Virgil as he did.

Patton caught onto what Logan was doing as he helped the older boy pack the paperwork up by month. “I’ll drive you guys.”

“Thank you, Patton. That would be helpful,” Logan pulled his messenger bag onto his shoulder and gently pulled Virgil to his feet. “Come on, Virgil.”

Virgil let Logan pull him away from the kitchen to the main room where they paused to pull on their shoes. It took Virgil a few moments longer than normal due to the daze he was still in. Once he got them on and stood the trio heard another set of footsteps coming down the stairs. Patton looked up and saw Cinthia, Roman’s madre, walking down the stairs.

“Patton?” She asked softly. “Everything alright?”

“Sí. We have to run and do something but I’ll be back.” Patton answered a little quicker than he usually spoke as he held the door for the other two boys.

Logan gently took Virgil by the arm and lead him out of the house. Patton waved at Cinthia as he followed and closed the door behind him. Cinthia wore a very confused expression, but heard Roman’s voice in the kitchen. He sounded frustrated, as if he were in denial. In that moment, she decided to see if she could find out what was causing Patton to act so odd.

next part

hello id be lost without @lovecrazyjennybear for several reasons so lets list a few. shes the one who reminds me to post chapters. constantly. i definitely would have forgotten to post this if she didnt remind me. she also lets me rant and ramble to her? like?? thats literally amazing. that has nothing to do with this story but still. she lets me ramble about plot lines and emotions and i listen to her when she rambles and its just amazing and shes just such an amazing friend. and!! recently she posted her first original work and its amazing. its called The Tin Man Has A Heart and its gold and you definitely should go read it after you finish this okay bYE

[soobadnoonecanstopher]

Hips - part 1 (A Jongin Two-Shot)

Genre: Romance (Fluff/Future Smut/Angst)

Characters: Jongin X You

A/N: part 2 will be posted when i hit 6k followers.

#3 of the 3K Followers Requests - Jongin teaches dance to little kids.

He is surprised to learn that his peculiar new student, who has a habit of collecting things that don’t belong to her, is actually the daughter of his neighbor, a hardworking single mother. When he recognizes the exercise shirt his neighbor is wearing, he finally has to speak up.(3 requests combined)

Soundtrack: All songs by Stevie Wonder, 1. Sir Duke, 2. Superstition, 3. My Cherie Amour, 4. Higher Ground.

Hips : Part 1, Part 2

This wasn’t quite what you had envisioned for your life. The laundry basket was heavy and balanced just on your hip and you gripped the tiny hand of your 6 year old daughter tightly with your other hand. You had only been living here for a week and a half, and the one thing you hadn’t quite taken into account was managing the four flights of stairs with a clean load of laundry fresh from the first floor dryers.

The place was cheap enough for you to afford the two bedroom unit in a safe part of town and still be able to afford certain things like food and electricity on your income. Nari’s dance lessons came out of the support you received from your ex. You swore to yourself that no matter how tough things got, you would let her stay in the class she loved so much.

You folded clothing and put items neatly away, half paying attention to the noisy kid’s show on the tv, half paying attention to the time on the clock that told you Nari had only forty minutes before dance class and she hadn’t yet had a bath or lunch.

Baths and lunches were a necessity for Nari, yet a luxury for you. She was squeaky clean and well fed and you hastily tied up your wet hair from the quickest shower of your life into a messy, wet blob on top of your head and grabbed a random t shirt from the stack of clean clothes and pulled it over your head. The cut off crusts you shoved into your mouth as you made her sandwich would have to do for nutrition. You simply didn’t have time for anything else.

“Mommy my tights are itchy,” she complained from the backseat as she raked her nails over the clinging fabric covering her thighs and you pulled into the parking lot of the dance studio.

The clock in your car told you that in some surprising personal record, you were only five minutes late.

Nari jumped and bounced her way up the driveway, through the front door and down the hallway to the dance room where the sounds of children’s laughter and movement filtered through the closed door.

Through the door she bolted, disappearing into a small crowd of kids.

You stood, just inside the room, lingering just long enough to catch the instructor before the lessons began. You needed to make a payment for the last month of classes and you had finally settled the matter with your ex. You were eternally grateful that the old woman who ran the studio was willing to work with you until you could secure the payment.

The door behind you burst open and you moved to the side to avoid being trampled by a giggling little girl who seemed to be Nari’s age. The children parted and you saw your daughter embrace the newcomer in excitement.

“Nina,” a man’s voice shouted from the open doorway, “What did I say about running in here?”

You turned to the sound and caught his profile as he rushed through the door. You recognized the desperate look in his eyes. The look of a nagging parent needing to be heard by their misbehaving child and he clenched his jaw down hard as he scanned the room for the child.

“Of course she isn’t listening to me. Nari is here. She never listens when Nari is here to listen to instead. Why do I even–” He caught you standing at the doorway next to him and his eyes widened in surprise, but his mouth kept running, “–bother?” The last word came out as a whisper.

An adorable whisper dear lord, who is this handsome man and why were you staring? You stared at his face for a few seconds longer because why not, you were already trapped by wide eyes and those pouty lips and broad, chiseled arms with, sweet jesus, muscles? Who even had muscles any more? What?

“Hello,” he said quietly and you tried to remember why you came.

You nodded your head.

Was that the best you could do? A nod? He didn’t ask a question, he said hello you dummy. Who even had muscles like this? Why did he have them and why didn’t he wear a real shirt that covered things like sexy muscles? You instantly felt disgruntled.

“Uhh, I’m Mr. Kim,” of course he was Mr. Kim. The cute ones were always Mr. Kim. You angled your eyes at his now outstretched hand, as if taking it for a handshake was somehow admitting just how sexy this man was.

“…the dance instructor, are you one of my parents?”

One of his? Were you his? He was the teacher here so yes, you must be his.

Oh no, he was still waiting for you to act like a normal person. You shot your hand out and grabbed his too hard and too fast and he seemed to flinch in surprise at your sudden movement. Maybe he was just jumpy but the small blush you saw on his pretty face, impossibly, made him look less like a sexy beast, and more like a cute little puppy.

“Yes, I’m Nari’s mom. I have to make a payment.” You held up your checkbook with a small smile and he gripped your hand and shook his own up and down slowly as his eyes seemed to travel around your face. And lower, what? Where was he looking? You stiffened when you were sure you saw his eyes down on your chest, was this man checking you out right now? In a room full of six year olds? With those muscles?

What should you do? This felt like a new situation to you, and you honestly were too stunned to move. Eventually the blatant staring he was doing right where your breasts sat changed and he narrowed his eyes to a squint and cocked his head to the right.

Okay that was enough.

Staring was one thing, but squinting? Who the hell did he think he was?

“Come into the office and you can make your payment.” He said with his eyes still no where near your face and when he looked up he probably noticed the very obvious heat that covered your face.

He was walking ahead of you and the noise of the children filled your head as you moved further into the room. There was a loud clapping of hands from the man walking in front of you and you watched in amazement as the mass of children disbursed into neat little obedient rows before your very eyes.

Even Nari, the least obedient of the children you were sure, fell in line when she heard that clap.

“Stretches!” He shouted at the group and they immediately bent down together, reaching for their toes.

You signed with a flourish on your payment, covering the next two months of classes as well as the balance due for last month and he hastily scribbled out a receipt for you. From the decor on the wall, you could see family pictures that you hadn’t paid attention to before. The old woman who usually took your payment rushed you out quickly so you wouldn’t be late for work and you hadn’t a chance to actually see any of the pictures.

With him standing in front of you now, you could easily recognize the wide smile on the wall behind him. A picture, obviously years old with his smiling face, wide and beautiful, holding a small baby up for the camera to see. From where you stood it was clear to see that someone had been cut off of the other side of the photo, right after where the baby was shown. Someone with long black hair that made the picture now seem lopsided and off balance with her absence.

“Can I ask you why you are wearing my shirt?” Mr. Kim spoke up suddenly after you had tucked the receipt in between the pages of your checkbook and you looked down at the shirt you wore, confused as to why he would be saying such a thing when you had very obviously just gotten dressed at your own home with your own clothing fresh from the dryer at your new apartment building.

What the hell was this shirt? You looked up with wide eyes before you looked down again seeing very clearly that you wore a very soft, very worn in grey t shirt with what appeared to be a design for a 2008 Lifeguard Competition and the faded markings of where someone had written in a name with a big black sharpie. Barely legible from the years of washings you could make out the letters when you pulled the fabric away from your belly and stretched it out.

It was upside down, but it definitely read “Kim Jongin” and you looked back up into his questioning face with that feeling coursing through your head. You know that feeling…the one that feels like death.

“I–” your mouth was open and your lips were trying to speak but why were you wearing this shirt?

“Are you Kim Jongin?” You searched your memory of this morning. Rushing to get ready, reaching into the stack of freshly washed clothes you pulled out a t shirt and put it on without actually looking at it.

He nodded his head and the way he stood just behind the desk with his arms over his chest made his biceps pop and strain against the fabric of his shirt.

“I have no idea why I am wearing your shirt.” It was the truth. You didn’t know how it got into your laundry and you definitely didn’t know how it just so happened to be on your body right now without you even noticing for one second that you were wearing the very worn, very very comfy t shirt that belonged to this sexy man who was now chewing on his bottom lip as he looked through the glass window where rows of children stretched.

He moved from behind the desk and leaned through the doorway.

“Nari will you come in here for a minute please.” The children erupted in hoots and you watched as your daughter put her head down and made her way in between kids toward the office.

Her eyes went wide to see you standing at the desk and you saw the glance she made down at the shirt you wore.

Her wide eyes went to Mr. Kim’s eyes and you could feel your own heart pounding inside your chest and you watched the tall man as he slowly lowered himself down to her level and squatted on his heels.

You weren’t sure what you were expecting as you held your breath, waiting for the man to begin speaking to your daughter.

“Nari, honey did you borrow something of mine again?” His voice was soft and he reached his hand out to hold on to hers as she bit down on her top lip and pouted her bottom lip out. She gave a tiny nod and looked into his eyes as he smiled a tiny bit.

“Remember what I said? You can borrow anything you like, but you should tell me about it so I don’t worry that I lost it. Okay?” His hand rubbed lightly over her own and he reached out a hand to cup her face lightly. You saw the small tremble in her bottom lip and his smile widened.

“No no, you’re okay. Just tell me next time okay?” His eyebrows lifted with the promise and he held up his pinky finger for Nari to take. With a small sniffle she reeled in her emotions at being caught in her misdeed, and agreed with his promise.

You watched in awe. Your mouth might have even been open. There were no loud voices, no threats, no shouting, nothing scary that you might have heard from your ex husband in this situation, but somehow…this approach seemed to have a much greater impact on your daughter. She quickly turned and moved to the spot where the kids had their cubbies with various personal belongings and ran back to Mr. Kim holding a small toy in her hand.

She held it out to him and you recognized the pink frog that she often played with on your living room floor. You knew from the tantrums she threw when she accidentally left it behind that it was one of her favorite toys. The cheap thing must have cost a whole two cents to make, yet she had a strange attachment to things you would never quite understand.

“Here. You can borrow hoppy for tonight if you want.” She spoke in a sweet voice and Mr. Kim reached out with his mouth in an exaggerated surprised face as he picked up the tiny piece of plastic from her palm.

“Are you sure? What if I play with him all night?”

