#but i kept telling myself no no you have the earbud kind that work fine. but now i can’t find those

[aturnoftheearth]

used the money i got from my aunt for dog sitting to buy new headphones on sale . bc i still can’t find my headphones …….. oughhhhh

[sapphosvioletts]

Type of Love

Bucky Barnes x Autistic Teen Daughter

Summary:

Bucky's daughter has been staying with Sarah while Bucky and Sam are working on tracking Karli. Regardless of being nonverbal with new people, Sarah has still been more than kind and welcoming. Despite her gratitude towards Sarah for being so nice, she still missed her dad, and he missed her. When they finally reunite, his daughter has to help fix up his arm from the damage done by Walker, and his daughter surprises him with a little gift as well.

Word count: 2,624

Warnings: description of meltdown and accidental self harm (scratching and digging fingernails into skin)

Note: Not every autistic person experiences autism the same. I'm autistic and I am writing from my perspective of how I personally experience autism, but not everyone feels the same as me or has the same perspective as I do.

- the reader is adopted, they are not biologically related. I want my writing to be inclusive to everyone, which is why i am specifying this incase it isn't directly said in the fic

.oOo.

I smile when I see a text from Bucky, informing me that he is coming back home. I bounce happily on my toes with a smile. I text him back quickly and sit back down on the couch. I try to distract myself with the tv, just wanting the time to pass quick so I can see my dad.

I have been staying with Sarah while he and Sam are gone. He didn't want to leave me by myself with everything going on. Sarah is really nice, although I haven't verbally talked that much to her. I don't like new people, they make me really anxious. This results in me being nonverbal at times, so for a majority of the time I have just kept to myself and barely spoken.

Sarah understands though, she hasn't pushed me out of my comfort zone, she's not over bearing but at the same time makes sure I am okay. Even when I had a shutdown, it was like she already knew what to do. She brought me inside and turned off all the lights without even having to be asked, gave me my phone and earbuds, as well as some water. She has been great while my dad's been gone. Although I like Sarah, I do really miss my dad, and I'm overjoyed that he is coming back.

Eventually, the front door clicks open. Sam announces that he's home and his nephews come running towards his embrace. I however stay back, seated on the couch shyly, not wanting to intrude on their moment. Finally, my dad walks in behind him. My face lights up and I smile as he catches my eye.

He briefly greets Sarah before making his way over to me. I hop up off the couch and jump into his arms. I wrap my legs around his waist and my arms around his shoulders as he holds me tight. He lays his head on top of mine and I can feel his smile against my head.

"I missed you." I mumble into his neck, not being able to contain my smile. "I missed you too doll, so much. I'm glad to be back." I pull my head out of his shoulder to look at him. "Are you hurt? Are you okay?" I ramble. He stops me with a smile, "I'm fine doll." I can tell he isn't telling the full truth, but I don't question him, knowing he will tell me later when we are alone.

Instead of getting down from his arms, he just stays holding me, both of us needing the comfort. We don't like being away from each other, I think that both of us have developed a type of separation anxiety from each other. It's always been like this, even since I was younger in Hydra with him; well after a while of getting comfortable with him and trusting him.

Still holding me, he walks back into the kitchen where Sarah and Sam are. They talk for a little while but I don't pay attention. Bucky sways us side to side while he talks, knowing that I love the motion. Eventually I hear Sarah say, "I think we'll give you two some time together, you guys can have the living room." Bucky thanks her and brings us back to the living room as Sarah and Sam part ways to do their own things.

I finally let go of Bucky when he sets me down on the couch. He sits next to me and I curl up under his arm, my knees drawn tightly to my chest. "Has everything been okay?" He asks, wanting to know what's happened since he's been gone. I nod in response, not knowing what else to say.

"What about you? Have you been okay? Has Sarah been taking good care of you?" I nod again, this time talking. "She's been great. I haven't talked to her that much, at least verbally, but she understands and doesn't get mad. I had a shutdown and she helped, she brought me inside and turned off the lights and stuff. I had a meltdown, but it wasn't around anyone, thankfully."

I think for a moment about what else to tell him but he starts speaking before I can say anything. "Thankfully?" He asks, worried about why I was so self conscious about having a meltdown in front of others, maybe thinking that Sams family wasn't as accepting as he had thought. I shrugged in response. "I don't like having meltdowns in front of others, well besides you. I trust Sarah, but I just don't want anyone to see me. I feel too vulnerable. You know what happened when I had meltdowns at Hydra. It didn't end well for me, I will not be put in that position again."

Bucky's face morphs to a look of understanding, knowing that some things just put you in a vulnerable position and its uncomfortable. "I understand that. What happened though?" He asked, his arm rubbing circles on my shoulder as I lean into his chest.

.oOo. .oOo. FLASHBACK .oOo. .oOo.

I sit on the dock, my legs hanging over the end and swinging back and forth as I read my book. It is one of my favorite books, one that I always read for comfort. There are a couple men working and talking with each other, but I am pretty far away so it doesn't bother me too much. Well, that is until one of the men yells out to someone far away for something, his voice booming.

I jump and my book slips out of my hand, heading towards the water. I somehow mange to catch it by the hard front cover, but unfortunately the rest of the book had already made it into the water. I carefully pull it up, not wanting it to rip as I was only holding onto it by the one cover.

Tears find their ways to my eyes as I inspect the soaked pages. Half of the pages were still dry and intact, the latter half however were soaked. To others it might not seem like a big deal, but to me it is. I loved this book, and I tend to attach myself to things, even objects like books. When those things get broken or sometimes even if someone touches them, it leaves me heartbroken.

I close my book and run back inside, thankful that Sarah and her kids are out right now so I have the house to myself. I run to the guest room and close the door. I slot myself between the corner of the room and the bedside table, sliding down the wall and bringing my knees to my chest. I hold the book to my chest, sobbing freely at this point.

I rock back and forth, not caring about the pain from my back hitting against the wall harshly. I scratch at my legs, my fingernails digging into the skin hard, leaving definite marks. Before I realize it there are scratch marks all over my body, some of them even bleeding. I sob and continue to rock back and forth, harming my body.

Eventually, after about another 15 minutes I've calmed down a bit. My breathing has slowed and my sobs have turned into silent tears. My hands find their way to the book still at my chest, hugging it tightly as I sniffle.

I feel utterly exhausted now. Meltdowns always take a lot out of me. Eventually I come out of my small space and fall onto the bed, the book still held to my chest. I sigh and put the book on the bedside table, looking at it sadly. I crawl under the covers, not caring enough to clean up my cuts and scratches at the moment. My eyes quickly fall shut, my exhaustion overtaking me.

.oOo. .oOo. FLASHBACK OVER .oOo. .oOo.

I told Bucky what had happened. He looked at me sadly, knowing how much I loved that book. He could probably tell I was still heartbroken over it. "Can you show me? Maybe we can try and save it, yeah?" I nodded, trying not to get my hopes up.

He followed me to the guest room and we both sat on the bed. I handed him the book and he carefully looked through the previously wet pages, now crinkled and crunched after drying. "Let me see what I can do." He said, kissing the top of my head. I looked up at him with hopeful eyes. "Do you think you can fix it?" He gave me a soft smile. "I'll try my best."

He looks back through the book and examines the pages. I finally break the silence, realizing that I have yet to hear about how Bucky is doing. "How did everything go?" He looks up at me and sets my book down. He signs and runs a hand through his hair, shifting to get more comfortable.

"Could've been better. We got the shield from Walker though, he's done for. Sams got it now, but it wasn't an easy fight. My arm got screwed up, I managed to patch it up a bit on my own but I know you would be able to figure out what's wrong and actually fix it, I know my work isn't gonna last long on it." He says with a laugh. Growing up in Hydra, I am knowledgeable enough with mechanics and am able to fix Bucky's arm. At least better than he can.

"Of course, do you have any tools I can use?" He gets up to get them, grabbing his "repair kit" from his bag. I meet him on the couch, the living room and kitchen thankfully being empty still. He comes back and hands the box to me, sitting down.

I shift onto my knees and look closely at his metal arm. He explained what is wrong with it and I quickly got to work. "There had to be more that happened while you were gone?" I asked, wanting to know more. "Yeah, a lot happened. I just wanted to get my arm fixed first, thought that was useful information for you." We both laughed before he got serious and launched into the story.

"Well... long story but we broke Zemo out of prison." He gulped and I froze, slowly looking up at him. "W-what?" I asked, tears already coming to my eyes, not knowing why he would do this to the man who hurt the both of us so much. He was quick to assure me though. "Don't worry, the Dora got him, he is at the Raft and will never be getting anywhere near you, ever."

His hand came up to my cheek, wiping the stray tear away. I let out a breath and nodded, fully trusting Bucky's words and although I don't like that he broke Zemo out of prison, I trust his decision. I nodded for him to continue as I went back to working on his metal arm.

"He had useful information, it was our only chance, unfortunately. We tracked down Karli and Sam was almost able to talk to her down, he was so fucking close. And then of course Walker busted in and ruined the little sliver of trust she had in Sam. Karli ended up accidentally killing Lemar in the chaos, and Walker was pissed."

I gulped nervously before speaking quietly. "Then he killed that man." I filled in for him. Bucky sadly nodded. "Yeah. God it was gruesome, I can't believe it. Did you see it?" I nodded, still haunted by the video that I watched. "I'm sorry you had to see that. I can't even imagine. It was hard for me to watch, a former assassin, can't even think about what it would be like for others."

He shook his head solemnly. I urged him to go on again with his story. "We got the shield from Walker though, after a hell of a fight, as you can probably tell from my arm. He's no longer Captain America. Let's be honest, he never really was. Anyways, at one point Zemo escaped, but I found him in Sokovia. I.. I almost killed him. But I didn't."

I can tell he is tearing up by his voice. "I refuse to be what he made me to be. I will not be a killer, that would give him too much satisfaction. So I handed him over to the Dora, Ayo helped a lot with the whole thing. So yeah, that's basically what happened." He huffed, leaning back further into the seat.

"Wow... That's a lot." Bucky smiles at me. "Zemo is gone, yeah?" I ask again softly. He nods. "Rotting in prison." I nod, relieved. "I can't believe Walker would do that, well I can believe it, but he's a dumbass." I scoff. "Language!" Bucky immediately responds, making me laugh.

"But yeah, a fucking dumbass. Ruined literally everything. I really think Sam would have gotten through to Karli if it weren't for him barging in." I sighed and shook my head, so unbelievably annoyed at Walker. "I hope I never have to meet Walker, I don't want to be anywhere near him. He honestly kind of scares me, especially after..." I trail off, not wanting to actually say what happened.

"I don't want you near him either. I dont trust him one bit." Bucky almost growls. We then sit in comfortable silence while I fix his arm, finishing a little while later. I love how we are both okay with just sitting together in silence, just our company is enough for each other. No awkward small talk, trying to read between the lines to figure out what said small talk actually means or implies. Just comfortable silence.

"Okayyy, and done! Try it out." I say as I finish putting the last plate back on. He stands up and moves his arm around a bit, smiling at the end result. "It's perfect, thank you!" He pulls me into a hug. "Oh! One more thing, stay here." I push him back to sit on the couch as I run to the guest room.

I find what I am looking for and quickly run back to the living room. Before Bucky can even see what exactly it is, it clings to his metal arm. He looks down and smiles once he sees what it is, tearing up.

It's a magnet that I made for him. Sarah's friend has a pin press and brought it over for Sarah's kids to use. Sarah offered to make me a pin, and that how I ended up with two similar pins with pressed flowers on it, both of our favorites; a purple violet for me, my favorite, and a baby breath for Bucky, his favorite. I attached a strong magnet to the back of Bucky's, thinking it would be funny to put it on his arm.

He pulls me into a tight hug. "Thank you doll, I really love it. Maybe I'll get an even stronger magnet so I can make sure it'll stay on. I love it doll." I smiled and crawled onto his lap, wrapping my arms around his shoulders. Bucky looks down at me lovingly.

Never did he imagine he would be wearing a magnet on his metal arm with flowers on it. He never imagined he could love someone this much, or that he would even have a daughter. It's a type of love he hasn't felt in a long time. The pure platonic love, where you just love that person and never want to leave them, you just want to roll them up in bubble wrap and keep them to yourself so they don't ever get hurt. The type of love that you could only have with a daughter.

[nakachuchu]

Bunny | Armin Arlert

SYNOPSIS: Modern AU - He has a crush on his friend's crush.

READER: female

WORDS: 1556

WRITTEN: 03/08/2021

"Hey, Armin," you greeted as you leaned down, tucking your hair behind your ear.

"H-Hi, Y/N," he replied, eyes glancing to the textbook pressed against your chest and your pretty smile.

"Can I sit next to you again? You're a lifesaver when it comes to taking notes."

"Oh, yeah, definitely," he said as he scooted to the side, allowing you to sit next to him in the lecture hall.

You often sat next to Armin because he had good handwriting and his notes were easy to understand.

You often blanked out, thus missing part of what the professor said. He once asked what you were thinking about, and you winked at him before making a zipper gesture on your mouth.

It was always a struggle when you asked to sit next to him. He had to fight himself to pay attention to the professor and ignore the little devil on his shoulder who kept telling him dirty thoughts about you.

If you didn't sit next to him, he wouldn't have to worry about how good his notes were because you wouldn't need them.

It wasn't like you didn't take notes. You simply got distracted sometimes. You would be taking notes, and the next time Armin decided to glance at you, the end of your pen would be in your mouth, tongue swiping at it mindlessly.

Armin was in constant trouble whenever you were around. You were pretty on your own, but the way your teeth nibbled on the cap and how soft your tongue looked made his brain short circuit.

It was the second year you had the same class with Armin, and he didn't know if he wanted to be thankful or not.

The first encounter he had with you was on moving day. He dropped his pink pen that had a bunny as the clicker. It was given to him by his mother who had been sobbing when he left for college.

You picked up the pen and called out to him. He was absolutely embarrassed and dizzy that someone saw the pen, let alone a pretty girl picking it up for him.

You laughed at how red he was and stepped forward to put the pen back into his front pocket, patting his chest before waving goodbye and walking away.

"Armin," you called out, "class is over, bunny."

God, the nickname you gave him always made his body hot. It was a simple, shameless nickname. It was obviously from the pen he dropped, but he couldn't help but fantasize that something deeper was in the works.

"R-Right. Thanks, Y/N."

You smiled. "Of course. Text me your notes later?"

He nodded.

"Great. I'll see you around. Make sure to eat lunch."

He nodded. "You too."

Once you left the room, he sighed and banged his head onto the desk. Even your kindness in reminding him to eat made him like you even more.

He eventually packed up his stuff, walking to the same table outside the lecture hall that his friends claimed since the first day of school.

"How'd it go?" Eren asked.

He knew about Armin's crush on you, but the question was easily hid as "How was the lecture?"

"It was good," Armin replied, which translated to "I made a fool out of myself again."

"Did you see Y/N? What was she wearing today?" Jean asked.

"Uh—You know, the same," Armin said with a wince.

Jean sighed wistfully. "She's so damn beautiful."

"She'd never go for you," said Eren with a glance at Armin.

"Huh? You wanna fucking fight? We'll go at it right now!"

"HUH? Did you say something, twerp?" Eren retorted, standing up from the table to slam his foot onto the bench.

"HUH? You're shorter than me, you fucking midget," retorted Jean as he got into the same position as Eren.

The two boys began to fight as Armin awkwardly laughed and sat down. He was royally fucked. What was he supposed to do when Jean seemed so smitten with you?

"I'm gonna do it," said Jean as he let Eren out of the chokehold.

Eren gasped for air, then punched Jean on the shoulder. "Do...what?"

"Ask Y/N out," he said as he walked off.

Armin followed the direction he was walking in, then saw you crossing the lawn with one of your friends. His shoulders slumped as he realized he wouldn't ever be able to date you.

Eren and Mikasa glanced at each other before glancing at Armin who was watching the exchange between you and Jean.

You whispered something to your friend as Jean began to talk. You stood there with a smile on your face and occasionally nodded at whatever he was saying.

"I—Um—I'm gonna go back to my dorm. I have studying to do," murmured Armin as he grabbed his bag and walked away.

You laughed at something Jean said before nodding and waving goodbye to him. He walked back and sighed heavily as he sat on the bench.

"What happened?" Connie asked.

"She likes someone else, but hey, she called me cute. That accounts for something, right?"

"Do you think—"

Mikasa nodded at what Eren was implying.

Jean looked between them. "What?"

"You see—"

"Hey, if that dumb ass can ask you out, you can ask Armin out," your friend encouraged.

"Me? I don't have the guts for that," you said.

"No, but you got the tits and that disgusting kindness going for you."

You rolled your eyes. "None of that is true. Besides, I don't know where he is."

"Call him."

"I'm not going to ask him out through tech. It's not sincere," you muttered.

"So you need to do it in person? I got you."

"W-Wait, where are you going? Come back!" you shouted as your friend ran out of your room.

You sighed, a dreadful feeling settling in your stomach. You chewed your lip nervously as you turned to your notes to study, trying to ignore your fantasies of dating Armin.

You put your earbuds in, turning up the volume so that you wouldn't have to think. You drummed your pencil on your desk while reading the notes you took, even though you knew the information wasn't staying in your brain.

You let out a shriek when someone yanked your earbuds out. You spun around in your chair, ready to smack someone until you noticed Armin standing by your door nervously.

Your friend stood in front of you and smiled. "Good luck," they whispered before walking out and closing the door.

"Armin," you breathed out.

He raised his hand slightly before folding them together in front of him again. "Hi. Um—Your friend said you needed to talk to me?"

You nodded, tucking your hair behind your ear. "Sorry. I didn't mean to make you come out here. My friend is impulsive."

"It's okay," he reassured. "But isn't it bad if someone notices us alone in your room? What if Jean hears?"

You tilted your head to the side. "What about him?"

"Well, aren't you—aren't you two dating?"

You blinked before laughing. "We're not dating. I don't like him. I like you."

"Oh, I see. You don't like—You like me?" he repeated.

You smiled. "Yeah, I do. I really, really like you."

"Oh. Oh, this is—Oh, I never thought—" His face went red and his mind was playing fantasies of you again. "I—Uh—I didn't think you'd ever like me. I've liked you for a while now and I mean, you're so pretty, and I'm me."

"I like you, bunny," you reassured. "I like that you're you."

"I've never—I've never had a girlfriend."

"That's okay. It doesn't matter. Do you want to be my boyfriend?" you asked.

"Yes!" he exclaimed. His shoulders slumped after a moment. "But I would be a bad friend if I did that. Jean's liked you for a while and I can't betray him like that."

You smiled softly. "I understand. That's—"

The door burst open, hitting Armin in the back and sending him flying forward. You got up from your chair and wrapped your arms around him so that he wouldn't fall.

Armin was dizzy. His face was shoved into your breasts and all he could smell was you. Your arms were wrapped around him for safety and his hands were dangerously close to your ass.

You looked up to see Armin's friends crowding your door. They were all breathing heavily.

"Say yes!" exclaimed Jean. "Why didn't you tell me you liked her? I just thought she was hot!"

Armin said something, but it was muffled by your breasts. You wiggled around at how ticklish it felt, before helping him move away.

He blinked at you before slowly looking up at you. His face was incredibly hot and he couldn't think straight.

"Armin?" you called out.

Oh, your voice was so pretty.

"Armin, are you okay?" you asked.

"Huh? Y-Yeah, I'm fine. Um—I—Yes?"

"Yes?" you repeated.

"I want to be your boyfriend," he said. "Is that okay?"

You smiled. "It's more than okay," you said.

"Thank God," muttered Eren as he turned around with a hand latched onto Jean's collar. "Team, roll out!"

Mikasa followed him silently, dragging Sasha and Connie with her.

"What should the first thing we do as a couple be, bunny?" you asked.

"Um... Food?"

You smiled. "Sounds good."

[serenasoutherlyns]

Not a Summer Crush Part One

a/n: calex x reader/ofc. welcome to part one! all feedback is appreciated. forgive any errors. set in au-present day svu. all fluff, allusions to svu type situations.

Part One

You never admit when you have a crush. Not to your friends, not to your crush, and certainly not to yourself. You're a one-night stand type of girl, and ideally with strangers whose names you don’t even know. You got off, they got off, and nobody had to worry about calling in the morning. That was how you'd managed to reach 27 without ever having a serious relationship (and, you thought, having a job in the DA's office at 27 spoke to the efficacy of your strategy). You sure as hell intended on keeping that streak going. But, ever since you started this new job three months ago, something strange was happening.

It was Casey and Alex, that was who was to blame for these pesky feelings. You couldn't help it, they were just infuriatingly sweet when it came to their relationship. Most people in long-term committed relationships were completely miserable at least as far as you could tell, but whenever someone mentioned Alex around Casey she got this energetic glow in her green eyes, like how you got when people mentioned puppies, unadulterated adoration. And when Alex talked about Casey, she went on for as long as anybody would listen about her intelligence, beauty, and cute habits, her interests, and talents. Their whole dynamic was nauseating. And yet, when you saw them, you felt this annoying warmth building in your icy heart. Maybe this was all simple professional adoration, that was a good excuse. You only wanted what they had because they both outranked you, Alex being Bureau Chief, Casey Assistant Bureau Chief. Of course, you admired them both. Yeah, that was it. When you looked into Alex's office and saw Casey there, answering emails on her couch and waiting for her wife to come back from court, the blush in your cheeks was only about Casey's dedication to her work. You certainly didn't have a crush, especially not on two people, not on your superiors.

So, you vowed not to think twice about it when Alex showed up at the office you shared with the other Junior ADAs one Monday morning and placed a cup of coffee on your desk.

"Morning, Haley," she said as you looked up from your work. "You're in early today."

"Yeah, I'm swamped with this St. Benedict's case," you said, explaining your presence. "There are just so many moving pieces, so many people to blame. I'm just trying to figure out my strategy here." You rubbed your temples. You'd rushed out of the apartment that morning, saying a quick goodbye to Ashley and the girls after your shower, you had only gotten a few sips of drip coffee in before rushing away on your bike. You were deeply touched by Alex's kind gesture in caffeinating you. You took a sip, still going on about the case. You pulled back from the cup in surprise as you recognized the taste of honey.

"Is this a café miel?" you asked. She had brought you your favorite special coffee. You expected plain black or a latte, something generic. "How did you know I loved these?"

Alex smiled, thoroughly charmed by your frantic early-morning energy. She wasn't sure why, but while she was in line picking up for herself and Casey, she'd remembered you going on about the virtues of coffee and honey to another poor Junior ADA who definitely hadn't asked. The way you talked about what you liked was cute to her, and watching you thank her now confirmed to her that it had been a good choice.

"I heard you talking Anderson's ear off about it yesterday," she told you. You looked at her sheepishly.

"I think he hates me," you said, fiddling with the outer sleeve of the cup.

No way does anybody hate this girl, Alex thought, but replied, "I was getting coffee for myself and Casey and thought I'd be nice to the new kid." Alex paused, hovered a little waiting for you to say something, but you seemed lost in thought. "Earth to Haley," she said. "Caroline?"

You snapped out of it. Your thoughts were split in two, half picking apart your case and half trying to figure out how to feel and react when your supervisor brings you your favorite kind of coffee. "Oh, I'm so sorry," you said, "I was just thinking about this nun..." You trailed off. At that, Alex actually laughed.

"OK, well, I'll let you get back to work. Let me or Casey know if you need another set of eyes." She started to leave but you stopped her, reaching under your desk for something.

"Wait, Cabot, how much do I owe you?" you asked, your manners catching up to your mind.

Alex only smiled. "Nothing. My treat."

"Thanks," you said as she left. You kept thinking about the conversation all day. How Alex had clearly paid attention to you, gone out of her way to do something nice for you. But it started to feel suspiciously like a crush as you sat on your couch thinking about Alex's slender fingers handing you your favorite drink early in the morning, how special it had made you feel. So, you weren't going to think about it again.

