#but i was so starstruck and had so much stuff to say that i forgot to give him the present personally

[sonnetnumber23]

“All the world is stage” (c) Aziraphale and Crowley at the Globe! (Or rather on the bench near the Globe, but still.) *** I’ve been experimenting with the doll-making technique for the last couple of months. I’m still not sure whether they’re better than my earlier ones or not?? They are still textile apart from heads and hands which are made of artificial clay. I just wanted them to have noses and fingers and eyes that don’t come off, you know... 

[entername322]

It takes two

Chaewon (ex Izone, Le Sserafim) x Male Reader x Minju (ex Izone)

Length: 10383 words

Previous part

What is the difference between love and obsession? For Chaewon the two are basically the same. How can you love someone without being overly obsessed with them? Whatever feeling she had for her ex is, insignificant. You have shown her what love is, what it truly means to be mutually in love. “Chae, can you let me go?” At least that's what she thinks, “No pup, I'm spending the whole night like this, whether you like it or not”, Chae continues hugging you. It's been a few hours since the two of you had sex, now that your mind is clear the first thing that comes into your mind is to contact Minju. Unfortunately Chaewon has wrapped her limbs around you like you are some kind of body pillow and has refused to let go. 

“Chae I need to go”, That's not a very appealing argument, “You don't NEED to go anywhere. You belong here, it's been a long day isn't it? Just rest up baby, I've ordered our food already”, Chae peck your lips, giving you a sense of urgency. It feels like, for every second you're here with her, you're just gonna fall deeper and deeper into the abyss. “No, I need to talk with mom. I have dinner with her”, It's very odd, even though you've gained considerable muscle mass, your body would just get easily overpowered by her. “Baby, do you love your mom more than your own wife?” Say yes pussy, bet you won't, “No, it's just that….. she's my mom. She misses me as much as you do”, Called it. 

“So what? You're a grown up now babe, you should stop being a mommy's boy. Unless you're into that type of stuff, then I'll be glad to be your mommy”, You struggle so hard to not get an erection from her words. Hard, get it? “Come on Chae, you know she's important to me. Besides you owe her for saving you did you not?” Chae frowns realising you're right. Also your mom is scary, so as a good daughter-in-law Chae will try her best to please her. “Hmpffff, I already ordered some food. But fine, go get dinner with your mom, after that you'll come back right to me. I want you to cuddle with me and feed me okay?” Chae let go of her hug just so she can hold you by the neck. “I….. I'll see later, okay Chae? Mom and I have a long conversation to make”, Chae's eyes darted around trying to dissect your expression to see if anything is off.

“You. Will. Come. Back. To. Me. Tonight.” Every word spoken with venom, and it might be your imagination, but you can feel her hands constrict around your neck. “Okay, I'll try”, Not good enough, “If you don't come back tonight, I will lock you up in here myself”, That is a good sign for you to never come back here. “Okay, I promise”, A smile forms on her face, “Good, then why don't I help you wash up before you meet your mom? I'll help you pick your clothes'', Chae pulls you up from the bed. “I…… I can shower by-”, Chae wouldn't let you finish your sentence and just kiss you. It's effective, you're half starstruck by her kiss and half guilty for all this. “I think you're just being shy. Come on baby you already saw my naked body”, Chae sees your silence and feels victorious, “Okay, but don't do anything funny Chae. I'm drained”, She frowns a little but she understands, for now.

Chae did not in fact do anything funny in the showers, she simply enjoys your body by caressing it a little but she never does anything more than that. “Okay, I want you to call me once you're there, and call me once you finish dinner okay? If you forgot to call me I'm gonna have to punish you after you come home”, Chae gives you an ultimatum, “Okay Chae, I'll see you later”, A quick kiss for good luck and she sends you off. Now where do you go from here? “Mom, I'm gonna be spending the night at Minju's place okay?” Would Minju be able to protect you better than your mom? “Haaaaaa, you spend 20 something years being confined in home and now you have a girlfriend and you don't even bother to greet your mom?” She doesn't sound that mad, “Sorry mom, I just forgot time while hanging out with Chae and I need to talk to Minju”, Hopefully it won't be the last time you ever talk to Minju. “Fine, but I want you to come back home tomorrow and tell me everything about her. Don't make your mom meet your girlfriend when I don't know a single thing about her”, You should do that, if Minju decides to let go.

“You know, you have some nerve ignoring me for almost the whole day”, Minju frowned at you the moment you got to her apartment, “Oh sorry, I just got carried away”, It's hard, it's really hard to face her right now. “Well come in, don't be a stranger. I hope you like the place, I haven't had time to clean it up”, Minju grabs your hand and pulls you in. The whole place is nice, but you don't really get to enjoy it as your heart is being eaten alive by guilt. “I'm too lazy to go outside babe, let's order some take out. I hope my favourite ramen place hasn't closed yet while we're gone”, Minju pushes you to the couch before laying on top of you.

“Minju……. I have something to tell you”, Minju raises her head while looking at you curiously, “It's about Chaewon. Something happened today”, Your whole body is shaking while your heart might just burst any moment. This confrontation isn't something you've thought through. “Babe? What happened today?” You suddenly feel her hand touching your face, unlike the usual warm and inviting sensation you only feel chill running down your spine. It's rare, but there are times when Minju would outright terrify you with her gaze, this is one of those times. “I don't know what happened to her but-”, Minju grabs your mouth shutting you up, her mouth is smiling but her eyes are, well they're just blank. 

“I don't care about what happened to her. I want to know what she did to you. Did she hurt you again baby?” Minju turns her body around, now laying on top of you face to face. “I…..” Just from your demeanour alone she can tell what happened, which angers her. Without waiting for your answer her hand ripped open your shirt to expose your chest that has been filled with new hickeys. “Baby, were you cheating on me?” Her hand lowers to your throat, much like how Chae did today, “I didn't mean to. But she just keep pushing herself on me and I-” Lied, you lied because truthfully you got lost in the moment and accepted her advances. “Oh? That whore raped you?” You flinch hearing Minju's accusations, “I mean, I'm not sure if it could be considered as one”, You're torn apart from trying to tell her that you cheated on her, while also trying to shift the blame from yourself. Honestly, this might end worse if you don't come clean, fully clean.

“No, no, no, no, no, no baby. If you don't want that to happen then it's rape, but if you do then it's cheating. So did she rape you or did you cheat on me?” For the second time in your life you are being strangled. Weird how both happen on the same day and by the two girls you hold dear to your heart. “It’s complicated, okay babe? She's confused and-”, Now this is an interesting strategy, trying to shift the blame from yourself and Chae by acting like she is insane. “I don't fucking care about what she is, all I'm asking is did she or did she not rape you?” Minju takes away your right to breathe. “Baby please”, You gurgled out, “No, say it. Did she rape you?” Fuck maybe Minju is just as insane as Chae is. Hey at least she has a good reason to, you're her boyfriend after all.

“Minju please, I have known her for so long and I know she's not right in the head right now. Please I'm really sorry for what happened today but I don't want her to-”, The answer is still inadequate for her, so she choke you again. “Baby….”, You tried to free yourself from her hand but it's really pointless, just like with Chae, your body just refuses to go against Minju. “It's been a long day baby. Let's rest up”, Minju whispers in your ears as everything fades to black.

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The next day, you woke up with a headache, as you tried to get up you felt Minju resting on top of you. “Where are you going?” She is also woken up due to your sudden movement. “What? Where am I?” You try your best to recall what happened last night. “Hmmm? You're in our bed baby, just lay down and rest okay? It's still midnight”, It's not the next day, and it's not a good time to rest up. “Minju, I….”, Go on, protest about what just happened earlier last night, “What? Is your throat hurting baby? I'm sorry I guess I just got ‘carried away’, you know how it is”, Minju stares at you with some disdain in her eyes.

“I know I fucked up, I'm sorry. I understand if you want to-”, Your words interrupted by a sudden pain in your chest, “You think you can just cheat on me and leave me? You're gonna have to make it up to me babe”, Well, you're not really ready to break up with her from your mistake. However the way she says that makes you think that it's better to break up with her. “Baby….. I cheated on you”, All it takes is just a near death experience for you to say that, “I know, and I'm not over that, in fact I don't think that I will be over that anytime soon. But let's not forget, she raped you”, Talking about Chae, she must be furious with the fact that you went off grid.

“No Minju, i-”, Minju shut you up with a kiss, it's really, unsettling. The kiss feels like how Chae-, okay what is up with you? Why do you keep comparing her to Chae? Do you actually have feelings for Chaewon? “She's still in your mind isn't she?” Minju also notices it, “I’m sorry”, You can almost hear a snapping sound, as if a rope just got ripped from a heavy tension. “Baby”, She touches your cheek again making you pull back out of fear, “Sssshhhh, I'm not mad”, You didn't pick up on it, but she's telling the truth. Minju is not mad at all.

“Minju I just don't think I'm really over Chae. I'm sorry okay? I never want to hurt you, I guess I treated you like a rebound girl and I only realised it now. Today, when I saw Chae again I felt like I just got hit by a truck of memories. Maybe I am just pathetic like that, but I don't want to drag you down with me. Yeah I know Chae probably finds me to be a rebound guy as well, but i just can't let go of her. So I'm sorry, but I think I'm just a hopeless romantic who keep chasing someone I can never get”

Minju stays quiet for a while, it's the type of silence you've never seen from her before. She has always been cheerful and chatty, so seeing her in this state made you realised you really fucked up. You fucked up a promising relationship that could've and should've been a better option than whatever the hell is going on between you and Chae. “Oh baby, I do think you're pathetic”, That's harsh, but you deserve it. “Which is why I can't be mad at you. How can I be mad at a dog who is loyal to it's master”, What the fuck? Since when has Minju become so mean? “Minju, I'm sorry. I deserve that”, Is she mean though? Or is she just speaking facts?

“It's okay baby, I see what's happening now. I fell in love with a slave who has grown to love the collar that's hanging around his neck”, A kiss to your cheek, filled with so many sinister thoughts. You being you, only think it as her anger, completely missing the darkness within it. “Of course as a nurse I can't just sit still when someone needs my help”, You acknowledge that you need help, but it feels like she's talking about a different kind of help. “Minju, what are you talking about?” She leans in and kisses you again, her hands grab both of yours and push it against the bed. It feels wrong, but you can't pull away.

“Listen baby, whatever she's done to you, it's much worse than I expected. I was thinking that she must've hurt you a lot after all those years of leading you on. Now, I realised she has left a permanent mark in my man's heart. So I'll help you get away from her. After all if I want all of you I will need you to be in one piece, with no part of you being clutched by her”

You stare at her with confusion, what the hell is she talking about? “Haaaaa, what I mean is I'll help you get over her okay? Like an adult would, by having a….. civil conversation”, In your confused state you completely miss the ambiguous tone she uses on the last two words. “No Minju, I don't want to make things even harder for you okay?” You plead, “Ssshhh, I know you're too kind for your own good. That Chae girl really means a lot to you right? So let's have a talk with her tomorrow. I'll be there and make sure nothing bad happens. Relax baby, I'm not blaming you, for now. Your kindness is why I love you after all”, This isn't how you expect things to turn out. 

“Baby I don't know what to say”, Do you want to get over Chae? Or is she way too deeply rooted in your heart? “Let's do that okay baby? I'll accompany you to her place at lunch, then we can go to dinner with your mom. Perfect right?” Absolutely foolproof plan one might add. “You don't have to do that”, Whatever feeling you have in your heart you just label it as guilt. Despite it actually being a plea for salvation. Nothing good can come out of the lunch. Chae's domineering attitude alongside Minju’s sudden change of heart would just clash too much. But if you don't know then you don't know, hopefully you're ready for tomorrow.

“I, need to have breakfast with my mom first if you want to have dinner with her later”, Minju smiles and shrug, “I'll drop you off at her place then, and I'll pick you up after”, You look around to search for your phone, let's see how Chae will react to this. “Looking for your phone?” Minju pulls it out of the locked bedside cabinet, why does she put it there? “Yes maybe I should tell Chae first”, Minju gives it to you, but only after she pulls you into her embrace so that she can watch over your phone.

The first thing you notice is the 40 missed calls alongside 100+ texts from Chae. “It seems like she must've been as hopeless as you are'', Minju kisses your cheek while you open the wall of texts Chae has sent you. “I, feel worried about her”, Chae is not in the right state of mind, you get that, but you didn't expect her to turn so drastically out of nowhere. As you open your chat messages, Chae can see you have read them, so she instantly called you. “Answer it babe, put it on speaker”, Don't do it, “Okay”, You fucking idiot.

“WHERE ARE YOU PUP? I TOLD YOU TO COME HOME AFTER DINNER AND IT'S ALREADY WELL PAST MIDNIGHT. COME. HOME. NOW!!!!” Chae's voice blares through the speaker, echoing the walls of Minju’s bedroom. “You must be Chaewon right?” Minju answered in a…… friendly manner. Chae stays quiet for a while, “Who is this?” You can almost feel Chae hiss into your ear. “I'm Minju, my boyfriend told me a lot about you”, Chae didn't answer immediately but you could hear a loud crash from the other side. “Chae? What happened?” Of course you being you can't help but feel worried for her. “Babe? What are you doing with that bitch?” You glanced back at Minju, scared of how she would react. Surprisingly there's a meaningful smile hanging in her face, as if she finds this to be enjoyable.

“Oh he's just resting for the night. It's been a long day after all, both of us just got off the plane this morning and we're completely messed up by the jetlag”

“If he want to rest he can rest in his apartment, WITH ME”

“Oh? But it's not his apartment, his home is right here with me”

“Fuck you, where are you pup? I'm picking you up”

“I don't think so. My lovely boyfriend is going to rest for the night so please don't bother us”

“Listen up whore. HE'S NOT YOUR BOYFRIEND. Now fuck off and bring him back to me”

“Oh I'm sorry, but I don't think you two are in a relationship”

“We are bitch. So stop taking him away from me”

“Uggghhhh, so crude. You sure this is the same girl you've always talked to me about babe? She's a bad influence for you”

“FUCKER WHERE ARE YOU”

“Now, now, why don't you stop screaming and let me talk for once”

“I'M NOT SPENDING TIME TO HEAR A RANT FROM A WHORE. TELL ME WHERE YOU ARE RIGHT NOW BEFORE I CALL THE COPS”

“The cops? Where are you gonna send them to? You don't know where I live. Where WE live”

“Fucking bitch”

“Listen up Chae, can I call you Chae?”

“WHERE ARE YOU?”

“So Chae, my boyfriend here told me about what you did earlier today”

“So you know he belongs to ME. So stop being a fucking whore and return him to me”

“I must say I feel sad for him. Imagine going home after a year long job and meeting back with your old friend. Then instead of having a wholesome-”

“STOP FUCKING RANTING CUNT”

“Catch-up conversation you just got raped instead. I don't know you Chae, but I feel disappointed at you”

“What rape? It's love, stop lying to yourself. You know he loves me more than you”

“He does? Oh sweetie, are you aware of Stockholm Syndrome? Of course you are, after all you experienced it with your ex don't you?”

“Fuck off, don't put words into his mouth. Our love is pure and strong. It's you who's corrupting him so fuck off”

“I never put words into his mouth, I just make an educated guess”

“Stop this already, tell me where you are before I really lose my patience”

“So feisty. Anyway WE are calling because we want to set up a lunch with you tomorrow. You can do that right?”

“What fucking lunch? He's mine so stop taking him away from me. I swear to god I will tear you apart the moment I see you”

“That's good to hear sweetie, we'll come by tomorrow at lunch, see you tomorrow”

Oh right you're also here. Well most of the time you just cower in fear as the two girls brawl it out. You didn't even do anything when Minju hung up the call and took your phone away from your hand. “That went well right? Let's go back to sleep baby, you have to wake up early to meet your mom tomorrow after all”, Minju turns off your phone and locks it back in her bedside cabinet. Clueless as you are, you at least realise this lunch would end in your death. But what can you do? You can't confront Chae, she will just do whatever she wants with you. You also can't deal with Minju, your stomach would just twist and turn out of guilt for cheating on her. “Y-y-y-yeah, let's”, Your fate is sealed, you will die by tomorrow noon.

“Why are you holding her hand?” From the get go things are already going bad. Chaewon immediately tries to rip you away from Minju’s hand, however Minju wouldn't let go so a vicious tug if war started between the girl with you being the rope. “Enough, can't you see my boyfriend is hurting here?” Minju pulls your face into her embrace. The gesture really terrifies you because, “He's MY boyfriend”, Chaewon would just rip you out of Minju's hand. “Girls please, can we just stop this first?” You're gonna have to do better than that bucko. “Baby I'm trying to protect you from this fucking bitch okay? So just help me then I will stop”, Chae do another pull, “Look at her babe, first she hurt and torture you mentally for years, now she just starts to hurt you physically as well. Guess it's true what they said about the victim turning into the aggressor”, Minju shakes her head while pulling you back into her arms.

“You fucking what?” Chae's face turns sour, “What? Is it not true?” Minju kisses your cheek. “Hey, fuck off”, Chae sends a punch to Minju's face, and for the first time ever your body actually moves to stop her. “Chae”, You raise your voice making her frown even deeper, “See babe? She's insane and violent. You're lucky I'm here to save you”, Minju sighs, “Don't you dare speak another word bitch or I'll rip your face apart”, Chae then turns to you and kisses your other cheek, as an ultimatum of course. “Enough, I promise my boyfriend that I will be here to have a civil conversation with you, so let's have one shall we?” Minju smiles at Chae with confidence, “Fucking fake bitch”, Chae muttered under her breath.

Thankfully Chae does accept the invitation by pulling you, and by proxy Minju as well, to the couch. You sat down being sandwiched by the two of them. Chae's fiery and aggressive aura clashes against Minju's cold and elegant aura. This looks familiar. 

“So, Chae”

“Don't you fucking call me that”

“Chae, as you can see. Me and my boyfriend here is having a perfectly beautiful relationship”

“Oh I'm sorry, I think you're having a misunderstanding here. He's my boyfriend and you're getting in between us”

“I'm not a psychiatrist so I'm afraid I can't help you with your delusion. Of course I can refer you to some people who have the ability to help you”

“Delusion? That's rich coming from you. Don't you realise you're just a rebound girl for him?”

“I am? But you see it can't really be classified as a rebound if he's never been in a relationship with you in the first place don't you think?”

“What do you know about us? We have a strong relationship long before you even know him. It's pure and driven by nothing but love”

“I know enough. You two were just friends okay? Your love is being held by your ex boyfriend, how was he by the way? You two made up yet?”

“He’s not important and I do not love him. Don't put words in my mouth”

“Oh? So you were tormenting my poor baby here just for fun?”

“I never tormented him, we were young and clueless. I've already said sorry and he accepted it. Now we are more mature and has open up about our own feelings for each other”

“He doesn't have any feelings for you. Not anymore, after all I'm holding his heart, isn't that right babe?”

“Oh? You just called me an abuser earlier and now you are showing off your true colour. Don't trust this slut babe, she's playing with your heart okay?”

“Did I ever use the word abuser? How could you start putting words in my mouth when you just literally turn furious because you think I put words in your mouth? Are you perhaps a hypocrite?”

“Is that what you're having a problem with right now? Haaaaaa, it's always nice when the person you're arguing against starts talking about semantics. It's a sign that I'm winning”

“Talking about semantics I should make clear that this is not an argument. There's nothing to argue about”

“For the first time I agree with you, there's nothing to argue about. Right babe?” Chae leans forward and kisses your cheek.

“See, we're in agreement already. Did you like her farewell kiss babe? Now this is settled we should go back to our place and prepare for the dinner with your mom”

“Oh I see, you're projecting”

“About what?”