“He can take it. He’s a good hopper.” And with that she was off, bolting through the children to take her place next to Nina and resume the stretching for the class.

He carefully deposited the pink frog onto the corner of the desk where you saw a cell phone and a set of keys sitting and you wondered if he would really take the toy home with him tonight.

“You can stay and watch if you want.” He paused at the doorway and looked back where you stood staring at that damn photograph on the wall. The one with the bright smiling face of Mr. Kim Jongin and the tiny baby girl in a picture frame and the missing other half that, the closer you looked, you noticed the photo had the distinct markings of being torn out, rather than neatly cut with scissors.

When you turned away from the image that seemed to speak volumes, while filling your curiosity with countless questions alike, he was gone.

“Okay free dance time!” He shouted over the children’s heads and they cheered as he trotted over to a stereo in the corner to turn on some music.

A familiar funky upbeat soul song(1) played over the speakers in the ceiling. A song you hadn’t heard in years but always brought a smile to your face. Perhaps it was the sight before you that brought the smile. The children began moving their bodies, some very wildly like Nari swung their limbs and moved all over the place, others grabbed hands with classmates and danced to the beat together.

“To the beat! Listen to the song while you dance or I won’t do it.” Mr. Kim shouted over the song. Some kids who had been moving too fast out of sync with the beat of the song looked up into his face and slowed their bodies, eventually nodding heads or kicking their legs as they found their own rhythms. The proud mother in you watched as Nari danced some unconventional jig exactly on beat to the song and despite the strange kicks and punches, she had a good sense of the beat.

Perhaps she got it from you. You nodded your head to the song as the children wound down some of their excitement of being free to express themselves.

The song ended and immediately after the track a new one started and the children all stopped in their tracks and turned to face Mr. Kim. You noticed they seemed to make a big circle as they watched him and you watched too, curious as to what they were waiting for.

“Okay okay, my turn.” He said with a wide smile that you caught just the edges of and something about the man who stood in the center of the room seemed to shift.

Their faces were glued to him and you didn’t blame them. He changed his posture and lifted one hand to his hip, the other hand rose to snap to the beat of the song(2) that played and nearly instantly the change you saw in his countenance took over entirely. The song started with only a beat, and he felt it in his bones. You saw his head nod, his shoulders shift and sway and soon the rest of his body followed.

This…this person wasn’t adorable blushing sweet Mr. Kim, not at all. His hips moved freely, his legs danced expertly, carrying his body along in smooth motions. Was his spine even connected to his body? How in the world was it possible for so much fluid movement from a real human? You stared, again probably with your mouth open. With each new beat of the song, you could practically feel in your chest the movements of his body, his arms, the expressions on his face that told a story, the way he slowed and closed his eyes and the fast spins as he moved through the room, eventually grabbing the hands of a few of the children to bring them along through the musical journey.

Your eyes widened further and you closed your open mouth when you realized that he was too close to where you stood like a statue at the back of the room, clutching your checkbook and your car keys against your chest for dear life.

His hands released the child he had in his grip and his eyes zeroed in on yours for exactly one second before you felt his warm hand grab yours and you yelped out in genuine shock.

You heard your car keys hit the floor behind you and your legs were moving whether you wanted them to or not.

“Um, I’m not–” you complained through gritted teeth and his own smile widened to near incapacitating levels. How many teeth does this guy have? “–very good at this–” your words were barely audible over the music and the cheering sound from the children who giggled and clapped all around you.

“Dancers! Let’s tell Nari’s mommy what we always say,” His eyes stayed focused on yours as he shouted to the children around the room. You heard a collective inhale before the children all shouted in unison.

”Always try your best!” Their voices echoed around the big empty room and you tried your best not to roll your damn eyes.

He pulled harder at your hand and the force caught you off guard. You stumbled right where he wanted you and you felt your own chest collide against his firm chest before you settled your legs and found yourself in a semi-embrace with the man, his body heat actually noticeable through the thin t shirt you wore with his very name written on it. An arm wrapped loosely around your waist and the tips of his fingertips applying just enough pressure against your skin to tell you exactly where you should move.

The man must be made entirely of magic, because your legs moved to the beat of the song and you didn’t step on his feet once.

He pulled away from you with a grin on his lips and you saw him popping his shoulders sexily before he leaned in and whispered a command to you.

“You do it,” he said lowly and when he pulled away again you felt the light touch of his fingertips along your hip.

What choice did you have? You popped your shoulders, giving a little shake to the beat of the song and the man bit down on his lip lightly, giving you possibly the most inappropriate look you had ever received from a member of the opposite sex in your entire life. And it happened in front of your daughter and all of her friends.

“Yeah,” he said in victory and then he winked at you and you were done. The exasperated scoff that left your chest was the anthem of your doneness.

Your smile was wide, but in your chest you felt the undeniable, and completely inappropriate direction your thoughts wanted to take.

Luckily the song was over and the children rushed to the center of the dance floor for the actual start of the lesson.

You felt like you might just collapse as you meandered your way through tiny bodies back to your spot at the back of the room. You bent to collect the things he had simply tossed away in favor of the dance and when you stood you could feel something…or someone. Whatever it was it felt exactly like you were being watched. You spun and were greeted only with the back of the man. His broad shoulders connected to lifted arms and he bowed deeply to the room of attentive students as he began his lesson.

Today was one of the few days that you didn’t have to rush off to work after dropping Nari off at dance and you decided with the class nearly halfway through you could simply wait it out and sit in on the class. It was obvious that Jongin–uhh Mr. Kim didn’t mind having you in the room and every now and then you would meet his eye from somewhere across the room as he straightened an arm, or corrected a toe point, or lifted a chin.

Each time it happened he would smile a tiny smile and quickly return to the class and by the end of the class you must have let your guard down a bit too much because how long had you actually been staring at his face as he moved around the room now? You felt as if you had been pulled into a trance and when he clapped his hands to pull everyone’s attention to him once more you snapped to attention and straightened your posture.

The bench you had been sitting on made your ass feel a bit numb and you rose to your feet to stretch a bit.

“Okay one more song. What should we dance to?” He was speaking and you could see how much calmer everyone in the room was. Perhaps they were finally free of all of the excess energy that kids had. You knew Nari always slept like a log on the days when she had dance class.

“Dance with Nari’s mommy again!” A tiny voice from the back shouted and Mr. Kim turned his head in the direction of the voice.

“With Nari’s mommy?” He said with a slight upward inflection to his voice that wasn’t there before. He pivoted his torso to look back at you with a mischievous smile on his face. The group gave their approval.

“Is Nari’s mommy a good dancer?” He said and the the kids giggled and cheered as he made his way with a little skip in his step toward where you stood with your damn keys and checkbook still in your hands.

This time, you gave in to the urge to roll your eyes when he bowed deeply in front of you with his hand outstretched and lifted into the air.

“May I have this dance?” You set your things down on the bench and placed your fingertips into the palm of his outstretched hand, ignoring the high pitched giggles you heard from the room at your agreement.

He placed a hand inside his pocket and you saw a remote that he aimed at the stereo in the room and you felt the warmth of his living body when he leaned in to whisper into your ear.

“Don’t worry. You’ll only be mine for two minutes and fifty-three seconds.”

It was a short song. You sighed as you stepped into him, a strange mix of relief that the song was so short and regret that the song was so short hitting you at the same time and the first notes of Stevie Wonder’s My Cherie Amour(3) began to play overhead.

“Not enough time to fall in love then.” You whispered mostly to yourself, taken aback that you would dare say such a thing out loud with a complete stranger so close to you.

He didn’t respond and you hoped he hadn’t heard you.

This song was much slower than the first song you danced to and he mostly lead you around, pausing to spin you at certain moments in the song. After each spin or dip you felt his arms constrict as he pulled you in closer again, closer and closer and by the end of the song you could feel the thumping of his heartbeat against your chest. Your own breathing was faster, despite the casual slow dance that required very little effort at all.

His hand which splayed out over your back, high up between your shoulder blades had been slipping and when you looked up into his face you could see the strange focus he had while he danced.

His face was expressive, expertly showing the emotions of the songs and this, very obviously a love song seemed to pull the emotions to the surface as he held the eye contact with you. You looked down at his mouth when you caught movement and noticed that he was mouthing the words with his focus on your face.

And the hips. This song was about the hips and he made you sway yours along with his and soon the song was winding down and fading away, leaving you with your hips still pressed up against his own when the music stopped and the silence took over the room.

His eyes were still on yours and your heartbeat pounded noisily inside your ears. Nearly too loudly for you to catch his next words but the quiet whisper you heard against your ear was just loud enough for you to make out.

“That was plenty of time.”

The kids were clapping and jumping in excitement around you and you felt his arms release their hold they once held so strongly.

The class was over now and the energy seemed to return to the group as they chatted and laughed with each other and left one by one as parents arrived to retrieve them.

Nari pulled the arm of a little girl, the same one you remember arriving with a burst of movement through the door and she looked into your eyes with hopeful excitement.

“Mommy can Nina have dinner with us at our house?”

Two sets of big brown begging eyes looked up at you, as cute and as sweet as could be.

“What does Nina’s daddy say?” A throat cleared behind you and you turned to catch the big brown eyes or Mr. Kim.

“Nina’s daddy says not tonight, but maybe next time.”

You were familiar with this sort of answer. It was the hopeful promise of next time to stave off a tantrum and both girls frowned dramatically at being turned down. Honestly you frowned as well, only, because you were an adult and used to disappointment, yours was well concealed behind a flat hand that rested over your mouth as you looked away from him.

“But Daddy,” Nina was complaining, “you said that the last time.”

When you turned to face them you were surprised to see him watching you with some unreadable expression on his face, seemingly oblivious that hand was being pulled and shook as the girl complained noisily.

What was he doing? Why was he wavering? Didn’t he know that the first rule of parenting was holding your ground? If he gave in to her begging now she would only learn that begging works if she does it well enough and for a long enough time, she will win.

You widened your eyes at the man and shook your head in question.

He stared at your face, deep in his own thoughts for a half a second more before he seemed to snap out of it and focus his vision, lifting his eyebrows and looking down at the little girl who was winding down now, giving up the fight and learning to cope with a life full of unavoidable disappointments.

It was a good lesson to learn. She couldn’t always get her way. Nari had given up a few minutes back and was spinning in a circle singing some song you didn’t recognize.

“I always say that,” he whispered suddenly to you and you looked into his face with those same wide eyes as you leaned your head in slightly to hear his small confession, parent to parent.

“Every time she has a friend, she wants to go over and I say ‘maybe next time’ and then we never do it.” He sounded sad as he spoke into your ear and you looked down at the little girl who had linked hands together with Nari as they both spun in a circle, singing the same song together. “W-What if I’m failing as her only parent?”

“She can come for dinner. I really don’t mind. How much does a kid that size eat anyway? Maybe one..two pieces of chicken? It really makes no difference to me.” You shrugged your face and your shoulders and everything else you could possibly shrug in the most casual way humanly possible. Because you were casual right? Super casual. So what if he didn’t take you up on your offer and you went home alone and you ordered double the chicken and ate it all yourself at night after Nari fell asleep, crying into the pile of bones that symbolized your collapsed life.

“Chicken?” He said in an adorable little whine and his eyebrows knitted together above his blinking eyes. “I…love chicken.” He added very quietly to himself and you felt a burst of laughter escape your carefully constructed composure. You coughed to cover it and he looked at you again out of the sides of his eyes with a grumpy pout on his face.