You also didn't think about it when, one warm evening, you literally ran into Casey on your daily run in the big park by the office.

You looked up after your head bumped another runner's shoulder. You tugged your earbuds out, dangling them around your neck, apologizing profusely. You completely zoned out when you were moving, so this happened a lot more often than you might like to admit. Today, you were deep in thought about a case law issue, and the park had all but ceased to exist in your perception.

"It's fine, Haley, calm down," you heard a familiar voice say, making you realize that you'd nearly trampled Casey Cabot Novak. You let out a mortified squeak.

Casey surprised herself. She was not at all bothered like she might usually be upon being rudely collided with on a very wide running path. Instead, she found your focus and bashfulness kind of... cute? Your face and chest were flushed red from exercise, your hair was falling out of its messy bun, and you had on a neon pink shirt with a neon orange running skirt, it looked like a toddler had dressed you.

You kept apologizing until Casey grabbed your shoulders and told you to stop.

"Join me for my last mile?" She asked, and you agreed. You kept the pace slow enough for small talk, Casey asked you, "So, what's up with the neon creamsicle look?"

"Oh my god," you chuckled as you rounded a corner, "a 6-year-old packed my gym bag."

While you showered that evening, you kept going over your afternoon. You were very embarrassed and a little horny, and couldn't get the image of a breathless, sweaty, Casey out of your mind. You decided these feelings were just to be blamed on runners' high and pushed them from your mind.

---

"You know, I really like the new junior ADA," Alex said as she splashed her face with warm water. Casey spit the toothpaste out of her mouth and cupped some water into it, swishing it around.

She spit again and said, "Anderson? He's fine, I guess. A little slow to object, a little quick to make a deal, but he'll get the hang of it."

"Haley," Alex said almost under her breath, patting moisturizer underneath her eyes.

"Oh," Casey replied, slightly flatly. "I've noticed."

Alex gave her a glare out of the side of her eyes as she removed a contact. "Not like that, my love. I just think she's a really good lawyer. Promising."

"She is. But I've also seen how you look at her."

"With professional respect," Alex said, rinsing the lens solution off her fingers. Casey's nighttime routine was much simpler, so she just watched her wife in the mirror, leaning against the shower door.

"Sure," Casey said, letting the silence hang between them. "Lex, you’re my wife. I know how you are when you're attracted to someone."

Alex turned around, leant against the counter, took Casey's hand in her own and ran her thumb across her wedding ring. "Are you jealous?"

"No," Casey said, kissing her wife. "You know, I might be if I didn't completely get it."

Alex sighed with relief. She hadn't exactly intended to get into this conversation.

"She is a bit young."

"If I recall correctly, someone I know was sleeping with Judge Mary Clark when she was that age."

Casey opened her mouth in mock-offense, and Alex kissed it closed.

---

Once it was acknowledged between the two of them, Casey and Alex had an agreement-- neither one of them could fault the other for flirting with you. In fact, they even enjoyed watching each other be sweet to you. And it was pretty harmless, they thought. The moments got more frequent. Alex brought you coffee most mornings, sometimes talking about work, but equally as often, she tried to get to know you. She now knew that you loved baking and crochet and Charlotte Brontë, that you grew up with 6 siblings, you were raised in Oakland, that you'd gone to Stanford. It was like she was collecting pieces of information for an eventual file titled "Caroline Haley: interests." When you weren't in, she left you notes. She even bought you a mug warmer, knowing your tendency to get sucked into a case and forget about your drink.

At the same time, Casey now insisted that the two of you run together whenever you could. She would tease you, complain when you were going too fast. She once convinced you to go for an early Sunday run, and even held your hair back as you vomited in a bush (you neglected to tell her how hungover you were, and she'd forgotten how much 20-somethings could drink). She laughed at you, but she bought you sympathy pancakes to apologize.

While Casey and Alex knew they were flirting, you had no suspicions. You assumed they were just very kind, open people, (and they were, when they wanted to be) contrary to what Anderson and the other junior ADAs had to say. You thought they all must just be frustrated by the difficulty of the job. You were good at staying positive, even in terrible circumstances.

On a particularly unpleasant Friday, Alex watched you from the hallway as you took a phone call, waiting to come in and see if you'd like to have an after-work drink. She watched your eyes light up, saw you smile as wide as she'd ever seen, watched you excitedly shake your hand back and forth in the air and scrunch your nose. Maybe a boyfriend? she wondered as she clicked open the door to the junior ADAs office, shutting it while you packed up your things.

"Hey, Cabot," you said, "I know I'm leaving kind of early, sorry about that, did you need something?"

"It's 6:30. Technically, you're here late," she said as she watched you search your impressively messy desk for something. "But no, I don't need anything, I was actually going to ask if you wanted to get a drink with Casey and me and some other attorneys."

You stopped what you were doing and looked at her with the most accurate yet unintentional impression of a kitten that Alex had ever seen. "Any other day, I would absolutely love to," you told her, “But some people from my studio are going to a salsa night and my partner can actually come to this one. It's been months since we've both been free at the same time to dance together, so I really can't miss it. But please ask me next time if you still want to?"

Alex couldn't resist the way your eyes got big when you asked, the subtle pink in your cheeks and nose, you became impossible to refuse (not that she would want to). She told you that yes, of course, next time, only a little deflated to your knowledge. She has a partner.

"Speaking of," you said as your phone rang. You picked it up. "No, Ashley, your shoes are not in my bag. What would I do with them, babe? Check your old one. Or wear your old ones. Yeah, ok, see you at home." Watching you casually go back and forth with whoever was on the other end of the line was captivating. Ashley must be the partner. That you were both not single and not straight wasn't surprising, but it was a little disappointing if Alex was honest with herself.

"You dance?" She asked you.

"Mm-hmm," you hummed. "I was semi-pro in high school and college, actually. I just got back into teaching a year or so ago when Ashley moved to the city. That flake, god." You snapped your backpack shut (a classy leather affair, but a backpack nonetheless-- Casey adored it, Alex remembered) and changed your tone of voice. "Alex, you guys should come tonight!"

She let out a laugh. "I am as uncoordinated as a baby deer, Caroline."

"I doubt that," you said, rising from your desk. "Because you're good at basically everything. But you don't even have to dance if you don't want to. It's at this place," you wrote down the address of the club on a post-it and stuck it to Alex's cheek. "Live music, drinks, and you get to watch me do my favorite thing in the world, so. Yeah, you should come."

Alex, taken aback by your familiar demandingness (she'd noticed how warm you were with everyone, always professional, yes, but you put people at ease perfectly naturally with your unpracticed air), said "I'll see what Casey says," and watched you excitedly flutter out of the office, trailing close behind you.

---

Casey agreed to come dancing. She had also been a little hesitant, but when Alex described how sweetly you asked, how your face lit up when you talked about it, she wasn't in a position to say no. She and Alex sent their apology texts to Pippa, Rita, Sophie, Serena, and Gillian, receiving very characteristic replies.

Casey: Sorry, Al and I have to raincheck, Haley invited us out dancing???

Rita: Ha, have fun with the little energizer bunny, you two.

Pippa: Rita, be nice.

Rita: No.

Rita: I once saw her actually bounce down a hallway.

Serena: Alex Cabot dancing? I wish I was coming.

Alex: :( ouch, Ser.

Pippa: Have fun, you two.

Sophie: Wait, is something happening with Haley? Why do you guys never keep me in the loop?

Gillian: Aw :.(

Alex: Nothing is "happening," Rita's just cruel.

Rita: Haley's impressive, all I'm saying.

Casey. OK. Anyway, we're going to go somewhere we've never been to watch our junior colleague dance instead of having the same whisky as always with you people.

Pippa: 👯‍♂️

---

part two

[darkacademicfrom2021]

The Dark Team (part 5)

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Join the taglist in here (Taglist: @lucywrites02, @louieboo87)

“You gotta be kidding”, scoffed Bucky, entering the tiny hotel room. Loki, hiding his face between his hands, muttered something among the lines of “so hideous my own mother would throw up”.

“Sorry Bucks, that’s all I could get if you’re staying that far away from the last Hydra base you had contact with. Take turns to sleep or something and don’t fuck up too much”, said Tony from the other side of the line.

“It’s fine”, you said, throwing your bags on the side of one of the two individual beds. “I won’t sleep tonight, I have to figure this out. You guys try to get some rest and I’ll sleep after”.

“After what?”.

“I don’t know, after Christmas, Odinson. What are we talking about?”.

“Wow, mean”.

“I’ll take the one near the window, it’d be easier to throw myself off it in case you two want to keep doing that”, said Bucky.

Loki laid down on the other bed without taking his coat off, adopting a mummy-like position. He kept his eyes open. Incredibly creepy, you thought. Bucky took off his jacket and shoes and jumped on the bed, getting absorbed by it. You know, like a normal person would.

“Ahh, this mattress is gonna do wonders to my back ache”.

“Old man”, you laughed from the floor. You distributed different laptops with information, a pile of papers and files you knew you needed to have on paper, a huge map full of points marked, and a cup of coffee none of them realized you had made in the first place. Bucky muttered to himself "how the fuck..." but you paid no mind.

The sky darkened faster than you imagined, and the only lights in the room were the bright screens in front of you. Your phone started ringing and you glanced at the sleepy boys. Both looked completely passed out. You made your way to the balcony, closed the door behind you, and finally answered.

“Hey Pete”.

“Dude, you won’t believe this”.

“Probably not”.

“I had a dream that I think it wasn’t a dream. I think it was a memory”.

“Mhm”.

“It’s about Mr. Loki”.

“Alright”.

“Can you at least pretend you care?”.

“I care, bro. Don’t stress it. It’s just… Sorry, I’m really tired. Been fighting all day with that asshole. And the only time he didn’t get all snarky on me was when I was on the verge of sweet and peaceful death”.

“You… you were what”.

“Anyways, what was that dream about?”.

“I’m telling you, it was a memory. And it was from Mr. Loki, and I think it has to do with…”.

“Hold it. I can’t take you seriously if you call him Mr. Loki. It’s like I called you Mr. Peter. It’s absurd”.

“He has no last name”.

“Odinson”.

“That’s not a last name, that’s who he’s son of”.

“I don’t know how Mythology works, alright? Wait, so you think we collectively forgot something about him? As in the Mandela Effect?”.

“Didn’t he have mind powers? I’m telling you, I think he is actually up to something. Don’t you think it’s a little suspicious that us from all…”, he kept conspiring, but an all-too-familiar voice interrupted his ramblings.

“Hello, midgardian. It’s about time. Do you have the plan already?”.

“Yes”.

“Good. Rest and we’ll do it after”.

“Do you mind?”, you pointed at his bed.

“Not at all”.

You cut the call with Peter after saying goodbye and went to Loki’s bed. As you laid your head on the pillow, you felt the warmth still in there. It was sort of comforting, in an unusual way. It even smelled a bit like him, though you weren’t sure how you already knew the scent. Your eyelids fell heavy as soon as you allowed them to, and you passed out for at least four hours. When you woke up, the morning was barely starting to lighten up the city, and Loki and Bucky were having a staring contest. Or something like that.

“If I didn’t know any better I’d say you were about to make out”.

“Eugh, gross”, said Loki, rolling his eyes.

“Hah, you pulled your eyes away first. I win”.

“Oh, was that the purpose of this? I was just gazing at your dreamy and soft blue eyes, Barnes”.

“I can cut the air with your sexual tension", you said, chuckling.

“The only thing that will be getting cut is your neck. With my knives”.

“Oh, come on, sweetheart”, mocked Bucky, totally getting into the rol. Loki got up with a tiny smile. Deep down, he was enjoying the friendly chattery.

You began explaining the development of the mission. It was quite easy actually. You needed a stick; that pendrive was always on a Hydra worker, and there were three possible individuals. You were three. It was almost as if it was made for the Dark Team.

The first part of the plan was directed by Bucky. He had to kidnap the first suspect and make him think he was the terrifying Winter Soldier. In that fear, he’d take some information out without having to actually harm him physically (or maybe just a little, you know, the whole abduction part).

The second part should be done at the same time than the first one, and this one belonged to the God of Lies. Loki had to pretend to be the man Bucky had kidnapped, and make small talk, little conversations with his coworkers to get a general idea of where the stick could be. Take out information in the most unnoticed way he could.

The third part had to be synchronized in half of the second one. Loki had to pull the third suspect away from his office, whatever the reason. You’d infiltrate in the office and go through his stuff. You studied and analyzed his personality briefly through his social media; he wasn’t the kind of guy to keep something important like that on himself. He had to have it locked away somewhere safe. Preferably on a Hydra base, because what’s safer than that? Who could possibly break in?

“Whichever finds the stick first, lets the other teammates know and we all leave as fast as we can. It’s a matter of minutes until the alarm goes off after that pendrive is out of the building; it has a sensor”, you finished.

“Sounds good”.

“And if something goes wrong?”.

“I have a plan B, C and D for the possible outcomes. Don’t worry”. You handed them earbuds and clipped barely visible microphones to their clothes. “Don’t lose this, otherwise we have no means to communicate. And remember we’re a team, and we behave like such. Every modification to the original plan goes through the other two, understood?”.

“Clear as water”.

“Let’s get working, then”.

[septicstories]

Kitten Licks and Kisses

A Kiribaku story where the lads are playing with a kitten!

Katsuki's POV

"ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT! I'M GOIN', YOU FUCKING HAG! GET OFF MY DICK!" I yelled back into the house I started walking to school.

"Stupid fucking hag, always screaming at me," I mumbled, about to put in my earbuds when I heard a soft noise.

I stopped walking, and paused.

"The hell was that?"

I heard it again.

A little mewl, coming from a cardboard box beside a building.

Walking over to the cardboard box, my eyes fell on a small cat.

It was about the size of my hand and was extremely malnourished. The black and white fur was matted and dirty, a few patches of skin visible.

The box had a messy scrawl that just said "Take me"

Putting my hand out to the cat, it looked up at me with these piercing blue eyes, looking terrified of me.

"Not gonna hurt ya, bud," I murmured, lightly moving my hand to it's head and lightly patting it.

A short purr erupted from the cat, making my mouth twitch.

I took my bag off of my shoulder and opened, digging around for a second to find a small bento box.

Opening it, I offered a bit to the cat, who looked as though they hadn't eaten actual food in weeks.

The cat took small shaky steps toward the box as I sent it down.

I pulled out my phone and sent a message to Kirishima.

Gonna be late, fuck face. Just tell Aizawa-sensei I'll be there in a few minutes.

Sure thing bro, you okay?

Fine

I pocketed my phone again as the cat put food in their stomach, mewling every now and again.

I dug around in my bag again, looking for a bottle of water or something, but there was nothing.

"Ah, shit," I murmured.

I looked around for something that would work, when I saw a small mom-and-pop shop.

"Here, keep eating, pal. I'll be right back," I mumbled, standing up and going across the street and into the shop.

It was almost baren, but a handful of people were in the shop.

Looking around for a moment, my eyes fell on a milk carton.

I grabbed it from the freezer and when I went to pay, I also grabbed a small cup with a lid to keep the milk in.

Leaving the store, I crossed the street and saw that the cat had stopped eating.

I closed the box and opened up the carton of milk, pouring milk into my palm.

I tried as hard as I could not to let any of it leak out as I moved my hand toward the cat.

"Drink up, bud," I said, the small cat meowing before dipping it's mouth into my palm.

And when I say mouth, I mean it practically tried to drown itself in the milk.

It lapped at the milk, seeming very content.

The cat didn't look to be a fully grown cat.

Actually, much more of a kitten.

Their fur definitely needed a wash, but even the way it was, it looked gorgeous. There was these splotches of white in their coat and they actual had a huge spiral on their belly.

This kitten must be protected at all fucking costs.

The kitten had finished licking up the milk in my palm, so I dried my hand on my uniform pants, poured the rest of the milk into that cup, shoved a lid on it, and put it in my bag.

Picking up the kitten carefully, I stroked their head and back to make sure they felt calm.

"You wanna come with me?"

The cutest meow came from the cat as they rubbed up against my hand, a small purr coming from them.

"Alright, let's go, bud," I murmured, putting them in my blazer pocket, but making sure they could still breathe.

I started to jog, making sure I wasn't hurting the kitten, and keeping an ear out for meowing or mewling.

I may be late, but I don't wanna miss too many classes.

***

"Bakugou, do you mind explaining to me why you're late?" Aizawa-sensei asked me as I walked into class.

"Something came up," I mumbled, sitting down a lot more carefully than I would normally.

Aizawa-sensei just rolled his eyes before explaining some dumb shit before going into his sleeping bag and napping.

"Yo, Bakugou,"

I looked up at a concerned Kirishima.

"What's up, bro? What came up?"

I opened my mouth to respond when I heard a small meow from my pocket.

Kirishima and I looked at each other before another mewl escaped from my pocket.

"Uh... whatchu got there, Bakugou?"

Another meow.

"Cocaine,"

Kirishima gave me a look and I sighed.

Glancing at Aizawa-sensei to make sure he was asleep, I pulled the small cat out of my pocket.

When Kirishima opened his mouth, I put a finger up to my mouth, telling him to shut the fuck up.

He nodded.

"Dude, how are you gonna keep them quiet during class?"

Fuck.

"I... didn't think of anything yet," I mumbled, lightly stroking the kitten's head as they purred at me. "I just picked them up off the street, and they were malnourished as hell and they were scared of me and I just wanted to make sure they were okay,"

"What're we talking about?" Kaminari asked, coming over.

"Keep this quiet, including yourself," I hissed, the kitten burrowing themselves into the crook of my elbow.

"Holy shit, is that your cat?"

"Not mine. Stray,"

"Kacchan picked up another stray?" I heard that nerd ask.

"Another?"

"He did that a lot when we were kids," Deku said, pointing to the small kitten who seemingly fell asleep in my elbow.

Soon enough, the whole class was crowded around me.

"If you guys say anything, you're fucking dead," I hissed.

"You should take them to Chiyo-san, make sure they're not sick," Ponytail said.

"I can't do that. I'm taking them to the vet afterward anyway, make sure they don't have a disease or a chip. If they have a chip, I'll return them, if not, they're mine,"

"Aww, Bakugou's got a secret soft side!" Pinky cooed, making me scoff and roll my eyes.

"Everyone back to their seats,"

While everyone was shuffling, I quickly but cautiously put the kitten back in my pocket.

Aizawa-sensei got up and left as Midnight-sensei came into the room.

Ah, shit. I have nowhere to put them during hero training. Fuck!

Midnight-sensei kept on talking on about whatever the fuck while I kept petting the kitten's head with my forefinger.

Then it hit me.

Nope, wait, typo.

Then they bit me.

There we go.

Thankfully, their teeth were super dull, not enough to hurt too bad.

It felt like a little pinch.

What hurt was when it stabbed my hand with it's claws.

I pulled my hand out and saw little holes, making it through maybe a quarter of a centimeter of skin.

"Damn, they're a feisty one," I whispered as I saw myself start to bleed a bit.

Whatever.

I put my hands back in my pockets to try to cover up the shape of the kitten, and this time they nuzzled and licked at my hand.

Somewhat like an apology.

I heard it meow oddly loud, and the nerd coughed behind me.

Was that his shitty attempt to cover it up?

"Bakugou!"

I looked up at the board, hoping she didn't notice I was dealing with a small mammal at the moment.

I also realized I wasn't paying attention to shit.

"Are you alright?"

I gave a nod, and she continued.

Holy shit, she almost gave me a heart attack.

Classes continued without very few problems, and then lunch.

Dear fuck, it was lunch.

I let the kitten walk on the table while I poured some of the milk from earlier into the lid.

"Drink up," I murmured as Kirishima sat down beside me.

"Here, I can watch them so you can go grab lunch," Kirishima said, and I nodded.

I stood up to go get lunch, just getting some simple curry before walking back to the table.

And I was met with the best sight ever.

Kirishima had his head on the table, grinning as the small kitten licked and pawed at his nose.

His smile was so big and bright, and as I got closer to the table, the small mewls and giggles were audible.

Holy shit, I love that redheaded dumbass so damn much.

Since that damn incident in Kamino, that dumbass managed to steal my heart, and I can't fucking get it back.

But...

I don't quite think I regret that.

"Oi, fuckface,"

See, can't you tell how much I love this idiot?

"Oh, hey, Bakugou!" Kirishima said, grinning up at me.

"I see you two have grown friendly,"

Kirishima released a sweet laugh and the cat meowed, pawing at Kirishima's now messy hair.

"Did you notice the splotch on their back looks like a skull?" Kirishima asked.

I looked at their back, and sure enough, a skull shaped splotch adorned their back.

"Huh, cool,"

"I think it's really sweet that you decided to pick this li'l guy up," Kirishima said, shoving some pork in his mouth. "I never really expected that from you,"

"Yeah, yeah, fucking whatever," I mumbled before putting a spoonful of curry in my mouth.

"It's super manly... and pretty cute,"

I swallowed harshly before coughing a little bit.

I threw my glance at Kirishima, wide eyes.

"And pretty fucking what?!"

He must've realized what he said, because his face grew bright red.

"P-pretty... uhm... pretty... pretty cool! Yeah! Cool! Coolio!" Kirishima's eyes darted around the cafeteria, giving me these awkward finger guns.

"Really?"

"Yup! Absolutely!"

"And I didn't hear you wrong the first time I heard you when I thought you said 'cute'?"

"No! Nonononono! Not at all!"

"You're nervous,"

"Nervous? Pssh, nope!"

"Really, I think it's kind of cute,"

Am I shooting my shot now?

"Wh-what?"

"Oh, I meant cool,"

"Wait, hold the fucking phone!"

"On hold, Kiri,"

"Did you mean...."

"I meant,"

Kirishima sat there, blinking as he tried working out what I just said.

"You don't... like me... do you?"

"No, not at all. I fucking hate your guts," I said with a deadpan.

"Oh... sorry,"

"I was fucking kidding!"

"What?"

"God, you're fucking dense. I do like you,"

"Not like... like-like, is what I meant,"

"What are you, fucking twelve?"

"Shut up!"

"But yes. I like-like you. Get the picture?"

"Holy shit, wow,"

Kirishima leaned back in his char, looking like the weight of the world was being lifted from his chest.

"You're not kidding?"

"No! Why the fuck would I be?"

"I dunno!"

"Just get over here and kiss me, dork,"

As we both leaned in, we were interrupted with a hiss and a meow.

I looked down at the kitten, who looked grumpy.

"Huh, reminds me of you,"

"Fine, no kiss then,"

"Aw, what?"