“About my delusion. Because you must be having something wrong with your head if you think I'll let my boyfriend leave with some whore”

“I see now, this is worse than I expected. We should get you to a mental asylum soon. A loss grasp of reality is a sign of schizophrenia”

“You see what she's doing here babe? She's trying to gaslight you. I think she's trying to put on a hero façade to try and hide the fact that she's the abuser here”

“Awww, don't be like that, aren't you weak with a hero complex? That's why you fall for MY boyfriend after all”

“That's true, but that doesn't change the fact that you're a whore and an abuser”

“This feels like a funny joke isn't it babe? You become a hero to save little Chae here from her abusive boyfriend. Now I'm gonna be the hero to save you from her. I think that's karma, or something like that”

“MY boyfriend doesn't need saving from me. Besides if it's karma then it's my turn to save him from you”

You're pathetic, you know that? While these two are fighting it out with words you just sat there like a meek puppy and didn't try to intervene at all. What's that? You're trying to sort out your feelings to pick which one to side with? Well you better hurry up soon or they would probably split you into two just so the other can't have you.

Luna seems to sniff your fear and jumps to sit on your lap. Giving you a cute meow to try and calm you down.

“Oh look, Luna acknowledge her master, and her master's wife”

“Wife? My, my, aren't you moving too quick? Does his mother even know about this relationship? You know my darling here loves his mother more than anything in the world don't you?”

“Of course she does, my mother-in-law would love to have us put on the ring”

“Is that so? Babe isn't your mom a police officer with decades of experience? Maybe I wasn't needed here, after all she would pick up all the red flags your friend here is showing”

“You’re right about one thing. You're not needed here, so why don't you take your pretty fake smile out of here”

The two have a little staring contest for a few seconds before the two of them leap in and hug you. “I think she's hopeless babe, let's just leave before she gets aggressive”, Minju tries her best to pull you away, “She's a manipulative bitch who's trying to steal you away from me babe. You see it right? Her fake smile?” Chae wouldn't let you move. “Stop confusing my boyfriend please”, Minju pulled your head into her embrace, “Your boyfriend?” Chae pulls your head back, almost snapping your neck while she's at it.

This time Chae pulls you into a kiss, trying to show Minju how strong your ‘love’ is for her. Minju wouldn't let Chae have her way and push her away before kissing you. “He’s mine, bitch”, For some reason Chae grabs onto your shirt and rips the button apart. “Are you sexually harassing my boyfriend right in front of me?” Minju scoffed, “See this? It's my mark, he's mine”, Chae pointed at the countless hickeys she left you yesterday. “Sorry to disappoint you sweetie, but I already covered them with my own”, Minju smiled proudly. Whatever is brewing between the two isn't good for you. First, you can feel their frustration against each other start to boil and spill over to their sexual craving. Second, they stop caring about your opinion entirely and just do anything they can to show their ownership over you.

“What are you doing?” Minju finally raises her voice as she sees Chaewon is nibbling on your chest. “He likes it when I bite him. Look at his face”, You are showing a pained expression but the two think you're enjoying it. “I know how to pleasure him better”, The fuck is happening? Like seriously what are they doing? “Can you say any truthful words just once?” Chae rolls her eyes at Minju before making out with you. 

Minju pulls down your pants and boxer, exposing your flaccid cock, “Haaaa, he's not even turned on by your advances”, Chae frowns seeing what Minju is doing. “Probably because your ugly ass is here bitch”, Chae tries to grab your cock but Minju slaps her hand away before kissing your cock. “Unlike you, I've been spending a year with him, exploring our body and kinks. I know what he's weak too”, The balls, that's what you're weak too. Minju leans forward and starts kissing your balls making your cock get semi erect involuntarily. “See?” Minju sends Chae a victorious smile, “Move bitch”, Chae pushes Minju away and starts to suck your cock, making you let out a moan, involuntarily as well.

Chae sends a meaningful glare at Minju before she swallows your cock all the way into her throat. How does she manages to do it when she can barely take you in her mouth yesterday? It's the pure power of spite she has towards Minju that pushes her over the max. “Fucking bitch he's mine”, Minju grab Chaewon by the hair and pull her away from your cock. The moment your dick got exposed to the cold air Minju leaps in and effortlessly swallow it down. Minju bobs her head up and down for a few second before Chaewon pull her back and take control of the blowjob.

Minju leans down and starts sucking on your balls, having your weak point attacked makes you let out another moan. “See? I know his weakness”, Minju smiles at Chaewon who just glares at her. “Yeah? My baby loves my body more”, Chae takes off her top and climbs up to you, pushing her tits to your mouth while her hand jerks you off. You try to stop her but the moment you open your mouth she just pushes her tits to your mouth. “Go on baby, I know you like to stare at them for years already”, Just as you thought this whole thing couldn't be more embarrassing. 

“Move your hand”, Minju bites Chaewon's hand and starts sucking your cock as Chae lets go. Seeing Chaewon is about to snap, your mouth starts to move and bite on her nipples. It manages to calm her down, but this also means you're encouraging them to continue. “See? He likes me”, Chae starts to caress your hair, Minju takes your cock off her mouth and her hand continues jerking you off. “So you just want to use him to pleasure yourself? Can't say that I'm surprised”, Minju uses both of her hands to jerk you off but her face is scowling. “Just say that you're jealous bitch, we are meant to be”, Chae reached down and tried to take over your cock.

Surprisingly Minju let it go, she crawls on your side and just jerks you off with one hand like Chae. “Come here babe”, With her other hand, Minju pulled you for a kiss. A moan slips out of your mouth feeling their hand start to move together in unison. “I don't think you understand, he's only moaning because he loves my slender little finger”, Chae scoffed before busying herself with your neck. “Deny, deny, deny, is that all you can do?” Minju took a break from kissing you just to bite back before jumping in to kiss you again. This whole thing is too much to you really. Your mind is very conflicted while your body is definitely turned on getting pleasured by the two women you love the most.

“You're cumming baby? Go ahead cum for me”, Chae bites your ear, “I know you've been horny since last night babe. Go on, cum for me”, Minju breaks off the kiss and starts biting your neck. Your body starts to shake as your cum shoots out. Chae has an inhuman reflex and puts her hand over your tip, effectively catching your sperm. After a while your ejaculation passed. Your cum drips down Chae’s hand into your shaft and Minju’s hand that's gripping your cock tight. As you are taking a breather the two girls get possessed by a sudden hunger and start licking your cum off of their hands. When that's not enough they jump down and have a scuffle trying to lick as many as they can from your cock.

“I did that” 

“Ha, you wish, it was my kiss that sent him over the edge. He's a softie after all”

“I think you're just projecting a lot, because it seems like you are the delusional one over here”

“If it's not for you he would cum under 5 second by me”

“Tchhh, all barks and no bites”

“I'll prove it to you right now, move bitch”

This couldn't end well for you.

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Pain, that's all you can feel right now. Your whole body is drained out of energy. The two of them take turns riding you while trying to prove something to the other one. After the 5th ejaculation you just pass out on the couch. Maybe it's a blessing because the two went to a loud argument blaming the other for masking you like this for an hour or so.

“Fuck”, You grunted as your conscious starts to come back to you. A heavy weight was out on top of both of your hands, looking around you realised the two are sleeping with you, each holding your arm. You're still in Chaewon's apartment, the room that you've lived in for years has turned to the worst. This is the second time you woke up here being held against your will after a mind-blowing sex that was forced upon you. 

What is happening? Why am I falling into this? I never asked for this, at all.

This whole thing is too much, you already have your guilt eating you alive after the cheating sex you had with Chaewon yesterday. Then you confront Minju about it and change her into this, you're not really sure what she turns into. Lastly, this whole lunch went way off the rail. You didn't even get lunch, the two of them do by drinking your cum while you just flop around like a fish. 

Fuck why is this happening to me?

You don't like this?

No way, I didn't ask for this.

Did you ever ask for this not to happen?

Huh?

You never asked for this but it's not like you take a stand and pick one of them.

It's all happening in one day. I don't have time to sort out my feelings.

That's true, but this whole thing could've been avoided if you just took a stand. Stop Chaewon before she pulls you to the bed yesterday. Break up with Minnie or even ghost him like an asshole. Or just simply stop their argument earlier before they start fucking you. It's really simple, pick one and they will protect you from the other. 

Fuck, is it my fault?

Not fully, let's be real this two are fucked in the head.

Fuck it's all my fault.

Uhhhhh, are you also going insane?

Fuck why did I let this happen?

Minju and Chaewon are deep in their sleep, they are also tired after all. Chae can't sleep the whole night as she's worried about you. Minju was restless and angry about your cheating, making her sleep less than ideal. So they don't get woken up when you get off the bed and put on your clothes. Standing there in your room, you watch the two girls sleep peacefully. You look at their face with a twisting pain in your heart, they look so peaceful that you feel guilty for bringing this storm to their life. 

I need to fix this.

That's true you should take a sta-

I need to leave them.

Wait what?

I did this to them. If I'm not around, they won't be tormented by me.

Oh come on stop this drama queen act.

I'm sorry, Chae. I'm sorry, Min. This is all my fault.

Are you seriously crying?

Please be safe.

Dude, you just ran away for a year because you got heartbroken. Are you seriously trying to run away again because of this? Even if you can literally fix this by being a FUCKING GROWN UP and just pick one.

.

.

.

Dear god, you're hopeless. Once again, you run away from your home, trying to get away from all these conflicting emotions that you have. You ran all the way to your mom's home again. It's so fucking stupid, you've been in this position before and this is how you react? After a year of some self finding journey you return back at home without changing at all. You didn't lose your feelings for Chae. You didn't mature and find the courage to stand up for yourself. You didn't do jackshit. 

Anyway, enough ranting. You return home, your mom is still out there at work so it's empty. You ran back to your bedroom, dropping yourself to your bed trying to calm yourself. Maybe you did something while you're out there, you managed to fix your terrible physical health and run all the way here without completely exhausting your body. That being said, you are mentally drained, so the moment your body touches the bed you just drift off to sleep. Like usual, you refuse to confront your feelings and run away from your responsibility.

This time, the consequences will be dire.

“Look what you did, you made him run away again. Goddamnit slut I just got him back and now he's ruining off again”, Chaewon screams at Minju. “ME? You were the one who caused him to run away last time, what makes you think that it's not your fault this happens again?” Minju screamed back. “If I could kill you right now I will”, Chae stares at Minju with a gaze that could kill, it would definitely kill you if she uses it on you. “Fuck off, I've had it with you and your antics. I tried to keep up a nice attitude-”, Chae wouldn't let Minju finish her words, “I fucking knew it, fucking fake bitch”, Chae screams. 

“Shut up you”, For the first time, a physical scuffle breaks out. Well calling it a scuffle would be a reach, Minju simply slaps Chae to shut her up. “Oh try that again, please I'm begging you”, Chae isn't mad over the slap, her fury is already over the top. She does feel excited as she can try to beat Minju up and call it self defence if Minju tries to touch her again. “Can’t you fucking see what you're doing right now? Do you really think he only finds me to be his rebound girl?” Minju restrains herself from sending another slap. 

“What am I doing? Bitch open your eyes”

“Stop for a second and think will you? Why do you think he ran away?”

“Because you're confusing him”

“Wrong, it's you who's confusing him. The details aren't important right now. What's important is that you make him feels conflicted”

“Like I said, he won't feel conflicted if you're not here”

“Do you actually think that would solve the problem?”

“Yes, fuck off and leave us alone”

“Oh you absolute buffoon. If your ‘love’ or so you call it is so strong, then why hasn't he stood up for you?”

“Tcch, you manipulated him until he can't think straight anymore”

“You really can't see what I'm trying to say, do you?”

“What? Stop being so fucking cryptic you fake bitch. Just spill it already”

“He can't choose between us”

“That's stupid”

“He's stupid”

“He's my boyfriend!”

“So you think he's smart?”

“........fuck off”

“Unlike you I actually care about him”

“What makes you think I don't huh?”

“Because you're more focused on making him yours rather than making him happy”

“Wrong!!!! I know how to make him happy, it's to grant him his wish that he has been holding on for years”

“Does he know that? Because as far as I remember you had a ‘date’ with him yesterday and yet he's busy texting me the whole time isn't he?”

Chaewon finally understands what Minju is going at, and she hates it.

“Are you actually saying that you managed to steal a piece of his heart already?”

Minju sighs seeing Chaewon finally getting her.

“I hate it, I hate the fact that I fall for someone who's still being chained up by you”

“You think I'm happy seeing him run off for a year and get taken by you?”

“I love him, more than anything in the world”

“I would die for him, and I would kill you if he ever asked me to”

“So do you understand what I'm saying now?”

Minju and Chaewon look at each other with animosity. It was as if they're trying to manifest the hatred they have in their heart to hurt the other person. Yet there's this hint of understanding between them. Sometimes, one must compromise in order to achieve their desire. Even if they absolutely loathe what they have to give up for it.

“I fucking hate you”

“The feeling is mutual”

“But if this is what it takes to keep him happy”

“Then I'll…… tolerate you”

“Yeah, tolerate”

“Peace, for now”

The two reluctantly reach out their hand with a look of disdain in their face. Then the two shake hands, creating a temporary alliance. An alliance that could prove to be detrimental to your mortality.

“He ran off to his mom. He always do”

“I need to fix that momma's boy attitude of his”

“That's my job”

“Where is his mom's place? We have a dinner with her later”

“Fuck if his mom notice anything wrong he's gonna take him away from me”

“From us”

“I'm coming to the dinner”

“Can you even put on a smile when I'm around”

“I can manage if you're not in my field of view”

“Fine, but if things goes wrong-”

“It won't, not let's move. His mom should be home in an hour. It's best that we get to him before her”

“Let's move then”

.

.

.

“Oy!” A loud scream woke you up from your sleep, it was followed by a painful slap to your back. “Agggghhhh, mom?” You grunted as you tried to wake up. “Why are you sleeping here?” You had such a nice and peaceful sleep, shame that you have to be woken up by reality. “Oh, well, it's a long story”, You grimaced remembering what happened earlier today. “God how on earth did I raise you for you to become like this?” Should you run away from your mom as well? “Sorry mom, there's a change of plan for the dinner today”, Your hand starts to get fidgety. “I know”, Your hand stopped, you look at her confused.

Did Minju contact mom? Oh god did Chaewon contact mom?

“W-w-w-what?” You managed to say, “Minju and Chaewon are already downstairs. Now go wash yourself and join us at the dinner table”, You can feel your heart just stop beating for a moment there. You look at your mom completely surprised and scared, too distracted with what she just said to register her slap to your head and her words to hurry up as she leaves your bedroom.

Chae and Min are here? What are they doing here? Oh god why are they here? Mom's gonna kill me if she hears what I did yesterday and today.

You sat on your bed for what felt like hours, despite only 5 minutes passed. Reluctantly you get off your bed and wash your face. Good, face your fears. Face your emotions and the consequences of your actions. Stop being a fucking pussy that run away from everything and everyone. It took you 10 minutes to gather your courage. Finally you take a deep breath and make your way to the battlefield.

““Hey oppa””

That is not the sound of a battlefield. They also don't look like they're preparing for war. Perhaps, this isn't a war, but maybe it would be much worse. “Stop standing there and sit down will you?” Your mom sighs seeing your stunned face. As you love to the dinner table the two girls pull you to sit down between them. Silence persists for some time before your mom starts to distribute the food. “We really want to try and cook something for dinner ma'am, but we kinda forgot time. I hope you'll like the food we bought”, Chae says, “It's fine, it sounds like my son just decided to sleep instead of preparing dinner for us after all”, Your mom glares at you.

“I-i-i-i-”, Don't know what to say. For a second you're considering the possibility that this is just a dream. “Oh, babe is just tired after last night. It was my fault, I'm sorry”, Minju squeezed your hand to make sure you know it's not a dream, “Yeah, I think I also drained him yesterday”, Chae followed suit by pinching your cheek. “It's fine, I know this restaurant, they have pretty nice ramen”, Your leg starts to fidget around making Minju and Chaewon reach down and squeeze it.

“So, Minju right? I've heard a few thing about you”

“Really ma'am? What did babe say about me?”

“Just call me mom or something. You too Chaewon, how many times have I told you to stop calling me ma'am”

“Ooppps, sorry ma'am. Can I call you mom as well then?”

“I guess he does leave you to be babysitted by me”

Chae shows a prideful smile for a second to Minju before turning to her food.

“So it seems like the two of you have spent more time with him since his return than me. Why don't you start to talk sweetie? First tell me why you never brought up that these two are sisters?”

They are?

“What?”

Both Chae and Minju kicked your leg lightly hearing your panicked voice. They exchanged a glance before nodding.

“We also don't know that. Babe never talks much about Chaewon. I mean he told me about her but I never made the connection”

“Yeah, and Minju never send me a letter for a full year”

“Oh please you never want to hear from me for years already”

“Well that's true, but can't you at least contact me before you run away like that again?” 

A new theory has come inside your head. Perhaps you got transported into a different universe.

“Sweetie, you never think about telling me this?”

Your mom forces you to stop imagining things and snap back to reality.

“W-w-w-w-well, I didn't had the time”

“Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa”

That's a pretty long sigh, something you know means your mom is absolutely way too tired to deal with anything.

“I'm sorry……. mom. I got too excited yesterday since he got home after a year of no contact. I just drag him across town to have a makeover”

“See? You prefer spending time with him over your own sister”

Why the fuck would they actually lied and acted like they're sister?

“Well, maybe you should contact me first? You just text me today asking if you can move in with me”

Oh, that's why.

“Move in with you?”

“Oh right, uhhhhh my apartment lease is already up. I was thinking about staying with Chae here for a while until I find another one. Of course, the world is small and we found out that she's staying at babe’s previous apartment”

“Yeah, the apartment is pretty big, so we can definitely share it for now”

“Of course, just a temporary arrangement as we-” Minju grabs your hand “-adjust to our normal lifestyle and find a new one”

Your mom was about to say something until she heard some tapping from below the table.

“What is that?”

She tries to look below the table but Chae stops her.

“Oh pup is just being nervous as usual”

“Hehehe, he's kinda scared about the living arrangements. But I'm sure we'll be fine, right babe?”

Chaewon reaches out to pat your head while Minju is gently caressing your hand. Beneath the table their leg went on top of yours to stop it from moving.

“Uh yeah…… this feels….. awkward”

The word you're looking for is worrisome or terrifying, but you realise the two would absolutely shred you if you keep acting weird.

“I imagine so. Well Minju, seeing my son is absolutely trapped in his own anxiety, why don't you tell me more about yourself. I want to know how my son can get his hand on someone who's way out of his own league”

“Hahahaha, you're too kind, mom. Well it starts when we meet on the plane…..”

In a way, it's kinda good that Minju takes the attention away from you. However this means Chae gets to do some bold stuff to you. Chae caress your thighs and occasionally get higher and grab your junk, right at the dinner table. Many times you tried to stop her, yet it just made her attack even more relentless. 

“Babe, can you show me where the bathroom is?” Minju has been noticing Chae's shenanigans and decides she needs to stop it. “Right, follow me”, The two girls send a glare at each other for a second before you guide Minju away. “So, why did you never tell me that you have a sister?” Your mom isn't stupid, she smells something fishy going on. “Well she's not exactly around for that long…….”