His lips frowned and he lifted his chin defiantly.

“She can’t eat chicken without me. It’s a rule.” The pout on his face was impressive, as was the slight whine you heard in his voice and you laughed again when you caught the tiny tremble at the edges of his lips as a smile struggled to fight through the fit.

You pulled out your phone and opened a new text message, keying in your address quickly you handed the phone over to him and he looked down at it for a few seconds before he realized what was happening.

“But this is my address. Did you just move into the building? A four story walk up next to the park?” His eyes lit up with wonder and you looked into that face with an equally surprised expression.

“Are we neighbors?” He said after a moment of your silence and you let out a surprised laugh that pulled a smile onto his face at the odds.

“What number do you live in?” You finally asked once you found your voice again.

“405,” he said with a smile.

“–unbelievable..” you shook your head. What the hell kind of twist of fate was this? The girls were hugging now, having noticed that the dance studio was completely empty now except for you and Mr. Kim who, it seemed was lost in some thoughts of his own as he stared at you again.

Strangely, it seemed, the staring didn’t really bother you once he’d done it a few times already, this short meeting seemed to bring with it a sort of familiarity with his ways.

“Guess we will see you at home then.” He said softly and you felt a wave of nerves flood over your body with his choice of words. The intimate way he said the word ‘home’ felt terrifying and wonderful all at once.

He really showed up that night. Freshly showered, wearing a button up long sleeve shirt and black slacks, smelling like a goddamn bottle of shaving cream and toothpaste and looking like every late night fantasy you’d ever allowed yourself indulge in.

Nina and Nari disappeared into your daughter’s bedroom, all giggles, singing, dancing, and mischief and you sat down to chicken delivery and cold beer with a real life adult man who could use big words and hold a mature conversation. There wasn’t a single made up song, imaginary friend, or fart joke to be found.

And just like that, a new tradition was born. Mr. Kim and Nina came over after dance practice, and sometimes just because Nina was bored at home and driving him crazy with the songs and you’d find them at your door with some sort of culinary peace offering.

The conversation was usually light, until questions about the past heartbreaks and broken homes began floating around.

When you said “oh you know how it is,” he always knew how it was. And when he said “it’s a long story” you knew just how long. Eventually you grew tired of shaking your head and rolling your eyes with a sheepish smile.

Perhaps it was the cold beer, or the warmth you saw in his eyes when Nari rushed into the room and called him ‘Daddy’ by accident, after listening to Nina talk about the man all evening long.

“Sorry, she gets worked up,” you offered and he just stared at you with those unassuming and unjudging eyes.

“Truth is, she sees her father every other weekend and trust me when I say the man is nothing like you.” Did you detect a little bitterness in your voice? “Although she probably sees his assistant more than him.”

You longed for a change in the subject suddenly, not wanting to get into the painful details of the cheating and the fighting about his money. The last thing you wanted to do was unload all of your baggage on this handsome man with the sweet smile and even sweeter eyes.

Even if he did tend to stare too much.

“What about Nina’s mother? Is she still around?” He had never brought her up, and something about the photos you saw where she was torn out told you that even though the subject may be touchy, she probably didn’t leave this earth in any way that made him want to remember her. In fact, you were pretty sure she was still alive, with the tales Nina told about her living in a far off country as a ballerina princess.

He looked down.

The man with the never ending deep stare looked down at his half finished beer bottle and you felt like an asshole.

“I’m sor–” “She–” he interrupted your apology and his thumb picked at the label on his bottle, “–she has visitations every weekend. According to our custody agreement. She’s showed up exactly three times in all.”

When he looked back up into your eyes you could see it. The hurt in them was peeking its ugly head up and you reached a hand out to lay over his.

The picking at the label stopped and he looked down at the back of your hand.

“When we got pregnant, I pushed her to keep the baby. I was thrilled with the idea but..” he licked his lips and lifted his bottle with the other hand for a drink.

“I mean, I get it. It wasn’t my body. She was a dancer and having a child would ruin her, she said. It was selfish of me–” his hand was trembling and you reached your other hand forward to hold it still.

“She resented me for that and we never recovered. She isn’t in Nina’s life. The few visitations she has actually showed up for, fill me with a sort of mind numbing terror that I can’t quite describe. Seeing my baby walk away with her is like living inside of a nightmare that I can’t wake up from until I have her back.”

You watched his face as he relived the emotions and years of pain he had to endure from his past.

You gave him silence. You could feel his hand within yours as the trembling stopped and he eventually gripped tightly around yours and he came back to life and finished the remains of his beer.

When he finally looked up into your eyes the warmth was returning and he blinked slowly at you. You gave him a tiny smile and blinked slowly at him and he inhaled a deep chest filling breath that took a long time to empty out of his chest.

“Do you want to dance with me?” He said softly and you sat back in your chair and widened your smile.

He pushed back from the table, placed his empty bottle with the group of other empties on your kitchen counter and went to your tv to turn on the speakers there. You saw him swiping through something on his phone and in a second he was connected. When his visits became a regular thing, a big Bluetooth speaker was one of the first things he brought over. He said things like this were as necessary as a refrigerator and a stove to him.

You heard the first notes of a quick funk track(4) playing through your speakers and he began slowly nodding his head to the beat. You pushed back from the table and rose to your feet, quite unsure of what you were supposed to do without his leading, you hung back. The lyrics sang out, preaching about a life that kept on moving despite the various powers against. It was a song about keeping on and you couldn’t help but admire the symbolism in both your life and his.

His shoulders moved, his hips, of course those hips swung with a sort of disconnect from the rest of him and his hands hung limply in between parted legs. When his hands moved their direction was anything but a childish dance he did around his kids, this was definitely something you hadn’t quite expected from him when he said he wanted to dance.

His sense of the beat was impeccable of course, not that you expected anything else from Kim Jongin, but you found yourself watching him in a near hypnotic state.

Maybe you were drunk. When a hand moved closer to that space between his legs you looked up into his face, suddenly aware that you had just watched him grab himself for the sake of the dance and you were shocked to see his that eyes were open and on your face.

You wanted to look away. Everything in your body wanted to turn away but you felt trapped. When he tilted his head back, his eyes rolled up into his head and his lids closed, transforming his expression from one of a sinful predatory look to one that seemed more like pure ecstasy. The wide smile you saw flash across his face made you gasp and you felt hot all of a sudden.

“You said you would dance with me, come here.” His words broke through just over the sound of the music but his hips were swinging and those hands were still running around sinful places.

Did he mean like this? Dance with him like this? Your face must have betrayed your mild panic and you looked behind you to the bedroom where your daughter and her best friend played together in the sweet innocent land of make believe.

When you turned back to look at him, he was much closer than you expected and you felt his hands reach out and grab ahold of your hands and pull.

Your legs moved, stiffly yes, but you gave in pretty easily. When you felt his hands land right on your hips you looked down, trying to find the beat, trying to find the rhythm you knew you should have in your mind somewhere, when you were dancing but his hands were on your hips and sweet lord did he smell good up close.

His palms pushed harder against your hips and you moved sluggishly and stifled a small giggle.

“So stiff,” he said quietly with a smile and you finally gave in, loosening up your joints a bit with the encouraging pressure of his hands.

“Good girl,” he said against your ear. You were pretty sure hyperventilating wasn’t a good dance move. You half wondered if he had ever seen a grown woman faint right in his arms while dancing. Actually, with the way this guy looked, it was probably an everyday occurrence for him. How long was this damn song?

“Look at me while you’re dancing with me,” he said with a tiny tap under your chin.

You lifted your chin and looked into his eyes and instantly regretted it. The sweet warmth of Mr. Kim had vanished long ago and this look was the dance. This look was the drunkenness you saw in him brought on by the song and the motions and the closeness of this makeshift dance floor in the middle of your livingroom and once you were caught by those eyes you knew you had lost whatever flimsy bit of control you believed you had in this situation.

You couldn’t help but dance. He was addicting and he wanted you to dance so you did what he wanted. You gave in to the song, moving along with the beat of the song, feeling every single bit of it in your joints and your bones and in your hips and when your felt his hands leave their controlling perch and travel down the length of your thighs before leaving your skin entirely. You hadn’t realized that you had closed your eyes until you heard a low groan from him that pulled your focus back to his face.

His eyes were hooded and he watched you through heavy breaths puffing out through parted lips. The sight made you bite down on your bottom lip to keep from doing something worse with your mouth. He felt this. You knew he could feel exactly what you were feeling with this dance.

“That’s it, make me crazy,” he said in a low voice and his hands were back, as was the heat of his body against yours. He moved with you, pulling at your legs, making you straddle his thighs and the heat you felt drove you to search for more.

Hot fingertips dug into the flesh of your hip, high enough for your biology teacher to consider it your ass if you were being quite honest and your knee rubbed against something warm and hard between his legs that told you exactly what kind of effect you had on him.

As quickly as it began, the song ended. It was a short song. Why did he always pick the short ones? Why couldn’t you have this hours? Your eyes were closed and you could feel the beating of his heart against your chest. His hands at the small of your back, and on your ass gradually relaxed their grip and you could feel the delicate effects of the spell wearing off as he took tiny a step back and away from you.

You pulled yourself together and took a step back too. Carefully opening your eyes to get a look at his face. He was breathing hard and steady and his eyes were cast down on the floor. His cheeks were pink and his lips parted as he blinked and came back into himself once again.

“Its getting late,” he said after a moment of tense silence.

You nodded your head. He lived literally seconds away and often stayed over later than was probably appropriate for the kind of relationship you two had.

“Nina,” he said in a louder voice, breaking through the noisy laughter you heard coming from your daughter’s room. “It’s time to go home, now.”

This, you had honestly expected. He was always skittish with touching and lingering, despite the attraction you know you felt and you were pretty sure he was feeling too. Now that he had been thoroughly spooked, he was running scared.

And you would let him go. What choice did you have?

“Thank you for the beer,” he said as he gathered his child and stuck his phone into his back pocket. You forced a smile and nodded your head, waving goodbye to Nina who smiled widely by his side.

He held her hand tightly and you noticed she squirmed in his grip until she broke free and in a flash of motion she ran up to you and wrapped her arms tightly around your waist.

“Oh,” you said in surprise and quickly squatted down so you could return the hug tightly. You felt her turn her head and place a tiny kiss against your cheek and your eyes widened as you looked up into Jongin’s eyes when it happened.

“Come on Nina. Let’s go. It’s late.” He said in voice that sounded much too serious for a small kiss goodbye and you tried your best not to feel the sting against your heart as your front door slammed shut and the sound echoed around your now empty living room.

Hips : Part 1, Part 2

[thatbangtanbloom]

Bound|| pjm v. jjk [5]

Bound

The Prologue | 1 | 2 | 3| 4|5

Characters: Jungkook x Reader x Jimin

Categories: Angst, Fluff

AU(s): Soulmate!AUBased loosely off of this soulmate au prompt and BTS’ Perfect Man Cover:

Where for whatever reason, your clock is stuck/frozen/it’s not counting down anymore but it hasn’t reached 00:00:00:00 yet and you’re freaking out because this hasn’t happened to anyone before.

Word Count:1,806

Sypnosis: All your life, Park Jimin has been by your side and secretly had your name adorning his arm. Ideally, you would share the same fate until you find out that you’re destined to be someone else’s; Jeon Jungkook.