Tag list: @king-queenie

[holdmyowos]

(Mature) A Taste of the Night Switch Eren Yeager x reader TW: oral (reader receiving), unprotected sex, fingering, foul languageSwitch deprived virgin Eren x gender neutral reader (Mature Content) Guys I found this playlist it is very underrated. If you like Eren, check it out. https://youtu.be/zZ-LmC5_OjI Eren Yeager. Your hero. It wasn’t his fault he was a titan, but everyone treated him as a monster, even though he had shown his loyalty time and time again, serving the scouts. They kept him in a dungeon. It looked normal enough, but perhaps it was slightly titan proof. They feared him, but trapping him wasn’t going to make him more likely to help their cause. No doubt if he wanted to, he would easily have destroyed the place by turning into a titan. “You can’t be too careful,” people said, whenever talking about him. Some, the religious, crossed themselves in his presence or when talking about him. This imprisonment isn’t careful, it's stupidity. You always thought that. Eren was treated like an animal, only let out of his cage when they needed him for something, which, most of the time, was for fighting, and the other part was interrogation. He never had any leisure time, only staring at the walls of his cell, thinking of who knows what. You were often the person sent down to give him his meals, or supervise during baths, though you didn’t look at him. There were always one or two guards, too, staring him down as if he would do something any minute. He could, but you knew he wouldn’t. Just because a king has the power to kill innocent people, if they are a good ruler, they’ll try not to. When you gave him his food, which you were often told to do, since you were one of the few people not terrified by his existence. You always slipped notes in from his friends with the napkins, sometimes writing on the undersides yourself, telling him to bear it, keep up the good effort, what a great person he was. If he ever actually got to read any of it, you didn’t know, considering how the guards always watched. He always slipped them under his pillow case before the sentries could see the writing. Perhaps he pretended to sleep while actually reading them. After working for the scouts, being kind, everyone trusted you. This was his one night of release, where he could leave the cell and do anything he wanted. As a ‘gift’, they let him out for 8 hours. Something others would take for granted, thinking nothing of it. Night, not day. It made people much less likely to notice him. You were told to secretly guard him, report back if he did anything suspicious. You wouldn’t tell on him, no way, no matter what he did, but if they were giving you permission to go follow him on his one day to keep secrets, you were going to see what he was up to. The sun was down, and the sky was dark. You gave the signal. The guard unlocked the gate, and Eren stretched, and slowly walked out of the door, as if a house cat, seeing the door open for the first time, the possibility of the outdoors calling. From there, cautious, he set a fast pace of walking away. You followed him out of the barracks, and he seemed to have a place in mind of where he was going. You almost lost him a couple times, a combination of his fast walking and you trying to be stealthy. You had borrowed a plain scout cape with a hood on it, concealing you. You saw him duck into a bar, and you stopped your feet, disappointed, but not entirely surprised. Wasn’t he 19? Could he even drink? You shook your head. If you were in his situation, wouldn’t the first thing you’d do is go and get drunk? You walked in cautiously, if they hadn’t stopped him, they wouldn’t stop you. Everyone stopped to stare at you, and you looked around. Eren wasn’t there. How did he give you the slip? You turned back around, headed out, and bumped into someone. They were so close, they must have been an inch or two behind you as you were walking in. “Boo.” He said. You looked up, and it was Eren. He flipped your hood, revealing who you were. He pressed you against the gray stone wall as a couple walked into the

bar, their faces in shadows. He took his hand off your mouth, instead grabbed your hand, and pulled you with him. He started walking, slower this time, allowing you to easily keep up. “I knew they’d send someone after me. Pointless to try to hide. ” Instead of being angry, he replied, “I suppose I can’t put it past you for following orders. Well then, be my guest. Follow me all night. I’d much rather have you than another guard. Who knows, maybe we can do something fun.” He put an earbud in the ear opposite from you. Where did he possibly get that? What was it attached to? Was he communicating with someone? You realized that you had stopped walking, and he was looking back at you, gently pulling on your arm. “Come on, I don’t have all day,” he complained. You apologized, and kept up. You heard some loud music, the beat dropping hard, it was blaring, but quiet to you. You looked around, and saw nothing. It sounded far off. You realized that it must have been coming from his earbud. “You’re going to lose your hearing, like that,” you muttered quietly. “Maybe,” he hummed. “But I heal so quickly, I doubt it.” You walked a bit, and he stopped in front of a house. He opened it, and stepped aside for you to enter. Was this his? It was small, and looked like it had been recently cleaned, but no one lived here, since the place wasn’t decorated at all, and the only furniture was a dresser, a lamp, and a bed. There wasn’t even a fridge or television. He shut the door and locked it. Should that be a red flag? He pulls open the dresser, and you try and peer in, but he pushes you away. He takes a bottle of something, probably wine, out, and lays it on the top of the dresser. “You can have some, if you want. It doesn’t work on me, as much as I wish it did. You take the bottle in your hands, turning it over. Maybe later. “Come on, hurry up. We don’t have very much time. I only have a night off.” He pauses, his shirt halfway off. What is he doing? You can see his nipples. You look away, blush flooding your cheeks. You had just wanted to talk, but if he wanted to do this instead, could you say no? You had never thought of him in a sexual way, but now that you looked, probably the only thing he could do in that cell was exercise, push ups and sit-ups. It showed on his body. His dark hair was messy and long, no one had bothered to help him with it. It wasn’t too bad, though. Under his eyes, lines showing that he had recently been in titan form. Every second, they faded a little bit more. In a couple hours, they’d be gone. His eyes were halfway closed, and you could tell he was thinking bad thoughts. He sighed, a breathy, needy sound. The noise made its way down to your core, and you were sure your cheeks were flaming. He sat you down on the bed. “You were the only one that was kind to me, this whole time I'd been there. Even my friends can't visit me. Please, let me return the favor. If not, I’ll just take matters into my own hands.” His hand traveled up your leg, but you flinched away from him. His eyes hardened, disappointed. “Fine, be like that. But if you don’t want me, then have the decency to act like it. Yes or no, I’m still having a good time tonight.” You looked down at his crotch, if he was this horny, then, how long had he been planning this? Did he know you liked him that much? You felt your underwear was no longer dry. “No, don’t worry about me. I can take care of myself later. I just want to taste you. Eat you. Please, let me. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to resist grabbing your wrist and keeping you in the cell with me. But I couldn't do that. It’d put you in danger, since you would be with me. It has to be a secret. You are my candle in the darkness.” On his knees, he has fully taken off his shirt, and you can’t help but stare. He grabs your hips. “Please, I need you.” You cracked. “Of course, I’d do anything for you. I’m just surprised you’d want to please me instead of yourself.” The words slipped out of your mouth. “Don’t think so lowly of me.” He growled. “I recently. Turned 19. A whole year being

legal, and I wasn’t able to do anything that whole damn time. I was so desperate for someone.” He slid down your bottoms and gently took off your underwear. He thrust a finger in your hole and you cried out. "S-sorry. I… haven't done this before." You guided his fingers, and he had you feeling good in no time. He seemed so desperate to learn, to make you feel better. You could feel that you were close. He must have seen something on your face that gave it away, or perhaps it was the way you squeezed around his fingers when they slid out. He placed his mouth between your thighs, and you felt his hot breath hit you. He was staring, a starved man waiting for the prayer to be over, to finally be allowed a meal. You held the back of his head and pushed him towards you. He didn't hesitate, he stuck out his tongue and went at it like a pro. You couldn't help the noises that came out of your mouth. Even better, he really seemed to be genuinely enjoying it too. When you came, he gulped it down. He stayed there, at your knees, staring up at you, as if wanting more. "Want to… actually… do it?" You put the offer out there. "If you really want. Are you sure? I might not be able to help myself-“ you cut him off. “Yes, please, I want you. You’re my idol, Eren. You don't know how much you mean to me.” He pushed you into the bed and suffocated you with his kisses. You had never dreamed you’d end up like this with such an amazing person. He let out a couple of loud huffs as you sat on his lap, slowly taking him in. “Damn, I’m already- fuck, I don’t think we should do this. I might spend my whole night like this uhf.” His words were stopped as you rocked gently on him. “I’m warning you, if you don’t get off right now, I’m going to do something that’s your fault.” You just kept doing it, enjoying him underneath you. He was probably a virgin, never having the chance of doing stuff before. However, he was obviously well educated. “Go ahead, I don’t mind.” He brought his face up to your ear, and you felt his body rubbing against you. He huffed in your ear, and slowly fell still under you, and let out a shameless moan in your ear as he released, trembling. He clutched you tight, knocking your breath out, and gently lessening his pressure on you until he was hugging you gently. “That was so fast. I wasn’t expecting that. I have all night. I wonder how many times you can make me do that. I've never felt like that before, never done that, but you felt so good. I need more, baby.” Your hands were all over each other, grabbing, needy. Knowing you might not be allowed again, perhaps ever. Every second you were together, you got wetter, everything he did, sexy. He would never have a supervised bath that you weren’t staring at ever again. He spent most of the night shoving you into the mattress, fucking you from all the positions you wanted to try. In total, he made you cum four times, and he did at least twice that many. You were drained, but happy, when the sun rose, and he walked back into the barracks. You followed about five minutes later. “So, how was he?” Your supervisor whispered to you later in the day, after allowing you time to rest. “He didn’t do anything I wouldn’t approve of, sir.” You answered truthfully. “Well, I’ll be damned. Who knew? Perhaps we should give him more free time after all.” #erenxreader

legal, and I wasn’t able to do anything that whole damn time. I was so desperate for someone.” He slid down your bottoms and gently took off your underwear. He thrust a finger in your hole and you cried out. "S-sorry. I… haven't done this before." You guided his fingers, and he had you feeling good in no time. He seemed so desperate to learn, to make you feel better. You could feel that you were close. He must have seen something on your face that gave it away, or perhaps it was the way you squeezed around his fingers when they slid out. He placed his mouth between your thighs, and you felt his hot breath hit you. He was staring, a starved man waiting for the prayer to be over, to finally be allowed a meal. You held the back of his head and pushed him towards you. He didn't hesitate, he stuck out his tongue and went at it like a pro. You couldn't help the noises that came out of your mouth. Even better, he really seemed to be genuinely enjoying it too. When you came, he gulped it down. He stayed there, at your knees, staring up at you, as if wanting more. "Want to… actually… do it?" You put the offer out there. "If you really want. Are you sure? I might not be able to help myself-“ you cut him off. “Yes, please, I want you. You’re my idol, Eren. You don't know how much you mean to me.” He pushed you into the bed and suffocated you with his kisses. You had never dreamed you’d end up like this with such an amazing person. He let out a couple of loud huffs as you sat on his lap, slowly taking him in. “Damn, I’m already- fuck, I don’t think we should do this. I might spend my whole night like this uhf.” His words were stopped as you rocked gently on him. “I’m warning you, if you don’t get off right now, I’m going to do something that’s your fault.” You just kept doing it, enjoying him underneath you. He was probably a virgin, never having the chance of doing stuff before. However, he was obviously well educated. “Go ahead, I don’t mind.” He brought his face up to your ear, and you felt his body rubbing against you. He huffed in your ear, and slowly fell still under you, and let out a shameless moan in your ear as he released, trembling. He clutched you tight, knocking your breath out, and gently lessening his pressure on you until he was hugging you gently. “That was so fast. I wasn’t expecting that. I have all night. I wonder how many times you can make me do that. I've never felt like that before, never done that, but you felt so good. I need more, baby.” Your hands were all over each other, grabbing, needy. Knowing you might not be allowed again, perhaps ever. Every second you were together, you got wetter, everything he did, sexy. He would never have a supervised bath that you weren’t staring at ever again. He spent most of the night shoving you into the mattress, fucking you from all the positions you wanted to try. In total, he made you cum four times, and he did at least twice that many. You were drained, but happy, when the sun rose, and he walked back into the barracks. You followed about five minutes later. “So, how was he?” Your supervisor whispered to you later in the day, after allowing you time to rest. “He didn’t do anything I wouldn’t approve of, sir.” You answered truthfully. “Well, I’ll be damned. Who knew? Perhaps we should give him more free time after all.” #erenxreader#erenyeager

#erenjaeger

#aot

#smut

#erenyaeger

#erenyeager

#aotsmut

#anime

#aotxreader

#erenxreader

[yet-another-fan-girl9]

Make You Mine

Request: Bucky x reader where reader works as Tony's assistant/ works in the lab and is an introvert and is secretly in love with Bucky and decides to confess her feelings through a letter, and to sing a song for him through Tony's party (but being shy, tried to make a slight disguise

Warnings: language

Word Count: ~3600

A/N: Sorry this took a long time, but here it is... Thanks for the song recommendation @leniram1890 I can’t tag u for some reason :(

Your shoes squeaked on the marble floor in the Avenger’s tower lobby and your white lab coat fluttered behind you. You were fully aware of how the sound drew attention towards you and you couldn’t wait to seek shelter in an empty elevator.

Right before the doors slid shut, though, one person managed to join you. Tall, broad shoulders, and a metal arm, Bucky Barnes stood in an elevator with you and only you. You shrunk back into a corner, hugging the papers to your chest. If it were anyone else, you probably would have been fine, but you couldn’t help glancing over at Bucky every minute. Why the fuck did the tower have to be so tall?

“You don’t have to be scared of me, you know,” Bucky broke the silence and your heart jumped up to your throat.

“Oh, no, I’m not scared of you,” you sputtered. You should have stopped talking there, but of course, you didn’t. “Not in the way that you think, anyways. It’s not even you, really. It’s me. I’m just nervous about embarrassing myself because I can be awkward sometimes. Like now, so I’m just going to… stop talking. Oh, fuck me,” you muttered under your breath. 

“Take me on a date first,” Bucky chuckled. How did he hear— oh, right. He was a super-soldier with superhuman hearing.

“No, I didn’t mean— shit. Really gotta stop talking.” You stared at your feet, your face burning.

“Don’t worry about it.” He was silent for a minute. “You’re Stark’s assistant right?” You smiled softly and nodded, sticking to your words of no longer speaking. “I’ve seen you around the tower and we’ve spoken a few times.”

You wouldn’t really call passing on a message as a real conversation, but at least he remembered you. Tony had hired you as his lab assistant right out of college. It was a well-paying job and the billionaire was a great boss. In the many years you had been working for him, Tony had naturally taken the role of a father figure. You knew of Bucky and Tony’s history, so you knew your boss would have some words about your crush.

When you finally reached your floor, you didn’t know if you were relieved that your embarrassment was about to end or if you were disappointed that Bucky would leave. You walked by him and off of the elevator, turning around one last time to smile and wave at the supersoldier. 

“See you around, Bucky,” you managed to say.

“See you around, (y/n).”

The elevator doors slid shut just in time to hide the large grin that crossed your face. Bucky knew your name. You had to suppress a squeal that you knew you would never live down because Natasha was walking towards you.

Tony had hired you around the same time he had hired ‘Natalie Rushman,’ so you’ve been friends with Nat for a while. Unfortunately, it just made it easier for her to read you, and as much as you tried to play cool, she could tell something was up. You walked down the hall with her and she had the decency to wait until you made it to the lab to ask her questions.

“What happened?”

“Nothing happened.” You placed the files on your desk and sat down, discreetly slipping a hand written letter into a drawer.

“Something happened with Bucky.”

“Bucky?” you scoffed. Nat knew about your not so small crush on the metal armed supersoldier, of course. You had told her because she was your friend, but also because she would have figured it out another way.

“Yes, Bucky. You have that faraway look in your eye that you always have after a Bucky encounter. I think you two were in the elevator together.”

“Why’d you ask if you already knew?” 

“So tell me all the details.” Nat sat on the table.

“I was just in the elevator, he joined me. We were in there alone and I was awkward. The end,” you shrugged. “He knows my name, though,”

“It’s meant to be.”

“Oh, shut up.” You threw a pen at her, but the hero caught it. “Now, as much as I enjoy your company, I have to work.”

“Okay, okay.” Nat tossed your pen back to you and hopped down. “But one of these days you’re going to have to make a move. I’m getting sick of your yearning.”

“One, I’m never going to make a move and, two, I don’t fucking yearn.”

“Yes, you do.” Nat opened the lab door. “It’s exhausting.”

“No, I don’t.”

“Yearning. You're a yearner. Yearny yearner.”

“Goodbye, Nat.”

She disappeared and you took a peak at a piece of paper on your desk.

🎶🎶

The lab was empty, your boss was off somewhere testing out his new suit designs so it was now or never. You took out a small drone you had been perfecting and folded up your handwritten note.

Dear Bucky,

I’m writing this because this is the only way to express the way I feel about you. I don’t think I’ll ever send this to you so you’ll never see this, but I think I love you. Damn, it feels so strange writing that. Even thinking it is weird, I’ve never felt this way before. 

You’re an amazing person and I know you sometimes doubt that, but it’s true. You are kind to everyone. Your smile lights up any room and makes my day. 

I wish I could say this to your face but I would be too scared nervous and awkward.

I just wanted to pull these words from my mind.

I love you.

~Someone Unimportant

You really wouldn’t have thought you were actually going to deliver this to Bucky, but after this morning’s events, you had a small surge of courage. Also you knew that if Nat found it, she would totally tell him.

The drone’s claw grasped the letter and you piloted it into the vents. You knew Bucky should be at training with Steve and that his room was connected to a vent outside of the lab. You kept an eye on your tablet while you guided the drone through the vents. When it reached Bucky’s room the drone slipped the paper through the grates before you directed it back to you.

You grabbed the drone out of the vent and darted back into the lab. A small laugh slipped past your lips. You felt lightheaded and your heart was racing, but there were no taking it back now.

🎶🎶

The smell of your lunch filled the kitchen. Music played from your headphones and you scrolled through your phone as you waited for the microwave to go off. A sudden tap on your shoulder caused you to spin around and rip out your earphones.

“Oh, my god, Bucky,” you gasped and placed your hand over your chest. “Don’t do that again. You scared me.”

“I thought I didn’t scare you?” Bucky asked but he had a smile on his face. It had been a day since your last encounter with him. A day since you had left the note in his room. The thought of him reading your confession made your face burn.

“You know what I mean.”

“What are you doing up here?”

“Someone broke the microwave downstairs and I have access to the upper levels because of Tony, so I just came here.”

“You should come up here more often. I like seeing you.”

“I like seeing you too,” you said slowly. Was that a stupid reply? Maybe.

“What are you listening to?” He nodded at your earphones.

“Just some music. A love song called ‘Make You Mine.’ Do you want to..?” You held out one earbud to Bucky.

He took it and you played the song. You paid close attention to his reaction at different parts. The chorus started to play and he smiled along with you. You had to stand near him, nearer than you ever had before, so that both of the earphones would stay in.

“It’s a good song,” he decided when it ended.

“I know it’s not really your vibe,” you chuckled.

“No, no I liked it.”

You were taking it as a compliment that Bucky hadn’t moved away from you yet.

“I smell food,” Clint announced when he walked into the kitchen. “What’s cooking? Oh, hey, (Y/N).”

“Hi, Clint,” you cleared your throat and stepped back.

“You know each other?” Bucky asked.

“Yeah, through Natasha.” Nat had quickly introduced you to Clint and you became friends. Nevertheless, Clint obviously didn’t know about any boy drama.

“Has she been talking your ear off?” Clint rummaged through the fridge.

“We’ve been listening to some music, but I’m surprised that she hasn’t remained true to her vow of silence.”

“Vow of silence? Man, sometimes I couldn’t get her to stop talking. Sure, she was quiet at first, but once you brought up something she was passionate about, she would just keep going.”

“Oh, I didn’t realize the microwave went off,” you cut in and grabbed your food. “Uh, I guess I’ll see you around.”

“Yeah, see you,” Bucky replied, sounding almost… forlorn?

No, that’s just your hopeful mind searching for any possibility that he could like you back. You scampered back down to the lab and tried to focus on the report you were working on. Hours later, you had only completed a page and a half.

“Knock knock,” Nat’s voice drew your attention away from the page you’ve been staring at for the last hour. “Can I come in?”

“Yeah, sure.” You shut your computer and rubbed your eyes. “I can’t focus at all. I need a break.”

“That’s why I’m here.” She sat on the table, mimicking the position she was in this morning. “A little birdy told me about an encounter in the kitchen.”

“You know what? I don’t really need that break.”

“Oh, come on. I know you want to talk about it.”

“Fine,” you groaned. You paused before speaking. How much detail should you tell her? “I was microwaving my food and Bucky showed up. We listened to some music until Clint showed up.”

“And were you mad about that?”

“I guess. Not really ‘mad’ but a little disappointed. When I left I thought Bucky sounded a bit sad to see me go, but I really think it’s just my imagination.”

“Why would you think it was your imagination?”

“Stop acting like a fucking therapist.” You sank into your desk chair. “It was my imagination because I don’t want to have stupid hope.”

“Clint said he heard it too,” Nat said nonchalantly.

“That’s bullshit.”

“And why do you think it’s bullshit?” She pretended to take notes.

“Shut up. My break’s over. I need to get back to work.”

“What you need to do is confess your feelings for Bucky. You know the party Tony’s having tonight, right? Of course, you do. You’re his assistant, but anyways, I came up with the perfect plan.”

“That doesn’t sound promising,” you muttered and opened your laptop only for Natasha to slam the lid closed.

“You’re going to go to the party and by the end of the night, I guarantee that you will be with Bucky.”

“I can’t go, I don’t like parties,” you tried to protest. “I won’t have any time to get ready. It starts in an hour.”

“I’m sure Tony, your boss, would want you to go to his party.”

“I can’t go,” you repeated. “I’m sure Tony, my boss, would want me to do my work.”

“Well, you can’t work if you don’t have your computer.”

Before you could react, Nat grabbed your laptop and ran out of the lab. It barely took you a moment to register what had just happened but in that time, Nat had almost made it to the stairwell. You bolted out of the lab in a feeble attempt to catch your friend. You made it to the stairwell and looked up and down to try to find Nat.

“Up here!” she called in a sing-song voice.

You looked up to see her red hair at least two stories above you.

“Motherfucker,” you swore and began to climb up the stairs, taking two at a time. “Nat, I will literally rip your fucking guts out.”

“You can try,” her voice echoed down to you and it was followed by a door closing.

You finally arrived at a residential floor. Nat’s room was here, so you left the stairwell. Your best guess would be that she would go to her room. Someone cleared their throat and you whirled around.

“We just keep running into each other today,” Bucky chuckled.

“Oh, yeah, I suppose we do,” you stuttered.

You could only imagine what you looked like. Out of breath, hair slightly wild.

“Nat,” you explained. “Nat took my computer.”

“That makes sense. Uh, are you going to the party later?”

“Well, if Nat doesn’t return my computer, I can’t do any work, which means she’ll force me to go.”

“I can understand. Steve always makes me go. Speaking of Steve, I have to go meet up with him. I hope I see you tonight.”

“Yeah, tonight.”

You watched him leave before storming into Nat’s room. Her room was suspiciously void of your computer. She walked out of her closet with a few dresses. 

“It’s formal, right? Black tie and all that?”

“Um, yeah.” Might as well give up. You had the feeling you weren’t going to go back to work.

“I’ve created the perfect look for you. Oh, and don’t worry about timing, we’ll be fashionably late.”

“You’re insufferable,” you said but took the dress she handed you. One glance at it and you instantly knew you would not be able to wear it.

“Why not?” she asked when you told her that. “You haven’t even tried it on yet.”

“First, it’s a V neck and I cannot do V necks. Second,” you held the dress up to your body, “it’s too short.”

“Please, just try it on?”

“If those are deal breakers, try this one.”

It was a black, pleated, off the shoulder dress. The front came down to your lower thigh while the back ended past the back of your knee. You stared at it for a moment, trying to picture it on yourself.

“I’ll get the shoes that go with that.”

“But I didn’t say I chose this one.”

“Well, you have no choice now.” She sat you down and brought out her makeup. “This is my plan. Tony lets people use the mic every once in a while, so you’re going to sing.”

“That’s an instant veto on that plan,” you interrupted.

“You have a beautiful voice.” Nat powdered your face and you crinkled your nose.

“I regret telling you.”

“Do it. Do it. Do it,” she chanted.

“Nope. No singing. I honestly cannot sing in front of people. I’ll fucking throw up all over the crowd.”

“What if it’s not you?”

“What do you mean?” You narrowed your eyes at your friend while she dabbed lip gloss onto your lips.

“You know, like an alter-ego.” You began to protest but before you could say anything she continued, “Just hear me out. We get you a nice wig, and introduce you as… ‘Susan Pevensie.’”

“Seriously? Narnia?” You both rolled your eyes. “But wouldn’t that kinda defeat the purpose? I sing, what? A love song to Bucky?”

“No big dramatic change, just a wig. Maybe a bolder eye. That way, it’s not you, it’s… shit, I can’t think of a good name.”

“Hermione Granger? Katniss Everdeen?”

“Oh, shut up.”

“Fine. Just a wig and makeup, though. I don’t need to be introduced to the stage.”