While Chae is making up some bullshit at the dinner table, you are being pinned down to the bathroom’s wall by Minju. “Min, what's happening right now?” The sight of your panicked face really makes Minju believe this is a right decision. “Listen baby, it's a long story. For now just know that me and Chaewon aren't in a hostile relationship. I'll tell you more about it later but for now be a good boy for me and stop acting so scared in front of your own mom”, Minju gently caresses your cheek, enjoying the power she has over you. “What does that supposed to mean? Mina I…… I left you and you two were-” Minju shut you up by holding your lips with her fingers. “I'm not over that babe. I don't like it that you just ran away from us”, She gave your cheek a little slap which made you wince. 

“For now just be a good boy and follow our lead okay? If Chae starts groping you again I'm gonna cover for you this time”, Do you really want to return to the dinner table? Looking at Minju, defying her words might be the worst option, so you reluctantly follow her back. “Sorry about that, so where were we?” Minju returns and takes control of the conversation again. Chae still tries to tease you but Minju keeps getting in her way starting a little scuffle at the dinner table. Fortunately your mom was too tired to notice anything. “You must be tired mom. You should go get rest, we….. also need some rest”, As per usual you just keep speaking out loud your concerns.

“Yeah, that might be for the best”, Your mom said, making the two girls nod happily. “Please have a nice rest mom”, Chae says while her face is beaming with a smile, “Thank you for the dinner invitation, I hope we'll meet again soon mom”, Minju also has a smile on her face. “Yeah, be careful on the way home”, The two then practically drag you out of there before you get to say anything else to your mom. 

“Did you tell him?” Chae put one hand on your cheek while looking at Minju, “I think we should tell him in our apartment”, Minju follows suit, trapping you between them. “There is no we, and you're not part of the apartment”, Chae scoffed, “Just stop doing that will you?” Minju and Chae exchange a heated glare before they continue walking, dragging you along with them. It feels like this apartment is just a coffin for you. In just two days years of memories are washed away and replaced by depressing experiences. The two sat you down at your bed, or perhaps from now on it's also their bed.

“Alright, who goes first?” Chae said to Minju, “Oh? Thank you for asking, why don't you go first?” You can't really tell if the two of them are being polite or just trying to piss the other off. “Well, babe, we have come to a conclusion. I think our fights are hurting you, and we don't like that. We never meant to hurt you pup”, Their touch, it's no longer warm and inviting like it used to, now everytime they touch you your body just starts to wince and shiver in fear. “We mean it, we love you babe more than anything”, The two hold your face together, making sure you can't look away from their crazed eyes. “We love you, and we know that forcing you to choose one of us would be too much for you”, Their other hand starts to caress your body, hoping they can arouse you for another round.

“So we decided that a truce is needed. We'll tolerate each other, as long as you're happy, we're happy”, Say no, say this isn't the happy ending you wanted. Say something goddamnit. “That's right pup, I know you can never say no. Even if I manage to get you to choose me you're just gonna get all broody and stuff for hurting this girl”, There's still some animosity between them, “If I manage to get you then you're also gonna get all depressed for hurting this close friend of yours. So I propose to her a simple truce, and we'll see how it goes from here”, Don't make any mistake. If you do this thing, it's gonna blow up right on your face.

“But, why?” You cautiously ask, “Because you are too scared to make a choice”, Did you near that? Did you fucking hear that? “I-i-i-i-i-” You just stutter like an idiot. “I think it's a bad trait of yours, however I decided to love you, because the universe makes me fall for you babe. So I'll love you regardless of your imperfections” Is this lucky or unlucky? “But, why me? Why are you two going this far for me?” You struggle to understand their point of view. “Haaaa, you're so stupid sometimes pup” Chae grabs your cheek, her eyes filled with playfulness, “Don't insult our boyfriend, but she's right babe, sometimes you're just so clueless” Minju's finger gently draw around your chest.

“Minju please” You know what she wants, you can see it in her eyes, “Come on babe, I know you can squeeze out one more round” It was less of a request and more of a demand. “No please, I'm still dying here” Once again you curse yourself for not having the spine to stand up to them. You pathetically try to flail around as Chaewon and Minju start to undress you. “See? Just one round babe, to seal the deal with this new arrangement” Minju smiles as she pulls down your pants and sees your half erect cock. “Hey, if we drain him he won't run away again” Chae smiles and unbutton your shirt, “Girls please” You try to plead, “Ssshhhh, just let it happen” Chae whispers in your ear.

Minju gently kisses around your balls trying to get you hard while Chaewon shoves her tits into your face, but you were too tired. “It's not working, ugghhh, seems like you need a little more stimulation babe” Chae and Minju exchange a glance before they start working. “What-” You tell as you feel Chae plays around your nipple, “It's my turn to now pup” She smiles. Minju on the other hand starts rimming you, sending her tongue to slither into your hole and hungrily make out with it. It works, the stimulation immediately sends your cock into its prime form. 

“I always knew you'll like this babe” Minju smiles before she goes back to rimming you, her hand starts stroking your cock while her eyes are staring at you. Chae moves to sit behind you, pulling your face down to be smothered by her tits while her hands are just teasing your nipples.

This feels, wrong. You're not one to kinkshame but this whole situation makes you feel like you're just being used. Like you're just some kind of a toy for them to play with. “Stop it please”, You whimpered but the two of them just smiled because in their eyes you're just too cute when you are like this. “Are you gonna switch or what?” Chae says, Minju sends her a disapproving look before pulling away and nods. Chae lets you go and crawl beneath you, taking Minju's place. Minju decides that she needs to take this further. Pulling your head down to rest between her thighs before she squeezes you with them. 

“I know you're such a sub, do my thighs feel good babe? I see that you have a certain type with girls” She smiles at you before eyeing Chaewon, Chae nods agreeing but then she just focuses back on making out with your hole. Her slender hands grab your legs and spread them apart, trying to push her face deeper into you. “Jeez Chae really like that huh? Let me pick up her slacks then” Minju stop squeezing your face because she needs her leg to love around as she gave you a footjob. 

“Fuck, please stop this” Maybe in a different time this would feels heavenly for you. However right now every single stimulation and touch feels like hell. Your body is burning up and your cock is dying already. “Awwww, we can't let you get blue balls babe, you're so close to finishing after all. Here let me help make this quick” Minju crawl on top of you before she takes your cock into her mouth. Chaewon also stops rimming you and just teases your balls, lightly biting on it and sucking it around.

It took roughly 30 seconds before you feel your ejaculation is due, Chaewon and Minju also feel it. They work together to kiss and lick around your cock as the last drop of your sperm spurt out. “Awwww, I guess he really is too tired huh” You can hear Chae whines, “Well if you don't want to I'll gladly take them” Minju said. 

The two exchange a look before they start cleaning out the cum from your cock. While you were laying there on your bed, completely out of it the two had a heated exchange. You completely miss the beautiful view of them licking each other's face trying to clean every last drop of your cum. “You're enjoying this aren't you?” Minju smiles seeing Chaewon’s face, “Hey I'm only doing this because pup tastes nice” Chaewon frowns. “He does, shame that we're gonna have to let him rest for now” Minju sighs and gives your cock one last kiss, “This is so addicting, but I'll try to calm down for now. Hopefully as time goes on pup gonna build up his stamina” Chae also kisses your cock before the two move to snuggle with you.

“Sorry pup, we just want a little celebration for our new arrangement” Chae smiles seeing your exhausted face, “That's right, we promise we'll play nice from now on’ Minju laughs as well. “I…….” Goddamn you're actually dying aren't you? “Also before we go and meet your mom today we pick up something” Chae took something out of the box on the bedside table. It was a handcuff, rather two handcuffs, “We don't like it when you run away like that babe” Minju pinch your ear, “And you did it to me twice already. So I'm not taking any chances” Chae put one on her hand and yours before handing the other one to Minju, “This might be a little uncomfortable babe, but we're sure we can get used to it soon” Minju also did the same with your other hand.

There is absolutely no more doubt, you are their prisoner from now on. Kinda funny that you ran away from Chae to break free from your chain to her. Now you come back and turn your you never did break free, and you got another chain on you. “Good night pup, I'm sure everything will turn for the better from now on” Chae kisses your cheek before snuggling to you, “I think so too, we'll take care of you babe, good night” Minju does the same thing. As the two slowly drift off to sleep a single tear falls down your eyes.

I'm so fucking pathetic.

[a-substantial-trash-pile]

Studio TV Solutions presents Half Life VR but the AI are Self-Aware (2020) [not a real movie]. A movie with a totally improv’d script starring a moltey crew who are sure to give you a rip-roarin’ good time!

anyway hi new au just dropped. i’m calling it HLVRAIM. it’s HLVRAI but it’s a blockbuster movie and the science team are played by actors. i have many thought on backstories n stuff that i will stick under a “read more” here otherwise this post will be hella long on people’s dashes. 👇👍 pls care about this i thought so hard and much

Half Life VR but the AI are Self-Aware was put out by Studio TV Solutions in 2020 and destroyed the box office with how fun it was and how well the cast played off one another. The cast was given a general outline for the script with the goal for it to be mostly improv.

Gordon Freeman: Mannie Flores (Dominican American, age 28, he/him) - Popular Youtuber/Twitch streamer (“Radi0Mann”). Got offered the role in HLVRAI thanks to the creative things he’s done in his Youtube/Twitch career. This is his first “official” acting gig. He was pretty starstruck at first, but then as he got to know everyone, he realized they’re all a bunch of dorks (affectionate). - Started off as a gaming channel, but then started branching off into various creative endeavors as he got more popular. He still plays games too though. - One of the things Mannie did in his internet career that hit the mainstream was when he wrote, directed, starred in, and filmed his own movie in just 2 weeks because he failed a bet with his audience. Except the movie was actually really good and funny and heartfelt (i want to say it was about “a man who got left behind on earth after everyone else was raptured because god literally forgot about him”, but i think the concept might’ve been done already). - Met Benji through HLVRAI. They hit it off and now they’re dating. They tried to keep it secret for a while but Mannie had a slip-up during a stream that sort of blew it out of the water.

Benrey: Benji Song (Japanese/Chinese, age 30, he/they) - Started off as a film sound designer in the industry, then through a series of silly willy little events—possibly even shenanigans—got roped into a role in a passion indie film that became wildly acclaimed and flung him into the spotlight. Been an actor ever since, but isn’t the most proactive in taking jobs much to their agent’s annoyance. People never know where he’ll pop up next. Sometimes Benji will sneak in sound designer work behind their agent’s back. - Honestly likes background work more because everyone’s got these expectations of them as an actor that they feel pressured to meet. But he’s also afraid of disappointing people. He’s working on it. - Met their partner Mannie through HLVRAI. Totally was a fan of his streams/videos beforehand though. When they mention that, Mannie gets flustered. - Does music as a hobby. Electronic stuff mostly—enjoys mashing together all sorts of sounds and trying to make them work. After HLVRAI, Mannie’s streams gets cool new music that’s made by somebody going by “johnwicklover1994.” wink

Harold Coomer: Hau’oli “Hau” Kaleo-Kirchhoff (Hawaiian/Samoan, age 66, he/him) - Old musician who’s supposed to be retired but once in a while will release a song or even do a concert (but nothing crazy). - Hau’oli is pronounced [hh-ow-oh-lee], but he also goes by “Hau” for the haoles’ sake. :) Kaleo is [kah-leh-oh]. also Hau’oli sounds a little bit like the name Holly so that’s a fun coincidence i didn’t realize until later. - Most of his music is chill island tunes but he has been known to dabble in rock and jazz. - Married to Mose (been together for 30 years and counting).

Bubby: Mose Kaleo-Kirchhoff (German, age 69 [nice], xe/him) - Veteran actor—been in the acting industry for a long time. One of his more well-known roles was in a popular sci-fi series. - Married to Hau’oli (they got married the moment it was legal). - i went with a name that started with “M” cuz when Gordon first asks Bubby for his name, xe’s like, “mmm Bubby.” and i headcanon it’s because Mose was about to say xir own name and had to swerve last minute and the thing his brain resorted to was Bubby lol.

Tommy Coolatta: Luis Tanglao (Filipino, age 37, he/they) - Child star who dropped out of the industry when he hit his teens and then came back years later as a comedian. He has material about how fucked up being a child star was. Will only take acting roles if it interests them. - They don’t care about how the public/media sees him. He’ll speak his mind and call out BS when he sees it. Interviewing them can be a war zone. - Hosts a popular podcast with some buds they discuss things like video games, their lives, news, etc. Just shooting the shit. - Sunkist is their actual dog and she modeled for the png photo that was used. Her name is actually Biko. She is a very good girl. <3

Darnold Pepper: Sage Haven (African American, age 40, he/her/they) - Famous cooking show host who gets offered roles in movies. Got popular by how unconventional her meals and cooking methods are and how funny he is. - Has had multiple food/cooking/baking shows over the years. Every competition-based one they’ve had focused more on good vibes, fun, and encouraging one another rather than drama. One show involved people competing to see who could make the best full course meal with the catch being they could only cook everything in a microwave. Many microwaves perished. - Changed their name to Sage Haven during their transition. They chose it because it reflects his passion and also is a play on the phrase “safe haven”, which is what she wants to be to others. - He has an adoptive daughter named Kit. She helped them think up bits and jokes. She also had to help explain what Half-Life was.

haven’t gotten to gman and forzen’s actors yet unfortunately. thinking gman’s actor could be a talk show host? because that would be funny. anyway thanks for humoring me on my shenanigans. bye

[keira-kaz2y5]

Ok so finally found the time to watch episodes 7x02 - 7x04 with my mum. (I’ve already seen them all at least twice, this was her first watch)

The whole episode I was kinda nervous but super excited.

Can I mention again here that she previously did not ship buddie at all, said me and people these days are “always making things gay when they’re not” and said they were “just friends” and the Ravi Buck Eddie sewer call she reiterated this statement saying “see? They’re just good friends” after buck’s clear jealously, which, fair. Yk it can def be seen as friendship— unless you’re open to the fact characters are allowed to be queer and not stated, and also that he’s been played as bisexual since s1 with sooooo much TEXT and SUBTEXT abt it—

When it finally got to the loft apartment scene I was shocked it had come round so quick (I swear that episode felt longer when I watched it alone), and immediately I felt my heart beating a lot faster in anticipation. At the buck Tommy kiss, to my surprise she reacted by grinning wide smiling like in disbelief and stayed like this until they pulled away and we saw buck’s reaction then she sorta manic laughed at buck’s “that works” I think out of disbelief and shock and amusement at buck’s starstruck reaction, “… Saturday? 🥹🤩”and his joke about fake mouth static.

Then as Tommy was walking out and talking about a date my mum said “that’s gonna make.. Eddie, really… mad.” (She was distracted listening to the rest of the scene and dialog)

😆 so her initial reaction was soooo much better than I’d expected/feared!! (From here it turns into kinda a trauma dump with 911 about I realised I’m so so so repressed.. read at ur own risk lol!)

But then of course I went and fucked it up by getting too excited and blabbing.

(I voice memo recorded this whole scene to get her reaction) she asked me about how “so he’s (buck) saying he thought he was jealous but it wasn’t of Eddie it was of him (Tommy).” And I sorta spiralled saying yeh because that’s how he saw it in that moment because he’s trying to figure out what these new feelings are and who they’re for etc and went down the rabbit hole of Tommy being gay from the start (army, ‘begins’ episodes..) and so on and my mum heard like 4 seconds of this and stood up and collected dishes and stuff and walked away saying I was getting too much into it (fair, my adhd does tend to make me mentally jump subjects fairly quickly in ways it doesn’t make sense to other people)

But she never really has healthy conversations with me about queerness, don’t get me wrong I love my mum and she isn’t like throwing me on the street for saying I’m bisexual, but she also isn’t exactly having healthy conversations about it with me either. She prefers to avoid the conversation a lot and stay silent about it, so the repression is real and tbh I didn’t even realise how repressed I was until about 3rd December 2023 I saw a picture of two women kissing and I fully went “oh shit I’m bisexual, I almost forgot I liked women”. Yeh. The repression is so real.

I then went on a Pinterest spiral downloading women photos and made an album on photos app to put it all in so that I had that place to go to and look and I would never be so repressed that I forgot again. I have since been much happier and more queer and open within myself

(For reference this is the picture)

(This is the photo album - not my photos, all from Pinterest)

(Note: I am a teenage girl)

And the only other time I realised I was repressing it, was on holiday with my auntie that I see like once a year, when she teased me about a girl I’d spoken to from a street vender thing and I realised that “oh this is normal” like, families should tease me and be comfortable about it. (Although they don’t tease me about boys much either so..)

Because my family never feel so open about my sexuality to be that comfortable. Whenever the subject comes up it turns into almost an argument because they think I only think I’m gay because I hung out with two lgbt girls for 3, 4 years and they were my only close friends.

Apparently the gay is contagious 🤣

My Nan is homophobic, she’s “of a different generation” apparently and can’t change. She’s not super bad about it but does make comments like “it’s wrong” so I never really talk about it. My brother had the “my friend is gay so i can’t be homophobic” mentality, and also believes like my mum that im only bisexual because of my old friends.

But fr they don’t say it’s a phase specifically but they sort of play it off like one saying I only “think that” because of them (my friends at the time — who I’m not even friends with anymore)

And one time watching the hen and Karen begins episode with the nasa lab explosion- when we get that make out scene between them, my mum laughed and said she was uncomfortable because it just looked “unnatural” and I know she said this because they were a bit fumbly in the scene, knocking things over and kicking off shoes and both plus sized women, but that reaction has just stuck with me since. Because it’s still a beautiful moment and yes they look different to typical people making out but it’s still sexy and a vibe but also I am a plus sized woman, so yes that could be my future. Another time before this when there were some HenRen scenes in bed my mum said to me “is that what you wanna do, cuddle up to some woman in bed like that 🤨” and I was sooo unprepared for that question and sorta went ‘uh yeh no yeh but not like them two because Hen isn’t my type yk but yes’ and she went 🧐 hm ok 🤷‍♀️

These things have stuck with me

And also when I had a therapist last year the one time I mentioned being bisexual and she that’s something we should talk about I completely shut her down and said it’s fine nothing to talk about and looking back… man I was repressed. Like dayum.

And now I realise I have so much to say.

And the tipping point for all this, is the bi Buck canon, of course. Only 3 days ago but feels like a lifetime already, just the portrayal and the delivery and perfection and sentiment of it all hits so hard, especially the fan reactions, but also actor and director and journalist reactions and everything Tim has had to say on it including Oliver and Ryan interviews. And it’s made me so emotional about it all, I can’t even express how genuinely happy to my core i was the first 2 days every second, and I was dancing around my kitchen, grinning every 3 minutes when I remembered… it was bliss. I felt so seen and happy and loved, appreciated and respected and represented. It’s unreal. Especially the joy and care Oliver has given this.. i can’t explain. It’s so validating.

Within myself I feel much more at peace, and I have realised that in fact I was repressed, and still kinda am.

So bringing it back to the start was that after watching this with my mum I tried to express to her how much this means and the backstory and what’s going on online about it with the directors and actors and everything but I hardly even said a thing and she kept saying how “it’s just a show” “it’s 9-1-1!” “You’re getting too much into this/too attached” even when I tried explaining how queer storylines is something we have to search for to watch in media, and how this will change media from now on and the representation.. she kept walking away, trying to change the subject and invalidating it all saying stuff like

“it’s just a series! You act like it’s a real person!” “You do, you get carried away with it.” “Ok Keira 🙄🚶‍♀️.. yeh! You’re just getting a little far-fucking-fetched” “right… Keira.” “It’s just a show!” Me: “It’s more than a show.” “In your head it is.” “You’re just going on”

Bear in mind I wasn’t actually going into depth, I was stating how this is a big thing and said literally what I’ve written here, like this is 30 seconds of me talking. Because I wanted to have a healthy conversation about it all, but clearly it didn’t work and i should’ve just been happy with the smile reaction and left it at that.