♡ ◇ ♡ ♡ ◇ ♡ ♡ ◇ ♡       Soft sheets entangle Jungkook's limbs. Jungkook tiredly pushes away the white duvet that encompasses his legs. His gentle brown eyes soften at the sight of you cradled in bed, the slightest hint of a frown pressing into your forehead as you shiver. His breath hitches at how easy it would be to simply kiss away the frown and pull you into his arms so that he would never let you go. The idea brings a grin to his lips and he finds himself enthralled at it. 

    The sound of a small cough catches Jungkook's attention and he is taken out of his daze as he leans over the bed. He watches as you subconsciously pull the cover closer to you. Discomfort seethes through him.  He feels suddenly like his throat is too dry for words. He has to comfort you. 

   Jungkook scrambles off of the floor and into your bed as gently as he can, but he fails miserably in his haste. His face contorts to a worried look at the idea of waking you because he knows how necessary your sleep is. Subconsciously his eyes avert their gaze from the troubling frown on your forehead to your lips. 

  "Are you looking for something?" Your voice sounds rigid and unwelcoming, but Jungkook doesn't mind. Any words directed to him from you is rewarding. "I'm trying to sleep." You joke softly before a stream of coughs escape you. Jungkook freezes up in surprise. Whenever you were sick or coughed, most times Jimin would be there to fend Jungkook away from you and coddle you. As much as Jungkook wants to do that (now more than ever considering that he actually knows what it feels like to hold you), something restricts him. 

"Jungkook?" The simple call of his name from you makes his cheek flush pink immediately.

"Yeah?" He scratches the back of his neck awkwardly. He twiddles his thumbs. He averts his eyes from your own. His shyness is peaking. 

You smile softly at his shy actions. "You don't have to stay here with me." 

Ever since the argument between Jimin, Jungkook, and you, Jungkook has silently sworn himself to never leave your side. Your heart swells at how ardently he cares, but it also upsets you to think that he's missing out on life because of you - to think that he lives his life in the same bubble that you do. "Someone has to take care of you," Jungkook states with pouted lips. "Jimin works all day and it's summer. I don't have anywhere to be but by your side." Your cheeks redden at the boy's words and you dip your head further into the covers of your bed. The nineteen-year-old raises his brow at you, leaning closer to you in efforts to follow. "Jungkook, shut up." 

"Do you like it when I say mushy stuff like that?" Jungkook playfully teases as he gains the courage to move closer to you on the bed. Suddenly, you feel like your blanket fortress will not hold strong against Jeon Jungkook. "I know you like it when Jimin-hyung says it." 

"It only works if you're sincere." You croak out from under the covers. You cough once more under the covers and Jungkook notices - just like he always does. Yet, he says nothing. 

Through your little blanket fortress, you eye Jungkook in his signature white shirt with black basketball shorts. His eyebrows wiggling suggestively in your direction in efforts to make you laugh. The melodious sound that once bounced off the walls of Jimin, Jungkook (yes, he had convinced Jimin to let him stay) and your apartment had been replaced with muffled coughs. He successfully does as something remotely sounding like a giggle escapes his lips. 

"I like it when you laugh." He suddenly says while leaning his cheek against his right hand. If it were possible, his pupils would be replaced with cartoons. The way that he looks at you makes you want to retreat deeper into your fortress but you can not move unless you want to block him out of your sight and despite how much you should, you find yourself still allowing your orbs to dart back into his. "It's really soft at first but then, aish, it gets so loud. It's so adorable."

You roll your eyes at him before yawning for the umpteenth time in your conversation. The repeated action does not go unnoticed. "Are you tired?" "I am." He retreats under the sheets beside you. A part of him dares himself to itch closer to you but the fear of rejection is too great for him to bear. "But never too tired for you." The ravenette leans closer, his dark orbs train on your own in content. You laugh softly at his words, causing the boy to shake his head at your response. "I mean that." 

His sudden mood change makes you swallow hard. "I know, Jungkook." "No, I don't think you do." The nineteen-year-old rasps as he moves closer. "It worries me so much, how you're here but also aren't." He timidly leans his hand out to stroke your cheek. A thousand waves crash within you at his touch and you feel like you can breathe for the first time since your soulmate clock had worn out. He opens his mouth to speak, but falls short of saying anything. "I just want you to be healthy... I don't want to have to worry about you anymore." 

"Jungkook," your voice cracks. "I-I love Jimin." 

Your words has the boy shutting his eyes in pain. "Don't think of anything," Pain laces each syllable that escapes him. "Don't say anything, not a single word." His hand, though calloused, gently cups the apple of your cheek. "I don't care about that... I'm okay. I just want you." His voice cracks. 

"You deserve better than this, Jungkook." You murmur quietly while squeezing his hand, as though to coax him, but it only makes him feel worse.

A dew jewel escapes his eyes and he swallows hard. "There's nothing better than you. I'm meant for you." He swallows hard. "You're just so perfect that it makes me scared that you're going to leave me... Will you promise me that you won't leave?" 

The obvious answer is that you won't because the honest to god truth is that the thought never crossed your mind. Seeing Jungkook, the boy who usually boasted with confidence and oozed the epitome of contentment so fragile, so vulnerable, it cripples you to your core. 

"I promise that I won't leave." You lean closer to him. He quickly embraces you, as if to shield you from the rest of the cold, broken world and kisses your forehead. "You should sleep, Jungkook... I can't continue to let you go on like this." 

"I don't need sleep." You gingerly part the fringe in hair before rubbing away the small indentation of a frown in his forehead. Jungkook wilts under your touch. His claim is faulty and the both of you know it. It is only a mere implication of Jungkook's worry of you not being there when he wakes up. Jungkook nods at your silence. He knows better than to push you. As much as he knows of the flower garden that has bloomed within you for Jimin, there is also the single rose that has begun to manifest in the same place. 

It is heart shattering that you do not keep your promise. 

With a romantic haste, Jimin runs out of class the second he hears Jungkook's frantic voice on the other line. The broken timbre of the younger's voice immediately has the amber-haired boy grabbing his laptop and racing out to his car quicker than he can manage. 

"Jungkook!" The older boy cries as he races into the waiting room of the hospital. His hands tremble and tear-stained cheeks adorn his face. The natural light in the boy's eyes is gone as he stares at Jungkook who sits rigidly on the chair. "Y/N? Where is she? What happened?" 

Jungkook's head falls into his hands. "Sh-she's been coughing so much lately. I-i was just talking to her," He twiddles his thumbs. His lungs burn and he can barely breathe. He wheezes once, twice, three times. 

Jimin's heart breaks into a million pieces at the sight of your lifeless body on the hospital bed. "I'll be there to see you." He whimpers as he races to your side, his entire body tremors. "I won't let you leave me like this. I-I-I can't." He chokes out the words.

"I'll come to get you, I promise. Just stay a little longer." Jungkook stammers over his own words that he speaks to you, his hand squeezing yours. His white shirt is stained with tears. He lays his head on your stomach - his tears now soak the bed sheets.

Jimin's entire body trembles as he stares at your lifeless body. Realization hits him like an avalanche. He swallows hard, involuntary jerks escape him. "J-Jungkook-" he stammers.

And for a split second, both of their eyes meet. Their breaths hitch at the prospect of being united in sadness for the one, perfect being that brought them happiness. 

"Yes, hyung?" Jungkook's vision blurs as he glances over at the older boy. Jimin takes in a deep breath. "I-If she wakes up - if she doesn't die," He pulls his hand roughly from yours. He coughs - the condition of his soulmate, - you -, wears on him. "-and she wakes up-- you love her, okay?" 

"What?" Jungkook's eyes widen at his words. Even if he had been your soulmate, he knew all too well your love for Jimin. He knew that you were all too aware of the consequences of loving him and decided against it head on. Jimin ignores the boy's confusion. "You love her, okay? Promise me that you'll love her just as much as I do. Promise me that you won't let anything in this world harm her." Jimin's heart rattles against his rib cage as he says this, "Make her happier than I ever did. No-" He cuts himself off. He only speaks in choppy sentences as he stands up. "-make her forget I ever existed. I know what she'll say but whatever you do, make her love you." 

And in that moment, Jungkook saw the boy that you fell in love with. He saw Jimin as the boy who held all your broken pieces together and mended them. He saw the darling boy that you liked in first grade, loved in seventh, and gave away your happiness in twelfth, and would willingly die for now. 

Jungkook could see the adoration in Jimin's eyes whenever he heard any mention of you - let alone when he was around you. It crippled him to his core to see someone see you in the same, unadulteratedly beautiful way that was meant to be sacred to him, and him alone, but nevertheless, he nodded wordlessly to Jimin; otherwise acknowledging that he would keep his promise.

♡ ◇ ♡ ♡ ◇ ♡ ♡ ◇ ♡

This is not the end!  Also, sorry for the long wait! Feel free to send feedback or reactions. x

[linzihong]

FIC: Follow The Trail [Completed] by confused_duck

Ship: Xiao Jingyan & Mei Changsu AU: Werewolf

Words: 9,187 // Chapters: 5

Summary: The Xiao family has a secret: they come from a line of werewolves. To protect the dignity of the imperial family, only members of the Xiao family know about this. Needless to say, Xiao Jingyan is also a werewolf and has the perks that come with being one.

Read on AO3 at http://archiveofourown.org/works/8243875 OR read below:

1.

Xiao Jingyan is confused.

He looks at the man in front of him up and down -- the man who claims to be a Mei Changsu, who claims to be the most powerful man in the pugilist world, who wears a completely unfamiliar face.

Yet he smells… Exactly like Lin Shu.

2.

There are two secrets that Xiao Jingyan never told Lin Shu.

3.

Xiao Jingyan was born a normal and adorable baby. He had chubby arms and cheeks because his mother was a physician and his aunt, Imperial Consort Chen, made sure no harm was done to Jingyan. Jingyan grew to be a quiet child, and playing in his mother’s garden of herbs everyday was his greatest joy.

But one day, just when he turned five, he transformed into a wolf with dark gray fur and a snowy white belly. When his mother found him, he was rolling on his back with his little paw sticking out, waving at a butterfly.

Next thing Jingyan knew, he was transferred to a hidden court temporarily with his mother. The norm for Great Liang’s royal family is this: whenever a prince or princess has their first transformation at around age five, they will be transferred to the Manjing Court with their mother to learn to control their lycanthropy. After generations of dealing with werewolves, the court has expanded so much so that there are specific physicians for young royals dealing with their inhuman side.

Thanks to Xiao Xuan killing most of his brothers in his ascension to the throne, Jingyan was the only prince in the court during his period of training. Although Concubine Jing wouldn’t tell anyone, she actually enjoyed taking care of the small puppy Jingyan much more than the human Jingyan, mostly because puppy Jingyan would curl up on her lap at night when she told him bedtime stories of her adventures before entering the court. He would wag his tail, and she would pet his soft and furry head.

Jingyan was only in Manjing Court for 18 months. He beat Xiao Jingyu by 2 months, but he was released 6 and 10 months earlier than Xiao Jinghuan and Xiao Jingxuan, respectively.

It was when Jingyan was six-and-a-half years old that he started remembering playing with his flamboyant little cousin, the then four-year-old Lin Shu.

*Princes are more likely to be born lycanthropes. Although it is a dominant gene, it is more likely to show up in the biology of male heirs.

*Manjing Court (曼菁宮): different characters for 蔓茎, literally Vine Stem

4.