“You’re going along with it?” The excitement in her voice was obvious.

“What do I have to lose? I’ve pretty much accepted defeat already.”

“No, don’t think like that. You’re going to blow everyone’s fucking socks off tonight. Now go put on the dress. Don’t ruin the makeup!”

A few minutes later you walked out, the black dress and shoes on. Nat smiled and admired her work. She had donned another dress and had somehow completed her hair and makeup. A few wigs had been laid out on the bed.

“Pic one. I’m particularly drawn to this one.” She pointed to a long, maroon wig. You nodded silently. “Are you ready?”

You took a deep breath and nodded. “I might regret this.”

“You might not. Most people won’t notice unless you really fuck it up. They’ll most likely be focused on their conversations. And if they don’t there’s the ol’ picture everyone naked trick,” she winked.

“How inspiring.” You smoothed down the dress and looked in the mirror one last time. Nat did a good job in slightly altering your appearance. “I’m ready. Let’s go.”

You walked down to the party together. It was already in full swing and you didn’t see anyone you knew. Your palms were clammy. The alcohol looked inviting but you couldn’t bring yourself to grab a drink. Who knew what you might do if you were drunk.

“Should I do it now?” you whispered to Nat.

“There’s no time like the present,” she replied before she vanished into the crowd.

“Fantastic,” you muttered under your breath. You had no other choice but to head to the stage. “H-hello, can I sing something?”

The man supervising the microphone looked at you and nonchalantly handed you the mic. “What song?”

What song? Brilliant question. What question? There was one song that instantly came to mind.

“Erm, do you have ‘Make You Mine’ by Us the Duo?”

He nodded silently and pointed you towards the stage. You walked towards the stage, tugging on your dress and fiddling with the mic. In addition to clammy hands, you were now shaking. How did you let Nat talk you into this again?

You stood in the center of the stage for a few seconds before the music began. Nat was right, people only glanced up at you before returning to their conversations. The soft strumming of the guitar began to play and you started to sing the words you knew by heart.

“If summer is for lovers, then consider me in love. I found the one, oh I found the one that I've been dreaming of.” You were still nervous and timid, matching the speed of the song. “If friends are what you're looking for, consider me a friend. But I'll break apart and take your heart before this story ends.” You looked around the room and spotted Bucky. His blue eyes locked onto yours. “This is the part where we fall in love.” You looked away as the song sped up. “Tonight I will make you mine. I will make you mine. I will make you mine. If you let me. If you let me.”

Somehow, you were able to finish the sing without fucking up. You stepped off the stage and handed the mic back to the guy. You awkwardly looked around.

“That was very nice,” a voice said behind you.

“Goddamn Bucky,” you gasped and spun around. “You’ve got to stop scaring me!”

“It’s kind of loud here, do you want to head somewhere?”

You nodded and followed him out to a balcony. The cool air felt fresh on your skin. You walked to the edge and looked over the edge, looking out at the city lights.

“Can I ask about the wig?” he smirked.

“It was Nat’s idea. Something about helping me to be less nervous.” You tugged the wig off and freed your natural hair.

“Did it help?”

You shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe?”

“Well, whatever the case, you did amazing. You have a really nice voice.”

“Thanks. I usually don’t sing publicly.”

“I also really liked the song. I’m starting to think of it as our song.”

“We have a song, huh?” you smiled up at him.

The moon was high, and the sounds of the party were muted.

“You look really beautiful.” He took a step closer.

“You don’t look too bad yourself, Sarge.”

“Thanks, but suits aren’t really my favorite thing.” He tugged on his sleeves.

“You always look good, Bucky,” the words came out as a whisper. “You have a nice smile.”

“You know, I got a letter the other day.”

“Oh, did you?” You looked away.

“Thank you for everything you’ve said.”

In a heartbeat, Bucky’s lips were on yours. His hands placed gently on your waist. You kissed him back with all the emotions you had been keeping inside you and ran your fingers through his hair.

The two of you separated for air and Bucky leaned down and rested his forehead on yours. You smiled and laughed long lightly.

“Honestly, you don’t know how long I’ve wanted to do that for.”

“We can do it some more.”

You nodded and he pressed his lips to yours again. Unfortunately, you two weren’t able to get far because you were forced apart by the sound of someone clearing their throat.

“We just came to tell you how well you sang,” Clint spoke first. Behind him Nat stood with a smirk on her face. Tony stood next to her, lips pursed, thinking. “But I’ll leave you to it.”

“I told you,” Nat winked before she too turned around and went back into the party.

“So,” Tony began. “Good song.” You saw his eyes dart between you and Bucky and your close proximity to each other. Then he re-entered the building.

“He’ll come around,” you hoped out loud.

“I don’t know. He doesn’t like me.”

“He’ll come around,” you repeated. “In the meantime, do you want to get dinner?”

[dal3ks]

secrets

pairing: peter parker x female reader 

word count: 2.3k

warnings: attempted rape, attempted sexual assault, cursing, crying, fluff

you let out a sigh, putting in an earbud. it was a dark, rainy night in queens. the sky was a solid blanket of black, the lights of the city reflecting in puddles as you walked down the block. you were heading home from a friend's house, as you had to work on a presentation for your spanish class. it was well past nine o'clock, but you still had enough time to make it home before curfew.

luckily, no one was out since it was a tuesday night. it made your walk home extremely peaceful, as the city usually bustled with people daily.

a hand grabbing your elbow shook you out of your trance. wildly, you turned to notice it was a tall, hooded man.

"give me your wallet now!" he barked.

shakily, you fumbled for your keychain in your pocket, terrified. you had a can of mace on you, dangling from your keychain, but you weren't sure if this man was carrying a gun or not.

with a slight dread, you remembered you left your wallet at home. what were you supposed to say? anxiety racked your brain, sending waves of adrenaline over you. what the fuck where you supposed to do?

"i-i, don't have my wallet, sir," your voice trembled with fear.

"looks like you're going to have to pay me another way then sweetheart," he crooned, yanking you towards him.

"hey!" a new voice came into your field of hearing, "leave her alone!"

you glanced up, relieved to see spider-man standing on the rooftop of a nearby building. he swung down, shooting a web at your attacker. he was thrown into the wall, confined by a large mass of sticky web. you felt the tears overflow from your face. this man was about to take advantage of you and you somehow were saved by spider-man. what were the chances of that happening?

"are you okay?" his voice was gentle. remarkably soft for such a strong individual. you immediately inferred spider-man was a lot younger than you thought.

you nodded, your hands still shaking, "yeah, i'm okay."

"i'll keep you safe until the police arrive, okay?" you felt a gloved hand place itself on your shoulder, "you're safe as long as i'm here."

spider-man didn't leave your side until the police came. he even stayed as you conferred with the police, remaining quiet throughout the entirety of the procedure. once they drove away, with your attacker, he turned back to you.

"would you like for me to walk you home?"

you nodded, "i-i'm about to miss curfew. i'll save you the trouble."

spider-man offered you his hand, "i have a quicker route. do you trust me?"

you nodded, taking his hand. god if your parents found out about what happened tonight, they would never let you out at night ever again. as long as you made curfew you would be all right.

he wrapped an arm around you, slinging a web onto a building. you became frozen with fear, as you were scared of heights. spider-man must have sensed your fear, because he wrapped his arm tightly around your waist.

"don't worry, i got you. you're safe with me."

with your directions, you got home in time for curfew. you said your goodbyes to the masked hero, and he slung off into the night, disappearing into the glittering lights of the city.

as you slept that night, the only thought on your mind was how familiar that voice was. who was spider-man? was his identity easier to crack than you thought?

******

you slid your lunch tray onto the table, already exhausted with the school day. your best friends, peter, ned, and m.j., were already chowing down on their lunch. peter and ned were in a heavy discussion about their LEGO Death Star model, while m.j. was silently sketching in her notebook.

"so i was almost raped last night," you stated, your tone solemn.

"WHAT?" ned choked on his sandwich, "what happened? are you okay?"

you nodded, picking at your salad, "yeah, I'm fine. spider-man swooped in and saved me. he even stayed with me until the police arrived, and then took me home."

peter immediately perked up at the mention of spider-man, "i'm glad you're okay. maybe you should start walking home with somebody, just to be on the safe side."

you scoffed, "peter i have been roaming the streets of queens since i was eleven. my parents raised me well. i know how to protect myself. that's why i carry mace with me. but thank you, for the suggestion. last night was just some weird encounter with some weirdo. the good thing is that i am safe and without harm."

"yeah," m.j. agreed, "we've all been running the streets since we were in middle school, peter. we all know how to protect ourselves. i think last night was just weird for (y/n)."

peter frowned, "i just care about my friend, that's all."

"hey," ned began, "i was thinking that maybe we could all hang out friday night? my mom and pops are going to be out of town for the weekend so all of you guys could stay the night."

you felt yourself smile, "that sounds fun! can i bring some snacks?"

"you know i wouldn't turn down snacks," ned laughed, "but yeah, i think i'll order some pizza for us, and we can watch trashy romantic comedies all night."

"i won't be over till later," peter mumbled.

"how late is later?" you felt yourself frown again.

"like ten," peter replied, not looking at you or any of your friends.

"weird but okay," m.j. shrugged, "just means there's more pizza for me. you're going to be missing out parker but it's cool. do whatever you gotta do for that internship or whatever."

"see you guys tomorrow night," ned flashed us a wide smile, "it should be a lot of fun."

******

"hey, shouldn't peter be here by now," m.j. glanced at the clock. it was 10:08 p.m., and still no sign of peter.

so far you, ned, and m.j. were all having tons of fun. you guys had ordered pizza, watched a movie or two, talked about your future plans, and also made another time to hang out. the only person that would complete the group was peter, and he was nowhere to be found. he wasn't answering any of his texts or calls.

ned and m.j. didn't seem too concerned, as they were just chatting happily about what to name the kitten ned was about to adopt from a shelter next week. you sighed, "i'm going to go call my parents really quick, i'll be right back."

"okay," ned nodded, "take your time."

since they were in ned's room, you slipped out of the apartment, heading towards the roof. you just wanted some peace and quiet for a second. you also wanted to call peter and make sure he was still coming. ned was dying to eat the last few pizza slices, but you guys were saving those for peter.

once you were on the roof, you noticed a figure sitting on the edge. you felt your throat tighten, and you instinctively clutched your can of mace on your keychain. you didn't want wednesday night to happen all over again. the memory frightened you too much.

"hey," your voice was firm, "who are you?"

as you approached the figure, you felt yourself soften. it was spider-man, donned in his red and blue suit. he must not have heard you, as he kept his head focused on the city skyline.

"hey!" you called again, and this time he turned.

you felt yourself stiffen. there sat peter, a cut on his lip, along with a slight black eye. suddenly, everything clicked into place. you remembered why spider-man's voice was familiar. spider-man was peter parker, one of your best friends.

"oh my god," you choked out, "peter?"

he sprang up, "listen, (y/n), i can explain everything, i promise."

"how?" you suddenly felt guarded, "how are you going to explain to me this huge fucking secret that you've been hiding from everyone?"

peter's voice was quiet, "ned and m.j., they know. they both know."

you felt tears spring up in your eyes, how could they all be hiding this big secret from you? you guys had all been friends since middle school. the four of you had been through a lot: the first year of high school, the death of peter's uncle, a couple of divorces between parents. how could they be hiding something like this from you?

"great," that was the only word that came out of your mouth, "so how was i supposed to find out? because i assume you guys were going to just keep sneaking this behind my back. you guys are some pretty crappy friends you know that? it really shows what kind of friend you are, peter."

peter flinched, as if your words were pure venom, "(y/n), i didn't just tell them. ned was at my apartment, in my room, when he found out. m.j., she was smart enough to fit all of the pieces together. i didn't tell them just because i wanted to hide it from you. i wanted to keep this part of me hid away from everyone. it's a lot safer that way. no one is targeted or harmed."

"does your aunt know?" your lip trembled, and you wiped your nose with your sleeve.

the tears were spilling over onto your cheeks. a flash of embarrassment passed through you. this was the first time in a while peter had seen you cry. you felt like you looked like a wreck.

"she found out the hard way," he stated, "she walked in on me in my suit. i had to explain everything to her. besides, she's the only family i have. of course i'm close with the avengers, and tony stark, but she's my family. she had a right to know sooner, and i felt guilty for never telling her in the beginning. hell, i felt guilt everyday because you guys didn't know. you, ned, and m.j., you guys are my best friends. you guys deserved to know, too. but i felt safer hiding the truth because if other people find out, really evil people, you all could be the first to get hurt. and i don't want that. i don't want my family hurt. i don't want my friends hurt. i don't want the girl i love, hurt."

“and who’s that,” you sniffled, “m.j.?”

"no," peter shook his head, approaching you, "the girl i love is you, (y/n). i love you."

pink spread into your cheeks at his words, and you bit your lip. you had the biggest crush on peter, and you had feelings for him almost the entirety of your friendship. that's why you always cared about him so much and his disappearances. it worried you sometimes when he wasn't at school, or when he never showed up to hangout with the friend group. but now, you had an explanation to everything. and you weren't sure how to feel.

a part of you was extremely hurt that your friends hid this big secret from you. you guys told each other everything. you even talked about your previous boyfriends, sex life, etc. to them. the least they all could have done was sit you down and explain everything.

yet, a large part of you wasn't hurt. you were relieved that peter felt the same way about you. you wanted to start a relationship with him, but you were never sure how. now, was your opportunity, especially since he feels the same way.

"peter," you drew in a breath, cupping his cheek with your hand, "i love you too."

he smiled slightly, "that makes me really happy to hear."

"i'm still kind of upset about this," you admitted, your eyes locking with his.

"i understand why," he assured you, "it was wrong of me to exclude you from this part of my life. it's just all because i want to keep you safe. more than anything i want you to be safe. if something ever happened to you, god, i don't know what i would do. i would be so lost."

"you don't have to worry about losing me or anything like that," you reassured him, placing a gentle kiss on his cheek.

"something almost happened the other night," peter mumbled, "i was so relieved that i was able to stop that guy from hurting you."

"me too," you murmured, "thank you for saving me."

"you don't have to thank me for protecting you," peter chuckled, "i want to protect you regardless."

"peter!" a voice made you freeze. you both looked over to see m.j. and ned had found their way onto the roof.

"hey guys," peter waved, "how's the sleepover?"

"it's okay," m.j. shrugged, "i could tell (y/n) was going through a crisis waiting for you. she looked like a lost puppy."

"hey," your voice was indignant, "it's not my fault. i care about him a lot."

"so it comes out," ned teased you, "well how about you clean up, peter, and then we can start a movie. maybe i'll be nice and let you two share the love seat."

you four walked back to ned's apartment, peter's arm wrapped around your shoulders. once you guys were back in the apartment, he changed out of his suit. once peter was all changed and fed, you guys settled in the living room. peter let you curl up against him on the couch, and you guys cuddled all night long.

you felt safe in peter's arms, and you knew he would keep ensuring you felt safe for a very long time.

[kerikaaria]

If I Never Met You: Chapter 16

(??? X Reader) Idol!AU, Manager!Reader)

Genre: (PG13) Fluff, angst

WC: 4.6k

Warnings: None

Series Masterlist

Chapter 15 | Chapter 16 | Chapter 17

No More Dream blared in the spacious room, the boys hard at work dancing for their music video. We were at the tail end of the third day of shooting, and despite how exhausted they were from the long days they were still pouring all their best efforts into the shoot.

As soon as the director called a cut, the seven of them took the chance to relax the best they could, letting their tiredness show while there were no cameras filming. Stylists and makeup artists walked over to them to make sure they still looked perfect for the next take.

It was tough having to watch this. Three days of minimal sleep, almost non-stop up and go to get the video shot in the shortest amount of time possible. I wanted to tell whoever was in charge that the boys (and the staff, having to stay up for just as long) needed more time to break and rest. But this was the nature of this industry and no matter how I felt I wasn’t going to be able to convince them to do any differently.

The first two days, Sejin stayed here with me the whole time until I was comfortable being on my own. Today, he had other work he needed to do so I was by myself. I was feeling really drowsy by this point. I got even less sleep than the boys because I had to make sure I was up and ready before them to get them here on time. To be honest, there wasn’t much to “manage” at something like this, but it was still part of my job to make sure the whole thing was going smoothly, and to be here just in case the boys needed me for anything.

After one more take of the whole dance routine, the director announced that we were done. Relief washed over me, and I pried myself out of my chair to go to the boys.

“You guys did amazing,” I said as I approached them. “Let’s hurry up and get you guys ready so we can all go home.”

I felt a heavy weight on my back and turned to see Namjoon using me as a support for his exhausted body.

“Joonie, are you okay?” I asked.

“Yeah, I’m good,” he responded. His voice sounded weak, contradicting his words. “The quicker I can sit down, the better.”

“Well, let’s go then,” I chuckled as I pulled him to my side and supported him with my arm.

The boys got changed out of their wardrobe and their makeup removed quickly, the staff not taking their time since they wanted to get home as well. The eight of us piled into the company van and I drove back. I dropped them off at the apartment before returning the vehicle to the company.

As soon as I parked the van, no longer needing to be alert to traffic, my body seemed to want to just fall asleep right there instead of making its way home. I started to close my eyes before I heard one of the van doors slide open, followed by the driver-side door. I looked to see a tired-smiled Hoseok standing there.

“Why didn’t you get off when I stopped at the dorm, Hobi?” I asked as I lazily unbuckled my seatbelt and gathered my belongings. I was a little upset with myself for not noticing he didn’t exit the van with the rest of the members.

“I wanted to make sure you got back home safely,” he responded as he put a face mask on.

“I’ll be fine,” I managed to squeeze out through a yawn.

He chuckled. “Yeah, sure. You looked like you were about to fall asleep in the car.”

We started walking our way back home. My exhaustion made it difficult to speak, but I forced myself to so that I didn’t fall asleep. “You guys really did well the past three days.”

“Thanks, noona,” Hoseok replied. “I hope the video turns out well.”

“Of course it will,” I turned to smile at him. While distracted, my shuffling feet tripped over something on the sidewalk.

Hoseok was quick to catch me so I didn’t fall. “Are you okay?” he asked as he turned to face me.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I just tripped.” I offered him a tired smile.

We resumed walking, but he kept his arm wrapped around me for support. We had a flight of stairs to climb once we got into our building, and each step I took felt like another 10 pounds had been added to my weight. At that point, I was really thankful for Hobi’s support.

When we arrived at our doors he watched me walk through mine first, wishing me a good night and telling me to get plenty of rest before he entered his own home.

I had fallen asleep so easily that I almost didn’t even remember going to bed. Needless to say, I slept really well and was ready to work the next day. Sejin and I reviewed the finalized pictures from the photoshoot done just prior to the music video shooting, and I couldn’t stop my mouth from hanging open, occasionally making a sound of amazement.

“What’s that for?” Sejin asked.

“What’s what for, oppa?” I responded, finding it difficult to peel my eyes away from the pictures on the screen.

“Your reaction to the pictures,” he responded, chuckling.

“Oh. I don’t know, they just look so…” I paused, trying to find the right word but being unsuccessful. “They look really good,” I settled on, even though that phrase didn’t do them justice.

Sejin let out a hearty laugh. “You’re not blind, you’ve always known they’re good looking boys, haven’t you?”

“Well, yeah. Of course I have. But these pictures just captured their looks so well! Although, I still don’t get why they asked Namjoon to go with this kind of hairstyle. He doesn’t look bad, but I just think he looks so much better with how his hair naturally is.”

“It fits the hip-hop style image,” Sejin responded with a shrug. “I’m not too fond of it either, but we’re not the stylists.”

“Speaking of that, can’t we still ask for some of the styles for We Are Bulletproof Pt. 2 to be up for debate? Some of those outfit choices are…”

“Going with the hip-hop style image,” Sejin repeated.

“I know, I know. But, can’t they take it from me that they’re just over-the-top and cheesy? Like, why on earth should Jungkook be wearing an American football helmet and padding?”

“You already tried talking to them about that, (Y/n). Did you forget?”

“No, I didn’t forget… I just hope I can still change their minds.”

“Look, I get it. I do. I’m not fond of it, either. But we need to make sure they stand out and by doing things a little extra, even if it may be cheesy, it’ll help make that happen. Just roll with it, okay?”

I groaned and threw my head back. “Okay, okay…”

After we finished reviewing the pictures, I went to the office café to eat lunch before we got too busy with meetings for me to have time to eat. I normally brought food from home for lunch but I didn’t give myself any time this morning, preferring to get as much sleep as I could to recover from the past few days.

I sat down at an empty table and put in my headphones to listen to the boys’ debut album as I ate my food. The music wasn’t a style I typically listened to, but it was my boys so of course I wanted to listen to them. And to be honest, the more I listened to it, the more I started to like the songs.

As I was finishing my meal, I saw someone sit down across from me. I pulled one of my earbuds out as I looked up to see who it was. I was glad I already finished my food because the sight would have made me lose my appetite.

“Hello, (Y/n)-shi,” the woman said.

“Hello,” I greeted back. “I’m sorry, but I don’t actually know your name.” I tried my best to not sound rude.

“Oh, I guess I’ve never properly introduced myself,” she replied. “My name is Son Haewon.”

“Hello, Haewon-shi,” I responded. Finally, I had a name to match the face of the woman who’s been giving me way too much grief. “How can I help you?”

“Oh, please. You can call me unnie,” she said with a smile I could tell was forced and fake.

Not wanting to start an argument, I decided to comply with her request even though using the word with her felt like ice on my tongue. “Okay, unnie. Is there something you needed?”

“Oh, nothing really,” she said, placing her chin in the palm of her hand. “I just wanted to chat. I feel like we started off on the wrong foot.”

Yeah, doing nothing but ridiculing me and giving me a large second-degree burn would kind of do that.

“How did the music video shooting go?” Haewon asked.

I was kind of taken aback by the attempt at small talk. Part of me wondered if she actually did want to try to make amends, but I primarily remained skeptical. “It went well. It was tiring for everyone, but the boys pushed through really well and I think it’ll turn out great.”

“That’s good to hear.” She paused for a moment, crossing her legs under the table. “By the way, I heard an interesting story the other day.”

“Oh?” I pretended to be interested.

“I heard that BTS almost lost their debut date.”

Where on earth did she hear that? Only the people who absolutely needed to know were told. As far as I knew, she was not one of the employees needing to be in on the loop of what was going on.

I pretended to not be sure of what she was talking about. “Where did you hear that?” I asked innocently. My suspicions that she was here to cause me more trouble were rising.

“From one of my coworkers. They said it was why Sejin oppa had been even more swamped with work up until recently.”

Yeah, because I totally wasn’t as well. “I’m not sure why you or your coworker were told that, but they are most definitely debuting on June 13th as planned,” I responded firmly. I didn’t like to make a habit of lying, especially if I was worried if it could come back to bite me in the butt, so I didn’t want to confirm nor deny that the date was ever taken away in the first place.

“Well, that’s good. But you did lose the date for a little while, did you not?” She seemed like she tried to hold back the smirk that inevitably flashed on her face.

This little… What business was it of hers? I really wanted to get out of this situation, but I wasn’t sure how. If I got up to walk away it’d be just as bad as giving her all the answers she wanted, and she would probably just follow me and continue to nag me anyway.

“It doesn’t matter because the date is set in stone and nothing is changing,” I replied, hoping that would put the issue to rest.

“You know, I figured that if he hired someone like you,” she emphasized the word, staring me up and down, “it must have been for a good reason. But seeing as BTS’ debut was almost ruined because of you, I’m not so sure.”

I couldn’t stop a flabbergasted laugh from escaping my lips. “You have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about.” I leaned back in my chair, crossing my arms.

“Oh, I don’t?” she responded. “Weren’t you the one who got the debut set up, and the one in contact with the agent from the broadcasting company? They called you to tell you it was revoked, didn’t they? How does it have nothing to do with you?”