I tried directly pointing out the problem, too, saying that she never wants to have a healthy conversation with me about it all, to which she replied the “it’s just a show/you’re getting too much into it” part and when I addressed that this family is slightly a little bit homophobic but none of them will admit it she was laughing and going “it’s 9-1-1! It’s 9-1-1!” “(I) make it out into some big drama” (I wasn’t raising my voice or anything I just wanted to have a conversation about it with her, she was the one raising her pitch) and how I’m “just taking it all to another level!” Me:‘Because it is at another level, this is so huge for the industry and the queer community’ “oh god, Keira.. you make such big dramas out of it,” (me literally not being dramatic at all, just wanting a nice discussion about this and both the reactions of fans/non-fans/people, how it’s done so well—compared to other storylines and shows— and the impact this will have on so many things) my mum:… “you always twist me to make it out that I’m some horrible person” to which I responded “well no, because you’re not but you could be more healthy about it, you always laugh it off or change/avoid the subject” (me talking about queerness in general, not 9-1-1, to which she replied) “nanna gets like this over Coronation Street! And I just don’t understand! It’s just a show.”

These quotes she said are direct because I audio recorded everything. Probably not in the right order bc the explanation is a little messy what can I say it’s adhd like I said 💅😵‍💫🤷‍♀️😅

Yeh so I guess this is turning into some Reddit thing like AITA am I the asshole for wanting a healthy conversation and for my family to be more comfortable about queerness in general as well as my own (bi)sexuality but also it’s just me expressing how tonight went to anyone who’s stayed to read this. Maybe I should go back into therapy. It’s just my old therapist I never really told her the deep things but also finding someone new that works with me is expensive and exhausting. So it’s been a hard night but I will still rewatch the scene to find happiness in it all again. I just want to wait until I’ve slept it off so I can be fresh and remember the happiness and validity I felt on friday & sat

[yee-fxcking-haw]

•Love Me Tender•

Summary: After waiting, watching, and wanting, Tamaki finally has a way to get to you. He's willing to do use some questionable methods, make deals with shifty friends, whatever it takes. He'll have you.

Pairing: Pro Hero Tamaki Amajiki x FemReader (both 18+)

Warnings: Yandere behavior, stalking, coercion, sabotage, manipulation, hard dom Tamaki, slight brat reader, mostly sub reader, unprotected sex, virginity loss, oral sex (female receiving), tentacle play (oral, vaginal, anal, gagging), bondage (with tentacles), mild dumbification, degradation, spit play, cum play, wittle bit of bloodplay, creampie, marking, possession kink, collaring. Kinda-sorta dub-con (not really imo but warning just in case)

Word Count: 11,576

A/N: Jesus fucking christ I did it.

Part One: Porcelain Obsession

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

   Tamaki awoke painfully this morning, body aching and covered in dried sweat. It wasn't a feeling to be proud of, but it was a feeling he cherished. 

   Your stolen underwear is clutched in his hand still, like a lifeline. It still smells just a little bit like you… but not enough. He couldn't feel you or taste you or hold you. He had to figure something out, quickly. He had to find a way to make you his. 

   Luckily, Tamaki knows exactly how to make that happen…

***                                         

  You hang up your apron with a deep sigh, wiping sweat off your forehead with the back of your hand. Thank god it's only a half day, you finally have an afternoon off, a day to spend by yourself. 

   You bid your coworkers farewell and head out of the shop. You wander home, earbuds in as you try to drown out the noise of the city. Once you're home, you notice a small box on your doorstep. 

   It's a pretty little gold box with purple ribbon, a tiny note is attached to the top. The scribbled writing reads,

   "I thought this would look pretty on you, I'm sorry about the weird exit last night. I'd like to take you to get some coffee to make up for it, if you'll let me." - Tamaki

   Your heart flutters a bit at the note, you had deduced you were nothing more than a charity case. Him walking you home was just what he felt was fair in exchange for the use of your phone, he didn't really… like you? Did he? 

   His exit was just a little bit strange, he seemed almost panicked. You wanted to ask if everything was ok, but figure it best to stay out of a hero's business. Who knows what door you'd be opening if you started to ask too many questions.

   Beneath his note is a phone number, obviously his. You can't call him right away, it might seem desperate, but you can open the box. 

   When the lid comes off, you gasp quietly at what's hidden inside. On a delicate silver chain sits one lovely little pearl. You stand there, amazed and confused. Wondering why on earth somebody like Suneater would leave such a precious little gift for you. 

***

   You called the number left on the note about an hour after receiving it. As soon as Tamaki picks up the phone your heart leaps into your throat. 

   "I didn't think y-you'd call." He laughs afterwards, but you can hear traces of genuine anxiety underneath. 

   "Well, what kind of an asshole would I be if I didn't call back the hero that saved me from a lonely walk home?" Your face crinkles up at your horrid attempt at flirting. 

   He doesn't seem to mind, though. He gives you a sweet laugh, putting some of your nerves at ease. 

   "So, uh- coffee?" He wonders. 

   "I'd love to, I just got off work, but I imagine you're busy doing hero stuff. We can-"

   "No I'm not busy." He says quickly, his urgency makes you smile. He's almost boyish in his approach, and it's very charming. 

   Somehow, between the two of you suffering your way through the conversation, you set a time for coffee.

***

    Tamaki makes a quick stop before meeting you, visiting a horrid friend of his in an alleyway a hero should never be unless he's kicking someone's ass. 

   His "friend" turns out to be a little more than your average criminal. He's a wicked looking man, with a mess of black hair and an abundance of scarring littering his body. 

   They call him Dabi. 

   "So what's the plan here? Am I just scarin' the poor girl or do I get to have some real fun?" His smile is devilish, and his eyes are telling. 

   It makes Tamaki's skin crawl, he stares daggers at the man leaning against the brick of the alleyway. 

   "If you touch her, I will gut you like a fucking fish." Tamaki says, he's full of rage, but he says it so calmly, so matter of fact. 

   "You can try." Dabi laughs, "You forget how easy it is to cook seafood." 

   Tamaki stands there for a brief second, watching the villain, weighing his options. 

   "I'm not here for banter, can you do the job or not?" His words are clipped, strangely articulate compared to his usual stutter. 

   "Yeah whatever, I got nothin' planned for tonight, and I do love making little girls scream." He tilts his head back against the wall as Tamaki turns to stalk away. 

   "Hey, Suneater." Dabi calls out with a lazy voice. 

   Tamaki freezes and keeps his back to Dabi. He turns his head to the side and waits for him to speak. 

   "Send her my way when you're done with her." If Tamaki had less of the public eye on him, he would have slit Dabi's throat then and there. 

   Instead, he swallows his rage as he tosses a hefty wad of cash over his shoulder. 

   "Don't be late." 

***

   "You always just drink it black? Not even a little bit of sugar?' You ask, astounded by Tamaki's ability to drink the bitter liquid without any sweetener.

   "Sugar is kind of useless for me, I try to eat things that'll help me with m-my quirk." He explains, his deep eyes wander while he talks, like he's watching for something. 

   That must come with being a hero. 

   "Does coffee help your quirk?" You ask, a smile playing at your lips when you see him frown at his drink. 

   "No, but it helps me focus."

   You nod playfully before taking a sip, the cafe he's brought you to is incredibly charming. It's not an overly hip establishment, it's just a sweet little hidden gem. Tucked away into a forgotten street, it gives the impression that it's a well kept secret between two best friends. 

   "Do you feel like people ask too much of you?" You question. It slips out so quickly, running away from you after launching out of your lips. 

   Your hatred for small talk gets the best of you and you jump the gun, as always. You want to hide, but not before you apologise a thousand times for being too straightforward. 

   Tamaki looks at you thoughtfully, his eyes show that he's shocked, but not offended.

   "Sometimes. It can feel like people expect me t-to be the…" He pauses for a moment, mentally grasping for the right word. 

   "It feels like people expect Heroes to be this ultimate, universal band-aid. In a lot of ways, we are, but we're still h-human… I-I'm still human…" His voice slows down by the end of his sentence, like he's realized he might be over sharing. 

   But, you asked him, you wanted to know. You actually care about him? Every bone in his body is screaming at him to grab you, throw you over his shoulder and run away. He feels some carnal desire to just keep you. Hide you from every selfish asshole that would take advantage of the starstruck look in your beautiful eyes. 

   He can't, though… not yet. 

   "S-sorry…" He whispers. 

   And then, you reach across the table to take his hand in yours. He feels the contact all the up his arm, into his chest, into his heart. 

   So you do want him too. 

   "Please don't be sorry, I liked listening to you talk." You say quietly. 

   You did love it, you loved it because you've felt so unheard, so unseen. Being able to provide somebody else with a pair of listening ears serves as a kind of relief for those feelings. 

   "Can you tell me more?" You test, hand squeezing his own a little more. 

   He looks almost elated, thrilled to be seen, excited to be heard. Most of all, he's itching to finally have you. 

***

   The date was nothing short of wonderful, filled with cute little fumblings of words, hands brushing but never holding, and sharing bits and pieces of yourselves with each other. 

   You flop onto your bed, reminiscent of a teenager who's just had their first kiss. You didn't kiss him goodnight, you chickened out of that. But you did press your lips against his cheek for a brief moment, which seemed to have quite the effect on him. 

      His breath hitched, his fists balled at his sides, acting like he'd never been touched so tenderly. It made you wonder, is the Hero as lonely as you are? 

   You glance over at your night stand, seeing the pretty little necklace sitting in its box. You're washed with guilt as you realize you forgot to wear it to coffee, knowing he must have wanted you to. You take it out of the box carefully before pulling it around your neck and hooking it into place. It fits like a choker, snug against your skin, but it feels good to have it so close.

   You're ripped from your musing when you hear the unmistakable sound of breaking glass. 

   Inside your house. 

   Your blood chills, hair stands up on the back of your neck and you rise from your bed slowly. You try to talk yourself down, kill the first nerves that consume your chest. It was probably a poorly balanced vase… except, you don't own any vases. It could have been a picture? Nope, not a picture, it was just glass… like a window breaking. 

   There's a gun in your office, but you're in the bedroom. You scan the room for something, anything that could be used for defense. Of course, nothing but a damn notebook. 

   The police, you should call the police. Your heart clenches when you hear the threatening sound of heavy footsteps falling down your hallway. 

   They're heading straight for your bedroom. 

   You lunge at the door, hand landing on the doorknob just as it begins to turn. Desperately, uselessly, you try to lock it. It's too late, though, it's already opening by the time your thumb lands on the lock. 

   You can hear your blood rushing when the door swings towards you, a large black boot planted on the other side to force it open. 

   "Sorry 'bout the window, sweetheart. I tried the front door, but it was locked." The intruder chuckles as he invades your bedroom. 

   You stumble back as you take in his sewn together form, a mess of black leather and scars. Wild, electric blue eyes devour your trembling form as you press yourself back into the wall. 

   "Oh, hon, you're shakin' like you're in danger. I ain't gonna hurt you, I'm gonna do the opposite." He stalks towards you, somehow moving in slow motion but with incredible speed all at the same time. 

   Your phone sits on your night stand, only feet away but all too unreachable. You're caged in by his arms as he towers over you, filling your nose with some horrid, smokey smell. 

   "P-please, you can have anything, j-just don't-" 

   Your words halt when a long, pale finger traces over your collar bone. 

   "Don't what? 'J-just don't' what?" He mocks you, eyes lit with a sadistic amusement. 

   Your heart rattles in your chest as tears prick your eyes, you can't fight him, he's huge. You don't have your gun. You don't have your phone. You're fucked. 

   "Cryin' already? What's the matter, doll?-" The hand traces your collar bone moves up to wrap around your throat, "Not a fan of villains?" 

   Your hands paw at his wrist, you will yourself to sputter something out, any kind of objection to whatever he has planned. You try to whimper out a 'stop', but when your mouth finally forms the word, the voice isn't yours, but it's familiar.

   It's low, clipped and dangerous as it barks out the warning. 

   Suneater. 

   Suddenly, as if he's being yanked to the heavens by the Gods, your assailant is torn away from you. A large, red tentacle captures him by the waist and throws him across the room. You collapse to the ground instantly, curling around your legs as you hear the muffled sounds of a violent fight. 

   You hide in your own little world, trembling and clenching yourself. You take one peak from between your arms, just to see Tamaki place the intruder in a chokehold before barking some profane threat at him. 

   The villain is smiling the whole time, he even winks at you. 

   "If I ever see you near her again, you won't walk away with your life." Tamaki snarls as the stranger breaks away from his hold.  

   "She's not worth the trouble." He laughs, raising one hand before sending brilliant blue flames blasting towards Tamaki. 

   You scream involuntarily, reaching out for the Hero as he jumps away from the flames. Once they're gone, the villain is gone as well. Like some cheap magician disappearing off stage. The room is almost entirely untouched by the burst of fire, at most, the tip of your comforter is singed. 

   The second the fire is gone, Tamaki is walking towards you urgently, pulling you to your feet so he can cradle your face. 

   "Are you ok? Did he touch you? What happened?" His inky eyes search your face frantically. 

   You don't answer, you just stutter, clinging to his hands until you can finally squeak out, "I'm ok." 

   His shoulders drop as he sighs, hands loosening their grip. His eyes flicker down to the necklace, his gaze softens when he sees how pretty it looks on you. 

   "Y-you… Do you like it?" He asks timidly, glancing up at you. 

    You breathe for a moment, slightly taken aback by the sudden shift in attention. 

   "I love it." You say quietly, still trembling. 

   He just saved you, really saved you from a real villain who was planning God knows what, and he's worried about your necklace? 

   "It's so pr-pretty on you…" He reaches down to touch it, leaving one hand on your cheek. 

   You take the moment to breathe, remind yourself that you're safe, that you're with a hero now. You observe Tamaki's almost casual appearance, a dry fit shirt and simple tactical pants. It almost helps you relax, seeing him like so… at ease? 

   His fingers play with the pearl, deep eyes transfixed. Something nearly uncontrollable swells within his chest. It burns and aches and eats at him. You're so close, you're so warm, so soft. He could have you, he could just take you. 

   "Tamaki?" You prod gently, your own chest stirs, and something pulls you towards him.

   His eyes snap up to yours, and something shifts in the air. It feels sticky, heavy, too hard to breathe. His gorgeous form towers over you, pressing you back up against the wall as his eyes devour your trembling body. 

   "Thank you f-for saving me." You whisper.

   He nods earnestly, his breathing is shaking, his hands feel like they're holding back. 

   "Anything. Anything for you." 

   That line, that makes you ache.

   How long have you felt so lukewarm, so overlooked and forgotten? Too long, far too long. Now, with Tamaki looking down at you like you're priceless, you feel fiery, you feel seen and remembered. 

   Your hands grasp at his wrists, your eyes flick down to his parted lips. You're not sure what you want to happen next, but you want him as close as you can get him.

   "If you let me start, I will not stop." His voice drops and it makes your breath catch. 

   He feels it too, then. 

   Is it the high of what you've just gone through? Is it just your body trauma bonding with the man that just saved you? Or do you really, really want him so bad it hurts? 

   His tone is warning and his eyes are frantic. 

   "Please." Is the only thing that falls from your quivering lips. 

   Consequences be damned, motives especially be damned. You need him, and he needs you. That's enough explanation for tonight. 

   He consumes you much like the villains flames, his lips are on yours almost too fast, his hands are greedy as they hold your face to his. 

   While you feel similar to a lovesick girl getting kissed for the first time, Tamaki feels like a prisoner finally set free. He feels like a lion that was held in a cage and taunted with a piece of meat. He feels like the door has finally been opened, and he can finally sink his teeth in. 

   "I wanna feel you." He brings his mouth away from yours with much reluctance, leaving his forehead pressed against yours. 

   You flounder for a moment, with your mouth feeling dry and your limbs feeling heavy. 

   "Where?" You choke out, searching his face for any tell. 

   "God, everywhere." It's a broken request, said like a secret. 

   "Take it. Whatever you want." Your boldness surprises you both. 

   You're hooked on the exhilaration, you're craving more, you want to feel something. Even after just a walk home and a coffee date, you want to feel it with Tamaki. 

   "Don't give me that…" He shivers as he presses his body against yours, making it very evident how much of an affect you're having on him. 

   "I'll ruin you." He whimpers when you grind back against him, your hands tug at his shirt and you look up at him with wide eyes. 

   "Who said I don't want that?" 

   You both stand there frozen, waiting for the other to move, to prove that this isn't a dream. 

   "Fuck." 

   His hands descend from cradling your face so they can wrap around your neck with the most gentle grip. 

   He watches you intently, feels your breath quicken, cherishing the way you bite your lip when his fingers tighten slightly. 

   Internally, Tamaki is fighting the most challenging battle he's ever had to face. He's had to take on a wide variety of formidable enemies, but right now, nothing seems more formidable than having to hold himself back when he finally has you in his arms. 

   He wants to take and take and take, for as long as you'll let him… maybe even longer. 

   She's mine now.

   Something shifts in his gaze just then, making him look almost primal. It makes your chest feel frozen, makes it difficult to breathe or focus. 

   His hands shift around your neck, they feel almost… slippery? Their texture is different, their movement is more fluid. Then, you feel it, the distinct sensation of a suction cup latching against your skin. 

   Tentacles. He's made each of his fingers a tentacle.

   Your eyes stay locked on his, both of you in a heated trance as you watch how the other responds. 

   One slick tendril crawls up to latch onto your chin, he turns your head upwards and to the side with a thoughtful look. It's almost like he's sizing you up, appraising you. 

   After a thick moment of silence, he finally speaks. 

   "I'm going to make you cry." It's a depraved promise, beautifully whispered with no shame. 

   You stand there, held by him, captured by him. You're helplessly entranced, all rational thought is long gone as you reel over the implications of his statement. All you can know for sure, is you want more. 

    Despite every red flag, regardless of any common sense, you want more. 

   "I dare you." You say back to him, the desperation to feel anything other than mundane spurs you onward.

   He receives the words like it's a smack to the face, some shock evident in his eyes. He didn't take you for a brat, but he can certainly roll with it. 

   "You're gonna make this fun for me, aren't you?" He questions, his tentacles grip you tighter now, reminding you who has the high ground. 

   Mine. 

   The air shifts, something heavier takes over the mood, it settles in your ribs and wraps around your heart. 

   He guides you away from the wall, shepherding you around until your back is towards your bed. He starts walking you backwards until your knees buckle once they hit the mattress. 

   You sit there, gazing up at him, held still by his quirk, transfixed by the power he exudes as he towers over you. 

   "Has anyone ever had you before?" He asks, finally returning his hand to normal so he can cradle your cheek. 

   The question has your stomach burning with nerves. 

   No, nobody ever has. 

   You shake your head, looking down, cheeks burning as you try to hide your embarrassment. 

   His reaction shocks you immensely, his whole body shutters and he drops to his knees. His hands settle on your waist as he moves between your legs. 

   "Th-this is… all mine then?" He asks, he rubs his thumbs over the bottoms of your ribs affectionately. 

   His eyes are wide and reverent as he waits for your answer, looking like you're some anointed goddess. His eyes skate over every feature he can, and he cherishes each one. 

   Your confession nearly knocks the wind out of him, especially with how sweet you look, all blushing and embarrassed. It makes his need to rip you apart even stronger. 

   "Please...let me give you everything…" His hands tighten on you and you feel them shaking.

   You study him for a second, at a complete loss for words, he seems so… devoted. It pulls on your heart, clouds your mind and lights your body up. How could you possibly say no to him? How on earth could you turn someone away when they’re looking at you like you’re placed on an altar ready to be worshiped. 