“Jingyan-gege!” Lin Shu pulled at Jingyan’s sleeve.

“What is it?” Jingyan patiently asked, turning to Xiao-Shu.

Lin Shu pouted. “Where did Auntie Jing go?”

Jingyan thought back to the months he spent in Manjing Court with his mother in solitude, and forgot to answer Lin Shu’s question for a moment.

“Jingyan-gege!” Lin Shu shouted, and swung Jingyan’s arm left and right to get his attention. “Where did Auntie Jing go!”

“I am right here.” Concubine Jing saved Jingyan, and lifted Lin Shu onto her lap from the floor. Jingyan looked awkwardly at his mother.. He didn’t like lying, but his mother told him repeatedly that he could not tell anyone about him being part wolf.

Lin Shu threw his arms up. “But you weren’t here the last time I came! Or the last time! Or the last time!” Xiao-Shu went on and on, but Concubine Jing and Imperial Consort Chen only laughed as the toddler threw a fit.

“Here,” Imperial Consort Chen extended her arm with a treat, “Does Xiao-Shu want a biscuit? Your Auntie Jing made them just for you.”

“Jingyan,” Xiao Jingyu called from the other side of the room, “Come here.”

Jingyan obediently left the scene of his mom and aunt affectionately feeding Lin Shu and walked up to his brother with his head down.

“What’s wrong?” Jingyu asked when his little brother didn’t look up at him. Little Jingyan kept looking down at his little clenched fists, and Jingyu bribed the child to look up with a piece of hazelnut biscuit. “Want one?”

Jingyan nodded, and thanked his brother before taking it from his hand.

Jingyu kneeled down from his chair to look at Jingyan. “What’s wrong?”

“Brother…” Jingyan hesitantly said as he chewed on the biscuit, “I don’t want to lie…”

“About the lycanthrophy?”

“Yes!” Jingyan exclaimed, happy that somebody finally understood him. “Mother said I should never lie, but she also said I should never tell anyone about being part wolf. How can I do both?”

“Well…” Jingyu patted Jingyan’s head and smiled, “Who said keeping a secret requires lying?”

“Brother means…” Jingyan gave his older brother a confused look.

“Don’t do anything suspicious, and nobody will ever question you. If nobody questions you, then you won’t ever have to lie about it.” Jingyu smiled at his little brother.

After a moment of thought, Jingyan nodded in agreement and smiled back. Just when he proceeded to continue eating his biscuit, Lin Shu came up behind him.

“Jingyan-gege! Jingyu-gege! What are you guys talking about!”

Jingyan panicked when he saw Lin Shu, and replied, “Nothing! We were just eating!”

“What are you eating?” Lin Shu asked, and his eyes glowed with curiosity.

Xiao Jingyu sat back in his chair to enjoy his osmanthus cakes and watched the two.

“Hazelnut biscuit,” Jingyan explained, and pointed at his half-eaten biscuit to reiterate. “It’s the most delicious snack. Do you want to try?”

Xiao-Shu’s mouth opened slightly in wonder. “Yes!”

5.

That night, Concubine Jing watched her son sit at the doorsteps of her Zhiluo Court wagging his tail and worrying about Lin Shu.

Jingyan kept replaying the image of Lin Shu’s face turning red and falling on the ground as he breathed heavily.

“Gege is allergic to hazelnuts. Xiao-Shu must be too.” Imperial Consort Chen explained when Concubine Jing felt Xiao-Shu’s arm for a pulse and Grand Princess Jinyang ran her fingers through her son’s hair as she a few drops of tears ran down her cheeks.

“I’m sorry,” Jingyan kept repeating under his breath. Tears swelled in his eyes as he watched everyone rush to Lin Shu’s side.

After Jingyu escorted the Grand Princess and Lin Shu home, Imperial Consort Chen comforted Jingyan when Concubine Jing went to explain the situation to an imperial doctor that would follow the princess to the Lin manor. “Jingyan, it isn’t your fault. You didn’t know.”

“It was my fault,” Jingyan told himself repeatedly that night as he stared at the moon.

“From now on, I will treat Lin Shu better than anyone and everyone. I owe it to him,” Jingyan swore.

-----

6.

Xiao Jingyan charged at Lin Shu, but the other boy was not going to let his opponent take him down so easy. After all, it was only the first move of their first match, and the red scarf was still in the air.

Jingyan lunged a punch towards Lin Shu’s abdomen, but both of them knew Lin Shu would dodge it with ease. Lin Shu shifted to his right a bit, and threw a weak punch on Jingyan’s left shoulder. The two stepped back to look at each other for a moment before jumping back in.

Instead of going for the boy, Jingyan jumped up and tried to grab at the scarf. Unfortunately, Lin Shu made it just in time to drag Jingyan down by the waist and pushed him onto the ground. Jingyan closed his feet around Lin Shu’s ankles, and pulled the boy down before he could even jump.

Jingyan pushed himself up and looked into the other boy’s eyes. They were practically face-to-face. The two watched each other’s movements tentatively, and before Jingyan sensed Lin Shu’s movements, he saw the other boy grin.

Next thing Jingyan knew, Lin Shu had put his hands on Jingyan’s shoulders and lifted himself up. Jingyan’s body responded before his brain did and he hit Lin Shu’s chest with his head and put the other boy flat on the ground.

Jingyan only looked up when he heard Xiao-Shu laughing triumphantly.

“Jingyan, I still got the scarf,” the other boy said amidst his laughter, “You lost to me again.”

Jingyan felt the rhythm of Lin Shu’s breath under him, and it was the first time Jingyan realized how good Lin Shu smells. He smelled like a combination of a fresh spring and leaves with morning dew, Xiao Jingyan knew that, but at that moment, Lin Shu also smelled like the beginning of a brand new day.

As Lin Shu continued to laugh and catch his breath, Jingyan just wanted to bury his face in Lin Shu’s chest and soak the scent in. Sadly, Lin Shu caught him.

“Jingyan, stop taking advantage of me. You have to go to Donghai some time today, you know.” Lin Shu lightly pushed at Jingyan’s shoulder, but had no intention of forcing the other boy up at all.

“I know,” Jingyan answered, and pushed himself up before giving Lin Shu a hand.

“Hey, you should bring me something from Donghai so you won’t forget me,” Lin Shu suggested as he got up with Jingyan’s help.

“What do you want?” Jingyan asked.

Xiao-Shu patted down his sleeves and shoved the scarf into his shirt. “Not sure yet, but I’ll come up with something before you leave.”

7.

Jingyan opened his drawer and pulled out the pearl he had promised Lin Shu.

He stroked the smooth surface. When he found the pearl, it was jagged at some edges, but it was the biggest pearl of the batch, so he found a local pearl farmer to round off the edges for him. He had to make sure the pearl was perfect for the young marshall.

“I will tell him everything when I give him the pearl,” Jingyan swore to himself. What I am and how I feel.

Except it didn’t matter what he swore when he came back to Jinling. The young marshall had perished, as did his army and his family. As did Jingyan’s family. In just a few months, Jingyan lost all but one person that he loved. Those that died could never come back, and those that were left behind had no choice but to distant themselves from the tragedy. It seemed everything had already fallen apart by the time Jingyan came home, and he was left to pick up the pieces of his shattered heart alone. The blood had dried up, and everyone had moved on.

Three years after Meiling, when Jingyan was finally forced to marry, he realized how much he wished the girl wearing the red drapes and swearing to the heavens that she will be with him forever was Lin Shu.

Except it was too late.

If Xiao-Shu is alive, he would’ve came back to me by now, Jingyan thought to himself. He closed the box with the pearl neatly wrapped in a red scarf, and placed it back in his drawer.

8.

“I choose you, Prince Jing,” Mei Changsu declares.

Xiao Jingyan does not respond, and Mei Changsu’s calm look falters for one moment in wonder of what the prince can possibly be hesitating about.

“Prince Jing?” Mei Changsu quietly says after an extended pause on Xiao Jingyan’s side.

“Yes?” Mei Changsu is slightly taken aback by Jingyan’s sudden respond, but he collects himself too quickly for Jingyan to notice a difference. “Mister Su was saying?”

“I was saying, since the Crowned…” Before Mei Changsu finishes his sentence, Prince Jing has already wandered to further thoughts.

How did I not notice him before? Must be all the scent mixed together, what with Nihuang and Tingsheng and the other eunuch boy. But how is it possible that he smells exactly like Xiao-Shu?

“So I choose you, Prince Jing,” Mei Changsu repeats. This time, he looks at Xiao Jingyan expectantly.

Jingyan laughs. He means to laugh at himself for thinking that Mei Changsu can be Lin Shu, but seeing Mei Changsu’s expectant look, he can only force himself to follow along in the conversation. “Why me? What is a neglected prince going to do for you?”

As Mei Changsu go on about fame and glory, Jingyan’s train of thought goes back to the other man’s identity. Maybe if I get a closer sniff…

Jingyan subtly walks two steps closer to Mei Changsu. “Since mister Su in interested, then so be it, but it won’t be my fault if things don’t go as you wish.” Jingyan has lost track of what he was saying and what the other man had said. He just hopes Mei Changsu doesn’t realize his odd behavior, but it is very unlikely that he didn’t, since Mei Changsu then bows to Prince Jing and excuses himself.

When Mei Changsu walks toward the door, Jingyan catches a whiff of the man, and the scent is undoubtedly Lin Shu.

9.

“Mother,” Jingyan begins to say as he transforms into a wolf. Concubine Jing has ordered the servants away, and it is just the two of them in her court now. “I’ve decided to join the race to succeed the throne.” Jingyan curls his legs and places his head on his mother’s lap. Concubine Jing starts to pet him, and his ears shake as he gets used to the touch.

Concubine Jing sighs, as if knowing all along that this was inevitable.

“There is one more thing,” Jingyan’s tail wags nervously, “Do you think that Xiao-Shu may still be alive?”

Concubine Jing is taken aback by the question. No one found Lin Shu’s body, at least not technically. Afterall, no one can know for sure who is who when there are seventy thousand burnt bodies in identical armor, especially when no one has bothered to look. Every one of the brave soldiers who once fought for the country were buried in a mass grave with no honor to their name, but they were labelled with the worst crime instead.

“Why do you ask?” Concubine Jing asks after a moment of silence.

“I-” Jingyan hesitates, and wags his tail even quicker, “I think I saw him today.”

“Saw him?” Concubine Jing knows that his son cannot possibly be so thick that he won’t recognize Lin Shu if he did see him.

“I mean, I smelled him,” Jingyan explains. “This man, Mei Changsu, came to me today and offered to aid me in my fight for the succession, but he smelled exactly like Xiao-Shu. Yet he looks nothing like Xiao-Shu.” Jingyan turns to look at his mother. “Xiao-Shu has the prettiest eyes that looked like stars, but Mei Changsu’s eyes are so cold that they can cut through stone.”

“Perhaps you’ve mistaken,” Concubine Jing reasons, but even she herself doesn’t believe such a thing can happen. Wolves may forget or mistake a scent, but not when it comes to the ones they love, especially not Jingyan.

“But how can two different people smell so alike?” Jingyan begins to tear up, and his paws are shifting uneasily against Concubine Jing’s leg.

Concubine Jing stays silent, not knowing what to say. She only responds by stroking his fur.

“Mother.” Jingyan turns his head back onto his mother’s lap and closes his eyes. “I miss Xiao-Shu,” he mutters as he nudges his mother’s stomach with the back of his head, as if he is finding the perfect spot to fall asleep.