How could someone be such a complete witch? She talked bad about me both behind my back and to my face. I’d be surprised if she had any friends, or real friends at the very least.

“What that company decided to do didn’t have anything to do with me, Haewon-shi,” I said. “And to be frank, what happened has absolutely nothing to do with you. I’m sure you have better things to do with your time rather than go poking around someone else’s business.”

She scoffed at me. “I’m your sunbae in this company and I’m also older than you. Just because you’re a foreigner” – she seemed to almost spit out the word – “doesn’t excuse you not using proper manners. You’re supposed to show me respect.”

I raised my eyebrows. “I’m fully aware of the honorifics and how important age and seniority is to Korean culture. But why would I show respect to someone who’s spewing out nonsense and has always been nothing but fully disrespectful and rude to me? Not to mention, that coffee gave me a second-degree burn that took weeks to heal so I’m definitely not thankful for that, either.”

“You’re such a rude, cheeky little brat, aren’t you?” Haewon pushed herself out of her seat as she glared at me.

“What’s going on here?” someone nearby asked.

I turned around to see Hoseok, and I felt relieved knowing my friend was there with me.

Haewon instantly changed, putting on a fake smile and let out a breathy laugh. “Nothing, we were just getting to know each other a little better. Weren’t we, (Y/n)-shi?” she tried her best to sound nice, but was so obviously fake.

I didn’t respond and just kept steady eye contact with her.

“That’s not what it looks like to me,” Hobi said as he walked up to me and placed a hand on my shoulder.

Haewon’s gaze moved to his hand, her smile fading from her lips.

“Is everything okay, noona?” Hoseok asked me with concern.

Haewon didn’t give me a chance to respond. “Did you know about how you almost lost your debut date?” she asked, emotionless.

“Haewon-shi,” I said as I stood up. “That wouldn’t be your business to tell them.”

“So they don’t?” she raised an eyebrow as she smirked at me. “They don’t know how they were almost ruined before they even started because of you?”

“We do know that we almost lost our debut date, actually,” Hoseok responded in my defense. His tone was firm and assertive, but not angry. “But we saw noona working her absolute hardest to do everything she possibly could to get us back on track, and it was actually because of her that we got the date back.”

Haewon’s smile disappeared once again, taken aback by how quickly and straightforward he responded.

Hoseok didn’t falter even a bit as he continued. “Not only that, but ever since she started working here, she’s always done everything she possibly can for us. You don’t know anything about how hard she works, you just don’t like her because you’re judging her age and the fact that she’s not Korean. But she’s one of the most honest, hardworking, caring, and amazing people I’ve ever known.”

His voice wasn’t angry; he was the type of person that it took a lot to make him angry. The only emotions I could feel from his words were ones of tenderness and care for me. If anything, the way he spoke felt stronger and more meaningful than words said in anger. “She doesn’t deserve you harassing her like this. We’re all so tired of hearing people like you giving talking badly about her and giving her a hard time when you know nothing about her.”

He grabbed my hand and gently squeezed it as he directed me towards the door.

“I wonder what kind of relationship you must have with them (Y/n)-shi, for them to always be protecting you like that,” Haewon called after us.

Hobi and I both stopped dead in our tracks, and I slowly turned around. “Excuse you?”

“I think you heard me,” Haewon said. I wanted to wipe the smirk off of her face so badly. “What do you really do with the boys, (Y/n)-shi?”

“It’s called having good friends,” Hoseok said as he placed an arm around my shoulders to turn me back toward the exit. “Nothing more than that.”

We finally made it out of the room and Hoseok walked me back to my and Sejin’s office. I couldn’t help but feel affected by her again. Yeah, I stood my ground and talked back to her. But now that we left and my emotions were calming down, I couldn’t help but be shaken up when I processed her words – it was as though she always knew exactly what my insecurities were.

When we arrived at the office, Sejin was not there so it was just the two of us for the moment.

I sat in a chair, placing my elbows on my knees and covering my face with my hands.

“Are you okay, noona?” Hoseok asked, placing a gentle hand on my head.

“I can’t believe she would suggest that there’s something other than friendship between me and you guys,” I said, trying to focus on that rather than my insecurities. “That’s so appalling that she would assume that.”

“She was just trying to get under your skin, that’s all,” Hobi comforted. His voice sounded so calm and soothing.

“I can deal with her saying anything else to me,” I tried to convince myself as I lowered my hands, “but her trying to bring you guys into it just crosses the line,”

“It’s okay, noona. Anything she said was meaningless and you know that.”

“I know.” I sat back in the chair and sighed. “I just don’t get why she won’t leave me alone. You’d think we were teenagers in school with the way she just keeps…”

“Bullying you?” Hoseok finished for me.

“Yeah, I guess it is bullying.”

“You guess?” Hoseok seemed bewildered that I’d say that. “What else does she have to do for you to see it as bullying?”

“It’s not that, it’s just… It’s weird to use that word when we’re talking about a grown woman and not a teenager.”

“I guess some people just don’t grow up.”

“She said what?!” Jin exclaimed in shock.

After returning back to the dorm, Hoseok decided to tell the rest of the group about what happened at the cafeteria. Part of him had wanted to wait for (Y/n) to tell them together, but he also didn’t want to make her think of it more than she had to. He could tell that whatever that woman said had bothered her more than she let him know.

Yoongi and Taehyung had pointed out the woman to the rest of the members when they would come across her at the company, so even though none of them knew her name – until today – they all knew her face. That was why Hoseok knew he had to intervene when he saw their noona being confronted by her in the cafeteria.

“Wow, she’s got some nerve to make that kind of assumption out in the open like that,” Namjoon said.

“That’s absurd,” Yoongi added. “How can her brain automatically think that’s what’s going on between us, just because we’re being good friends to her?”

“Noona really needs to tell Bang about this,” Taehyung said. “There’s no denying that she’s full on bullying her at this point.”

“I tried telling her that,” Hoseok said. “But she said she still doesn’t want to. She’s sure that she’ll leave her alone from now on, for whatever reason.”

The group was obviously frustrated when Hoseok told them that.

“One of the really wonderful traits about her is that she likes to see and hope for the best in people,” Jin said. “But that’s a fault of hers, too. With this Haewon woman, it’s severely misplaced hope. If anything, she’s showing that she’ll do anything in order to keep bullying her.”

“I know,” Hoseok said with a frown.

A ringtone sounded from Hobi’s phone, and he looked to see it was Sejin calling.

“Hello?” he answered.

“Hey, Hoseok-ah,” Sejin replied. “Sorry for asking, but Bang PD-nim is requesting if you could come to the company. He said he needs to speak with you.”

“Oh, okay.” He was surprised at the request. “I’ll be there shortly.”

“Who was that, hyung?” Jimin asked as Hoseok hung up the call.

“Sejin hyung said Bang needs to speak to me.” He got up to get ready to leave. “Maybe noona did decide to talk to him after all?”

He got ready quickly and made his way to the company, glad it was a quick walk. When he got to Bang PD’s office, he was happy to see (Y/n) there as well. She turned to him as he opened the door and gave him a small smile.

“Hello, Bang PD-nim,” Hoseok greeted as he entered.

“Hello, Hoseok,” Bang responded.

“What’s going on?” Hobi asked as he took a seat next to his noona.

“The events of what happened in the cafeteria this afternoon were brought to my attention, so I needed to speak with the two of you regarding what happened,” the CEO explained.

Hoseok processed the sentence for a moment. “Wait, so it wasn’t noona who came to you about it?” He turned to see her response, and she shook her head. He suddenly felt sick, worried what that woman could have said to try to get (Y/n) in trouble. “Noona didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Don’t worry, Hoseok,” Bang said. “I just needed to get your sides of the story. While there are cameras, there’s no audio so I didn’t know the nature of the conversation. I already got (Y/n)’s statement, so if you would please tell me about your side of the encounter, that would be appreciated.”

“Well, I had to stop by because I left something in the dance studio. On my way back, I walked past the cafeteria and heard noona’s voice,” Hoseok started. “It seemed like something was off, so I walked in to see that woman basically glaring at her and asked what was going on. I found out she was claiming that it was noona’s fault that we lost our debut date for a little while, so I defended her. After that, we walked away together.”

“There’s something else I need to ask,” Bang said. “The staff in question, other than saying that (Y/n) was harassing her, claimed something else as well.”

“Wait, it definitely wasn’t noona doing the harassing,” Hobi said. He couldn’t let her boss think for one second that she wasn’t the victim in this scenario.

“I believe you two, no need to worry. I was just stating what the original claim was. But the other thing she was sure to mention is that she believes there may be… well, she called it ‘inappropriate’ relations between (Y/n) and the members of BTS.”

“Oh my gosh, seriously?” (Y/n) frustratingly ran her hands through her hair. “I promise you, there’s absolutely nothing of that nature going on between us.”

“I also attest to that, Bang PD-nim,” Hoseok said, probably equally as frustrated at the claim as his noona. “As we were walking away, Haewon made a comment implying that she thought there was something more going on between noona and us because of how we keep defending her and helping her. I told her that we’re just being good friends and there was nothing more than that.”

Bang PD seemed to be in thought for a moment. “I believe you, of course. I didn’t believe for one second that (Y/n) would have any kind of non-platonic relationship with any of you without notifying me about it. But also, you make it sound like this wasn’t the first time something like this has happened, Hoseok.”

(Y/n) lowered her head, remaining silent. So Hobi spoke up for her. “It isn’t. She’s been bothering noona – or rather, bullying her – for a while now.”

(Y/n) looked rather uncomfortable as Hoseok admitted that for her, but he didn’t want this to remain hidden anymore. Especially now that Haewon has shown she’ll do anything to try to get her in trouble.

“(Y/n)-shi,” Bang said, turning his attention toward her, “is this true?”

Hoseok placed his hand in (Y/n)’s for support he knew she would need.

She sighed. “Yes, it is, PD-nim. I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it, and to be honest I didn’t even know her name until today.”

“What else has happened?” their boss asked.

When his noona hesitated again, Hobi decided to be her voice for her. “Back in December, Haewon had intentionally poured a hot cup of coffee on her in the hallway. She got a second-degree burn from it. Yoongi hyung was with her when it happened. And then in, I believe it was February, she tried to cause trouble when she saw noona with Taehyung in the main lobby but was unsuccessful because he defended her. And now, today happened.”

“And it’s not much,” (Y/n) started, “but my first encounter with her was when me and Sejin oppa were in a meeting and she did have a negative comment or two to say about me. She seemed to hold a grudge against me because that was when I had the idea about using social media and her idea from earlier that same meeting was rejected.”

“Has she made any comments to you about your ethnicity or anything like that?” PD-nim asked.

“Well, not directly,” she replied. “But in a way. She has mentioned my age or ethnicity as negative points when talking about me. And she did use the word ‘foreigner’ with me today, emphasizing it in a way that sounded really rude.”

Hoseok squeezed his eyes closed. They had all known that those things were a part of it, as he had stated while he was defending her today. But hearing his noona have to confirm it made his heart hurt.

“Okay, I think that’s plenty information for now,” Bang PD said. “I can’t really take action for the coffee incident since it was so long ago, but I’ll see if we still have the security footage for it to look at what happened. You’re not in trouble for anything that happened today, (Y/n), don’t worry. But I need you to promise me that if this woman does anything else, you tell me. Workplace bullying isn’t tolerated here, and I won’t let it continue. Do you understand?”

She slowly nodded. “Yes, Bang PD-nim. I understand.”

“Good,” he replied. “You two can go home now. I’m sorry for all the trouble.”

“Thank you, PD-nim,” Hoseok said with a bow. He waited for his noona to say goodbye before walking out of the room with her.

There was silence as they walked home together, but before entering their separate doors (Y/n) broke it. “I’m sorry for dragging you into this, Hobi.”

“There’s nothing to be sorry about, noona,” he replied as he gently pulled her into a hug. “You know we’re here for you whenever you need us.”

He felt her smile against his chest. “I just hope this is the last time we have to worry about her,” she said.

“I hope so too,” Hoseok replied. “I wouldn’t count on it, though. But of course you’ll have us with you. And next time, she’s not going to be getting away with it anymore.”

Series Masterlist

Chapter 15 | Chapter 16 | Chapter 17

Tags: @calling-dips-on-j-hope​ @misohime​ @netflix-batman-sleep​ @smallbaby-cat​ @leitholdwithlove​ @ramyagovindraj​

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[fiction-in-my-blood]

Switching Sides: Part 1 (HLITF)

Annnddd I have a new series even though I haven’t finished any of my others yet. Heh heh. Although, this is like a year and a half in the making 😅 Also, I wanna thank @theshove​ for being my proofreader and basically editor haha. Check out her kbtbb fic cos it’s super good!!

Premise: Growing up in a life of crime in a Japanese mafia, Atsuko Motomori has seen enough injustice to last her a lifetime. To try and give back to the universe her family has taken so much from, she dreams of being a detective from a young age. Her twin, sharing her disgust for her father and many uncles, just wants an ordinary life away from the crime, paing and suffering. Instead, she wants to be in the spotlight with the soft notes she makes with her cello. In their escape of 2015, on their coming of age birthday, they must split ways, never to be together ever again. If one was found, they didn't want the other dragged down with them. Atsuko, having changed her name and appearance as best she can without a scalpel, sets off to start her life of car chases and arrests. 

Four years in a seemingly dead-end police station in the middle of nowhere, being passed over time after time for promotion, Atsuko finally gets a shot at her dream, having been sent to an academy for the best candidates in the country by her boss who had always kept an eye out for her. After discovering her boss may have made her bite off more than she could chew, Atsuko must become the slave of a dominating instructor!? Who so just happens to be the captain of the most famous police unit in Japan? Not to mention a total knockout! Will Atsuko finally achieve her dream? Or will her new instructor put her through the wringer?

Warnings: None for this chapter, but fair warning this fic does get pretty dark. It’s also a VERY slow burn.

~~~~~~~

The loud rattling of the subway was silenced ever so slightly by the soft beat emitting from my earbuds. Looking around the carriage, I spotted an advertisement for a famous orchestra and their tour dates. She's gotten so far, I thought to myself, looking at the edgy, green-haired woman standing with the composer and a few other famous instrumentalists within the group. We had the same features, same voice and same upbringing, but on paper, we were from completely different worlds.

Fighting back the lonely feeling crawling up my spine, I averted my gaze to the people on the train carriage. Across from me was a man: tall, like every other member of the opposite sex compared to me, dressed in casual clothes for a young person. And he didn't stand out in a crowd. But he had a certain look. I recognised it from all the bad people and high stake criminals that frequented my home as a child. I eyed him closely before approaching him.

"Sir, what do you think you're doing?" I glared down at the hand slipping out of the pocket of the man standing in front of the suspicious character. Everyone in the area swivelled around in surprise at my judgemental tone. "You shouldn't steal, y' know. It doesn't set you in a good light." I frowned, the older man ensuring his wallet really was taken.

After exclaiming that it had been, the seemingly normal guy whipped out a pocket knife. Everyone jumped back, except for me, as the thief waved the blade around. "Don't be dramatic. Put the weapon down." I sighed out in boredom before he could lunge at me. I grabbed his wrist as it passed me and twisted my body into his, slapping the knife out of his hand and elbowing him in the face.

Falling back in painful anguish, I ignored the wails of the man to pick up his small blade. When I turned around again, having slid the blade back into the handle, a long-legged man was kneeling down to pull the thief to his feet. Before I could say anything, I saw the silver shine of handcuffs clicked around the thief's wrists. Is he a police officer? I pulled a quizzical expression as the silent man turned to me. He didn't look like much of a city policeman, not like the ones I had seen growing up. His black hair reached the bottom of his neck, not to mention scruffy like a teenage boy's. The only thing that set him apart from the police I used to see visiting my childhood home was the fact he was actually arresting the criminal.

"The public shouldn't endanger themselves." An angry expression soon took over the blank one I saw moments ago.

"Oh, err... Okay?" Thrown off by his handsome appearance, I didn't know how to respond and completely forgot I was also a cop.

Then, I saw the blood trickling down the criminal's face and my eyes grew wide when I noticed my instincts, forced upon me since I was able to walk, took over. "If you're nervous, you shouldn't do such dangerous things." He frowned at my face, twisted up in cringing embarrassment, as I was annoyed at myself for causing a scene. I had lasted this long in a small town of Nagano, being a patrol officer, and not drawn this much attention to myself before. Having this opportunity of becoming a detective, thanks to my boss sending me to a new institute for training officers like me, I had become a bit more ambitious.

"Was he acting alone?" Another tall, nicely dressed and stoic faced man appeared, only he was wearing glasses, and looked at the cuffed man being held by his acquaintance.

"Yeah. Watching his technique, I'd say it's habitual." The suited man replied, losing his look of annoyance at me. They were probably colleagues, they both had the air of lawmen, and they were the only few on the train that was still wearing blazers on a hot day like today. I wonder if they're on an investigation?

The man in glasses, who had most recently appeared, then turned to me. "Any injuries?" With his question, I was quickly pulled back to reality.

"Nope. All good." I smiled, ignoring the earlier comment from the man holding the thief I apprehended.

"It's admirable that you don't overlook crime, but please do not get involved." The smarter looking man furrowed his eyebrows, making his expression look even sterner. "It's more important that you do not get injured." His face quickly eased at the caring comment, his frown replaced with a flat smile.

Growing up, whenever I had accidentally injured myself in the hazardous place I called home, the men in my life would only get angered by my whining. When I joined the police academy, I had to show how strong I was or I'd fall so far behind the male-majority class that I'd get tossed from the class. Thrown off from being shown concern, I hastily lowered my head thankfully at the detective with a hidden badge. 

However, I felt like I needed to make them aware that  I, too, was an officer of the law. But, before I could, another one approached the one with glasses.

"You collected their garbage?" A moodily-faced man, with long, neat hair and a sloppily tightened purple tie, frowned.

"He brandished a knife on the train. I had no choice." The kind detective's expression froze over once again as he confronted his colleague.

"You could have left that thief to Little Miss Justice here." The new character glanced dismissively at me, which made me raise an eyebrow. He, on the other hand, was like the detectives I saw growing up.

"So that way your scandal isn't the only thing getting attention." The man with glasses took a jab at his associate, but it only made the other man smirk. Or was it more like an irritated grin?

"I don't want to hear anything about a scandal. That's just a lie." As I watched the two bicker, I couldn't help but wonder if they got along well enough to be able to work together.

When the train finally stopped, the moody man disembarked and the ones who helped me hauled the handcuffed man off. I watched the backs of the men who quietly discussed something between themselves until I realised it was my stop. As I ran through the closing doors, I sighed in relief that I didn't make myself late on my first day. With that rush of adrenaline, I forgot about the eventful morning that seemed to whiz by.

~~~~~~

"Wow." I gaped at the grand, white building in front of me. It was wide. The main building in the centre was four stories compared to the three-storied buildings that led off it. I could tell thanks to the rows of windows. On top was a clocktower that also had one set of windows in each of the two floors it contained. The massive archway that led into the main building made the scene look like a western college in a teen movie. Pink sakura trees lined up either side of the pathway towards the academy.

So, this is the new police academy... Amazing! A smile spread over my face as I watched the beauty of the new building unfold before me. The reason for being on that train this morning was for this school. As a girl who grew up dreaming of being a detective, I never got my opportunity to get the promotion the usual way. There were always men that got there before me. After three years of striving for excellence and finally giving up hope, my boss eventually gave me my chance by enrolling me at this academy. One built to promote officers to detectives.

I've heard the details are limited to very few officers but... My fears of all my hard work not paying off made me nervous. How did my boss know about this place? The reason it was built in private is that they'd likely get hundreds, if not thousands, of applicants within the first week! Then I never would have gotten in. There'd always be men that were ‘better’ than me.

I continued along the well-maintained path as I thought about how lucky I was to be attending such a prestigious and, not to mention, beautiful school. As I walked through the campus, I spotted a dojo to my left.

Wonder if anything's going on in there? Having grown up needing to defend myself, I trained in judo and karate, so I decided to take a look out of curiosity. It should be fine. My instructors didn't mind it when I snooped around, I thought to myself, overlooking the fact that I was the daughter of a major mafia boss and if the instructor did reprimand me, he'd lose a finger.

I was awed by the interior, watching the expansive ceiling go further than I expected it to. Looking around, I spotted a man wearing a kendo gi, robes used when performing the art, and meditating in the rays of the sunlight that filtered through the gridded window. I recognised them from what my sister practised in our youth.

He seems young, but could he be the instructor? His eyes were shut, but his expression looked kind. His long, tied-back hair was very feminine looking for a man with such youthful features. The guard he had wrapped around his torso was black compared to the blue robes he had on underneath.

Enthralled by his quiet, mysterious atmosphere, it surprised me when he opened his eyes. As a kid, I had never seen anyone let their guard down like that. To sit in a room, all alone with their eyes closed as they listened to their innermost thoughts: the concept made my nerves arise. But now, face to face with someone I had been snooping on, my heart raced. His penetrating gaze froze me over, stopping me from moving to look less inconspicuous.

Awkwardly not removing his eyes from mine, the light brown-haired man smiled softly at me. Having grown up around mostly men, I was no stranger to the variety of the male appearance. But, I had never seen a man so beautiful before. The new fantasy before me forced me to keep my mouth shut.

"Are you a new student? Reception is in that building." Hearing words come out of his mouth, I jumped back to reality. I quickly realised I was staring intensely at him and my face flushed brightly. I mentally recoiled at that embarrassing display as I thanked him.

Entering without permission and probably creeping him out... What is wrong with me?

"Good luck." His face lit up in a radiant smile. I bowed deeply to show my gratitude and ran off towards the main building.

~~~~~~

Along a glass-walled corridor, I searched for a locker room to change into the uniform the admin office had given me. I spotted one and pushed the door open, only to find myself looking at the backs of several naked men. Before anyone spotted me being a perv, I closed the door and pulled the school map out. Not seeing a distinction between the locker rooms, I called over a man in uniform.

"There's only one. But the shower room should be empty..." With an uneasy eye, the man directed me to the place where I could change. I thanked him, although I was suspicious. There wasn't a women's locker room, but there was a women's shower room? The only reason I could think of for them to think that was okay was that there were so few of us. They likely thought it was fine for us to change in the same area.

Typical. I sighed, heading for the shower room in the back, deciding to check the details later.

As I walked through the door, I was affronted with a man fixing the towel around his waist. Body still wet, I assumed he had just taken a shower.

Annoyed and embarrassed that I had put myself in another embarrassing situation for the second or third time today, I sighed out my apology. "I was told the showers would be empty." I tried to make him understand why I was still standing in the doorway, showing a small smile to help him know I wasn't some crazy girl off the street.

"Yeah, it doesn't get much emptier than this." He chuckled, seemingly not having a problem with my intrusion. My brows furrowed, confused about what the man outside had told me.

"This is the men's shower room, right? So the women's is..?" I trailed off, letting him finish my statement.

"There are no facilities at the school for girls... Except for the women's toilets, I think?" He answered without an expression change, something I quickly noticed hadn't happened since I entered.

Now allowing myself to look at him, his body was in perfect shape. Although his body was of an exceedingly fit man, his blond, bowl haircut made him look younger than I'm sure he is.

"You're kidding?" I slouched, my hope for the progressive police force dulled in a matter of minutes.

"There are only two girls this year. You and one other." He looked into the distance to think about the math. "They can't prepare facilities for so few of you." The bluntness of his statement didn't help my mood as I quickly became deflated. "Well, if you're worried, we could arrange for special times or something?" Noticing my defeat, the man gazed blankly again. "I'll be out soon, just wait a moment." Suddenly, he showed me an encouraging smile.

"Thanks." I smiled back, appreciative that he would give me my space. It was the first day for all of us, so I'm sure he understood my nervousness. Abruptly, he starts changing, right in front of me. I hurried to look away, but he didn't seem to care either way.

"Alright, don't forget to hang up the key..." Throwing the key he had left on one of the sinks, I caught it in a hurry, not wanting to look like a fool for not catching it.

"Sorry for rushing you." I gleefully showed him I’d caught the keys as he began to walk towards the door. As he approached, he closed the distance between us.

"No worries." His expression quickly turned mischievous. "Besides, I don't mind naughty girls like you." His tone was serious as he whispered in my ear, which is what threw me off.

"Naughty?" I shrieked without thinking, maybe reacting more than I should have.

"Don't be so loud. They'll hear you out there." He smirked at my reaction and I grew angry.

"Look, I'm not looking to get into anything here. I'm here to become a detective, I just wanna do that. So keep the harassment to a minimum, alright?" Trying to keep calm and not make a fool of myself, I didn't let his handsome features get the better of me. His expression went blank again. He looked me up and down, and then let out a short chuckle. Then, he left as I tried to cover up my panic.

You're not here to mess around, Atsuko! If you flirt with one guy, they'll think you're a bimbo! I told myself after I began to regret turning him down. Showering like a madman to get to the ceremony in time, I changed before running to the gymnasium.