   Carefully, like you’re trying not to frighten a beast, you reach out and touch his face. He moves into your touch like a lonely cat, desperate for affection and recognition. 

   “Please…” You breathe. 

   And that’s all it takes. 

   His breath leaves his lungs in a harsh rush as he moves forward like a leopard, lean and precise as he forces you onto your back. 

   Your blood rushes so quickly you swear you can hear it, your mouth goes dry as he stares you down. He’s suddenly less reverent, now he’s ravenous. A dangerous, carnivorous look dances in his dark eyes. His judgement is clouded just like yours, only it fuels him, while your state is much more terrified. Any spunk you had in you is thrown out the window as he leers over you.

   You shrink into the mattress as he hovers above you on all fours, heavy eyelids and parted lips giving him a nearly drugged look. 

   “When you say everything-” He whispers, moving so he can settle on his knees between your open legs, “Do you mean this too?” He drops his hips as he questions you, pressing something very hard into your thigh, something very intimidating. 

   He watches your eyes go wide, a wicked grin spreading across his face when you gasp after he rolls his hips. His arms cage you, a strong hand placed on either side of your head, the position makes you feel so pathetic, so helpless, but it gives you an incredible rush. 

   “Don’t look so scared, it won’t hurt.” He dips down to press his hot, open mouth against your neck, tongue lapping at your pulse. A dark chuckle leaves his chest, “Not much, at least.” 

   Then he’s definitely less reverent, he’s no longer worshipful, he’s a wicked, unleashed best. His hands are selfish as they remove your clothes, his mouth is voracious against your skin. He has you panting and twitching in seconds, musing at you when your reactions are particularly strong. 

   It’s when he snakes down your body, wetting your skin with his tongue, settling between your breasts so he can suck harshly at the heated skin, that you finally feel something break within you. You arch into his touch, fisting your hands in his raven hair, whimpering so beautifully for him as he works you up. 

   He knows what he’s doing, he’s skilled, well equipped for pulling you apart. He’s already descended into some debauched state of being, and he’s pulling you down with him. 

   “Nobody’s ever tasted this sweet little cunt before, have they?” He asks against your skin, latching his mouth back to the spot he’s focused on marking, but looking up at you with inquiring eyes. 

   You try to swallow, shake your head, do something, but all you can do is lay there naked and gasping.

   He laughs again, a wicked thing that leaves his chest like a wisp of wind. He slides a hand up your body, he flicks over your nipple with his thumb on the way up, pulling another whimper out of you. 

   His hand latches onto your jaw, then he shakes your head for you, doing what he knows you can’t. 

   “Oh baby…” He sighs, “You saved it for me?” He teases, hips grinding against you, the cloth of his pants creates a strange kind of friction against your clit, not unpleasant, but not pleasurable. Where the hell did the sweet, stuttering hero go? If you didn’t know any better, you’d say he looks deviant… almost villainous.

   “Tama- please.” You shiver, not sure what you’re asking for, but certain that you need more. 

   “Good girl, talk to me.” His hand slinks down your throat before he rises to his knees. 

   Your eyes lock on the tightness of his pants, trying not to panic at the sheer size of the imprint he’s making on them. 

   His shirt is pulled over his head, messing his hair in the most handsome way, and the breath is ripped from your lungs. 

   He’s stunning, broad and strong looking. He’s all porcelain skin over well trained muscle. Built perfectly for the work he does. Built perfectly for ripping apart poor little girls like you. 

   “I liked the look you got when I had my tentacles on you.” He sighs, letting a hand fall to your bare stomach so he can trace lazy circles against you. 

   “Did you like that? Do you want me to use my tentacles to play with you?” He questions. 

   His voice is low, it’s rich and warm and dripping with seduction. Nothing like the tentative, wobbly tone he usually has. It rips the ground out from underneath you, leaves you panting and blinking like a brain dead fool as you gawk up at his prowling form. 

   “Just a yes or no, if you can manage it.” He smiles sweetly up at you, splaying his hand across your quaking abdomen. 

   You breathe deeply, trying to steady yourself, trying to catch up with what he’s said. 

   “Y-yes.” You whisper, barely audible, hardly heard over your labored breathing. 

   His other hand mirrors the one he has on you, sliding around to hold you by the waist, a gentle cage meant to establish dominance. 

   “Yes… what?” He prompts, pressing his thumbs down. 

   You falter then, your tongue feels heavy, your mind slows and you’re suddenly void of all vocabulary. Were you really really about to let one of the most well known pros wreck your body with his quirk? Were you actually laid out for him like this? You know so little of him, your only information gathered from small talk, but something about that had you buzzing. 

   You could be whoever you want to be, you don’t have to be the floundering virgin. You don’t have to be so damn shell shocked. 

   “Yes, D-daddy.” You test, hoping to God or whoever is listening that you got the right name. 

   By the way his eyes flutter closed, the way his grip tightens, the way his body tenses, you sure as hell did. 

   “That’s it.” He sighs, “-and what about you?” He wonders, his hold going gentle again. 

   You? What about you? 

   Tamaki watches you carefully, barely containing the raging storm inside him, barely holding back the carnal urge to turn every limb to a pretty purple tentacle and stuff you until you’re crying for mercy. 

   Not yet, don’t fuck this up. 

   “Princess? Darling?” He asks, lowering himself back down to kiss down your stomach, looking up at you through his thick lashes. 

   “Whatever you want.” You answer. Your sweet, sacred submission makes him close his eyes and breathe in. 

   Hold it. Not. Yet.

   “You’re like an angel.” He breathes, making you shiver under the weight of the high praise. 

   He notices your reaction immediately, smiling to himself. 

   “So that’s it.” He presses a long kiss just under your belly button, bringing attention to how naked you are, and how naked he is not. 

   Your thighs squeeze together and your arms come up to cover your chest, suddenly overwhelmed by the urge to keep it all out of view. 

   His hands are on your wrist and his body is crouched over yours again before you can blink. He pins your hands beside your head, looking down at you with some wild, unbridled kind of look in his eyes. 

   “You do not get to hide from me.” His shoulders flex as he pushes your wrists down into the mattress, earning a whine from you as the pressure starts to ache. 

   “You’re mine. That means I get all of you.” He bites the words off, but keeps his voice quiet. 

   You should be scared, crying even, but the only thing you feel is exhilaration, the ache between your legs and the fluttering of your heart as he overpowers you with just the look in his eyes and a few harsh words. 

   “Do you understand me?” He eases up on your wrists slightly, looking more stern, less unhinged. 

   “I-I do, I’m sorry.” You whimper out. 

   He considers you for a brief second, eyes growing softer as he watches the way your pretty lip trembles. 

   “It’s ok.” He releases your wrists and speaks gently, “You’re ok.” 

   The reassurances makes you dizzy, especially in contrast with how rough he just was. 

   "Hold still for me, angel." Then he’s back to mouthing at your skin.

   His teeth meet your collarbone and your hands reach for his messy hair. 

   “There?” He asks against you, a smile in his voice as he lets his teeth gather your skin again. The spot he finds makes you dizzy, you feel the heat spread across your cheeks and the tips of your ears. 

   Tamaki is still stuck in his own chains, fighting against them as he focuses on the way you twitch for him, the way your body rolls when he bites harder. 

   So she likes it.

   Your body heats up, it's all so overwhelming. It's so different from anything you've ever felt, and you can't believe it's with him. 

    Then his kisses get more sloppy, his teeth are sharper against you. He leaves you shining with his spit, painted in blooming purple and red bruises as he begins his journey down your body. 

   "Da-addy." You sniffle when he bites into the underside of your breast. 

   It doesn't feel loving, it doesn't feel passionate, it just feels rough. 

   "Hush." He mumbles against you, "If you can't take this I might as well stop now." He looks up at you, challenging you. 

   "I can t-take it, I can." You breathe, nodding, looking at him with begging eyes, "Please, don't stop." 

   He honest to god growls against you. You couldn't possibly know what you do to him, how sweet your willingness sounds, how beautiful you look laid out for him. He knows he should take his time, and he resents that fact. He almost resents you for being so sweet and needy. With all the things he wants to do to you, he almost, almost, wishes you had at least some experience. This makes you his completely, though, and he wouldn’t trade that for anything. 

   His hot mouth moves lower and lower until he's tonguing at your hip bone, pulling the skin into his mouth so he can work his teeth against it. He will mark you wherever he can, as long as you'll let him. 

   Your hips roll up against him, making him smirk at how needy you're acting. 

   "Ask for it." He whispers, hungry hands slide up the outsides of your thighs, "Ask for what you want." 

   His fingers dig into the meat of your thighs, sending the breath from your lungs as he glares up at you. He lets his wet tongue loll out to give a teasing flick against the crux of your thigh. 

   You take a deep breath in and cling to the sheets for dear life, "Please, use your mouth on me." 

   He smiles so sweetly then, looking mildly amused. 

   "Here?" He goes back to that same spot, sucking and teasing, looking all too pleased with himself. 

   "Be specific, angel, tell me where you need me." 

   Tamaki knows for a fact that he didn't have to spend his time making you ask for things, he knows what you want, he knows how to give them to you. He could take whatever he needs, probably without much a fight from you, but what fun would that be? He would miss the pretty blush creeping across your skin, and the sweet little tears in your big eyes. No, he wouldn't be missing this, not for the world. 

    "I wanna feel your tongue, please, use your mouth on m-my cunt." You shiver, timid and uncertain about your phrasing. 

   It seems to do the trick though, because Tamaki's eyes nearly roll to the back of his head. 

   He answers with a low moan before grabbing you by the insides of your thighs so he can spread you open. Once the air of the room hits you, you're made painfully aware of just how soaked you are. 

   It makes Tamaki look like a wild man, all blown out pupils blushing cheeks. 

   Almost in slow motion, he presses his tongue into the spot right above your clit, making you whine and buck against his mouth. 

   "Needy little thing." He says, giving your thighs a gentle squeeze, "But I suppose I have teased enough." 

   Then he's on you, and the second his tongue meets your weak spot you know you're ruined. You know that not one person will ever hold a candle to Tamaki Amajiki. 

   He pulls away for only a second, just to whisper praises up to you, "Your cunt tastes like everything I've ever needed." 

   You huff at him in disbelief, not knowing what to say or do, heart soaring because of his confession.

   Then he dives back in, and he gets sloppy with it, setting a pace that feels so good it aches. The heat spreads through every limb, and settles somewhere deep in your chest. Everything tingles and burns, and breathing seems nearly impossible. 

   Internally, Tamaki is raging. He’s so close to losing it, he feels himself slipping, your taste spreads across his tongue is the culmination of months of watching and waiting and wanting. He wants to drown in you, he wants to rip you to shreds. No more watching you through windows, no more fucking his fist while he wishes with everything he has that it was your precious little pussy. He has you now, spread open and vulnerable. He knows he could shove your face into the pillows and let loose on you, stuff every hole with an invasive tentacle, the thought makes him even more feral, it makes him work even harder as he eats you. 

   Every roll of his tongue against your clit makes you throb and buck, which makes him growl and push you down against the mattress. He's loud and messy, slurping and moaning, letting it drip down his chin and his throat, never once letting up. 

   Your head is thrown back against the pillows, eyes drilled shut. You know damn well if you saw him, you wouldn't last another second. He builds you up until your thighs are trembling and you're a whiny little mess. 

   Perfect. 

   Suddenly, the texture of his tongue changes drastically. It's much more slippery, and much thicker. Your head shoots up, and you nearly sob at what you see. Tamaki, with his eyes wild and his jaw dropped, is letting a wicked looking tentacle hang from his mouth. 

   His quirk. 

   He smirks up at you as the tip of it writhes against your clit, flicking and circling as he watches the tears start to fall from your face. You can't possibly keep up, you didn't know anything could ever feel this good. 

   You watch the suction cups ripple as he moves the muscle against you, then he does the unthinkable. He latches one of them onto your clit. Your eyes cross and you bring a fist to your mouth so you can bite on it and muffle your screams. 

   He hates that. 

   With another rumbling growl, he lets his hands turn to tentacles as well. You watch helplessly as he snakes them up your arms, ripping your hand away from your mouth so he can pin both limbs to the bed. The tentacles are strong, surprisingly warm, and so damn slippery. 

   It's hard to tell if you're close to the edge, it's felt that way the whole time, everything feels so hot and tight and good. 

   He smiles as you cry out and thrash against the bed, full of admiration for the usefulness of his own quirk.

   “Too much! D-daddy, it’s too much.” You sniffle out as you feel a stinging feeling in your cunt, it’s not necessarily an unpleasant sting, but it’s too much.

   He ignores your objection, choosing to simply suck harder at your overstimulated sweet spot. He revels in your pitifully low threshold, planning to do so much worse to your poor, inexperienced body. 

   The ache in your cunt continues to push the tears from your eyes, and eventually, drool from your mouth. The suction cup works dutifully against your clit, making you feel so overwhelmed you don't know if you can cum. 

   Then you feel the prodding at your entrance. 

   Then you really scream. 

   Holding that one little suction cup to your clit, he snakes the tip of his tentacle into your dribbling hole. He furrows his dark brows and moans against you when he feels how tight you are, desperate to feel the velvety walls around his cock.

   "Holy fucking shit." You gasp. 

   He watches the dramatic rise and fall of your quaking chest, your baffled eyes trying to keep track of everything happening to your body, and he swears he falls even more in love. 

   You're so willing, so compliant, so at his mercy. 

   He crooks the tip of the tentacle towards himself just a bit, and it's like you've been struck by lightning. You cum hard, harder than you ever have. You're a mess of twitching limbs, shivering as your cunt clenches so hard your feel it in your fucking chest. You sob into the air, broken and tearful as he works you through it. 

   You feel the hold on your arms tighten as your body arches away from the mattress. As you feel every inch of you ignite, you know that you're ruined for everyone else. 

   As soon as you lower yourself so you're flat to the mattress, the tentacles around your arms slip away and turn back into his hands. 

   The one between your legs still plays with you a little bit, prodding at your clit, lapping up your mess. Tamaki laughs as you jump and twitch, whimpering and gasping as he milks your body for every after shock you can give him. 

   You watch him pull the tentacle back into his mouth, flicking it over his lips to gather your release before disappearing into his mouth. You watch his eyes flutter shut, you watch him shiver and you hear the sweetest little moan in the back of his throat. 

   “You’re pretty when you cry.” He mumbles, looking up at you with the most tender look in his eyes. It’s a harsh contrast with all the cum dripping down his chin. 

   “You move a lot, too. It’s fun.” He states, almost like some kind of twisted review, “I don’t mind holding you down like that.” 

   The drop in the tone of his voice makes a chill creep up your spine. 

   “In fact…” He lifts himself up so he can start to crawl up your body, “I really, really enjoyed it.”

   You gasp for words, wind stolen from your lungs as he presses his messy mouth against your sternum. 

   “Something tells me you did too.” He whispers. 

   Your voice is finally found, somewhere deep in your chest, hidden and nearly forgotten, “What makes you say that?” You ask timidly. 

   He pulls his head up to look down at you with a confident smirk, “The mess you made.” 

   To prove his point, he swipes two fingers through your folds, gathering your creamy release before holding it up to the light. He looks so damn proud, like he’s showing off. 

   “Messy girl.” He smiles, as you watch him bring his coated fingers to his lips, sucking the sin off with a greedy pop from his lips. 

   “Oh, how selfish of me.” He sighs before grabbing you by the chin, “I should share.” 

   He pulls your mouth open then slowly leans over you so he can push the mess back through his lips. You oblige like a robot, stunned by the debauchery, letting him guide you through this act. He lets it fall from his lips slowly, creating a long string from his mouth to yours. The second it hits your tongue, something clicks for you. Something dark and smokey settles in your gut, something all consuming and blinding. It rids you of boundaries and reservations, it fills you with nothing but the man in front of you. 

   He watches you with a pointed gaze, shutting your jaw for you so you can swallow what he gave you. 

   “What do you say?” He asks. 

   You feel the burn in your chest, the embers in your skin, “More, please.” 

   “Fucking hell," The words tumble out as a breath mostly, "You want more?" He questions, grabbing you by the wrist so he can place your palm just above the waist of his pants. 

   You nod up at him, vision blurred by the heat of his skin against your palm. 

   "Then take it." He leans down to say it, biting off the words. 

   A challenge. 

   You can't possibly disappoint him, you can't possibly leave him wanting. Take it? How are you supposed to take it? 

   In a wild moment of confidence, mostly your body moving without the permission of your mind, you wrap your legs around his lean hips so you can flip him onto his back. 

   Your eyes lock the second you feel him pressing against you, hard and thick, and terribly intimidating in length. 

   He watches you for a moment, then hastily grabs you by the back of the neck so he can pull you down for another kiss. It's hot and needy, full of wicked want and unabashed selfishness. It tickles your ribs, creeps up your neck, and secures itself greedily around all of your common sense. 

   Tamaki had no intentions of letting you take anything, it's a game to him. He'll let you have your moment, let you feel like you have the reigns, but he'll take it right back. His has you under control, he vows that he always will.

   Your chest flutters with a clawing, aching feeling. 

   More more more. 

   "Fuck me." It's a prayer, whimpered against his delicate lips, "Please, fuck me." You dig your hands into his hair, cherishing the sweet noises they leave him as you beg. 

   Under control.

   "Tell me you need it." He sighs, answering your prayer by sending his hands down to work urgently at his belt. 

   "Tell me you need me." 

   You bring your face back from his just enough to look into his dark eyes, and you see tears welling in them. 

   He needs to feel needed.

   "Please, I need it, I need you, Suneater." 

   Everything freezes for a brief second, the air thickens and his eyes darken as you wait with a held breath for his next move. 

   Then, everything is flying around you. You feel the bite of fingertips against your waist, your stomach hits the mattress, possibly the sound of his pants being taken off. Your senses are dulled by the raging swirl of emotions beating inside you as your hips are lifted up, and a hand shoves your face into the pillow. 

   "Who's your hero?" His voice is rough, his hand gathers your hair and cranks your head to the side, "Who is your fucking hero?" He's barking the words out now, harsh and demanding. 

   And holy hell does it get you going. 

   "You are! You're my hero, Suneater." You cry out, craning your neck to look at him. 

   You expected furrowed brows, a straight mouth and furious eyes. What you're met with is nothing of the sort. A soft pink blush across his cheeks and the tips of his pointed ears, tears wetting his cheek, and a quivering lip. 

   With your eyes on him, he makes a show of sliding his hand down his front so he can grab at his length. He lets it fall against your ass, heavy and painfully hard. 

   "Don't forget that." He says simply, sliding his thick head down through your slicked lips. 

   The contact makes you both shudder deep in your souls. 

   "Daddy, please." Your voice is pitiful as you fist the sheets and press back against him. 

   "So slutty." He muses, releasing your hair so he can run his nails down your back, "Poor thing, never been fucked, needs it so bad, doesn't she?" 

   You nod fervently and fuss as he presses his head against your tight hole. You tense and shiver, not at all prepared for what's to come. 

   "I need it, I need you, please please please." You have one thought now, no reservations, you need him. 

   "I'm gonna ruin this little cunt." He says, a warning tone in his voice. 

   The hand that was tracing your spine suddenly feels very cold and wet. 

   His damn quirk. 

   He takes his time, letting the thick tentacle slither around your waist. It wraps around you twice, teasing you with the pops of the suction cups, leaving pretty purple circles all over your abdomen. 

   He lifts you easily, pulling you up so your back is pressed against his chest. 

   "Ruin it, please, it's yours, I'm yours." You sniffle, looking down at your trapped position. 