10.

Xiao Jingyan has made it his mission to find out who Mei Changsu is, even if Mei Changsu is making it hard for him. It has been months since the two has been working together, and weeks since the underground path has been built, but Xiao Jingyan still hasn’t gathered enough information to make a decision about the man’s identity, especially when his sense of smell has been leaving him lately.

“Has mister Su heard of Chiyan army’s young marshall Lin Shu?” Jingyan asks one afternoon.

“I have heard of him,” Mei Changsu answers calmly.

In a warm room, Jingyan can usually smell everything, from people to plants. Now, only his ears aid him in identifying how many pages Mei Changsu has turned in his book. “He and I used to be best friends,” Jingyan says as he reads the scrolls, hiding the glances he takes at Mei Changsu.

The other man simply nods, and continues reading the scrolls, not paying Xiao Jingyan any particular attention.

“I think he is back,” Jingyan comments as if it is none of his business. He lowers his scroll and his head to try to avoid giving away anything with his expression.

Unfortunately, he also misses Mei Changsu looking up at him ever so slightly. Hiding his astonishment, Mei Changsu says, “Hasn’t young marshall Lin… passed away?”

“I think he is back in Jinling.” Jingyan continues to avoid eye contact with Mei Changsu.

Mei Changsu has no other choice but to look back at his scroll defeatedly. “Your Highness may have mistaken.”

“If Xiao-Shu is really back in Jinling, I will find him,” Jingyan declares.

Mei Changsu then proceeds to tell Jingyan why looking for a criminal that committed treason is a sure way to anger his father, but Jingyan only laments about another failed attempt to confirm Mei Changsu’s relation to Lin Shu.

------

11.

Consort Jing has been avoiding her son lately.

Ever since Jingyan has told her he smelled Lin Shu on Mei Changsu, she has known Mei Changsu’s identity. Jingyan may have doubts about his scent, but Consort Jing knows that a wolf can never mistake their one. Since then, she has made sure to deter Jingyan’s attention from equating Mei Changsu with Lin Shu. There has been many thoughtful afternoons when Consort Jing has had to tell her son blatant lies so he can steer clear of the truth.

Consort Jing has concluded that if Xiao-Shu does not want Jingyan to know the truth, then it is best if Jingyan does not know the truth, but it wasn’t until she figured the truth out for herself that she decided to help Xiao-Shu.

One quiet night, when she was told that the emperor has decided to spend the night at Zhaoren Court, she sewed under the dim candlelight and thought of all the possibilities why Xiao-Shu would push Jingyan away. When she finished the last petal of the plum blossom, she remembered an old medical miracle her mentor once told her.

“Animals are the most miraculous of remedies. Take the worms off the cliff of Meiling, for example. Those little things just eat at your skin and leave all their poison in you, but in the end, you would realize that they are the reason you are alive, even if you are cover in white hairs the next morning…”

When the sun came up, Consort Jing ordered a servant girl to find her a lot of Setaria viridis. It was said that the juice of the plant could dull one’s sense of smell.

Consort Jing sighs as she watches the flames of the oven dance. The smell of chrysanthemum begins to take over the scent of the grassy herb.

Author’s note: Setaria viridis does not actually dull human or werewolf senses and is likely that they are not edible. Please do not feed them to your son so he can’t smell his soulmate. Thank you.

12.

“I don’t know why, but Jingyan has been talking about Lin Shu so often lately.”

“Maybe he found out.” The other man fans himself as he mindlessly eats one pastry after another.

“That is impossible. Nothing I have done could have led him to that conclusion.”

“Maybe you left a trail.”

“He cannot possibly know anything that happened in the Langya Hall or in the Jiangzuo Alliance over the years.”

“Maybe his heart is connected to yours.”

Mei Changsu hesitates. “Lin Chen, stop eating the pastries that Auntie Jing made me.”

13.

Soon after Xie Yu has been banished, Lin Chen sends Mei Changsu a pigeon with a bamboo tube labelled “Gift.”

The letter explains the ancient rumor that one of the great kingdoms has a ruling family that is half-man and half-beast, and according to legends, those of half-beast descent will transform into their true form when caught off guard.

Five nights later, Mei Changsu orders Li Gang and Zhen Ping to fill the secret room with non-poisonous snakes.

14.

Jingyan has hated snakes since he was little.

When he was three, he was playing in the Zhiluo Court garden when a snake suddenly coiled around his arm. At the time, Imperial Consort Chen caught the flu and his mother was busy taking care of her and did not have time to tend to her gardens. The servant girls did water the plants as they were ordered, but they did not weed or look out for potentially harmful animals hiding behind the bushes.

Anyway, when Concubine Jing did find her son, he was already in tears with the snake hissing painfully next to the young prince, lying immobile save for some sporadic twitches. Concubine Jing did not know if the snake scared her son more or the other way around, but one thing she knew for certain was that her son would not go near a snake or a place that may have a snake, ever since then.

But as usual, Jingyan’s little quirks made their way to Lin Shu’s ears through the network of mothers inside and outside the palace.

15.

Mei Changsu rings the bell at Prince Jing’s end of the room and finds himself a seat at the table. Although he knows the snakes are harmless, he finds himself restless at the table and picks up a book to help him settle down.

Xiao Jingyan appears in the doorway after a short moment and he naturally seats himself across from Mei Changsu.

“What made mister Su call?” Jingyan tugs at his own sleeve. He knows Mei Changsu would not have called at this hour if it isn’t an emergency, and if Mei Changsu considers it an emergency, it must be some emergency.

Changsu lightly kicks the edge of the table to wake up the snakes. “I wanted to tell Your Highness that I have news of young marshall Lin.”

Jingyan is very confused. “Xiao-Shu?”

“Yes.” Mei Changsu kicks the table harder, seeing that the snakes are unwilling to crawl towards their target. “One of my subordinates has reported a sighting.”

Jingyan squints his eyes at the other man. “And what did your subordinate say?” He is also starting to notice Mei Changsu’s periodic kicks at the table.

“He only reported seeing him, but I have sent some of my men to track him down. I hope that if my men finds young marshall Lin, his return won’t pose a problem for our plan,” Mei Changsu lies. He glances at the floor for a second, and is happy to see that some snakes are making their way towards Xiao Jingyan.

Jingyan, oblivious to the animals making their way to his leg, is stunned by Mei Changsu’s news. “How are you so sure it is Xiao-Shu?”

Mei Changsu begins to pour himself and Prince Jing a cup of tea. It gives Jingyan the impression that Mei Changsu is going to make up a grand story about how his subordinates has seen Lin Shu before, but Mei Changsu just wants to stall some time before the snakes make their way to the prince.

As Changsu opens his mouth to speak, Xiao Jingyan interrupts with a horrified scream. Next thing Mei Changsu knows, the dauntless prince has jumped five feet away to the opposite side of the room and is shooing the snakes away with useless hand gestures.

To Mei Changsu’s disappointment, Xiao Jingyan remains as human-like as ever, but it is amusing to watch Jingyan scream and act so antsy, especially as a grown man.

Stifling a giggle, Changsu calls out, “Li Gang! Zhen Ping!”

The two men comes into the room and bows to their chief, dutifully ignoring Prince Jing’s scene at the other side of the room.

“Take care of the snakes,” Mei Changsu orders.

He quietly sighs as he watches his subordinates chase the snakes away, and has already began planning another test for Xiao Jingyan.

-----

16.

In the dark room, a silhouette patiently waits and silently pours a small cup of a half empty bottle of Dukang wine in the cup opposite from him. In the shadows, the man’s soft breaths is the only sign that he is not a ghost.

Just as Mei Changsu lifts his arm to cover a cough, the secret doorway hidden in Prince Jing’s manor opens and Xiao Jingyan walks in, his robes still cold from the unexpected snow in the spring.

Xiao Jingyan gently sniffs the air as he sits across from Mei Changsu. It has become his habit now to try and smell any reminder of Lin Shu on the man, but nothing. To be honest, Xiao Jingyan’s smell has gotten worse in general. He thinks back to his burned kitchen from a month before, and how shameful it felt to not notice a burning kitchen when nearly all his servants were screaming outside. In his defense, Mei Changsu’s annotated Xiangdi Records is a very interesting read.

Mei Changsu smiles and nods slightly to greet the prince. Jingyan hates that smile -- his lips curls calmly, but his heart has no intention of displaying any affection to the other person. Xiao Jingyan likes his other smile better, the one that the Chief of Jiangzuo only shows in front of Feiliu and Tingsheng. Today, though, his smile does seem to give him a reddish glow. Perhaps it is just the yellow candlelight.

The man gestures at the small porcelain cup in front of Jingyan. “Your Highness must have made a harsh journey. Here, have some wine to warm up your stomach.”

Xiao Jingyan’s eyebrow twitches at the offer, but he graciously accepts and swallows the warmed wine. “Mister Su said there is an emergency?”

Mei Changsu coughs quietly. His throat refuses his efforts to keep the peace and quiet in the room. “Yes. There is something that you must hear.”

Jingyan can’t help but notice that Mei Changsu keeps looking down today. “Is it about Wei Zheng? Or my mother?” Mei Changsu remains silent. “I assumed mister Su knows what is happening since I got the news only after I have almost made my journey back to Jinling.”

“Withholding the news from you was my misjudgement, but you must not act impulsively at this moment.” With Mei Changsu’s every word, he seems as if he can fall into a long slumber right after he says it. That or he has just woken from a long slumber.

“How else can I act at this moment then? My mother is locked up, and so is the last remaining person who may know about what happened to Xiao-Shu.” Xiao Jingyan’s face seems to redden up a bit, but it can’t be from the Dukang, since Mei Changsu knows Jingyan can drink more from a childhood bet.

Remembering that, the sluggish man reaches out to pour the prince another cup of wine. “Your Highness, it is unwise to set yourself up and lose your future over this.” After he has poured the cup full, he folds his hands back onto the iron hand warmer in his lap. He coughs again, this time more uncontrollably.

Even a furious Xiao Jingyan must know something is wrong with his strategist now. “If mister Su does not wish to help, I think it is best for you to get some rest for the night.” Jingyan then turns to leave, almost knocking over the little cup of wine on the table. On his way up the steps to the hidden doorway, he realizes Mei Changsu has not said anything back to his remark.

The prince looks over his shoulder, and sees that the Jiangzuo’s Chief has dozed off in his seat, nodding his head as if he is trying to keep himself awake.

Jingyan remembers when Lin Shu would always nod off when they were studying, and since they always sat next to each other, Lin Shu would somehow end up drooling on Jingyan’s shoulders by the end of the afternoon. After a while, Jingyan started looking forward to these study sessions with Lin Shu -- it was the only time when he could be himself around Lin Shu. Not many people know this, but it takes concentration to hide their wolf traits. After their first transformation, the lycanthropes’ natural form become their human form, a pair of wolf ears, and a long wolf tail. It is learning how to conceal their half-form that takes the royals the longest in the Manjing Court. Whenever Lin Shu starts to breathe steadily against his shoulder, Jingyan would let his ears and tail slip out as he reads the words from the scrolls to the rhythm of the other boy’s breathing. Sometimes, Jingyan would discover that he remembered Lin Shu’s breathing more than the words on the scrolls.

17.