~~~~~~

"So, it looks like it's just you and me." I laughed with a sigh, having met the only other female student at the academy in the gym.

"Hey, I'm just glad I'm not alone and have you here, Atsuko." She sighed in relief as we stood in the bustling hall. It was full of skyscraping men in the same blue uniforms as us.

"Me too! I was a little surprised when you hugged me, though." I laughed uneasily, not wanting to offend her over-friendly attitude. She was a cheery girl with short, brown hair and hadn't stopped smiling since we met.

"I was just happy to see another girl for the first time since school started." Naruko Sasaki sat beside me in the plastic, foldable chairs. She's my age, which I'm thankful for. I struggle to not feel intimidated by those older than me. And I think my pride would take a hit if some young probie was admitted into the school. Although, Naruko did act a little childishly.

"It's only people chosen from the force... I guess it's unavoidable that they're all men." Naruko sighed after inspecting the testosterone-heavy room. 

"Chosen? So it's not a lottery?" I turned to her, surprised to hear that. Coming from a small, boring town, I was surprised that I would be selected for such a prestigious opportunity. 

"It might be a lottery in the end, but only people with connections qualify, right?" Clueless to my surprise, the girl just smiled. I quietly agreed with her, trying to think of any connections I would have to get me here. I didn't have the same name as I did in my childhood, so any crooked cops that worked under my dad wouldn't be able to track me down. 

"It's called a police academy, but it's meant to train elite public safety detectives." Naruko continued explaining the school to me. I yelled out in surprise. I really had no clue what I was getting myself into when my boss threw this assignment on my plate. The Public Safety Division is an elite group within the National Police Academy. Honestly, I would have been happy to become a homicide or narcotics detective. I never thought, coming here, I would be trained to deal with terrorism or anything with that degree of danger.

"Uhh, Atsuko... Did you apply without knowing anything?" Naruko finally caught on to my confusion as she showed her own astonished expression. 

"My superior told me I could become a detective if I graduate..." To be honest, It was my fault I was in this mess. I hardly asked any questions before jumping at the offer.

As I circled further into my confusion spiral, the ceremony began. The Director gave a strong, hardened greeting, then the instructors took to the stage. There, I saw all the men I had run-ins with walk up onto the stage. 

"They're all so young... I thought they'd be retirement-aged..." Naruko whispered to me, excited shock written all over her face. I, on the other hand, couldn't hear anything she was saying. "And they're all so handsome in their uniforms." She squealed as quietly as possible as the Director continued. I tried to quieten her before she drew too much attention. 

I struggled to keep my jaw from dropping, fear of embarrassing myself in front of all my new teachers taking over my thoughts. Surely, hopefully, they don't remember me?

Around us, I heard our classmates also gossiping about the instructors. One I heard questioned how good they could possibly be, only being a little older than us.

Stepping up to the microphone, I saw the moody man from this morning. "My name is Hyogo Kaga, Public Safety Captain." He announced, and I felt my insides crumble. 

He called me Little Miss Justice... I'm going to be a laughing-stock. I slid down in my chair, wanting the world to swallow me whole. I didn't have the guts to tell them I was a cop. If they recognise me, they're going to think I'm a rookie or completely inept.

"We'll be instructing you while we perform our everyday duties as officers. We can't afford to waste our time on spoiled brats." His bluntness silenced the room of anyone that might still be gossiping. "If you have no potential, we will drop you. That is all." With that statement, which I felt was personally directed at me, I went into a state of existential crisis. I didn't even know what the academy was training us for, which showed how good of a detective I would be. I so badly wanted not to be the first out, but surely I would be one of the dropouts. I had no connections and very little detective training. The most of an official investigation I’d seeb was when I was given scut jobs the real detectives didn't want to do. Let's just say I’d been in far too many dumpsters than a human being should’ve been in.

"Terrible way of speaking, but he's still handsome!" As Naruko continued to whisper to me, I got to learn what kind of girl she was. It would be difficult for her to focus here. Over the silence Captain Kaga had created, I heard another classmate explain how he was the most skilled person in Public Safety. Then, the man he was talking to began to argue that "Ishigami" was the one who couldn't be matched and would easily beat Kaga in a fight.

After the Captain, the man with glasses stepped forward. That must be Ishigami, I thought, remembering how un-scary he seemed on the train this morning. The man announced he was, in fact, Ishigami, and that he was a Captain as well. "This school will produce excellent officers. I want you all aiming to create a force that can take down terrorism and foreign crime." His ambitions for the students threw me another punch to the gut, until I remembered what the school was built for.

When Captain Ishigami stepped down, the messy-haired man approached the mic. "I'm Goto. Member of Ishigami's Team." The man was as blunt and as harsh as he had been this morning. "My rank is Lieutenant. Thank you." And like that, he was gone, replaced with the long-haired man I had found in the dojo.

"Hehe, what a short greeting. That's so like Goto," Now in a police uniform, the beauty introduced himself while I tried to ignore Naruko jittering at all the hot guys that had been on the stage so far. "Nice to meet you, I'm Shusuke Soma, also a member of Ishigami's Team. My rank is First Lieutenant. I hope to grow alongside all of you. Thank you." He smiled in the same gentle, pleasant way he had when I’d met him, which only made it harder to listen to their speeches without wanting to destroy myself. Naruko announced that the 1st Lieutenant was her type and I quickly prayed that she would shut up before she was caught and got us both in trouble for gossiping and made fools of.

Appearing after Soma was the man I saw in the shower room. I did not accuse an instructor of trying to harass me, please, God, tell me I didn't. I slid further down my chair, the heavy weight of my actions pushing me down. 

"I'm Ayumu Shinonome of Kaga's Team. My rank is Lieutenant." And, of course he had to be a lieutenant, not some rookie who was there to step in for some retiree on sick leave. "Feel free to call me Ayumu. Thanks." He smiled before the gossiping started again.

"Shinonome is a genius and the youngest officer to ever be selected for the top squad." Naruko and I were awed at overhearing that fact, although for different reasons. 

He must think I'm incompetent for standing around in the shower room while he changed. I sighed to myself as Naruko categorized our instructors into who would be the easiest to get along with. Our classmates also vocalised their prayers of not being taught by the Captains of the unit. However, I heard one voice that helped me refocus my reasons for being here. "But only the best become instructors at this school. They're all super-elite. Don't you want to train under the greats?"

~~~~~~

After all the daily and special instructors had been introduced, (there were only 20), a supervisor stepped up to the platform, announcing that the ceremony was over. "New students, change into suits and report to the Monitor Room." Everyone the instruction was directed to stood in unison, all either eager to get to work or scared of being reprimanded. 

"I wonder what we do in this so-called Monitor Room?" Naruko thought aloud as we shuffled out of the hall within the masses of men. "Ah, I forgot my map. I'll be there after I go get it." She showed me a clumsy smile as we parted ways, me telling her I was going to change, as instructed.

As I approached the doorway, I ran into Captain Ishigami. Avoid eye contact. If I can't see you, you can't see me, I thought to myself, trying to not look at the floor or in his general direction. However, maybe by some sort of telepathy, the captain began walking towards me. I tried to inconspicuously navigate my way through the masses and out of his way, but the boys wouldn't part. I frowned up at the back of the person that was blocking me as the instructor stopped in front of me. 

"Captain! Great speech up there, sir!" Trying to play it off like I wouldn't know what he was approaching me for, I smiled to try and distract him. 

"You are an officer?" His gaze turned serious, just like it had before he had started talking to me this morning, as he pushed his glasses further up his nose. "I thought I had no choice with there being only innocent people around..." He trailed off, referring to his team's interference. If it were anyone else, I would have explained that he didn't have to step in. But, by his tone, I could see I was on thin ice as it was. 

"But the story changes if you're an officer. Dragging the public into a dangerous situation like that is an embarrassment." He frowned, gritting his teeth as if it was going to help him hold back. 

You have no idea, I thought to myself, feeling the eyes of every person in the room watching eagerly for the first student to be kicked out of the school. I bowed in apology, thinking it best to not retaliate with how I had handled the situation.

"A passenger could have been taken hostage. Did you consider that?" He continued to frown down at me. 

"That's why I disarmed him." I let the words slip without thinking, my heart racing the second I realised what I had said. I couldn't look him in the eye as I asked myself if I had just done what I had done.

"Ah, so that was you this morning." The instructor I had met in the shower room approached the situation as I felt myself turn to stone. Ishigami hadn't responded yet and I couldn't tell if it was because he had never met anyone stupid enough to talk back to him or if he was just too ticked off to respond calmly. 

"You better make sure Kaga doesn't run into you, the perp we were tailing got away during that mess." Ayumu Shinonome laughed at the inconvenience. 

"I wasn't aware I hindered an investigation. I'm so sorry." I gasped, bowing again as I wished I could re-do this day. It would have been better if I was hit by the train.

"Hmm, don't just apologise with your mouth..." Instructor Shinonome's tone was surprisingly stern. "I want you to take responsibility... But that was my fault too." His face was suddenly in front of mine, him having closed the distance once again. 

"Responsibility?" I question, trying not to be affected by his forwardness as I took a step back. Thankfully, Ishigami stepped in between us. 

"That can wait for later. Hurry up and change, then get to the Monitor Room." Either misinterpreting what Ayumu had said or wanting me to get out of his sight, the Captain allowed me to leave with all my body parts intact.

~~~~~~

In the Monitor Room, the small amount of new students looked around in awe of all the technology covering the surfaces. There was a long wall of monitors that I'm sure gave the room its name. 

"Our first round of training will begin now." Ishigami caused confusion within the small crowd of students and the air grew thick with tension. 

"But I thought today was just orientation?" Naruko sulked, joining in on the bewildered complaining of our classmates.

"Anyone who can't make it through this training will receive a special punishment. So look forward to it, scum." Captain Kaga smirked down at all of us. As the rest fretted over the punishment the losers could receive, I was caught on what he had called us. 

"Scum?" I sighed, wondering what need he had to belittle us like that.

"Additionally, we'd like to reward those with excellent results. So please do your best." Instructor Soma, the man I saw in the dojo, seemed more joyful than the rest of his team. "Especially those who want to get ahead." Reminding us all that this school was a race that we were all competing in to become the best detectives for the Public Safety Division, Soma sounded more easy-going than the statement was. As I looked around at all the faces of classmates lighting up at the notion of progressing, I realised how career-driven they must be. They were aiming for the top.

"This is training for undercover investigations and will be done with an instructor," Ishigami spoke up again. The idea made my heart rate with excitement. Going undercover was like something out of a movie and a perfect occasion for me to show how ‘ordinary’ I can be. I had been living out of the spotlight for four years now; I would be able to continue in the shadows. 

"You will be going undercover to a location designated by the instructor. This time we'll let you decide which instructor you'll pair with in order of ranking. Number one is..." Looking down at the clipboard in his hands, Ishigami's brows frowned at the name listed as the best performer in this class.

"...Atsuko Motomori." Announcing the name I had taken as my own after leaving my family, I was shocked to hear it. Even Naruko seemed confounded. 

"That's amazing!" Probably thinking she had made a great friend to learn from, I quickly grew worried that my boss back in Nagano had altered my resume to make me look more appealing. I had been working in a small town, doing the most basic police work for three long years. There was no way I could hold a candle to half the people here.

Knowing about my earlier failure of not being able to look away from injustice, Ishigami stared at me in disbelief. Beside him, Shinonome bore a strangely knowing smile on his face. Looking around the room at the five instructors I had met standing before me, I couldn't help but freak out. I had the chance to work with anyone I liked and learn the years of high-stake experience they had collated.

"Motomori, who will you partner with?" Ishigami closed the book of names and held it under his arm, keeping a close eye on how I was reacting. Letting my eyes meet each one of the detectives' before me, I took in a deep breath to calm my nerves.

[ourkarlanicoleuniverse]

Sweet Nothing (MHA Staff AU Fanfiction)

Chapter 20 

Warnings: Mostly sfw, slight nsfw (Mentions sexual assault and mental health), Slight Angst. 

Pairing: Shouta Aizawa x OC (Mai Montoya, Pro Hero Zion)

If you want to read of the events before this chapter here is the Master List 😊

As I looked through the exam replays while making notes about how Aizawa should tackle their training during the camp, a small cup of coffee was placed to my left, with red painted nails over the lid. I look over my shoulder to meet with a ruby red grin.

“I figured since it’s a little chilly in here, I would get you something different from your usual. Mic and Aizawa mentioned you liked hot white chocolate mochas with vanilla sweet foam and cocoa powder. Said it tasted like tiramisu cake to you.” She gave a small shrug while I reached over for the drink.

“Why the treat giving all of a sudden?” I took a sip, and my lips were immediately met with the toasted coffee-flavored sweetness. I hummed a little in delight.

“You haven’t gotten up from your desk nor stopped looking at your screen for a good two hours. I figured you needed a small something to break you away.”

“Oh… thanks. I just wanted to review everything from the exams and make sure I got all of this to Aizawa before he takes the kids to the camp.”

“You’re not going?”

“Vlad and Aizawa mentioned it was best that the least amount of people knew the location of the training camp to make sure students were safe. To be fair, I would like a little break. Sometime in the week, I am expecting a video conference about my license status this upcoming Monday. I got an email about it earlier.”

“Well, that’s good to hear. It's been months. They should’ve been giving you an update sooner.” Kayama sneered in disapproval.

“Yeah… so I kind of need a break from the students for at least a day.” I looked over to Kayama, who looked a little worried. “I promise I won’t be worrying too much about it. Or overwork myself trying to get this stuff done.”

“That’s not what I am worried about. Isn’t Gemini supposed to be in the meeting since he’s in charge of the agency you were working with?” She bit her cheek nervously, bringing up Gemini.

I sighed, “I’m trying not to think about it right now. I just want to think about the fact that I am one meeting closer to having my suspension lifted.”

“I just don’t want him to humiliate you or do something that will prevent your suspension from ending, that’s all. He was already harassing you despite it being against the court’s ruling.” She rubbed my back comfortingly.

“And I changed my number to get it to stop, so it’s fine. I can handle it.” I gave her a smile.

“Oh, okay, but just know if anything happens, I’m always here for you. You can always just stay here and continue working in Japan.” She rubbed my shoulder and made her way out of the office. “I’ll be with Snipe. If you need anything, text me.” She winked and sauntered off.

I continued typing out my worksheet for a little longer until my eyes grew tired and strained. I switched from my earbuds to Mic’s headphones so I wouldn’t get any interruptions. Clearly, someone didn’t get the memo when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I swiveled around in my chair to see Aizawa and Vlad hovering over me. I took Mic’s headphones off slowly as I looked at them in confusion, “Yes?”

“We decided that it would be a good idea to have you help us train the students in the training camp,” Aizawa spoke up with his files in hand and a bored expression.

“That is if you want to come,” Vlad added with an apologetic smile.

I blinked and looked between the two. “You decided without talking to me?”

“We’re talking right now.” Aizawa pointed.

I pushed my glasses up my nose and sighed, “I meant that you should’ve given me a heads up. First, I was sitting for hours making a whole report about tackling the students’ training. If it was in question for me to come, I wouldn’t have been wasting my time. Plus, you both need to know whether I am free enough to even go in the first place.”

Vlad rubbed the back of his neck, “That’s what I was telling Eraser when he brought it up.”

“Your schedule is free all throughout the summer break. What could you be possibly-”

“I have a meeting about my suspension Monday morning.” I interrupted Aizawa. Annoyance laced in my voice. “Don’t assume I have nothing to do.”

Aizawa closed his mouth and tensed up his jaw. He always did that when he knew he messed up and looked like an ass.

I shut my eyes, “Where is the location? And does it have wifi?” I can always just work around my meeting.

Aizawa gave me a folder with the name of the location and the owners of the location. I looked at him, “The Wild Wild Pussycats?”

“They’re friends of mine.” Aizawa defended.

“I swear to God, Aizawa if they’re furries…”

“They’re not furries!”

------------------------------

They were low-key furries…

As the students were forced to get to the Wild Wild Pussycats headquarters on their own, much to my dismay, I was attempting to use Aizawa’s hotspot to connect to my meeting. Aizawa and his friend Mandalay and her teammates were silently and awkwardly watching me stress out refreshing my laptop.

“Please work, please work, please work,” I mumbled mainly to myself.

“Is she usually like this?” I heard Mandalay said to Aizawa.

“Eh… depends on the situation. With hero work, she’s pretty calm and collective.” Aizawa responded.

“I would be nervous too if I was about to miss a meeting about my license.” Ragdoll chimed in.

Ding “You are now in the chat!”

“Yes! Oh, thank God!” I squealed in relief.

“Ms. Montoya? Is everything alright?” An old masculine voice came out of my laptop.

“Oh, yes, sorry. I was having connection problems… How are you today, Mr. Malcolm?” I smiled brightly even though I was ready to implode.

“Yes, I am doing well, thank you. Um, where are you currently?” The man’s bushy grey eyebrows furrowed together.

“Hehehe, I am on a bus on my way to a training camp for my hero course students. I couldn’t get out of coming since I was their counselor. I hope you don’t mind this.” I scratched the back of my neck.

“No, it’s alright, just happy to see you were able to work this meeting in with your schedule. I hope you are enjoying your time in Japan. The rest will be joining us in a moment. If you don’t mind, can you wear any earbuds or headphones? That way, the meeting stays confidential.”

I nodded, “Of course, sir. Just give me a second while I find…” I shuffled around to my purse to look for my Bluetooth earbuds but struggled to find them. The next thing I knew, they were in my face. I looked up to see Aizawa holding them out for me. “Thank you. Alright, I have them now.”

Shortly the rest of the people showed up at the meeting. The last person being Gemini. He looked extremely pleased to be in the meeting, which made me nervous. Which was probably the point. I stayed silent as they read over my file and my case. It had everything from when I enrolled in U.A. to my internships all the way to my job right now as a counselor. “So, from the updates, we have gotten from your boss Nezu and your coworker and pro hero Eraserhead, it seems that you have been following the guidelines of your suspension, which is good to hear. However, there seems to be this information about these phone calls that Gemini wanted to address.” Oh no… it was hard to hear what was said. My heart was thumping in my ears. “It seemed to be located through the Gemini Agency and U.A., meaning there was possible communication between you and someone at the agency. Which does violate the terms of the suspension.”

That’s why he kept calling…

“So, I am sorry, Ms. Montoya, as much as I would love to lift your suspension early. We would have to wait until the beginning of next year to review everything again and see if you can work in the U.S. again. However, we will allow you to continue your counseling job at Cal A if you decide that you don’t want to stay your whole suspension in Japan. I hope you have a good day.”

“Thank you. Have a good day.” I attempted to not look upset, but who knows if I was able to mask it or not. I clicked the leave button once everyone started to leave and closed my laptop. I saw Aizawa and the Wild Wild Pussycats waiting patiently from the corner of my eye to see what happened. I chewed my bottom lip to prevent myself from crying in front of people I barely knew. I felt like that was a sign for Aizawa to come up and sit next to me, gently grabbing my laptop out of my hands. He then wrapped an arm around my shoulders and softly moved my head to rest on his right shoulder. He then looked at the team of heroes and gave them a sad smile, and shook his head to motion them not to talk about the meeting or ask anything.

I felt him stroke my hair and rest his mouth just an inch away from my head to whisper, “You’ll be okay, Mai.”

The rest of the bus ride was short but quiet, so it felt agonizingly long. I felt bad that I let the mood shift so low. But we did end up there before the students were even halfway through the forest. Aizawa helped me with my suitcase while we walked off the bus into the building. “Huh. I expected an actual camp. But that’s because Eraser didn’t give me much description about your headquarters.”

“Oh yeah, that’s mainly because it’s his first time here. He’s only been to our old location a couple years back.” Mandalay explained. “I hope you don’t mind, but you’ll be rooming with me. The building might look big, but most of the rooms are meeting rooms, tech rooms, or just empty.”

“Oh, no, it’s fine. Don’t worry about it. I just appreciate that you made room for me to come.” I quickly waved my hands in front of me as she giggled at my reaction.

“She’s a cutie, Eraser. No wonder you used to like her!” Mandalay teased.

I just looked behind me at the man standing with my suitcase. “What is she talking about?”

Aizawa’s face was mixed with embarrassment and discontent, “Nothing, I’m putting our stuff inside, and then I’m taking a nap. The students won’t be here for another hour.”

“Awe, the poor grump is embarrassed.” Mandalay leaned against me, smirking, “We met around the time you were last in Japan a few years back. So he mentioned you and was annoyed by the fact that he wasn’t over you. I thought it was cute but stupid that he didn’t do anything about it.” Someone doesn’t mind keeping things to herself. “That’s actually the reason why we didn’t work out when we tried dating. I kind of felt that his heart wasn’t in it because he was still caught up in what could’ve been with you.” She gave me a genuine smile, “Don’t worry, my heart wasn’t in it either, so there aren't any hard feelings. I’m just happy to finally meet the one that got away.”

My mouth was left hanging as my cheeks heated. I didn’t know how to respond to that. How would anyone respond to that?

She laughed again, “You are so cute. C’mon, let me show you around the place. Maybe this camp will be like a week-long slumber party with us girls?” This was going to be an interesting week for sure. Why did I agree to this?

---------------

The poor students were exhausted and took about an extra hour longer than expected. I felt terrible, but Aizawa dropped this on me like he did them, so I couldn’t do anything but nag him about it. Luckily, their actual training wasn’t starting until tomorrow. I just continued to act as if everything was normal and try to push past the news I got early.

As the Pussycats were giving them a tour around the place, I was just unpacking my suitcase to get my training outfit ready for tomorrow. It wasn’t anything special, just some running pants and a sports bra. I was also getting my nightshirt and shorts ready for when I needed to change later for bed. The Pussycats also provided the students a meal since they felt bad for leaving them to work so hard to get to camp. I sat with Mandalay and her nephew, who was looking for an opportunity to sneak away from the room.

“Mai, can I ask you a huge favor?” Mandalay spoke up. I simply nodded in response, “Do you think you can maybe talk with Kota? I feel like he needs to see someone about what happened to him and his parents. But I don’t want to take him to a therapist yet since he’s so young.”

“Well, there are children psychologists, but I don’t mind helping you out. It's better than doing nothing.” I gave her a reassuring smile when all of a sudden, my phone vibrated. I looked down and saw it was an unknown number with a video message. “Excuse me for a second, I have to check this. We could talk about a time to set up a meeting with Kota when I come back.”

I got up from the table and into the hallway as I opened the message.

Unknown Number

It was nice seeing you again, my lovely flower. I just wanted to give you a little momentum for our time together. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Maybe now you’ll remember to never test me. I own your career. With one simple video, you can kiss your hero career goodbye. You can always just apologize for defying me and stay being my little flower.