   With a low, menacing growl, he sinks his teeth into your neck, and his cock into your heat. 

   Tamaki holds his breath, willing himself not to fill you up right this second. You're too damn tight, so warm and velvety. You're so perfect, and so completely his. 

   You sob into the air, hands reaching out to hold the headboard as you feel like you're being ripped apart. 

   "Oh don't scream, Angel, people might think something's wrong." His voice is shaking now, and the hold on your waist tightens. 

   You focus on relaxing, letting your walls lose their tension, but it's all fruitless. He's too big, he fills you too well, and all you can do is take it. 

   "Here, let me give that mouth something to do." 

   His other hand comes around to hold your throat, turning each finger into a tentacle again. It leaves you reeling and gasping as he presses further into you, wrapping what would be his middle finger around your throat. He wraps it around twice, like he did with your waist. The appendage comes up to rest its tip on your bottom lip. 

   The sensation makes you dizzy, especially when it finally snakes into your panting mouth. It doesn't really taste like anything, it just feels wet and slick, the texture of the suction cups is the strangest thing about it. He rocks his hips so gently, squeezing you tighter everywhere he's holding you. 

   You don't feel like a moth drawn to a flame, you feel like a moth caught in a spider's web. All tangled up, not willing to fight to escape, not even wanting to. 

   "You're so damn tight." He stutters out, pressing his hips flush against your own. 

   You cry out and gag against the tentacle stuffing your mouth, digging your nails into the headboard as he chuckles behind you. 

   "You're such a pretty little mess for me. Your cunt's already dripping." 

   You don't doubt it, it has to be with how badly your core aches around him as he stretches you. 

   Your thighs start to tremble as you wait for him to move, sniffling as the tears fall from your eyes and the drool spills from your lips. 

   A pretty little mess indeed. 

   Slowly, he drags his hips back with a hiss before pushing back in. He takes his time with it, building an agonizing pace that offers you no release. There's only the pressure, only your clit screaming for attention, only the maddening tease of his head against your sweet spot with every torturous push in. 

   "Fuck angel, I gotta break this pussy in, don't I?" His words pull another pitiful moan from you, nodding and whining is all you're capable of. 

   His picks up speed just enough to make you tense even more, still painful, still mind numbing. 

   "You look so fucking pretty on the end of my cock." 

   His words pour over you like hot wax, heating you up, making you drip. The heat seeps deep into your skin, making you squirm and clench. 

   He speeds his thrusting up slightly, then more, and more, and more, until you’re shrieking and choking against the tentacle stuffing your mouth. Your hands fly up to claw at it, wanting to tell him how it feels, wanting to thank him for the way he’s fucking you. 

   It’s still painful, each thrust splits you open with a sting, but it’s so damn good. The sharp stretching is absolutely spectacular, and it sends your brain into somewhere dark and smokey, it leaves you with a wide open feeling in your chest. It leaves you wanting more. 

   “What’s the matter, sweet thing?” He taunts, “Tell me about it, then, how’s Daddy make you feel?” He turns each tentacle back into a finger slowly, pulling out of your mouth, leaving you a gasping mess. 

   Through spit and tears, you praise him, words spewing out between moans as your body jolts from each punishing snap of his hips. 

   “So fucking good! You make me feel so good!” You cry, clinging to his forearm as he brings you closer to his chest. 

   The tentacle around your waist starts to slither down your stomach, “This isn’t even half of what I’m capable of doing to you,” The tip of it gives the hood of your clit a teasing flick, “-and you’re already such a slut for me.” His chuckle is dark and full as the tip of his skilled tentacle zeros in on your sweet spot, rubbing and wriggling against it until you’re screaming. 

   “Say it. Say you’re my little slut.” His words are a harsh demand against your ear, leaving no room for disobedience. 

   “I- f-fuck- I can’t! I ca-an’t!” You sob, not able to catch your breath between thrusts. 

   Tamaki eats that right up, swelling with pride as he fucks you speechless, delirious with the fact that he finally has your cunt gripping his cock. 

   Before he can bark another order at you, you finally pull the words out of your closing throat, "I'm your slut," You gasp as drool rolls down your chin, "I'm your little slut." 

   He throws his head back and throws everything he has into every thrust, his moans are obscene, high pitched and broken as he feels how hard you squeeze him when he speeds up the tip of his tentacle against your clit. 

   "Give it to me, I feel that greedy cunt tryin' to milk me, give me that fuckin cum." He huffs against your ear. Your entire body seizes up, shaking violently as ribbons of pleasure shoot through you. You pulse around Tamaki almost violently, earning some very rough sounding moans from him as he works you through it. 

   Your orgasm lasts for what feels like an eternity, you shiver with every throb of your walls. It possesses that same almost painful pleasure, and it's everything you've ever wanted. At some point, the tentacle around your waist turns to a hand, still absentmindedly rubbing you as you come down. 

   He lets your torso fall forward, leaving you bent over and exposed for him. His hands smooth over your ass, and you realize he's still so fucking hard. 

   "Can you take more, angel?"

   You nod against the tear soaked pillow you've pressed your face into, not sure that you even can, but willing to try. 

   "Good," He bends down to press kisses into your spine as he pulls out, "'Cause you're going to." 

   He pulls out, almost full of regret, wanting to live the rest of his life buried inside you.

   Now he can have some fun, mind cleared slightly by finally feeling you come undone around him. He's still hazy, still slightly frenzied, but less ravenous, less of a starved man waiting for his meal, more of a well fed man waiting for desert. 

   His hands hold your waist gently so he can guide you onto your back. You oblige, more than willing to let him have his way. 

   You finally get a good look at him, and you're astounded by just how pretty his dick looks. All pale and pink, swollen and shiny, it makes you dizzy with admiration. 

   "You're terribly beautiful." He whispers, cradling your waist so he can worship your stomach with soft kisses, "I don't believe you're even real." 

   Sweetness oozes through your tingling limbs, pouring over you like warm honey. His tender mouth brings you back down, soothes you into a state of catharsis. Your body settles, but your heart picks back up when his lips are on your hips. 

   Your eyes meet his, and you share the sentiment that he just might not be real. He pears up at you through a mess of indigo hair, eyes full of what you can only describe as devotion. 

   He explores your body with his hands, dipping his thumbs into every crook he can, palming handfuls of your plush thighs. He seems to have a soft spot for your hips though, pulling at your love handles, letting his breath speed up each time until he's panting against you. 

   With every pull of his hands, you bend for him, push into him, work with him. You both find a rhythm, falling into an easy dance of grabbing and needing. 

   "I want to keep you." He breathes, placing a hand on either side of your waist so he can lift himself over you, "I want to have you." 

   He gathers your legs while he speaks, hooking his hands under your knees so he can fold you up. 

   "You have me." You whisper, reaching out to lay your fingers on the sides of his ribs. 

   You watch his skin twitch under your touch, you watch his eyebrows sag into an almost heartbroken look. 

   He looks down between your bodies, quivering when he sees his heavy cock resting against your stomach. He feels so incredibly proud of you in that moment, for taking him so well, and asking for more. 

   She's mine. She said I have her. 

   The concept brings another wave of primal desire crashing down on his self control. 

   His fingers dig into your skin, biting at the flesh, spreading you open for him as he puts his weight on your legs. 

   You clench in anticipation, teased by the pressure of his hot length resting against you. 

   "I can take it." You say quietly, sliding your hands up his lean body so you can lace them into his inky hair. 

   He melts into your touch, stunned by your gorgeous submission. 

   "Fuck, angel." His words are shattered as they fall from his lips. 

   You reach down between your bodies and wrap your hand around his weeping tip. He trembles and hiccups as you push him down so he's lined up with where you need him. 

   "Please, I want all of it." m. 

   “Careful.” He pants, looking down at you with a warning in his eyes. 

   It doesn’t create hesitation in you though, only curiosity. 

   “We’re being careful now?” You tease, sliding him up and down your slit. 

   “You little devil.” He hisses, grabbing your wrist harshly, “You think you’re cute, don’t you?” 

   You freeze and blink up at him, once again shocked by his quick change in temperament. 

   “You wanna act like a tease now?” He questions, bringing your hand up so he can press it into the mattress with his. 

   “Did you find yourself a cute little attitude?” His voice drips with venom, it bites at your insides and melts your skin. 

   “That’s ok, angel.” He lets your hand go so he can press on the backs of your thighs again, successfully folding you completely in half, “I’ll fuck it out of you.” 

   Before you can breathe, blink, or respond, he’s splitting you open with a brutal pace. He laughs deep in his chest when you cry out, he mocks you when your hands fly to his abs in an attempt to slow his assault. A wicked smile spreads across his pretty face when tears stain your flushed cheeks once again. 

   “Cryin’ again so soon? Is it too much, baby? You need Daddy to slow down?” He’s testing you, only thrusting harder as he taunts you for your sobbing and moaning. 

   “No!” You gasp between tears, “Don’t stop, please, fuck me like that.” 

   “That’s my girl.” 

   His thrusts are ruthless, sharp, unforgiving. He rocks your body and the bed with each plunge in, headboard crashing against the wall. Each drive into you is enchanting, it teaches you something new, opens new doors, shows you a new, brilliant world of depravity. The way the pleasure shoots all the way up your spine with every drag of his cock, it’s something you want to feel until you die, you’d even be happy if this is the way you die. 

   You watch him disappear inside of you over and over, pulling out just as quick, covered in slick and sin. Tamaki is in his own feral world, watching your lovely face crumble and pout as he fills you. His hands are angry against the back of your thighs, nails digging in hard enough to bring little pearls of scarlet to the surface. 

   When you start to whine from the sting, he flashes you a lazy smile before stuffing his fingers into your mouth. He presses the blood covered fingertips into your tongue just enough to make drool spill from the sides of your mouth. 

   “Hush, you’ll learn to love it.”

   His smile turns wolfish when he watches your eyes roll back. It’s all so black-hearted, it’s everything you’ve kept yourself from, it’s everything you’ve ever wanted. 

   You both throb and cry then, your bodies smack as they meet, obscene and wet as you chase your undoing. Tamaki knows he’s not going to last much longer, and he curses himself for it. He doesn’t want to stop, especially when you wince so sweetly when his thrusts are a little too deep. He wants to watch you suck his fingers forever, crying against his palm as he turns you into his perfect little slut. 

   “You’re gonna give me one more, aren’t you, angel? You owe me that, I saved your life after all.” He slides his fingers from your mouth, dragging your spit down your chin before grabbing you by the throat, “Answer if you can, I know it must be hard to speak when you’re getting fucked this good.” 

   His words drown you in lust, your hands claw at his back, painting angry red lines down the pretty porcelain canvas, “Take it! Fuck- Take it, Suneater, take it all.” 

   It’s not a demand, it’s a plea, it’s a craving formed deep within your freshly corrupted heart. 

   Your begging pulls desperate, whiny sounds from him. With his eyes screwed shut he lets the hand on your thigh manifest the tentacles in place of his fingers. He throws all of his energy into that, trying to stall the twitching of his dick as your hot insides massage him with their relentless pulsing.   

   “Are you sure about that?” He tests, letting the tentacles snake around your thigh before slithering down to where your bodies meet. 

   Immediately, one starts flicking at your clit, making your back go rigid as he grins down at his good work. 

   You wail his name, nails biting at his skin even more but he pays no mind. He has a mission, he’s going to take all of it. 

   He focuses on making his tentacles grow, two long enough to reach up your body and tug at your nipples, and one other snaking down through the mess you’re making to prod at your asshole. Your eyes widen with shock as your body ignites, it’s too much, it’s all too much. Every sensation is heightened, every poke and flick and thrust sends shards of pleasure flying through you, piercing you from every direction. 

   You let yourself cry completely then, throwing your head against Tamaki’s collar bone before sobbing into his chest. You know you’re cumming, you can feel it somewhere amongst all the other stimulation, but it’s nearly drowned out, and Tamaki is still fucking you just as hard as he was when this all started. 

   “More, you have more for me, I fucking know it.” He huffs as he finally pushes into your ass with the tentacle. 

   The ones on your nipples latch on with their suction cups as he fills you more and more. 

   “Give it to me, angel, give it all to your hero.” 

   That’s the final push, the last thing you need to send you into the most frenzied orgasm you’ve ever experienced. Your vision goes white as your body convulses, ripped apart by the flames of euphoria that turn everything you’ve ever known to ash. Somewhere in the distance you hear Tamaki praising you, telling you how tight you feel, how beautiful you look, how good you are for him. 

   It’s lost in the fray, though, all blurring together as you shake violently around him. The only thing that brings you back slightly, is the break in his voice when he sobs, “I’m gonna stuff that little cunt with my cum, I’m gonna make you mine.”

   Your hand is at the back of his neck instantly, pulling him down for a messy, aimless kiss. His moans spill into your mouth as his hips falter, turning to slow, stuttering thrusts as he starts to pump his release deep into you. 

   “I’m yours - I’m yours I’m yours I’m yours.” You chant it against his lips as his tears fall to your cheeks, mixing with your own as you both shatter for each other.

   Coming back down isn't easy at all. It's slow and needy, your hands still pulling at whatever skin they can grab, hips rolling against each other, trying with everything you both have to prolong that rapturous feeling. 

   Frantically, painfully, he pulls himself out of you. He slides his hot mouth down your body, nipping and sucking as he descends to your messy cunt. He spreads your legs wide so he can bury his face between them. He teases your clit briefly, but moves quickly to press his open mouth against your hole.

   Your skin boils as you watch the nasty show. His eyes cross sinfully and flutter shut as he tongue at your well used pussy. When he pulls back, his chin is covered in some wretched mixture of your combined releases. He moves back up your body like an animal stalking its prey.

   He grabs your jaw and you open so willingly. His mouth is on yours instantly, pushing the warm liquid onto your tongue with his own. It’s a spunky, intense flavor, almost overwhelming as he spreads it around your mouth. It creates a dark, blurry feeling in your chest, though. It makes you feel alive, it makes you want more.

   He pulls back slowly, a thick string of saliva and sin connecting your lips as he pants down at you. 

   “You’re such a good little girl.” 

   His lips are everywhere, pressing against your cheekbones, your nose, your forehead. His hands return to normal so he can cradle your face. You both lay there, still joined, catching your breath. 

   "Angel?" 

   The tenderness in his voice pulls you back down to earth, and when you open your eyes, you find yourself lost in his. It’s a harsh but marvelous contrast with the sharp edges of his previous behavior.

   "Does anything h-hurt?" He asks timidly. 

   The stutter is back, the anxious look in his eyes, the restlessness in his hands. 

   You reach out to hold his face like he's holding yours, "Tamaki, no, nothing hurts. You made me feel so good." 

   You don't ever want to be a source of hesitation for him again. You want to make it better. He's brilliant, he's brave, he saved your damn life. He doesn't need to be so scared around you. 

   "You're my hero, Suneater." You pull him down for a soft, intimate kiss. 

   He breathes out against you, more of his tears wet your cheeks but you don't mind. 

   He's allowed to feel this, he earned this. 

   When the kiss breaks he searches your face, waiting for you to laugh at him, to push him off, to change your mind. 

   You don't, though. 

   You stay there with him, loving him and full of him. 

   "And you're mine." 

   You both settle there, kissing skin that hasn't been kissed before, finding ways to make each other fall even more. 

   Tamaki tells himself he did the right thing. You don't ever have to know why Dabi chose your house to break into. You don't ever need to be told that he spent endless nights watching you from the window, because he has you know. 

   It would be wrong of him to tell you, you wouldn't understand it. It would break your heart and ruin everything. Then, it would get messy. You might try to run away, and that would mean he'd have to keep you in different ways. 

   He shakes the thoughts from his head. He can keep you like this, laid out and blushing for him, so soft and beautiful. 

   You belong to him now, and that's all that there is. 

   "Can I take care of you?” He asks softly, playing with the necklace he gave you as he gives you a shy glance. 

   “You just did.” You let yourself laugh a little as you play with the hair at the nape of his neck. 

   “No, not like that.” He smiles softly, dipping down to kiss your neck so softly you almost can’t feel it, “Like this.” 

   He presses his lips against a mark you didn’t know he made, lingering for a moment as his eyes flutter shut. 

   “These say that you’re mine.” His thumb traces over one of the circular bruises on your ribs, “They say you have someone protecting you.”

   The prospect makes your heart soar. He’s right, belonging to him means you’ll always be safe, you’ll always have somebody willing to fight for you, maybe even somebody willing to stay with you. 

   “This says that you belong to me.” He loops a finger around the delicate pearl on your necklace, pulling gently, not enough to make you go anywhere, but enough to make you feel the metal tug against the back of your neck. 

   ‘You do belong to me, don’t you.” He asks, a wild, fearful look in his eyes. 

   You do, you just told him so, you just cried to him and vowed that you were his just moments ago. 

   “I do, I belong to you, I swear.” You reassure him, pulling a deep sigh from his chest. 

   You don’t understand the way he aches for you, the way he’s addicted to you. He was already hooked, from just glances and flighty touches. Now, having felt your soft skin, the tuck of your waist, having seen you cry and heard you call his name, he’s willing to admit his obsession. 

   He does take care of you, he does it beautifully. He carries you to the bathroom where he sets you on the edge of the tub. He fills it with warm, soapy water before picking you up bridal style so he can settle into the water with you in his lap. 

   Neither of you bother to turn a light on, content with the glow of the moon shining through the skylight. Tamaki paints your shoulders with soft kisses as he rubs soothing circles into your back. He takes his sweet time, wiping away the sweat and the tears, mindful of the tender spots on the back of your thighs. 

   “Beautiful, you’re so beautiful.” He sighs, “An angel, nothing less.” 

   You melt into him, lost in his praise, blinded by his devotion as well as your own. 

   Tamaki is just as lost, if not more, only becoming more possessive with every gentle touch, with every whispered adoration. 

   This is how it’s meant to be, and you don’t ever need to know how it all fell into place. He did the right thing, after all. This isn’t a problem, he’s in love. He’s in love and now he has you. 

   He intends on keeping it that way.

[yourlocalweirdo-3000]

sanemi x reader, platonic genya x reader

a/n: okay there's barely any x reader stuff in this, it's basically you comforting these boys, y'know y'know *gay hand flap* (i'm LGBTQ+ dw I'm not like, appropriating the hand flap thing or whatever). Anyhow, enjoy <3

WORD COUNT: 1.3k

GENRE: Fluff, Comfort. Reader is a demon, and a demon slayer. Gender-neutral reader as well.

WARNINGS: Sanemi cussing, feelings of loneliness, a whole lotta comfort and acceptance. Sanemi briefly threatening you and you not putting up with it. It's mentioned that Sanemi is a little taller than you.

     Genya was always alone.  That's something you noticed.  Tanjiro was the only one who made a real effort to be around him.  It made you sad, because you knew how it felt, and how lonely he must be feeling.  No one made the effort to be around you, either, besides Tanjiro.  

    It started with bringing him food.  You asked him if you could join him while he ate, and were pleasantly surprised that he agreed. He was so shy at first, and didn't really make conversation, but you didn't mind.  And that was the start of your friendship; you'd bring him food, ask him how his day was, and wish him a good night's rest when it was over.  You did this whenever you could, and sometimes Tanjiro joined you.  It was remarkably peaceful.  

    Eventually, Genya opened up to you.  He'd talk in more detail about how his day went, and he'd even share stories with you about what happened on his missions.  You complimented him on his vulnerability, telling him how strong it was to be vulnerable.  He'd duck his head and tell you it really wasn't, which sent a sharp feeling of pain in your heart.  Did he really not see himself as strong, the way you did?  You let it be, for now. 