Mei Changsu begins coughing in his sleep, but this time, he does so without waking himself up. Perhaps it is the wine, perhaps it is doctor Yan’s medicine, or perhaps it is the warm fuzzy thing covering him. Either way, Mei Changsu does not want to open his eyes yet.

As Mei Changsu’s coughing calms he shifts into a more comfortable position for his sleep. Xiao Jingyan finds that Changsu has nuzzled his head closer to Jingyan’s neck. Jingyan’s tail awkwardly readjusts itself in Mei Changsu’s lap. Lin Shu used to grab Xiao Jingyan’s sleeve in his sleep, and now Mei Changsu grabs Xiao Jingyan’s tail in his sleep.

When his tail has finally settled as Mei Changsu’s replacement hand warmer, Xiao Jingyan begins to readjust his breathing to match Mei Changsu’s. The prince carefully watches his hands, resting right on Mei Changsu’s lap, rise up and down with the other man’s breath. For a moment, Jingyan is so focused that he forgets how close Changsu’s forehead is to his lips, how his legs are also falling asleep, and how his back is starting to ache.

When he does eventually remember, he just watches the way the most powerful man of the pugilist world sleep. His ears drop, and he watches the man breathe to the rhythm of the candlelight’s dance.

“Jingyan,” Changsu whispers so low that his words are lost after said, “Do my homework for me.”

*Werewolves’ ears drop only when they are completely relaxed.

18.

Jingyan turns his head immediately as the hidden pathway open behind him and Mei Changsu. He hides his ears and tail, and when he takes his tail away, Changsu shifted his in arms from the suddenly lack of warmth.

“Water-” Feiliu points at the scene, and Jingyan hushes him with a finger on his own mouth and gestures the boy to come closer.

The boy does not object, and he begins to hug Mei Changsu into his arms as Xiao Jingyan slides the man off his. Feiliu looks smaller than Mei Changsu, but Mei Changsu is oddly frail and Feiliu is oddly strong, so the two make quite the pair.

Xiao Jingyan gets up, stretches with one hand and hits his own back with the other. As he walks towards the doorway, he remembers that he has to go back to the army -- because “Prince Jing” is still in his tent, contemplating how to train the “lazy and incompetent” troops -- before the next sunrise. He is upset that he has gotten no answer about his mother and Wei Zheng’s status from Mei Changsu, but it seems that the man is too sick to help anyway.

Before he shuts the stone door behind him, he looks at Feiliu and says one last thing. “Feiliu, tell your Su-gege to… That I… Just say that he should rest.”

19.

In some way, Mei Changsu is happy with the results of his experiment. For example, he has confirmed that the Great Liang’s royal descendants are in fact, wolves. However, he is not that happy with the execution of the experiment.

“Didn’t Chief do that to himself?” Li Gang whispers to Zhen Ping the next morning.

“Technically, yes. Actually, definitely yes. But you can’t look at it this way. You see, Chief is very particular about every step of his plans, and he didn’t actually plan to get drunk. But you know, doctor Yan puts things that help him with sleep in his medicine all the time, so you would think he knows not to drink that with alcohol,” Zhen Ping analyzes.

The pair sighs.

Back in his room, Mei Changsu flips through pages of a random book mindlessly. It is less because he has read the book already, but more because he cannot remember anything about that night except a blurred image of Xiao Jingyan and his very, very, very fluffy tail.

Author’s note: “10/10 would touch again.” -- Mei Changsu, actual quote

20.

Xiao Jingyan has had a long couple of days.

He rode back to Jinling at Mei Changsu’s notice three days ago at the break of dawn, ordering Lie Zhanying to stand in as him in his tent. He also ordered every soldier that weren’t directly under him to stay away from his tent, reason being that he is devising a plan for their training. Of course, the soldiers stayed away obediently, what with Prince Jing’s reputation of being a strict military leader.

“It has been two weeks, and Prince Jing is just now reforming our training. He must think we are incompetent,” one soldier whispered to another.

After the night he spent in the secret tunnel, he started riding back just as the sky had started to turn blue. By the time he had gotten back to his camp, it was already nightfall. He changed out of his riding gear and into his light armor to come up with a new training regime for the troops. Thankfully, he had gotten bored on his way back to camp and thought of some innovative ways that may work on these troops.

The next day, he talked to the troops’ leaders at the main tent about the change, and oppositions kept him busy from returning to camp the whole day. The only break Jingyan had was when the marshals went to feast with the soldiers and he nodded off right after he told Zhanying to grab a bite.

That night, Jingyan ate some of the dried food Zhanying put on his table when he was asleep, but he continued to revise the plan and nod off at odd intervals, keeping his mind full of the matter in front of him.

That was how Lie Zhanying found him the next day. Prince Jing was in the exact same place the boy left him the night before: sleeping peacefully with his left fist against his left cheek and his right hand holding a brush. The only evidence of passage of time was the plate of biscuits he left the night before becoming empty.

“Your Highness,” Lie Zhanying whispered. The man did not reply.

“Prince Jing,” he whispered louder. The man stayed still.

“Prince Jing!” Lie Zhanying shouted, and immediately bowed as if nothing happened.

The prince woke up suddenly and looked to his left and right in confusion. He took in the sight of Lie Zhanying bowing to him with half-opened eyes and a red print on his left cheek. “Zhanying? What is it?”

Lie Zhanying nodded. “You should get some rest, Your Highness. You must be tired from all the travel.”

Xiao Jingyan refused, but Lie Zhanying went on persuading the prince to get some proper sleep in his own room, and then practically pushed Jingyan to his own tent.

That is where Xiao Jingyan is now: standing in his tent with light circles under his eyes. Just himself, Xiao Jingyan, the seventh prince, Prince Jing, of Great Liang, standing in his military tent, which is warm, cozy, all is quiet save for some chirping birds, and everything smells like Lin Shu.

Prince Jing walks up to the robes that he threw on his bed the night he got back to the camp -- the robes that Mei Changsu spent a good couple of hours sleeping on -- and brings it up to his chest. He clenches the clothes, and plants his head into it. His wolf ears trembles as he cries into the cloth.

Next thing Lie Zhanying knows, his Prince Jing has thrown him back into the general’s tent and ordered him to hide his absence from the troops again.

“I have something very important to do in Jinling,” Lie Zhanying remembers the prince saying.

-----

21.

Li Gang finally comes back to greet Prince Jing after reporting to his chief that the seventh prince has came to meet with him. The chief of Jiangzuo, who is presumably still fumbling to put on proper robes, has told his subordinate to stall Xiao Jingyan.

“Your Highness, this way please.” Li Gang bows and gestures the prince to follow him.

Xiao Jingyan contemplates whether he should pass Li Gang in their path since the other man is walking so slow, but he decides it would be inappropriate to walk in front of the host.

“But it’s Xiao-Shu’s house,” Jingyan bitterly thinks to himself. He obediently waits for Li Gang to tell Mei Changsu his presence and then steps into the warm room.

Jingyan moves out of Li Gang’s way to let him out the door. When he enters the room, he is overwhelmed with Xiao-Shu’s scent. The sense of smell is heightened in warmer environments, and he wonders how he has missed Xiao-Shu’s smell until now, especially when it is so painfully strong.

“Prince Jing.” Mei Changsu bows to him.

Jingyan pauses. “Mister Su,” he replies and bows back.

“Pardon me for being straightforward, but why did you return?” Mei Changsu asks.

Jingyan pauses for an uncomfortably long time. “I need to talk to you again.”

“Oh.” Changsu stares blankly at the prince, not knowing what to say for a moment. “Well, what is it that you would like to speak to me about?” Mei Changsu slowly completes his sentence.

“It’s about Lin Shu…” Jingyan pauses.

“It’s about Lin Shu and how you’re him and you smell exactly like him and I should’ve known all along but I didn’t and I’m so sorry but I know now so Xiao-Shu how are you why are you here and why didn’t you tell me you’re back how dare you not tell me and is that why you said I can’t save Wei Zheng oh my goodness Xiao-Shu how did you survive Meiling what happened in Meiling do you know how much I’ve missed you come here and let me hold you Xiao-Shu Xiao-Shu Xiao-Shu.”

Xiao Jingyan closes his eyes and decides to disregard his inner monologue. “It’s about Lin Shu’s lieutenant, Wei Zheng.”

Mei Changsu smiles tensely. “If it is about general Wei, you can rest assured that I have already devised a way to save him. As for Consort Jing, it would be best to keep quiet about her situation right now. If Consort Jing stays in hot waters, it is harder to pin you for rescuing Wei Zheng. I know it is very unfair to you and the consort, but it is to ensure everyone’s safety right now.” Mei Changsu looks down a little after he finishes explaining his plan.

Xiao Jingyan has already decided he will trust Mei Changsu’s decision in saving Wei Zheng and his mother on his way back. Mei Changsu is Xiao-Shu, so no harm will come to his mother or Wei Zheng.

Instead of listening to the other man, Jingyan begins to wonder why the brightest boy of Jinling looks down so much when he talks now. Jingyan recalls that Xiao-Shu used to talk with his head held high as if he is talking to the Heavens itself, but there is nothing pretentious about it. It was just Xiao-Shu, the way he has grown to love him as.

Back then, Xiao Jingyan loved being around Lin Shu during the winter. In his mind, Lin Shu is still the little boy on fire that won’t put on a cloak even if his auntie Jinyang is chasing him in the Lin manor.

Now, the pot of burning coal off to the side seems so out of place with Lin Shu. The man in front of Xiao Jingyan seems more like his Mei Changsu than his Lin Shu.

“Not my Mei Changsu,” Jingyan reminds himself.

“Prince Jing?” Mei Changsu leans in closer only a little bit to hear what Xiao Jingyan has said his name for, wondering if he actually heard “My Mei Changsu.”

Jingyan looks into his strategist’s eyes and blushes.

22.

To save Xiao Jingyan from the awkward silence, Mei Changsu suggests, “Prince Jing, would you care to have some water? You must be cold from the ride back.” The strategist then gestures toward the table to his side.

The prince pauses and then takes a seat. “Prince Jing,” Mei Changsu says as he takes a seat opposite to Jingyan, “You must understand that you cannot be involved in saving Wei Zheng.”

“What does mister Su mean by that?” Xiao Jingyan inquires.

Mei Changsu holds back his disappointment that Jingyan still can’t trust him and says, “If anything goes wrong and anyone under you is caught, you will doubtlessly be pined for the crime. However, if you let the Jiangzuo Alliance take care of this…”

“No!” Xiao Jingyan interrupts and sits up. Mei Changsu sits back, impulsively trying to distance himself from the other man. “I cannot let the people of Jiangzuo save Wei Zheng. Wei Zheng is… my business.”

Mei Changsu sighs and looks down at the steam rising from the teacups before looking at the prince again. “I understand, but saving Wei Zheng can seriously hinder or ruin the route to the throne. Are you really willing to risk everything for him?”

“Yes,” the prince answers with no hesitation, “He is Lin Shu’s lieutenant and I will risk anything for him, and I will save him.”

“I understand.” Mei Changsu begins rubbing his sleeve, a nervous habit he has picked up since he was little. “Which is why I said the Jiangzuo Alliance will save…”

“No, you can’t save him.” Xiao Jingyan stares determinedly at Mei Changsu.

“Your Highness, I must. If you want to save him, using the Jiangzuo is your best bet.”

“No, neither you nor Jiangzuo can be involved in this.”