I regretted opening the video file. How can someone be so vile? I felt like I was going to throw up.

The video was of the night that would haunt me in my nightmares. The only view the camera had was of my face and body being violated. No one watching the video would never know who was the one filming or the one violating me. I was seventeen, drugged up, and influenced by Gemini’s mind control quirk. And it was all filmed. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the horrifying sight. I was trying to not be upset all day, and he knew it. He somehow always knew what I was doing. It was like once he got in my head, he knew my every thought and move. My privacy, my autonomy, were not really mine after him. I quickly got out of the conversation and put my phone away. I’ll just pretend it didn’t happen and sleep it off.

To say I was jittering the rest of the night would be an understatement. I felt uncomfortable like bugs were crawling all over me. I would jump whenever the students or Aizawa would try and talk to me. I even shrunk away from Aizawa when he tried to grab my shoulder to get my attention. He looked a little offended but didn’t press me. It wasn’t until Mandalay mentioned something that I had to explain why I was so jumpy.

“I’m just thinking about my meeting, I was trying to ignore what happened, but it sneaked up on me.” I shrugged.

“I understand. Do you maybe want to use the hot spring after the students to relax and wash the bad news and stress away?” I gave her a nod and a tight lip smile. “Cool, I’ll get the robes and towels then so we can get started.” Mandalay was really nice. And really pretty, I could see why Aizawa liked her. Such a shame they didn’t last. They would’ve been perfect.

When she came back to the living room, Midoriya came running in with an unconscious Kota. “What happened?” We both went up to look at Kota. I moved out of my spot on the couch to have Midoriya set Kota down.

“Mineta was climbing up the wall to try and peep at the girls on the other side, and Kota stopped him but fell. I don’t know how he passed out, though. I caught him before he fell into the water.” Midoriya explained awkwardly, standing in a towel. I went to grab another towel to wet it so it could be placed on Kota’s forehead.

“Eraserhead mentioned that one of you boys was a little girl crazy. So I posted Kota up there to make sure the boy didn’t do anything. I could assume that it was the fall that made him pass out. Thank you.” Mandalay spoke while I handed her the wet towel, and she placed it on Kota. Midoriya shifted around a little, worried about the kid. He then asked about why Kota was so inanimate about pro heroes. Since Mandalay already told me about it, I suggested that I leave them alone to talk while I check on the rest of the students and lecture Mineta.

I waited until all the students were in their rooms to go talk to them. All went well on the girls and with the rest of the boys. However, with Mineta, let’s just say my lecture went in through one ear and out the other. So, I opted to go disrupt Aizawa to talk to Mineta. Unfortunately, he was not in his room. I ran into Tiger in the hallway as I was walking out of Aizawa’s room, “Hey, Tiger, have you seen Eraserhead? I need to talk to him about one of the students.”

“Last time I saw him, he was heading to the hot spring after the students went to their rooms.” The large man was in his normal civilian wear now, a t-shirt with a cat face on it and some Capri running pants. He was wearing some kitten slippers to walk inside the building with. It was different from his uniform but not far away from the cat theme. And Aizawa used to wonder why I didn’t hang around cat people back when we were kids.

“Thank you, Tiger. Have a goodnight, bub.” I grinned up at him as I rushed to the hot spring. He chided a goodnight as I passed by and went into his room.

Sure enough, the grumpy slug was relaxing in the hot spring like he had nothing to do. I removed my slippers to slip into some sandals laid out at the entrance to the hot spring and quietly made my way behind the man hovering over his peaceful frame in the water. He was laying back on the rocks displayed at the edge of the spring with his eyes closed and arms stretched out. His hair was damped and was pushed back out of his face. His breathing was steady, with his chest slowly rising and falling. I couldn’t help but stare a little as I crossed my arms and waited for him to notice me.

“Take a picture. It will last longer, pervert.” The man leaned his head back and opened his charcoal grey eyes that reflected the night sky above us.

I raised an eyebrow at him and started tapping my foot, not amused by his comment.

“What do you want, Mai?”

“Mineta tried to peek at the girls while they were using the hot spring, and he didn’t want to listen to me, so I need you to scare him.”

“Right now?” The man started to close his eyes and moved his head back to its original position.

“Yes.”

“I never get to relax. Can I do it in the morning? Maybe I can make him do extra training as punishment along with the lecturing?” He suggested. I stayed quiet because I didn’t feel like that was enough of a punishment. Maybe it was my own personal feelings kicking in, but I really wanted this kid to learn to not be such a perverted creep. I didn’t want him to be doing the same shit Gemini was to his future women colleagues. Aizawa leaned back again to look at me, “Is that not a good punishment?”

“Nope.”

“Then what do you suggest?”

“Castration.”

Aizawa’s eyes widened, and then he stood up from his spot and turned his whole body in my direction. Which he shouldn’t have done. The water cascading down his body was a little distracting. How did I not notice his muscles like this when I was bandaging him up? Since when did he have body hair? And why do I like it? God, Mai, this is not the time… “Should I be concerned that you want to castrate a student?” He had a happy trail… and toned wet abs…. Jesus Christ, I’m acting like Mineta. “Mai?”

I looked up to his eyes as he looked at me, waiting, “No, it was a joke. That’s all.” I turned my cheek to hide the blush creeping up my face.

He folded his arms, which made both his arms and chest bulge and not helping me pay attention to his face, “Is there something wrong?” He raised an eyebrow at me and had a subtle smirk plastered on his face. Great, he knows that I was unintentionally checking him out.

“Nope, nothing’s wrong, just a student harassing other students.”

“Right, nothing else?”

“Nope.”

“You know when you lie, your voice gets higher, and your eyes start widening while you get pouty and raise your eyebrows.” He gave me a knowing smirk. I hate this. I would prefer not to get teased right now.

“I do know that. That’s why I choose not to lie. Because I am a bad liar.” I honestly said. Not budging.

We stared at each other with folded arms in silence.

“Fine, you can talk to him in the morning. Only because it’s really late.” I gave in, letting out an exasperated sigh and unfolding my arms.

“Okay. I promise I’ll castrate him while I’m at it.” He chuckled, making me let out a breathy one of my own.

“Alright, well, I’m going to go to bed now and leave you alone. Goodnight.” I had an effortless and genuine smile on my face. Leave it for the grump to get me in a better mood without even trying.

“Mai, wait.” I turned back to see Aizawa lean forward on the edge of the hot spring, his head resting on his forearms. “Do you want to talk about what happened in the meeting? Or maybe what happened in the hospital? Whichever is easier to tackle first. I kind of want to get things between us situated.”

I sat down on the floor across from him, “What did you want to situate?”

“Well, you seemed to be getting serious with Vlad, and well, we can’t ignore how we keep having certain moments with each other. I don’t want to string myself along, and I don’t want to hurt Vlad. And I’m sure you feel that way too.”

“This is the first time I’m having you talk about your feelings.” I joked a little.

“I thought I was over my feelings for you from high school. But I don’t know what’s been happening. I don’t know if my feelings are genuine or just me indulging in old forgotten feelings because I never got closure. It’s irrational. And I don’t act irrationally.” He looked at me seriously, “I think we need some sort of boundaries.”

Part of me agreed with him. Part of me also wanted to tell him that Vlad and I weren’t that serious. We were just new. Part of me wanted to jump into the spring and kiss his wet plump lips. They were just begging me to kiss them. Part of me wanted to ask him what he wanted to tell me at the hospital. But I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Most of me wanted to crawl into a hole and be forgotten.

I am not someone that Vlad or Aizawa should be with. It wasn’t fair to either of them if they were with me. So I made it up in my mind that I shouldn’t be with either of them. Though, something in Aizawa’s midnight eyes was telling me to not agree with him. Like he was pleading for me to say something else. “Maybe we should. It’s just juvenile to let old feelings dictate what we do. You’re right. It’s irrational.” I avoided his eyes. They tempted me, to tell the truth, which was buried in the pit of my heart. As I played with my fingers, my lips slipped out a question, “What were you going to tell me at the hospital before Midoriya interrupted?”

Now it was his turn to avoid my eyes and bury his face in his arms. It took him a minute to speak up. “I was going to say that I really wanted you to… I really wanted you to know that I loved you when we were kids. That it was never just a childish crush. I was just stupid and thought it was foolish to do something about it.”

“Hmmm… well, I guess I should tell you that I loved you too, I was just too naive to know that I was. So I just assumed I was misplacing my feelings because I never knew what love felt like.” Sadly, it took me dealing with everything I did after leaving to realize it was the real thing. “But I guess we were too late,” I muttered mainly to myself, not really wanting him to hear it.

“I guess.”

“Vlad and I aren’t that serious. He doesn’t even feel comfortable enough for me to call him by his given name. And it's been a little awkward since that. So, I don’t think we’re going to last. It’s probably better off that way. I shouldn’t really be with anyone.” I hugged myself while looking at my knees. “I like Mandalay. She told me about you guys. I think you guys would’ve been cute. You guys both like naps and cats.” I joked a little more to lighten the mood.

“She’s a furry.”

“I thought you said that the Wild Wild Pussycats weren’t furries?”

“Oh, so you’re defending them now?” A small teasing smirk broke out of his face.

“At most, she’s a catgirl. Which is right up your ally.” After a second of thinking, I started to burst into laughter. “Ally cat!”

Aizawa looked incredibly confused, “Huh?”

“Ally cat! You’re an alley cat because you're an underground hero!” It made no sense why I thought it was funny. Honestly, I would be confused too if I was in Aizawa’s position. But for some reason, it was funny to me at the moment. Maybe it was the sleepiness kicking in?

He still looked at me confused, but his eyes were warm, and he was grinning like an idiot. “You have such a broken sense of humor. I blame Oboro for that. He corrupted you with his stupid jokes.”

I pouted, “I think I have a great sense of humor. It’s a little on the dark side, but at least you know I can make light out of any situation!”

“Yeah, sure.”

“You think threatening students with expulsion is funny. You can’t judge anyone else’s humor.” I yawned. “Alright, I think now, I should go. Anything else we need to discuss before I hibernate?”

He looked at me with a soft boyish closed-lip grin, “No, go to sleep. You need to rest before training tomorrow. Have a goodnight, Mai.”

I yawned again as I got up, “Goodnight, Sho. Get some sleep too, don’t stay up too late.”

“I won’t. Lov…” I couldn’t hear the last part once I returned to the entrance of the hot spring. All I was able to hear was that Aizawa stopped himself before he finished it.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Tag List: 

@multifandoms916 @inumorph @mel-sanch @thatsnotverycashmoneyofyouu @anime-oc-community

[mnthpprt]

Chapter 8: Of Treason And Friendship

After changing back into my own clothes, I easily find my way to the training room, backpack and skates strapped to my shoulders. It is the middle of the night, so I am thankful to find an electric light switch has been installed in the deserted room. I don’t even bother to close the large door before sitting down in a corner and rummaging in the bag for my tools and spare set of indoor wheels. I am thankful for having decided to visit a local rink before my adventure in the Louvre, or my skates would be rendered useless in the uneven streets of the 19th century. Not that I would be able to skate outdoors, anyway, since it would be too odd a sight in this time.

I effortlessly swap the wheels, and proceed to fish out my wireless earbuds from a pocket. Soon, I am gliding across the polished wood, spinning and jumping to the tempo of an old playlist from my competitive days. I have not done a routine like this in years, but I find it to be the kind of thing you never forget how to do once you learn it. It is easy for me to let muscle memory take over. I successfully try a few camel spins to regain practice, and subsequently get too confident and fall while attempting to land an Axel.

Once again, my body takes the hit and reminds me how much faster than my mind it recovers. I get back on my feet and keep working on it, momentarily forgetting the past few hours. I become so completely absorbed by my routine that I am oblivious to the pale sunlight that begins shining through the large windows. Hours have passed without me knowing, and I suddenly catch something out of the corner of my eye during a spin.

I almost fall, startled, when I spot two men by the door, watching, completely mesmerized. I have no idea how long they have been there. I quickly regain my balance and skate over to them as I pull out my ear buds.

“Napoleon,” I greet the one I remember. My eyes trail down to his left hand, no longer bandaged. It appears to have completely healed overnight. “I, uh...” I stammer, consumed by the awkwardness of our last encounter. “I’m sorry I bit you yesterday. Took someone else trying to bite me to understand what you were doing. Thank you for... trying to help me, I guess. Even though it became a big misunderstanding. Now I get it.”

I apologetically extend my own hand to him in an attempt to clear the air, and to my surprise, he shakes it with an amused smile. His grasp is delicate, all too used to this time’s etiquette. It is somewhat nice that he still thinks of me as ladylike, after the way I acted.

“It’s all forgotten, Anaïs.” I return the smile, pleased with this new start. “What was it that you were doing? I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s like you were floating, carried by the wind!” The wonder in his voice makes me chuckle. I keep forgetting how different my time is, compared to now. 

“Oh, just roller skating,” I explain, and lift up one foot so he can see better. “It’s a sport from my time that I used to compete in when I was younger.” His eyes widen, earning another chuckle. Of course, women participating in sports is not widely accepted yet, let alone competing in them.

“I was sorry to hear about what happened with Isaac. Have you been here all night?” The tinge of worry in his question makes me turn to the window. My eyes squint when I glance at the sky, the early morning sun directly in my line of sight.

“Oh, no, I lost track of time!” It is then that I see the swords in each of their belts. They must have waiting to use the training room. I turn to the other man, much taller than Napoleon. He wears an eyepatch over his right eye, with long strands of hair half covering it. “Sorry to keep you two waiting. You must be Jean, I believe you are the only resident of this mansion I have not spoken to yet.”

Jean’s face has scandal written all over it as he stares at me, his visible eye wide and a pink blush dusted over his cheeks. It takes me a second to figure out what his problem is. A quick glance at myself explains it: I am even more exposed than last night. Without the sweater, skin tight jeans and a tank top short enough to leave most of my midriff visible are all that’s on me. The visible ink all over my body certainly doesn’t help. I shoot off in the direction of my backpack, snatching up the sweater right next to it as I spin and come to a sudden stop in the exact same spot I started in, a couple feet from the two men.

As far as I remember, Jean d’Arc was an extremely devout Christian accused of heresy in her - I mean, his - time. I hastily pull the sweater over my head, and as soon as most of my skin is covered, I hear Jean cough.

“A-Anaïs”, he finally stutters. “I have been told about you.”

“Well, Jean d’Arc,” I say with a friendly smile, “it’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”

I retire to the side to let the two soldiers use the space, and take a seat on the floor by my belongings, where I change back into my shoes. For the next hour, I watch the men spar as I eat a cereal bar I found in a pocket and drink what’s left of my lukewarm smoothie from the previous day at the musée.

After a while, they decide to take a break from their intense combat training, and Jean practically runs out into the hallway as Napoleon walks over and sits beside me on the floor.

“Did I do something to offend him?” I wonder out loud.

“Oh, don’t worry,” Napoleon reassures me. “Jean is not very sociable, and well... your appearance is something new for all of us. But I understand it is normal in the future, to dress so scandalously.”

“Well, in that case...” I take off my sweater. It is much too warm to be wearing it here, and I only kept in on for Jean’s sake. I sigh in relief as the cool air touches my skin, and lean back against the wall, only to notice Napoleon observing me with curiosity. I let him, and after a short silence he finally asks what’s on his mind.

“Do people in your time paint their bodies like this every day? It must have taken you ages!” The innocence in his question makes me laugh. Immediately, he looks away, ashamed to have stared at me that way.

“It’s fine. It’s not paint. See?” I rub the skin on my forearm to show him the ink won’t budge, and then shift closer to let him do the same. “These are tattoos. They are permanent.” Napoleon’s fingers trail shyly over my skin, and soon he is holding my hand, moving my arm to better see it from different angles as I continue to explain. “It is ink, but it was injected there with a needle. It’s under my skin forever.” Napoleon gasps, prompting me to smile.

“Did... did it hurt? Why did you get them?” He has not let go of my arm yet, but his gentle touch does not bother me.

“They do hurt, but it mostly depends on the placement,” I explain. “These just felt like a surface scratch when I got them done.” His puzzled expression reminds me of the second question he asked. “As for why I got them, well... some of them have meaning or remind me of things, like this one,” I point to the stylized flower on my upper arm, encased in a perfect square. “It’s the symbol of my hometown. If I remember correctly, this tile will be designed in about ten years. In my time you can see it all over Barcelona. Which reminds me...”

I pull my arm away and turn to face him, a playful grin making its way onto my face. I can’t believe this man is the same Napoleon I studied in history class.

“You might have been perfectly nice to me, but don’t think I’ve forgotten about the Treaty of Fontainebleau and your little treasonous stunt.” He raises his eyebrows and looks away, but does not say anything. “Yeah, I learned about it in school. I guess you’ll have to make it up to me for invading my country, huh?” I joke, letting out another chuckle.

“I guess so.” Napoleon scratches the back of his head and joins me with a laugh of his own. “I learned the hard way not to mess with Catalans. You have a lot of fight in you, Anaïs.” As he says that, he massages the part of his hand between his index finger and thumb. The spot where I bit him.

“I am so sorry about that.” I blush, embarrassed, and smile awkwardly. “In my defence, I thought you were trying to kidnap me.”

“Don’t worry about it.” He smiles and lifts his hand in front of me. “It’s all healed up. One of the perks of vampirism, apparently.”

“Oh!” I perk up, suddenly remembering something. “I’ve been meaning to ask... If you’re a vampire too, why did you try to help me escape?”

He becomes serious and lets out a deep sigh.

“I am just a demi-vampire.” I look at him, puzzled, and he continues. “That means I am more human than the others.”

Before I have time to ask more, Jean returns with two bottles of blanc and hands one to Napoleon. They both drink it and immediately begin sparring again. I can tell this conversation is over. Resigned, I gather my things and walk to the door, announcing my goodbye as I leave.

[purplesurveys]

1105

surveys by seachaange

What do you do when someone is talking to you about something you don't care about? I listen and try to ask questions or add my own input so that they can see that even though I personally don’t care about the thing they’re talking about, I’m invested in them.

What is the best pizza place in your neighbourhood? Erm, we don’t really have a lot of independent pizza joints, actually. Most of the ones I see are chain restaurants like Pizza Hut and Domino’s. The best pizza I’ve had is from Vu’s at Marco Polo, but it’s been a whileeeee since I’ve had their food. Mama Lou’s pizza is also good.

Do you have Photoshop installed on your computer? I do but I only had it installed for school. I have no personal interest to learn it.

Are there any teachers you have that you are close with? I wouldn’t say that. I’m kinda chummy with one of my English teachers from high school - like he knew about me and Gab and supported us, I show my support for his art, we greet each other every now and then, etc - but we’re not ‘close.’

Do you have friends that play field hockey? No.

What about soccer? Not friends but I do know a number people who play football, yeah.

Do you think homosexuals are leading a bad lifestyle? This question aged like milk, didn’t it...

What do you think of the iPad? I remember when it blew up like crazy. It was such a revolutionary thing back when it was new, so much so that my dad even felt the need to buy one. It was fun when the hype lasted; but nowadays I don’t know people who would still seek out an iPad other than artists and law/med students, lmfao.

Do you put lotion on after you get out of the shower? I don’t.

Do you have any concerts on dvd? A lot, but they’re of concerts from a time when DVDs were still a thing. I haven’t had a new DVD in around 7-8 years.

Do you still have a VHS player? I think my parents have thrown theirs out already.

Has anyone ever given you a promise ring? No.

Do you send postcards to people when you go on vacation? I don’t. But aw, this made me remember when Jo did a summer exchange program in London and she sent postcards to Aya in the few months that she had been away. I thought that was sweet.

What do you think is the most comfortable shoe? Out of the pairs I have, my Onitsuka Tiger shoes for sure.

Have you seen Lady Gaga's music video for Telephone? That was suuuuuuch a big deal when it came out. Yes, I definitely have and I must’ve watched it a thousand times. Also rude, Beyoncé was in there too lol

If so, what do you think of it? It was so creative and a lot of fun to watch, especially for 2009 when artists weren’t exactly daring with music video concepts yet. I can’t believe they never collaborated again since.

What do you think of the septum piercing? It’s great.

Do you frequently skip class? Depends on my interest in the class/the professor, OR how tired I am that week. I skipped my psychology elective a lot because I didn’t think the instructor was all that great; and as much as I loved every single one of my history classes, there were a few sessions I voluntarily had to skip because I wasn’t doing mentally well. It really depends.

--

When you're really thirsty, what do you enjoy drinking most? Water. Anything else wouldn’t be able to quench my thirst as well.

What do you find inspirational in the world? I think it differs based on what I need to see at a given time, I guess. At this point in my life, I like hearing from people who have risen from their trust and abandonment issues, because it’s what I’ve been going through as well. I probably never would’ve found something like that inspirational, say, 6 months ago, so it really depends.

When hanging out with your bf or gf, what do you like doing most? I’m a very ‘let’s spend time in silence’ type of person. I cherished it the most when my ex and I would go to a coffee shop and work for hours, in complete and comfortable silence; or when I would be driving and no words would be exchanged for nearly the entire ride. Even though I stay quiet, in those moments I’m actually very happy. Of course new experiences are great too, but I personally enjoy the conventional ‘boring’ stuff the most when with a partner.

What do/did you think of your high school? Teeming with homophobia, bigotry, and just your typical Catholic gatekeepy judgmental environment. I look back at high school fondly because of the friends I made, not because of the toxic environment they nurtured in there.

What is the dirtiest rap song you have ever heard? I don’t listen to a lot of rap. But as an 11 year old listening to Nicki Minaj’s Itty Bitty Piggy, I was immediately traumatized lmao. I still can’t listen to that song.

What about a dirty song in any other genre? Uhhhhhhhhh probably Drunk in Love?? Lmaoooo I’d die for Beyoncé a million times but I always skip that song. My asexual ass just can’t deal.

What is a genre of music you simply can't stand? One of them is techno.

What is, in your opinion, the best way of dealing with a break up? Being kind to yourself.

What flavour of Doritos do you like best? I’ve only ever tried the nacho cheese flavor, but I love that one.

Where do you do your grocery shopping? I don’t do the grocery shopping in the family but my parents usually do it at SM or at this local store we have nearby.

Would you ever go to a comedy club? Yes, with a friend so I’d be more comfortable.

Do you think Victoria's Secret is overpriced? I haven’t been in one of their stores in a while, so I can’t really say.

Do you still have a VHS player? Again, I don’t think so.

Do you have a tumblr? :))))))

Why is it that photography is becoming a trend? So this survey was made in 2010 and I can definitely confirm it was a crazy huge trend lol. Even I got into it and asked my parents to get me a DSLR back then. Anyway, I think it was because during this time, DSLRs had been slowly becoming a thing? and they were kiiiiiiiinda cheap - at least cheap enough to be accessible to a large amount of people - so it allowed people to play with different styles that were very unfamiliar at the time, like light painting, fisheye, close-ups, etc. And then at one point everyone had DSLRs and it just wasn’t as enjoyable anymore because everyone was doing the same kinds of trendy shots lol.

What is the funniest movie you have ever seen? I’m gonna go with The Proposal - Sandra Bullock was gold in that movie.

Did you watch American Idol this past season? No. Do they still air new seasons of that?? I stopped watching when the same guitar-playing, country-singing white men kept winning.

If so, how did you feel about the winner? It’s been more than a decade since I last cared for the show.

Don't you hate it when one of your earbuds stops working? Sure.

Do you have a normal landline, or do you use MagicJack? Holy shit I have not heard of MagicJack in a goddamn WHILE lmao, what a throwback. We had one, I’m pretty sure...but I never knew what it was for.

Do you even use a house phone anymore? Landlines are still common in the Philippines. Are they not in other countries? Hahahaha.