    You opened up about your past. How you became a demon, and how you lost your family.  Genya was very accepting, and it made you feel a lot better about it.  And then, he told you about his past too. About how his mom turned into a demon, about how Sanemi had to kill her, about how truly weak he felt. He told you about how Sanemi no longer acknowledged him.  It hurt your heart, but you knew it hurt Genya's heart even more so. 

    "Can I please hug you?" You pleaded.  This kid was so hurt, you just wanted to make him feel better in any way you could.  He nodded without meeting your eyes, and you embraced him. 

    He was a little unsure at first, almost like he forgot how to hug, but soon he gripped you like his life depended on it.  You pretended not to notice his tears on your haori. 

    I guess Sanemi caught wind of it, because it wasn't long before he threatened you to stay away from his brother.  Although not much taller than you, he cornered you against a wall and was dangerously close to choking you. 

    "Sanemi Shinazugawa." Your voice was firm, almost angry, and you said his full name like a mother did when she meant business.  "As much as I want to listen to you, I'm not going to leave Genya alone. He's hurting, Sanemi, and contrary to what you think, pushing him away and ignoring him is only going to make it worse." 

    "And what the fuck do you know?!" He seethed. 

    You were close to snapping. "I know more than you, child, I am centuries older than you."  You shoved him away from you, and advanced on him until he was the one backed up against the wall.  "How do you not realize that the whole reason he's doing this demon slayer thing, is to get your attention?!  How do you not realize that by ignoring him, you're practically digging him an early grave?!" 

    You glared up at him, and he tried to regain control of the situation. 

    "How dare you—"

     "No, how dare you."  Your passions clashed, there was a moment of dead silence, and then your gaze and voice softened. "Please, Sanemi.  I don't want him to be a demon slayer any more than you do.  If you're serious about protecting him, you should help me.  He needs you, he really does, and he tells me how much he misses you every day."  

   You see the resolve in his eyes waver, and his lip quivers briefly, but you don't have a chance to examine this before he shoves you off of him and strides away.  You sigh, and pray that the relationship between these brothers would get better.  

   A few nights later, when you return to your room, Sanemi is there.  He sits on your futon with his gaze focused on the ground.  He doesn't respond to your tentative greeting, sighing instead as he prepares to say his next words. 

   "...How do I help him?" His voice is so soft when he says this that you can't hardly believe it's Sanemi who said it.  He's never showed such vulnerability with you. 

    You smile. "First, you've gotta show him that you care.  Then I'll help you convince him to leave the Demon Slayer Corps.  And you need to talk about why you pushed him away; not only would it help convince him to leave the Corps, it would help mend the relationship between you two."  

    Sanemi nods somberly, still with his back facing you. "...How do I show him that I care?" 

   "Well, you could join us for dinner tomorrow.  I'll be there too; I can help break the ice and stuff if you're worried about it being awkward." 

   Sanemi nods again, and gets up to leave the room.  He pauses at the doorway though, and says thank you in a voice so quiet you barely catch it.  And then he's gone. 

    The next evening, you're sitting with Genya as usual.  He's chatting with you happily, and you tell him that there's a surprise coming soon.  He asks what it is but you simply put a finger against your lips, indicating that you weren't going to tell him.  When Sanemi shows up, Genya falls silent, eyes wide and mouth open with shock.  The quiet continues for a beat before Sanemi awkwardly says "hi" and joins you both on the ground with his own meal in his hands.  

   Genya stares. He looks at you, flicks his gaze back to Sanemi, and back to you. "Is this real...?" 

    You nod with a hopeful smile, reaching out and squeezing Genya's hand for reassurance.  He smiles wide, looking absolutely ecstatic at this turn of events, and soon enough the three of you are having normal conversation.  Sanemi, however, is uncharacteristically quiet, and soon asks if he can speak to his brother alone. 

    This makes Genya nervous, and he quickly looks to you for reassurance. 

    "It's alright, he's not going to be mean." You slap Sanemi on the back a little bit too hard, reminding him that you can and would beat his ass if he hurt Genya.  Sanemi growled at you but didn't retaliate. "I'll be around if you need me." 

   You pick up their empty bowls and leave, making sure that wherever you ended up wandering to, you wouldn't be able to hear them. 

   After a moment, Sanemi tries to start a serious conversation.  He apologizes to Genya, and explains his reasoning for pushing Genya away.  Genya nearly cries, and exclaims his forgiveness. 

   "Please just be my brother again.  Please." Genya begs, and it strikes a chord within Sanemi.  The brothers share a hug, and that's about all the sappiness Sanemi can take.  He bids goodbye, promises to see Genya again tomorrow, and leaves. 

    Genya sits there, starstruck.  He's so happy to have his brother back he can hardly contain himself.  He runs to find you, and when he does, he nearly bowls you over with his hug. 

   "Thank you thank you thank you !!" He doesn't even bother trying to hide his tears.  You pat his back and laugh with joy. Genya breaks away from you, hands on your shoulders, and asks you how you did it. 

    You shrug. "I was just honest, I guess.  I don't really know how I managed it; I'm just really glad it worked out." 

   Genya's smile is contagious, and you can't stop grinning yourself. You invite him in your room because he clearly wants to talk about it. 

    Time seems to get away from you as you conversate.  At some point while you're talking, you notice that he's fallen asleep, and sigh happily. You tuck him in as a mother would, and go and get a futon for yourself before rejoining him in your room and laying it next to his.  It's not long before you're fast asleep as well.  

[avenger09]

The Dragon Prince: Heroes and Masterminds Epilogue

Callum and Rayla had held each other for over a minute having, after a day of uncertainty following thier first kiss, realized that what had grown between them was somthing far beyond feelings of friendship.

Right now the prince and former assassin were locked their fouth, most pleasent, kiss. The previous two having been exchanged in haste after Callum's starstruck, heartfelt admission of his utter admiration for her. As it drew to a close the two youths -once unlikely friends, now an unlikely couple- continued to hold the other, as they realize they have much to talk about.

Callum: Sorry about before. I should have let the moment be, instead I was an idiot and I, I made you feel rejected.

Rayla: Callum. Its okay. We were both idiots. I should have told you how I felt about you earlier. It would have saved us both time... and embaressment.

Callum: It really would have. I just didn't want you to think I was only saying that stuff for a kiss. I meant every word.

Rayla: I know. I've gotten to know you pretty well, I know your not to sort who'd do something like that. Besides, no matter how it went, all that matters now is, we're together now... Right?

Callum: Right... ...This is, this really happening isn't it?

Rayla: Yeah, it is. Its a bit scary isn't it?

Callum: It is, but good scary. Amazing scary... We should, we should talk about this right?

Rayla: Probebly. We'd better sit first.

Callum: Yes, yes, absoluetly we should.

Moving to the back of the Ambler's saddle they settle against the railing that encircled them. Careful not to wake the sleeping dragon prince and their exhausted mount laying nearby. As they do the implications of their romance begin to dawn on them.

Rayla: Y'know, we're probebly the first elf and human fo kiss in a over a thousand years.

Callum: Right! I mean forgot about the oasis, we're still being idiots now. We're trying to get Zym home to his mom. Stop a war. This is hardly the time for... well, stuff like this, but...

Rayla: It kinda/also is?

Callum: Exaclty. If nothing else it gives us another reason to succeed. So that we can... y'know. Keep on being a thing... I reallly want that, Rayla.

Rayla: I want that too, Callum. So we will succeed. I didn't meet the sweetest boy in Xadia, just to let him slip away now.

Callum: Well, if you put it that way...

He reaches out and takes her hand.

...I promise I won't let you down.

Rayla: (smiling) Good. Because I won't let you down either...

A moments peace passes before Callum speaks again, curious about somthing she had said earlier.

Callum: So... when you said: you should have told me how you felt. That means you figured out you liked me first, before the oasis. It wasn't a sudden realization thing to you like it was for me, well, I guess that's not completely right knew on some level I liked you, I just...

Rayla: Callum.

Callum: Right, sorry. What I'm asking is; Why didn't you tell me sooner?

Rayla looks away, her expression whistful as she recounts the now bittersweet idea she had once envisioned prior to her return home.

Rayla: I was planning to...when we got to the Silvergrove...before...

Callum: Oh... Its fine, you don't have to talk about-

Rayla: No, I want to, its better I get it out... I guess I thought it'd be romantic, we'd show everyone Zym was alive, that there was hope. Then i'd show you around after, we'd share a Moonberry surprise, I'd take you to meet Ethari and then, when it was just us, alone. I'd... tell you how I felt, and ask if you felt the same. I thought you might but, I wanted to be certain. At least I got one thing right.

Callum: Huh. That honestly would've been nice... plus without a doubt In that situation I'd have been the kisser.

Rayla lets a small chuckle escape from her. Her smile infecting Callum in a delightful way as he speaks out in mock offense.

Callum: Hey! I can be spontantious. Though, I cleary need to get carried away a bit first. Still even if it didn't work out that way, like you said, all that matters is we're together now. Your are, and always will be, the most amazing person I've ever met. I was always going to realize that.

Rayla: Then there's nothing to regret. Is there...

Shaking his head in response they smile at one another before gently leaning into each other content. Eventually the fatigue of the day's events catch up to them and they drift off to sleep, their future now looking at bit brighter then they expected it to be when they first set out on their quest.

[raineydays411]

The best of friends

Peter Parker x Stark!reader

Summary: The dreaded weekend has arrived. It goes as well as you expected, but you made some new friends.

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

First of all, let it be known that you tried oh so desperately to get out of this situation.

You tried to feign an illness, Bruce deemed you okay. You said you were supposed to be training with Steve, Bucky said he was on a mission. Hell, you even tried to get into trouble and be grounded, but your dad saw right through it. 

“Y/n, why don’t you wanna go with Peter and his friends?” He asks, slightly irritated but mostly worried. 

“Because...” You don’t answer the question. Instead opting to look around the common room and avoid eye contact. 

“Because what? You love hanging out with Peter.” Then he mumbles,” Maybe a little too much” 

You were going to defend yourself, but then you realized you had one more trick up your sleeve. 

“It’s just...I realized that I haven’t really spent time with you.” You look at your dad with big eyes,” Ever since I met Pete, we’ve been hanging out almost every weekend, we rarely have any father-daughter time” 

Tony’s face softens,” Well, you’re not wrong..” 

Yes! He took the bait!

“Oh what the hell, Spiderling can just come over next weeke--”

“Tony!” Oh no..

“Hey Pep, I was just planning a daddy- daughter day with Y/n”

She looked at you apologetically, “I’m sorry sweetie, but your dad seems to have forgotten that we have a meeting to attend”

God damnit. 

“I didn’t forget. I just don’t want to go.” He pouts as Pepper drags him away. He turns to you, “ Kid, just go with Peter today, we can spend some time together tomorrow or something, OW Pep I’m coming!!” 

You sigh, looking at the time and realizing that you had two hours to get ready. You slowly walk to your room, freading every step you take. On your way there you bump into Wanda. Literally.

“Oh sorry Wanda” You mutter, it’s still a little awkward between you two. 

“It’s okay.” She smiles,” Are you alright, you seem like you have a lot on your mind.” Ironic.

You sigh, and tell her about your plans with Peter and how he invited Liz and his friends.

“So, you’ve finally realized your feelings for the Spider boy.”  

You choke hearing her words,” Wh-what?! Who said anything about feelings?”

She looks at you with a bored face,” You do know I can basically read your mind right? Besides, I don’t have read your mind to see you like each other. It pretty obvious all on it’s own.”

You look down, “ I don’t know, you should have seen his face when he saw Liz...” 

It was silent for a second, then Wanda’s face grew a look of determination, “ Okay, then we’ll make him realize how much he likes you.” 

With those words, she pulled you along into your room. 

“When did she get so strong?” You thought to yourself, surprised at how easily she was able to maneuver your body.

Once you were in your room, she made for your closet.

“Boys are stupid” She said, going through all your clothes, “ They don’t realize they want something until someone else wants the same thing.” 

“So..where exactly are you going with this?” You ask cautiously. Then she pulls out an oversized t shirt, biker shirts, and some sneakers. 

“Everytime you see Peter, you’re bare faced and in sweats. And while there's nothing wrong with that, I know that you want Peter to recognize you was a potential partner, yes?”

You nod,” Yes, but what does dressing up have to do with anything?” 

Wanda rolls her eyes,” Right now, he sees you as a friend. His buddy that he sees only on the weekend, away from his ‘normal’ life. You want to break that notion.”

You nod along, everything she says is making sense. Even if Peter is a little touchy with you, it seems to be very subconscious. You want him to look at you the way he looks at Liz. You want that silly smile he gives her to be aimed at you. 

Besides, it has been a while since you got the chance to dress up. 

You smile at Wanda, “ You know, you’re really fun to hang out with.”

She blushes at your words,” It's nice to have a girl to hang out with. Put on your clothes then call me, I’ll help you with your make up.” Then she walks out of your room, softly closing the door. You never realized it before, but Wanda really does keep to herself and Pietro. She’ll talk to Vision or Steve every once in a while, but it's pretty rare. Maybe you both weren’t so different after all...

You smile as you change, your talk with Wanda helped ease your anxiety for the moments. You decide to do your hair in your favorite hairstyle. Then you picked out some necklaces, the gold meshing perfectly on your brown skin. Then you called Wanda back in.

“Beautiful, Parkers not going to know what hit him” She says with a smile, “I know you don’t wear much makeup on a regular day, so how about this?” 

She pulls up a picture on pinterest. You smile, she really looked up ‘black girl makeup’ on pinterest for you. 

“I love it. I have some falsies I use for galas in my makeup bag.” 

So you and Wanda spend the next thirty minutes doing your makeup. It really was fun. The two of you laughed and giggled at each other, sang along to the music playing in the background, and talked about anything and everything. 

When you were finally done, you stared at yourself in the mirror. It was weird. Sure, you’ve been dressed up before, but that was usually when you went to fancy dinner parties with your dad. This was a whole other thing.

“You’re missing something.” Wanda says looking at you, “ But I’m not too sure what it is...” Then, Pietro peaks his head in the door.

“Um Wanda, where have you been? I’ve been looking for you all ove-” “Pietro! You can’t just walk into a girls room without knocking!” “You’ve been in here for almost two hours how was I supposed to Kn--” 

You chuckle at the two siblings bickering. It kind of reminded you if you and your dad. For a forty year old man, he really could act like a child.

“Since you’re here, we need a boys opinion” Wanda says cutting off whatever you were thinking about.

“What for?” He asks skeptically, finally realizing that there was another person in the room with them.

“She’s missing something, yes?” She says, pulling you over to them. Your face burns as you feel Pietro's gaze on you. Looking for whatever Wanda claims that was missing.

“That shiny sticky stuff you put on your lips.” He says,” oh and try these” a burst of wind hits your face and blows back Wanda's hair as Pietro runs and comes back with a pair of tiny sunglasses. 

“Here.” He places them on your head, “You know, you’re actually really pretty.” 

Wanda laughs,” If it doesn’t work out with Peter, you can always date Pietro”

“That's not what I meant!” He says with a blush, “ Are you finally going on a date with the Spider boy?” 

You sigh,” No, he invited his crush and his friends to our shopping trip” 

Pietro shakes his head,” You should make him jealous.” 

Wanda rolls her eyes and you look at him in confusion,” What do you mean?”

“Men want things they can’t have. If you make him jealous, he’ll definitely pay attention to you.” Then his eyes widen, “ Hey! I can dress up like a teenager and--” “NO” 

Wanda yells shutting down that idea,” Y/n, don’t listen to my idiot brother.” She hands you the lip gloss,”Now, just make sure to show him what he’s missing, act the way you do when you were with me.” 

“Ms. Stark? Mr. Parker is waiting for you in the lobby.”

Wanda and Pietro with you to the elevator

“Good luck Y/n, remember what I said.” Wanda said with a wink.

Pietro smiled as the doors closed, but you could have sworn he smirked at the last minute. 

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

“Oh well” You think,” Okay, just be yourself, be yourself” 

The elevator doors open to reveal MJ and Ned sitting on the lobby chairs. They stand up at the sound of the doors opening.

“Finally, Peter kept-- woah” Ned’s eyes widened at seeing you. “H-hi” 

“Hi Ned” You say with a soft smile, “ Wheres Peter?” 

“He’s outside waiting for Liz’s mom to drop her off” Mj said with a scoff, “ Really, you’d think she’d be on time..”

“Oh..okay” You say, already Peter was ignoring you for Liz and the day barely started. “Well, let’s meet him outside” 

The three of you started to make your way outside when a gust of wind blew from the back.

“Ah Printsessa! I’m glad I caught you before you left” 

oh no...

“You forgot your purse on the counter. I’m sure you need it or this shopping trip” He says with a smirk, holding the small bag with his finger.

Ned and Mj were in shock. Either because they were starstruck or because they weren’t expecting to talk to one of the Avengers. 

“Hey guys! Liz is here!” Peter says walking into the building. ‘Oh hey Y/n” 

“Hey Pete” You say, annoyed that he was just greeting you. Not even with a hug. 

“Well!” Pietro saud loudly,” Here is your bag” 

As you went to grab the bag, Pietro raised it out of your reach. 

“Come on printsessa, I know you’re faster than that” He said in a teasing tone.

“Pietro! We have to go” You said with a laugh, confused on why he was acting like this.

“Okay okay” He goes to hand the purse to you,” You really do look beautiful, as always.” He says with a smile. “побачимось пізніше принцесою“ 

Then he pecks you on the forehead, winks at the group, and is gone with another burst of wind. 

“What was that?” Peter asks,” I didn’t know you were so close with Pietro.”

“Well him and Wanda helped me pick my outfit” You said with a shrug, “I didn’t even know I was close to Pietro like that”

“Well, your outfit is super cute” Liz said with a smile. 

“Damn I can’t even hate her, she's so nice” you think to yourself. 

‘Thank you” you said weakly, “ I honestly didn’t know I had clothes like this” 

“Neither did I” mumbled Peter. 

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

The five of you started the day by walking to some of the shops near the Tower. You,Mj, and ned ended up being left behind while Peter and Liz were in the front.

“Why did he invite us if he isn’t going to talk to us?” Mj mumbles to you and Ned.

“Aw come on Mj, Peter’s been trying to talk to Liz for like three years now.” Ned whispers back. 

“That doesn’t mean he has to ditch his friends” you say quietly, Mj agreeing with you.

“Exactly, this is Y/ns first time out with friends and he’s missing it for Liz.” 

“Why does everyone think I don’t have friends?” You say with a laugh,” I just don’t have any in the city.”

“Right” Mj says,” Either way, you don’t get out much.”

“That’s right! We should be having fun, not moping about Peter.” Ned adds, “Come on!” 

He pulls you and Mj into the store, dragging you through the aisles and making you both try on ridiculous stuff. It was really fun, you laughed as Ned draped a feather boa on an annoyed Mj. But then you noticed that Peter and Liz were standing way too close to each other. Peter ran a hand through his hair as Liz laughed at whatever he said. 

That cold feeling grew in your chest again. You watched as Peter awkwardly picked lint off of her hair as she smiled. 

“Hey! We should go to this carnival they’re having!” Ned yells, ruining their moment. 

“Way to go Ned” You think, satisfied at the outcome. 

“A carnival?” Peter asks, “ I don’t know Ned, it's pretty far from here..”

“Aw come one guys! It one sub stop away from here! “

“I’ve never been to a carnival before” You said, “It sounds fun”

“But Mr. Stark said not to go too far..”

“You know a carnival does sound fun” Liz says, then Peter softens and gets that stupid look on his face. 

“Okay fine” He says, “ We should get going.” 

“Of course he agrees with her” Mj mutters.