Mei Changsu breathes in loudly to calm his impatience. “Prince Jing, do you want to recreate what happened to Prince Qi?” -- Mei Changsu continues despite the prince’s widened eyes -- “Was the blood shed from the Qi manor not enough for you?”

Xiao Jingyan shifts in his seat before replying, “No matter what, I do not wish to add Jiangzuo’s blood to the Chiyan case.” He stands up and continues, “I will go and form a plan with my men. As for mister Su, please do not worry yourself over this anymore.”

Mei Changsu stops play with his sleeve and clenches his fist as Jingyan turns to leave. “Xiao Jingyan, you have the hearts but why don’t you have the brains!”

Prince Jing pauses in his track. Without turning, he utters, “Lin Shu, you protect everyone but why don’t you think of yourself!”

23.

Xiao Jingyan finally turns after moments of silence, but Mei Changsu still looks mortified at what he has said.

Prince Jing sighs. “I will not let you be involved in this. So what if I get on this sinking ship? I can’t risk you, Xiao-Shu.”

At the sound of “Xiao-Shu,” Mei Changsu seems to be waken up from a daydream and looks down to his own lap. “Your Highness has mistaken, I am not young marshall Lin.”

Xiao Jingyan’s eyes redden again. “Why are you still lying to me?”

Mei Changsu does not respond, but he does not look up at Xiao Jingyan either.

Jingyan’s tears begin to swell in his eyes as he asks again, “Why did you have to lie to me?”

When Mei Changsu has finally gathered the courage to look up, he sees Xiao Jingyan’s tears quietly run down his cheeks. That’s how Jingyan always have been; he’s so quiet even when he is in pain that nobody notices.

Changsu pushes himself up and walks past the table as he reaches into his sleeve for a handkerchief that he keeps for Feiliu. Jingyan watches the man as he walks up to him, and he does not move one bit when the man starts to wipe his tears away.

“How many times have I told you crying won’t help anything?” Mei Changsu whispers gently. His fingers feel Jingyan’s hot tears through the thin cloth, and every tear burns him.

“Three times,” Xiao Jingyan responds. “First, when I was by your bedside when you ate a hazelnut biscuit. The second time was on our third military expedition and you got an arrow in your abdomen. And now.”

Mei Changsu’s eyes redden as well. “And this time nothing will happen to me either.”

Xiao Jingyan suddenly wraps his arms around Mei Changsu. He covers himself with Mei Changsu’s thick scarf and scent. “Xiao-Shu, I don’t want to lose you again.”

Mei Changsu holds Prince Jing back. He quietly comforts, “Jingyan, don’t be afraid.”

24.

Xiao Jingyan storms into the Su manor. His thoughts are no longer coherent, and they have not been since he realized Xia Jiang has captured him and jailed him in the Xuanjing Bureau. He rushes to see his strategist because Meng Zhi has told him Xia Jiang fed him poison during his stay, and even Xia Dong does not know where the antidote is.

“Prince Jing,” Li Gang rushes to the prince’s side, but Jingyan walks past him towards Mei Changsu’s room despite his efforts. “Prince Jing, Doctor Yan said no one can see the chief right now, so please wait outside.”

Xiao Jingyan pauses, but slowly starts to walk again. “If I must see him, what can Doctor Yan do?”

Li Gang pauses in his way, unable to answer the prince’s question. Hearing his silence, Xiao Jingyan turns around to look at the man. Li Gang looks down, not urging the prince to go or leave anymore. “I thought so,” Jingyan says and turns toward Mei Changsu’s room again.

Jingyan closes his eyes for a moment, and then opens the door to Mei Changsu.

The room is warm as always, and the room is full of Lin Shu’s scent mixed with the bitter herbs that is inseparable from Mei Changsu.

Prince Jing walks into the room and immediately rushes towards Mei Changsu’s bed. He takes his cloak off and warms himself at the fire before walking up to Changsu with the cold air still lingering on him, and Li Gang closes the door behind him.

Mei Changsu seems to notice Xiao Jingyan’s sudden presence and coughs in his sleep. Hearing that, Jingyan rushes to Changsu’s side and helps the man sit up on his bed.

Mei Changsu opens his eyes and realizes that he is leaning on Prince Jing. He sighs, “Your Highness, you really should not be here right after the scandal.”

“How can I be anywhere else when you are in this kind of situation?” the prince simply asks.

“I am fine,” Mei Changsu says as Jingyan starts to fill up a teacup with water. “Xia Jiang did not do anything to me in the Xuanjing Bureau. The only thing he did was put me in the same situation as anyone else who gets locked up there. The only differences is I am weak.”

“Mister Su willingly sacrificed himself just to help me save Wei Zheng. That is not something that a weak person can do,” Jingyan answers as he lifts the cup to Mei Changsu’s lips and Mei Changsu obediently drinks the water when the prince tips the cup.

“Now that Your Highness knows that I am well, you really should return to the Jing manor. The last thing we want is to have Jinling talking about how Your Highness got to the position you are at now with the help of an insidious strategist.”

“Mister Su is far from an insidious strategist,” Jingyan quickly rebutted.

Mei Changsu pauses, then shifts his body weight off of the prince. He mumbles just loud enough for Jingyan to hear, “Doctor Yan told me to get more sleep. I better get on that.” He slides himself off of Prince Jing’s shoulder and back onto his bed, and Jingyan watches as the other man pulls the thick blanket over himself and closes his eyes merrily.

Suddenly, an idea crosses Jingyan’s mind.

“Mister Su, perhaps I should warm your blanket for you.”

Mei Changsu opens his eyes and makes a noise of confusion, but before he says anything Jingyan has already began taking his coats off.

“Your Highness, you should really go home,” Mei Changsu weakly says, staring at the ceiling with no other intention but to not watch the prince undress.

“It’s fine,” the prince says as he slips under Mei Changsu’s blanket, “I’m only warming your blanket.”

25.

“So how did Mister Su escape the Xuanjing Bureau unharmed?” Xiao Jingyan asks, breaking the silence that took over the room after he has gotten on Mei Changsu’s bed.

Mei Changsu clears his throat, pulling himself back from the thought of how odd it is to lie next to Jingyan in silence. “If I knew Xia Jiang would feed me a Wujin Pill and I let him, then I would not be fit to be Prince Jing’s strategist.”

Xiao Jingyan stays quiet. Mei Changsu goes back to his thoughts as the silence grows longer. We used to sleep like this too. Except we would face each other. And we would talk so much. What is there to talk about now, and what is there to look at? Hasn’t everything changed?

“No wonder you have always been the brightest man of Jinling,” Xiao Jingyan suddenly breaks the silence. Jingyan’s comment takes Mei Changsu off guard and he jerks his head to look at the other man.

Jingyan doesn’t seem to realize and continues to stare at the ceiling. “It took me so long to realize. I wanted it to be true so bad that it took me so long to realize. I wanted it to be true so bad that I was afraid if I let it be said, let it be anything past suspicion, it would shatter and my last bit of hope would die too.”

Mei Changsu watches as tears ran down from the corner of Jingyan’s eye to his ear, but the other man doesn’t seem to realize. He just says things that tear my heart apart and doesn’t seem to realize. Changsu reaches out to wipe the tear from Jingyan’s face, but Jingyan grabs his wrist.

Xiao Jingyan finally turns to face Mei Changsu, and the prince holds the freezing hand against his other cheek. The cold hand draws Jingyan’s breath away for a moment, but he gathers himself and continues, “I called you all those things. I called you all those things and you just accepted it. You came back to avenge Chiyan, avenge Prince Qi, but I accused you of being… Of being a…”

The hand that is resting on Xiao Jingyan’s face seems to get scorched whenever the prince’s hot tears touch it, burning Mei Changsu more than the fires of Meiling did. But that warmth draws Mei Changsu closer, and he places his other hand on Jingyan’s other cheek, wiping away his tears.

“Jingyan…” Mei Changsu hesitates. “Jingyan… Jingyan… Jingyan…” The prince’s crying dies down as Mei Changsu calls his name. As Changsu wipes the last tear away and draws his hands back, he quietly says, “Jingyan, I’m back.”

Xiao Jingyan’s red eyes seem like they will start crying again. Mei Changsu smiles and says, “So stop crying.”

Jingyan sniffles again and wipes his tears away with the back of his hand. After a moment of staring at each other with nothing to say, Jingyan inches forward and holds Changsu in a tight embrace.

“Xiao-Shu, I’ve missed you,” Jingyan whispers above Changsu’s forehead.

“I’ve missed you too,” Changsu mumbles into Jingyan’s chest.

“Xiao-Shu, never leave me again, okay?” Jingyan asks and holds Changsu and little tighter.

“I won’t.” Changsu shakes his head in Jingyan’s embrace. Jingyan sniffles lightly at the sensation of Changsu’s hair brushing against his chin.

“Xiao-Shu, I love you.” Jingyan closes his eyes.

Changsu opens his clenched fist and places it against Jingyan’s chest. “I love you too.”

“Xiao-Shu…” Jingyan places a long kiss on Changsu’s forehead.

Special:

“Jingyan…” Changsu buries his face further into Jingyan’s chest after the man withdraws his kiss. Changsu quietly asks, “Can I touch your tail…”

Mei Changsu misses the blush on Xiao Jingyan’s face after hearing the question, but the prince reverts to his half-form for his strategist nonetheless.

To save Changsu the trouble, Jingyan loosens his embrace and moves his tail up the blanket to his chest, where Changsu’s hands are, unknowingly stroking half of Changsu’s body with his tail.

Mei Changsu brushes off the feeling of a strange furry thing sliding up his body and brushes Jingyan’s tail with his fingers instead. He looks up at the other man and asks, “Jingyan, is this how you used to keep me warm when I nap doing homework?”

“Yes…” Jingyan answers hesitantly, trying to hide his blush from Changsu.

However, Mei Changsu seems to not notice the man’s reddened face but notices his ears. “You have fluffy ears too,” Changsu seems to have forgotten about any formalities and reaches to touch Jingyan’s wolf ears.

“Yes… But Xiao-Shu… this is kind of inappropriate…” Jingyan hesitantly says.

Changsu withdraws his hand and smiles at Jingyan before leaning in for a kiss. Jingyan is surprised at Changsu’s sudden approach, so his tail suddenly retreats from his chest to his legs. After Changsu pulls away from the kiss, he smiles at Jingyan and says, “I’ve read that lycanthropes can also turn into full wolf forms. Jingyan, can you?”

Jingyan hesitantly nods, not sure what may follow such a question.

“Jingyan, it would be very nice to sleep next to a very cuddly and fluffy wolf…” Mei Changsu smiles as Jingyan’s face reddens even more. “If Prince Jing is not willing to do that then please accept Changsu’s apology. Changsu should not even dream to have the honor of sleeping by Prince Jing’s side…”

Xiao Jingyan’s face turns pale. That means I either turn into my wolf form right now or I never come onto your bed again...

Jingyan retreats from their embrace and Changsu widens his eyes in shock that Jingyan will actually leave him. In the next second, though, Jingyan turns from an ordinary man to a large wolf. The doe eyes stare at Changsu for a moment as he search for words, then gives up when the highest ranked gongzi on the Langya Charts remains silent in shock. Jingyan simply buries his face into Changsu’s chest and wraps his tail around Changsu’s waist. Mei Changsu’s hand automatically starts stroking Jingyan’s back and Jingyan’s breath starts to slow.

Mei Changsu’s heart melts when Jingyan nudges his chin as he falls asleep.