Would you ever consider dating someone who lived across the country? If I loved, trusted, and was committed to them enough, yes.

What was the most expensive restaurant you've ever eaten at? I wasn’t able to track the name but I’m pretty sure it was the fine dining restaurant in our cruise trip that my parents treated me to for my birthday.

Do/did you take foods classes in high school? My school didn’t offer such a class, but we had home economics and we were occasionally taught how to cook and bake certain dishes.

Do you have a tattoo? No, not yet.

If you do, describe the pain you went thru when getting it done. Eugh this is what I’m scared of :((((

Do you enjoy making hemp necklaces and bracelets? I’ve never tried.

Have you ever watched the show Strangers With Candy? I’ve never even heard of it before, I’m sure.

What is your favourite bookstore? Fully Booked, because their collection is expansive, always complete, and they let you take a book of the shelves and read it if you’d like.

Have you ever used torrents? Mostly throughout high school. I did use a torrent to download Midsommar recently, though.

How can we tell if you are in a bad mood? I go quiet.

How are you when you're in a really good mood? Complete opposite - I will be bubbly and chatty, especially in instances when I’m not really expected to be.

Are you nice to everyone, even people you don't like? Yes.

When you're bored in class, what do you do? I seldom found myself bored in class because I’m constantly furiously taking notes. But if the prof themselves are very boring and there’s nothing to take notes about, I go ahead and check my social media either from my phone or laptop.

--

Would you rather go to Lollapalooza, Warped Tour, or Bonnaroo? As a teenager, I had always wanted to go to Warped Tour. As I’ve gotten older, though, the lineups for Lollapalooza have appealed to me more. Plus it’s in Chicago, soooooo a million more brownie points for that.

Do you have anything that is autographed? By who? Yeah, I have an autographed poster of AJ Lee. It was my most prized possession and I even placed it on a big picture frame and had it up on my wall for yearsssssssss, and then my mom had to take it down because of course it’s my mom and of course she had to do it.

Can you sleep when it's really hot? Welcome to summer months in the Philippines.

Do you know anyone who works at McDonald's? I think Carley does, but idk if that’s changed in the last few months. I don’t stay updated about her life, haven’t been for years.

Do you have a debit card? Yes.

What bank do you (or your family) use? I am not sharing that lol.

Would you ever hitchhike? I think I’m mostly open to it, though I will say I’ve read enough stories about murders that involve hitchhiking that make me a little scared of the idea, hahah.

Have you ever been kayaking? We did a boat thing in Palawan a few years ago but I’m not sure if that was kayaking or canoeing. Anywho, the experience was breathtaking.

Do you have a problem with swimming in a pond or lake? In the context of my country, yeah, because our natural bodies of water aren’t exactly...the cleanest, lmao. I’d feel much more comfortable swimming in a private beach.

Does anyone in your family go hunting or fishing? Nope. But maybe some of my relatives living in the US do?? Idk for sure.

What do/did you do when someone you barely knew asks you to sign their yearbook? We don’t really practice that. Only the really expensive, bougie, international schools here that have foreign students to begin with do that, I think.

In high school are you/were you in the plays and musicals? No.

Do you have a birdbath in your yard? No, we don’t.

Is the house you live in old or new? It’s fairly new; we had it first built in 2005 and we officially moved in 2008.

Where do you go when you need a new pair of sneakers? Depends on what brand I’m in the mood to buy.

Do you make New Year's Resolutions, or do you not even bother? I typically don’t.

Most annoying commercial? Haven’t been paying attention to them lately.

What does your favourite bathing suit look like? It’s just a simple black bikini but its overall shape and design is super cute and chic.

Do you like Silly Bandz? No.

If you do, how many do you have and what are your favourite shapes?

What do you think of My Super Sweet 16? I never watched it because I feel like I’d only get stressed if I did.

Do you have mini-blinds in your house? I have pull-down window shades in my room, not blinds.

Do you rent your home or do you own it? My parents own it.

What is your favourite song right now? Trigger by Hayley Williams.

Do you use Firefox? Nope.

Do you have a pool in your backyard? We don’t.

Do you have a gym membership? No.

Favourite field trip you've ever been on? Freshman year of high school when we went to two museums :)

[superthiccthighssavelives]

Give Me a Try Chapter 13

Well, it’s finally here. I honestly thought I’d never get my groove back with this story, but, here we are. If this chapter sucks, I sincerly apologize, I re-read it all and went over notes and ideas, they may not be as well placed as I had hoped. 

This chapter isn’t terribly long, but good things are coming. I hope you all still enjoy and read. I appreciate those who still are. 

THANK YOU! <3

Chapter 13 - Mint Chocolate Chip (Taron)

 I made my way back inside, to find my mate to say my goodbyes before heading out. 

I caught her out of the corner of my eye, chatting up a rather tall fellow. She looked animated and happy.  I tried to shake it off,  but I felt a slight twinge of jealousy.  I wasn’t intending to eavesdrop, no matter how badly I wanted to hear what made her so lively, so I bounced back to find my friend. I spotted him in a far back corner speaking with a few people. I congratulated him and attempted to make plans to grab a pint sometime in the near future.`

At home, I distracted myself. I went over my lines, and over, and over and over. Rehearsals went well, I was able to stay focused and put all my energy into this part. I had, afterall, been chasing after it for years.  I caught up with Phillip, and even helped him get a small role in the play. I was feeling pretty good again, even if it was because I was choosing to ignore things rather than face them. Either way, I was doing what I needed to do.

It was a fairly nice day outside, the rain had ceased finally, I decided on a walk through the park. I enjoyed the rare sunshine, soaking up the warm rays. I did a bit of people watching, and practiced the musical bits from the play quietly as I strolled. I was passing Tesco and wandered in to pick up dinner. I can’t remember the last time I cooked a real meal. I kept my earbuds in, still humming the tunes as I meandered about the aisles. After deciding on what to cook later that evening, I made my way to the ice cream freezer for a treat. My mum had just text, my eyes were on my phone so I wasn’t paying attention to where I was reaching. Naturally, I didn’t feel the chill of the ice cream, but rather a warm hand. Our eyes locked, and my body froze. I hadn’t seen her in a little over a week, and thought I had done a good job at removing her from my thoughts...and everywhere else, but seeing her made me a liar. 

My hand would not budge, still atop of hers. I don’t know how she had this effect on me, but something began stirring even more. 

Our apologies were in sync, as well as the nervous laughter. I shot her a gentle smile, awkward but still warm. She reciprocated, then letting out a heavy breath. “So, last one, do you mind?”

I was confused for a moment, then realizing she meant the pint of ice cream. “Oh, umm, I was kind of looking forward to it later.” “Really? I mean, couldn’t you like, just get another kind?” “Couldn’t you?” 

I was teasing at first and was going to let her have it, but she seems to be getting worked up and I can’t stop myself from engaging. 

Another heavy sigh. I could see the fire in her eyes, but contained, the strain of holding back seemed to be a difficult task for her. I gave her a cheeky smile with my hand still on the carton. 

“Fine, forget it, I’ll just...get something else.” She randomly grabbed a pint and threw it into her trolley, rather roughly, somewhat startling me with the loud thud it made. She quickly turned on her heel and rolled away. 

I was a little stunned at that display, either she was really passionate about mint chocolate chip or was having a rough day. I really had hoped it was the former. 

I finished my shopping, hoping to catch her once more to tell her I was just being playful, but no luck. I packed away the food once home, and headed back to the theater for more rehearsals. I was so chuffed at how well it was going, I couldn’t wait until opening night and feel the crowd’s energy. 

My agent had passed me a few scripts to look over, to have something lined up and ready to go after the play’s run is over. My flat was becoming too confining, I made attempts to get out and enjoy the fleeting warmth and enjoy new surroundings when I wasn’t at the theater. I found myself in parts of London I hadn’t ventured before. Whether directly or indirectly, some of those parts happened to be in her neighborhood. I swear it wasn’t on purpose. I think? I did find some interesting new restaurants, cafes, book shops. It was all very kitsch and amazing. 

I settled in at a small cafe, reading over one of the more interesting scripts I was sent, still not the most fun or captivating , but I needed to absorb myself into something besides the play, which was starting to give me butterflies as the date got closer to opening. 

I was making notes, getting out some thoughts on the character and storyline, reaching for my tea. As I brought the cup to my lips, I realized I had finished it already. I decided on grabbing another as it looks like I wouldn’t be leaving any time soon. I steadily and slowly moved toward my table but was rattled as the cup went crashing to the floor. 

“Oh my goodness, I am SO sorry” My eyes met with a rather small, cute, flustered woman. “Please, let me buy you another, I’m so sorry, I’m such a klutz sometimes” 

“It’s quite alright darling.” 

“Please, it’s my fault, I wasn’t paying attention.” “What are you drinking?”

I couldn’t help but smile, and agreed to let her replace the tea that was now covering the floor at our feet. She quickly brought me the cup and again, apologized. I tried to tell her it was fine, it’s just a cuppa, but she was insistent. The gears quickly shifted, her nervousness turned into a genuine smile, while she touched my arm, and carrying on about how she’s seen me before, somewhere, and was glad she had finally ran into me, quite literally. She was called Elizabeth she said, and carried on about how it was her grandmother’s name.

My eyes roamed, catching another pair, a very familiar pair. I see her, not surprisingly, I am in her neighborhood. She looks a bit stunned, but even from here, I can see that intense fire in her. If looks could take action, this place would be up in flames right now. I’m trying to accommodate this lovely woman, Elizabeth, in front of me, and listen, acknowledge her questions, but my eyes keep moving back to the other side of the cafe. 

“So what do you think, Friday night?”

I could feel the air getting thicker, my eyes following her and her fire as she passed, the scent of fresh flowers leaving a trail behind her. 

“I’m sorry, what?” I got lost for a moment, was she asking me out on a date?

“Friday, around 8:00? I would love to see you again, a movie, maybe dinner?”

“Oh, umm” I honestly didn’t know what to say. I didn’t want to say no, but I also didn’t want to say yes. To be honest, my mind was completely elsewhere, and not entirely where it should be. My mind raced trying to think of how to let her down, and decided on a little white lie, stating I was seeing someone, and I was sorry. I sprinkled in that I would in a heartbeat, had I not been attached. I felt terrible, but I just couldn’t find it in me to go along with it. 

“I’m really sorry.” I placed my hand on her shoulder and gave her the warmest smile I could muster. She nodded, and attempted to grin, stating she hopes she sees me again and maybe next time I would be single. Persistent little thing she was. 

My glance drifted to an empty table, but she definitely left behind some flames.

Chapter 1 - The London Underground

Chapter 2 - Theater

Chapter 3 - The Agenda

Chapter 4 - The Shoot

Chapter 5 - Back to Business

Chapter 5 ½ - Sketchy

Chapter 6 - Tired

Chapter 7 - Drinks

Chapter 8 - Temptation

Chapter 9 - Close®

Chapter 10 - The Interview

Chapter 11 - Strange Birds

Chapter 12 - Exhaustion

@linseykalynn @alyss--in--wonderland @primaba11erina @autumnslovex 

[dayawantstosleep]

Love & Zombies Nov 4, 2020

Summary: All I wanted to do was survive, not get involved in a love triangle with Changbin and Chris. Things spiral out of control from there.

Genre: Dystopian, Apocalyptic

Word Count: 2,834

Warning(s): Swear words, implied cheating, jealous 3RACHA

I ran a hand through my hair for the billionth time and shut my eyes tightly. The bed seemed too big for me now that Han is not here anymore.

A quiet sniffle came out of me and I wiped my tears with my hand covered in my sleeve. I turn around to bury myself in my pillow and sobs wracked my body.

"He's still here with us." Changbin's hoarse voice said next to me. I must have woken him up with my crying.

"I should've been bitten instead of him." I said, sitting up. I hug my knees and bury my head on my arms.

"It's not your fault. He wouldn't want you to be like this." I snort softly. Han gone must have taken a toll on Changbin if he was comforting me.

"I just miss him. He's my buddy and I let him down. I was supposed to have his back, but I didn't. Now he's one of them."

"Just go to sleep, Aria." He said exasperated. I sighed and laid down on the bed again, the jackass I know making an appearance.

"Goodnight, Changbin." He hummed and I took that as a goodnight before closing my eyes.

It was past midnight when I woke up to go to the restroom. Chan words echoed in my mind.

We have a buddy system. If you want to leave at night tell your buddy. Things will be bad if you don't.

"My buddy was turned, Chan. Turned into a monster." I said rubbing the sleep from my eyes.

I sighed deeply and looked at myself in the mirror. I looked pitiful. Dark half circles perched under my eyes and my skin looked paler than usual.

I unlocked the door and turned the lights off, heading to my room. I stopped in front of the door and sighed again.

I slipped inside my room and walked towards Changbin's sleeping figure on the far end of the room. I took a deep breath and prepared myself mentally.

"Changbin." I whispered, but the sleeping boy didn't even move. I sighed and reached for his shoulder.

His eyes shot open and he grabbed my waist, slamming it into his mattress, knees on either side of me. I let out a yelp as he glared at me menacingly.

"Can you get off me, Changbin?" His eyes soften slightly as he rolled off of me. I sat up and I heard him grunt.

"What were you thinking?"

"That I could wake you up. I need to show you something."

"Why?" I rolled my eyes and sighed. Why did I think this would be easy? When it comes to Changbin, things are never easy.

"You're my new buddy." Was all I said before leaving out the door. I heard footsteps behind me and I ventured further into base.

"Where are we going?" He asked. I didn't answer until I stopped outside.

"Don't freak out, ok?" I asked as I walked towards a ladder on one side if the building.

"What do you mean?" He asked, following me up the ladder. I walked towards the coffee table in the middle of the roof and clicked a small switch.

The coffee table parted and a large thin glass tube appeared out of the floor. Inside, a beast stared back at us; its eyes were a dull brown and the skin was grey and decaying.

"What the hell is this?" Changbin asked loudly.

"What do you think? This is him." Tears appeared on my eyes as I stared at the beast. The beast I used to call a best friend and confidant.

"How the fuck did you bring him here without none of us knowing?"

"Easy. Remember when we had Chris' party last week?" He looked at me as if I had two heads.

"No." I nodded.

"Yes. He was Chris' huge present. I feel super bad for lying, but I couldn't just leave him at the shopping mall. You know how much he means to me." I looked sadly at the beast before me.

"So, you've kept him here for a week?" I nodded again.

Han let out a gutteral sound and clawed at the glass. With one bite, my best friend had been reduced to a mindless being, with a knack of biting people.

"It's been really hard and Chris almost figured me out the other day. I need you to keep the secret." I turned to him.

"What?"

"I know you don't like me, but you're my roomate. We need to have each others backs, Changbin."

"What we need to do is kill that thing."

"No. He's my best friend. Han is gone and I know its selfish of me to keep him here in this state. But if there's any way to save him, I'll take it."

"This is for our survival, Aria." I suddenly felt consumed with rage. He was closer to Han than any of us, and he wants to kill him just like that?

"What do you know of survival?" I ask. He tightened his jaw and frowned.

"I lost Han already. I don't want to lose you too."

"Excuse me?"

"You're excused. I'm killing that thing." He walked closer to Han and took out a knife from his jeans.

"You can't kill him. He's-"

"He's what, huh? He's not just your friend. You love him. I've seen the way you look at him." His voice was growing louder.

Love him? Have I really loved Han all along and not notice? No, Changbin is just misinterpreting things.

"No. I don't look at him in any way." He sneered.

"What would Chan think?" My blood ran cold. What would he think if he knew I had Han locked up in here?

"He would want to save Han."

"So, what? You can dump him for Han?" What the hell is he on about?

"No. Listen, I-"

"No. You listen. You think I like it that Chan is with you? Or that Han used to talk about you every fucking second you weren't there? When you were with Chan."

"What's that gotta do with keeping Han a secret? You're mixing up your shit."

"No. You just don't want to talk about this now."

I walked closer to him and flipped a switch on the tube, making it slowly go down from where it came from. Changbin's frown deepened and he let out a tch.

"You're clueless." He crossed his arms and shook his head.

"Don't patronize me. Now, cut the bullshit and talk straight."

"What's the point? None of it matters now." His eyes turned sad and he turned around, walking away.

I stood there, watching his receeding figure until I walked into the base alone.

Changbin didn't speak to me the next day or the day after that. Whenever one of the guys asked about his behavior, he would either shrug and give one word answers or ignore them.

"What is up his ass?" I asked Chris after a week of Changbin being unresponsive. He shrugged and put an arm around me.

"I think having Han gone hit him hard." My breath hitched and Changbin's words resonated in my head.

What would Chan think?

I turned to Chris and saw Changbin sitting at the dining table, looking at something behind us. I'll confront him later, when I'm done with Chris.

"I have to tell you something." I said. He nodded and turned to me.

"What is it?" He looked concerned and I suddenly felt my stomach started hurting. I grabbed the arm that was on my shoulder and pulled it off of me.

"This is kind of hard to say but-"

"You're not breaking up with me, are you?" He let out a nervous laugh and I shook my head furiously.

"No. No of course not. I just...it's a bit more complicated than that."

"Complicated?" I took a deep breath and prepared myself mentally.

"Han's not dead." His eyes widen and his breath became ragged.

"What!?"

"He's a zombie. And he's on the roof."

"He's what?"

"I trapped him on the roof and I know this is wrong but we can save him. We just gotta wait a little longer."

"What a little longer? Aria, why didn't you tell us?"

"I didn't know how you'd react, Changbin said-"

"Changbin? You told him before me?" Please tell me this wasn't going to be a fight? Please, please, please.

"He's my roomate, Chris. I couldn't just not tell him."

"It's good that you told him, but you could have told me first."

"You're kidding, right? What does it matter who I told first? That's not even the damn point. The point is that I want to save Han." Out of the corner of my eye, the guys retreated to the kitchen.

"You want to what? I'm sorry, but he can't be saved." My heart broke then and there. My best friend can't be saved.

"Bullshit." I whispered softly.

"What?"

"Bullshit. He's one of us, he's always have been." He ran a hand through his hair, seemingly trying to formulate words.

"Where is he?"

After showing Chris and the rest of the guys the zombified Han, they freaked out. Half of them wanted to save him and the other half wanted to kill him. It was chaotic, until all of us went back inside.

"What is wrong with you?" I asked Changbin as soon as I walked into our room. He was laying on his bed with earbuds on.

I walked closer to him and yank the earbuds off, making him curse. He glared at me and sat up.

"What do you want?" He barked out.

"What did you mean back there?" He let out a tch and looked away from me.

"Changbin." I growled. I sat next to him and he turned away from me again.

"Why have you been so mean to me? You never liked me and it bugs me so much."

"You really wanna know?" He inched closer to me, we were centimeters apart.

"Yes. I want to fucking know." I growled. His lips slammed into mine roughly and pulled away.

"What the hell?" He didn't answer me just unbuttoned his jeans and took them off.

"You think that just because you kissed me everything is fine?" I was beyond pissed. All this time he was jealous of Chris and Han. That's bullshit.

He inched closer to me and kissed me roughly again. He pulled away and smirked his usual 'you're beneath me' smirk.

"Shut up."

"Don't fucking tell me what to do."

"What are you gonna do about it?" There he is again, feeling superior. Well, I've had it.

I raised an arm and slapped him. He just stared at me, I didn't wipe that smirk off of his face.

"That's hot." He pulled me in again and I pushed him away.

"I'm with Chris, Changbin."

"That's not fair. You can't pull that shit on me. You can't let me kiss you and pull that shit on me." He glared at me expectantly.

"You can't just kiss me and expect me to come running to your arms. It doesn't work that way."

"So, you just expect me to throw my feeling away?" He was getting angrier.

"You can do whatever you fucking want." I growled. His lips crashed into mine but this time, I kissed him back.

I don't know why I did it. Maybe I wanted to release my pent up anger at him for being an inconsiderate asshole all this time. Or maybe at the very back of my mind, I knew I liked him back.

He pulled me closer to him and I laced my hands on his neck. The kiss became more heated, and his lips travelled down my neck.

I grabbed his shirt and pulled it off of him, glazing over his well toned abs. I suddenly remembered the first time I saw them, when I barely got to base.

I didn't think nothing of it because he was rude to me and I didn't like him at all. But now, I find myself oogling.

"Look at you, Bin." I barely registered that I called him by his nickname.

"Don't call me that." He growled, capturing my lower lip with his lips and bit me.

"I'll call you whatever the fuck I want." I growled, biting where his neck and shoulders meet.

He moaned out and I would be lying if I said that it wasn't sensual. He grabbed my hand and led me to his bed, getting on top of me.

The beast in front of me tried clawing it's way through the glass. The attempt was futile, Han stopped and just looked at me with soulless eyes.

"I don't know what I'm doing." I whispered. Last night flashed in my mind and then I sat down on the couch.

"This really wasn't supposed to happen, you know? We're in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. I didn't come here to sleep with anyone. I came here to survive."

Han just stared at me, dull brown eyes staring into my ones. I ran a hand through my hair and looked at the tube.

"You must be lonely in there, huh? I can't exactly let you out, but I can do this." I stood up and clicked a switch on the tube.

A small opening parted in front of his facex big enough for one hand only.

"Rawwwr!" He snarled and reached his hand out towards me through the window. I sighed deeply, taking out my dagger from the inside of my jeans.

Changbin is right. I can't save him even if I try. He's my best friend and I'll always love him. But, having him here is a huge risk.

"I'm sorry, Jisung." I raised my dagger and sung it. I winced, blood coming out of my hand.

"Fuck it. I can't." I looked at the sky and let out a yell. I looked at Han and then I heard the door to the base open.

"Aria?" I walked towards the edge of the roof and look down. Chris was looking at me as he climbed up the ladder.

"Yeah?"

"I heard someone shout so I came looking for you." He said as soon as he got to the top.

"I'm fine. Just talking to Han." I put my dagger behind my back but he quickly grabbed my hand.

"Aria what did you-?"I cut him off and yanked my hand back.

"I said I'm fine." He stopped and let his hand hang at his side. I sighed, feeling guilty for raising my voice at my boyfriend.

"Sorry. I'm just very on edge." I turn to the tube where Han is imprisoned and frowned.

It was now or never. I flipped a switch on the tube and the glass slowly started opening.

"What are you doing?" Chris asked next to me.

"What I should have done a long time ago." I take my dagger out and then Han pounced.

I heard Chris shout my name and the dagger went flying out of my hands. Han snarled and bared his teeth at me, trying to claw me.

I put an arm under his chin to try to stop him. He roared and I did the only thing I thought of. I grabbed his arm and bit into his grey skin.

His eyes rolled upward and he fell on top of me. I scooted away from him and felt Chris arms around me.

"That was risky." He said kissing my cheek.

"I needed to do something, he was gonna eat me." I turned to Han and gasped.

My best friend stood up and started walking towards me. His skin wasn't grey anymore, and his eyes were soulless either. They were brown.

"What happened?" I malfunctioned. He could form sentences. He was human again. What the hell?

I ran to him, arms extented and he extended his arms too. I slapped him as soon as he was within arms reach.

"Oww." He said, rubbing his cheek. I ignored him and pulled him in for a hug.

"Don't you fucking do that again." Tears pricked my eyes as I began sobbing.

"You were gonna get bit. I needed to do something." I let out a laugh.

He was still the same Han I knew. I pulled away and he grabbed my hands.

"I've been meaning to tell you something, but I just couldn't. And then when I got bit, I was gonna say it but...well, you know" I nodded and then he cupped the sides of my face and closed the gap between us.

My eyes widen and I pulled myself away from him. This is what he wanted to tell me? That like Changbin, he's been liking me all this time.

"I- Han...I'm sorry. I can't. I'm with Chris." He turned to Chris behind me and his face fell.

"Oh."

"Yeah. I um, have to go..." I clicked my tongue and pointed at the ladder before walking away.