“No kidding” You whisper back.

The walk to the subway was awkward, you all waited quietly for the train to get there.

“So..I guess you’ve never been on a sub before huh?” Liz said, trying to make conversation.

‘The last time I was on one, my mother was leaving me with my dad.” You said blankly, watching the people around you scurry. You didn’t mean to be so rude. Really, it wasn’t her fault that Peter liked her, but you couldn’t help it. You just wanted to spend time with Peter alone. 

“Oh, I’m sorry I..I didn’t know” Liz said looking away. Peter looked in between you two, as if he didn’t know who to comfort. 

He chose Liz of course.

“Hey, it’s okay you didn’t mean to” He said rubbing her back. “ She knows that”

You and Mj simultaneously roll your eyes. She looks at you as if asking if you’re okay. You nod, appreciating the small gesture. 

The group gets on the subway. You see Peter go to sit down, one space free next to him. You see Liz talking to Ned about the carnival and Mj was already sitting somewhere else. So you took the chance to finally be alone with Peter. 

You sit down with a sigh, finally glad to be off your feet.

“Hey” You mutter to Peter, pulling out your lip gloss and mirror. 

“Hey! Gosh I feel like I haven’t talked to you in forever” Peter says chuckling. He turns to look at you. “So, are you having fun? Are Ned and Mj being nice to you?”

“Yeah, they’re great.” You say, pouting in the mirror. From your peripheral, you can see Peter glance at your lips. You smile, and suddenly turn towards him. Your faces close together. 

“You look great..by the way..” He says lowly, “You look different..” 

“Well, I’m not in my pyjamas” You saw with a light laugh. Peter laughs along with you.

“That’s true, I never realized that we mainly hang out at the tower.” 

“Yeah, it’d be nice to hang out somewhere else” You say, hinting that you want to spend time alone with him. 

“Yeah..that would be nice” He whispers. He looks at you for a bit, examining your face. “Hey, umm, what was that with Pietro?” 

You look at him in surprise, “ What do you mean?”

He turns red, “ Well, it’s just that..it kind of looked like he was flirting with you.”

Wait..is he.. “Peter Parker, are you jealous?” you ask with a grin.

“What? N-no!” He stutters,”It’s just that he..he’s like old!” 

You laugh,” He’s twenty one, hardly that much older” 

“Yeah..but still” He says with a pout, “I don’t need anyone taking my best friend away.”

Your heart flutters, the thought of him not wanting to lose you made you grow hot. 

“Don’t worry web head, no one is going to take me away from you.” You say looking him in the eye. He smiles at you, taking your hand. 

“Good, and no one is--” “Hey Peter, we’re here!”

Liz. Of course.

Peter practically throws your hand back into your lap. 

“Oh awesome!” He says getting up from his spot and walking over to her.

Leaving you by yourself. Mj walks up to you.

“He’s an idiot.” She says knowingly, “Come on.” She grabs your hand, pulling you off the train and through the crowd. You let her, deflated at the fact that Peter put you second to Liz...again.

“Hey...I know you like Peter.” Mj says, “ But don’t let him get you down. You’re hot shit, if he can’t see that then fuck him.”

You look at her in shock, “I guess I have been pretty obvious huh?” 

“No kidding” Ned suddenly appears, “If looks could kill, Liz would be six feet under.” 

You sigh, “I’m sorry if I’m ruining your day, I just...I have no experience with this sort of thing.”

“But you’re a Stark...” Ned begins

“Yeah, but I’ve always been homeschooled, my first crush was on Steve and I was 7. This is different” You look at Peter, “ Peter was the first person my age I truly got to know. Not as Tony Stark's daughter, but as me.”

“Seeing him with Liz must be confusing. I’m sorry he’s so stupid” Mj says, placing a comforting hand on your shoulder. 

“Let’s go have fun.” Ned says, “ You shouldn’t let this situation bring you down.” 

You smile, deciding Ned was right. The three of you walk up to the entrance. The air smells like fried foods and candy. Screams of children on rides and laughter of couples on dates fills your ears. The bright lights shine as the setting sun lowers in the background. You’re amazed, only ever seeing stuff like this in movies.

“Come on guys!” Liz shouts waving you, Mj and Ned over to a ride. The Himalaya. It was a ride that went in circles, each round faster and faster. But the thing that caught your attention was the rock music that played in the background. 

“Sounds like the lab” You shout over the music, “Dad is always blasting music when I go down there.”

“Oh that’s true!” Peter shouts back, “ He let me pick the music once”

“Yeah and you picked some poppy trash” You teased, “ You trying to give my old man a heart attack Parker?” 

“I told you it was an accident!” 

“Oh sure”

“Next!” The attendant shouted. You started to make your way to the carts. Mj pulling Liz and Ned to go sit with her, she turned to you with a wink.  

“Guess it’s you and me” Peter says looking back at Liz.

“Don’t sound so excited” You mutter, about to make your way to the next cart when the attendant stopped you

“Hey, do you wanna pick the next song?” He asks handing you a book full of songs.

“Sure, umm number 79″ You say with a smile, the attendant looks at you with a grin

“You have taste, I’m impressed” 

“I get it from my dad” You   say, about to walk away when he stops you again 

“Your sunglasses might fall off, I’ll hold them for you” He says, taking them off your head.

You blush at his sudden closeness when you hear Peter shout

“ You coming Stark?” “Yeah I’m coming” 

You smile at the boy and run off to join your friend.

“Sorry, he let me pick the song” You say, settling into the seat next to Peter. 

“He was a little close don’t you think?” He says fiddling with the bar that serves as the seatbelt. 

“I don’t know, I guess”

The ride started slowly going forward. The first notes of “You shook me all night long” starting to play. You along with several older adults started cheering. As the ride started moving faster, you started laughing and loudly singing along. The fluttering feeling coming back as Peter watched you sing. With that smile you know is reserved only for you. A smile you’ve seen time and time again, when you’re falling asleep during movie nights, or when you win at a board game.

At that moment, as you watch the world blur around you, it was just you and Peter. Yelling AC/DC lyrics in his face while he looked at you in amusement. This was how it was meant to be. 

Then the song ends. And so does the ride. 

Once it stops, Peter hops out and goes to help Liz out of her seat.

You sigh, making your way up to the attendant to get your glasses. 

“Hey, thanks for holding them” You say taking your glasses, you smile at him and walk away. You catch up to the rest of your friends placing the glasses on your head.

“Y/n you have something on your glasses.” Ned points out. You reached out and felt  piece of paper on your glasses. You take it off, you see the attendant has written his number on a piece of paper and attached it to your glasses

“ Ohhh look at you” Ned says, “looks like the playboy has passed from your dad to you”

Everyone laughs, except Peter for some reason. You look at him in concern, but before you can say anything Liz pulls him away to ring toss booth.

“ Come on guys, I want one of those fried Oreos,”

So again you were separated from Peter. It seems like every time you had a chance to get close to him somebody was always butting in.

You sigh, “maybe it wasn’t meant to be, I mean if he wanted to..he would right??”

Lost in thought you watch as Ned and Mj argue over something about Shakespeare. You tune out as you continue to think about Peter in the situation you’re in. That’s when you heard your name being yelled

“ Hey Stark!!”

You turn around and to your surprise, you see a familiar face. 

“Am I dreaming or is that you Jason Todd??”

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

A/n: fun fact there’s actually a ride called the Himalaya in an amusement park in my town. It basically does the same thing I described in the story it’s my favorite ride.



[yourmcu]

Mesmerized (iii)

Pairings: Natasha Romanoff x fem!reader

Request:

@lostaurorax​ said:

hii!! i love ur writing i was wondering if u could write a natasha x reader fic were reader is part of the guardians of the galaxy and they come to the compound and natasha is just starstruck but reader plays kinda hard to get and then just a bunch of fluff !

Word count: 2,138

A/n: notes at the end

Warnings: crash, mentions of explosion, swearing, space mission, soft!nat, quill’s a jerk

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

Your departure from Earth made its one-year mark.

Natasha hasn’t felt like herself since you left. She’s known you for a few months but it felt like ages, it felt like she knew everything about you from the amount of time you spent together.

It’s not like you had a choice. The guardians needed you and of course you’re gonna be there for them too. They saved your ass countless of time and, well, they’re your family.

“Shit!”

Natasha frowns, leaning forward a bit from her sitting position. “What’s wrong?”

You fail to respond back. You curse once more in realization that you had no more ammo left in your guns, using your fire conjuring abilities is risky in this situation too, given on what type of creatures you're fighting.

Rocket is still determined to fight but you know he’s not gonna make it alive so you pick him up and sprint to your ship.

“I had it under control!” The raccoon yells.

“You’re kidding, right? The others already left!” You boom, fiddling with the buttons and levers of the ship to try and start it. The rattling of the monsters behind getting you frazzled. “Fucking-”

“Out of the way before you burn the controls, I got it.”

You go to the back part of the ship to reload all your weapons. You sigh in relief when Rocket managed to start the ship.

The mission went horribly wrong. People died and you were outnumbered. You almost set Groot on fire because of how overwhelmed you were, the fact that Quill was expressing how pissed he was at you didn’t help. Usually the team had every mission handled and sorted. You weren’t used to losing.

And you forgot Natasha is still connected to the call.

She just listens further. It's more silent than earlier so she figured you got away from whatever happened, but she's ready to try and help whatever it takes even though she's a thousand miles away.

“Quill’s not responding,” you frown, frantically searching the back of the ship for the backup weapons. “He must’ve turned his comms off. Can you contact the other ship there?”

“No, offline,” Rocket mumbles, more focused on getting the ship moving. “But geez, you and him have to sort things out.”

“I’m sorry-”

“Save it, we’re still being followed!” Rocket swerves in attempt to knock off the creatures - who're still actively chasing the spaceship. They could fly, and there are a lot. You couldn’t imagine anything like it.

You try your best to fight them off through the spacious hatch on top, but of course you have no match for all of them. You wish Thor was here. As far as you knew he's sorting Asgard things out with Valkyrie.

Every minute just gets worse. The flight gets unstable the more those creatures are catching up, you're surprised they're so determined to destroy both of you.

“Can you go any faster?!”

“I can’t, can I?!” Rocket's driving and pressing multiple buttons for the jump at the same  time.

“Y/N,” Natasha calls out, hoping you could still hear her. “I can tell the team if you need any help-”

On your end, she just got more blasters and guns going off, orders flying between you and the raccoon.

“We need to shake them off, this ship’s not gonna handle them,” You say exasperated. “I’m gonna cause a distraction, got it? You need to get us out of here - anywhere - I don’t care how many jumps it takes!”

Rocket, as rare as it is, displays concern in his face, but he sighs and grips on the levers. “Ready when you are.”

You suck in a breath, letting out a huge burst of what seems like fire and just - heat, aiming at the creatures closest to the ship. It gets nearly all of them. The raccoon mutters a quick countdown, watching you fall unconscious from the hatch in the corner of his eye. He pushes the lever forward slowly, jumping to the one place he knows the both of you could get help.

Earth.

-

As soon as you let yourself go, Natasha loses the connection. The intensity of you using your powers like that might’ve affected it.

“God,” she mutters, pacing around her table, “Friday, you still have contact on that ship?”

“Yes, Ms. Romanoff,” the A.I responds, and for a moment, a huge explosion sounded somewhere in the forest near the compound. “...and they just landed. Would you like me to send you the exact coordinates?”

Of course Natasha doesn’t waste time to go out and find you. Thankfully Steve is around and was shaken by the sudden explosion too. It’s snowing, the forest covered with thick snow so it wouldn’t be hard to find wherever the ship crashed.

“She’ll be alright, Nat. We’ll find her.” Steve reassures.

Natasha’s breath hitches at the sight of the aircraft completely destroyed, pieces everywhere, she wasted no time to find you under all the rubble.

The unconscious raccoon isn’t hard to find, but you had it worse considering you were already out before the crash.

“Steve,” she states, walking over scraps and metal to get to you. You're sickly pale, giving Natasha the feeling that she's too late but she did feel a slight pulse. There’s blood on the side of your forehead but other than that,

“She’s freezing,” and it isn’t from the snow alone, she thought. You're colder than that. Natasha has an arm around your back and behind your knees, getting ready to carry you. “Steve, we-”

“I’ll call Bruce to get them sorted out. Try and find their stuff that’s not destroyed.” His tone is firm. He doesn’t wait for a response, gently grabbing you from her and strides back to the compound.

Natasha sighs. Almost everything she sees is unrecognizable except for a few complicated looking guns that definitely looks like Rocket’s and your bag you took on one of your dates. Biting the inside of her cheek, she opens it, sighing in relief when everything inside looked in order.

She finds a wallet-sized picture of both of you at a fair's photo booth. You always held onto it and kept it in your pocket most of the time that's why it looks worn out, probably from you holding it so much. This makes Natasha's heart ache, deciding to keep it for the meantime, carrying all your stuff that's left to the compound.

- You wake with a start. You're facing the clean white ceiling of the Avengers' med bay and you tilt your head to the side to see Natasha sleeping on a stool beside your bed with her head lulling forward and her arms are crossed. As much as you feel relieved to see her, you're confused on how you got here, how she found you. You lift your arm to gently pat the redhead awake. She sighs and goes to rub her neck. "You're cold." You smile softly, cringing at the rasp of your voice. "Didn't want you to be sore from the way you were sleeping." "I'm glad you're awake." "How long was I out?" Natasha gets up to get you a glass of water while you sit up the bed. "Twelve hours. You definitely needed the rest, everything sounded really crazy up there," she says. "Rocket's somewhere around, he left his bed the moment he got up." She hands you the glass and tucks a strand of your hair behind your ear. Feeling how cold you still are since they found you in the forest, she grabs a remote to crank the heater up a bit. You purse your lips and cross your legs, looking at her. "How'd you find us?" "Let's just say we heard the impact of the crash from here," Natasha eyes the bandages on the side of your head for a moment. "It was really lucky your ship crashed nearby, but you know I wouldn't hesitate to get on the jet just to find you. And when I did, I... I thought you were-"

Your hand immediately goes to cup her cheek, the contrast of warm and cold making Natasha relax in your touch. "I'm here now. You saved me." She returns your smile and holds onto your hand on her cheek. "I missed you." "I missed you too." "You know, I did specifically set those coordinates," Rocket says as he enters the room with Tony. "Technically I saved us." Your smile only widens and Natasha chuckles, turning to Tony to see what he has to say about your condition. "You really wore yourself out there fireball, is she still freezing cold?" He asks this to Natasha specifically and she nods. You furrow your eyebrows and turn to your fists, clenching them, only noticing now that you are freezing. "I'm gonna run a simple test and if all goes as expected, Bruce is gonna give you a shot." "Have you already got a conclusion on what happened to me?" You question. Tony pulls out something from his pocket. "Sure have. Now set this on fire." He tosses you a solid crumpled paper. Holding it between three fingers you expect it to turn into ash in your palm, but it stayed the way it is. You're looking at it now to help focus on setting it on fire but it still stayed as normal paper. Natasha grips you on the arm. "I think that's enough." "You went all out with your powers. I did see you let out an overwhelming amount when we were trying to outrun those creatures before you passed out." Rocket states. "Naturally it'll come back, but the shot should help you with your... body temperature and hopefully the speed of recovery." Tony adds. You groan, back landing on the pillow behind you. Not only does losing your powers suck but you aren't a big fan of needles either, but you'll deal with them if you really have to. Natasha's hand slowly crawls up to intertwine with yours, although her attention was still on Tony. "She's gonna have to stay here at least until she recovers, right?" She also looks at Rocket if he has any objections but he merely nods his head. "'Course, they're welcome here for as long as they want." Tony claps his hands together and dismisses himself, Rocket following behind. "In the meantime I'll be figuring out a way to build a new ship." The raccoon says before closing the door behind him. Natasha makes her way to sit beside you and you automatically scooch to make space and rest your head against her shoulder, taking a breath. "You alright?" You shrug. "I guess I do feel pretty useless without those powers. I mean, Quill without a doubt would never let me go on missions anymore. I'd just be a burden to everyone." She lets go of your hand to put around you. "Everything doesn't revolve around your powers, Y/N. You're not useless. I bet you could take that Quill guy down in a fist fight." You let out a chuckle, shaking your head. "What's that guy like anyway?" The sudden question makes your head perk up. "Oh, you know, Quill, he's a nice guy-" Natasha let out a noise, cutting you off. "Didn't sound like it while I was connected in the call." "He can be a mouthful to me sometimes," you admit quietly. "Not to everyone though, I do generally think he's a nice guy. I have no idea what I did that made him so pissed at me." You look up at her and she's staring at the wall, seeming like she's deep in thought. "He doesn't hurt you, does he?" "God, no. He's not like that," you say. "If he did want to of course I wouldn't just take it." Natasha smiles, "that's my girl." You hung your head low so she couldn't see the way you flushed at the phrase, biting your lip to hold in a smile. “I’m glad you have my back, though.”

“I always do. Always will.”

"So, when can I leave this room?"

"After Bruce gives you the shot, then we can do whatever we want." She tilts your head up to move your hair out of your face. You look at her with an amused expression, "where do you plan on taking me this time?” Natasha smirks at the question. She loves spending all her time with you and the sight of you enjoying yourself makes it better. "There’s a new bookstore open, thought you might like it. Also an amusement park. It’s a few hours away but I can always drive. Oh, Tony’s cabin. I’m sure he’d love you to meet his newborn Morgan.”

“Sounds like you have a list,” you muse.

Natasha hums, pulling you closer. “I do.”

-

final one!! no one’s really looking forward to this but I enjoyed writing it anyway :)

btw wrote this way before thor: love and thunder so i have no idea what him and the guardians are up to but i wish them the best

[shameless plug] check out this natasha ambience i made some people thought it was cool

[saksukei]

seungcheol volleyball au

masterlist

it's not everyday that your best friend, yoon jeonghan, shoves the volleyball manager forms in your face, begging you to sign up,,,,

the volleyball club needed a manager to help them organize stuff and spy on other teams

and besides, with thirteen boys going crazy inside the gymnasium, they needed as much help as they could get

because three weeks later, they were going to be participating in one of the biggest volleyball tournaments of the country

so you gave in to jeonghan’s whining

and since you were the first applicant, you got accepted (but you were a hundred percent sure jeonghan had done something to the other applications– burnt them perhaps?)

so today was your first day and you headed towards the gymnasium, nervous

opening the door, all eyes landed on you and the room fell silent

“uh– hi?” you said. “i’m the new volleyball manager?”

“really– you seem unsure,” you heard someone say and your eyes landed on yoon jeonghan. Typical.

“jeonghan why don't you get your head out of your ass and focus on volleyball,” you hissed, causing the boys to snicker

“hey– I like our manager already,” you heard one of them say,, remembering his name was vernon.

“hi i’m seungcheol,” someone said and your eyes landed on perhaps the most beautiful guy you had ever seen,,, and you were definitely starstruck

“uh hi–” you replied.

“i’m the captain of the team,” he informed you. “if the boys bother you, you can come to me,” he gave a slight smile.

“i’ll be sure to keep that in mind,” you chuckled.

“c’mon– let me introduce you to them,” he smiled,,, and you knew being the manager was going to be tough, considering choi seungcheol was going to be there,,,,,

and so,,, the practices started,,,, you'd make sure the boys ate well, didn't overwork themselves and if they needed help with tossing, you would help them with that too

you had grown to enjoy their bickering and admired their passion for volleyball and the ability to work together as a team,

but despite all of this,, your eyes went to one person

ding ding ding! yes, it's choi seungcheol

he'd look so amazing while playing,,, his serve was by far the best in the team, (and everyone is terrified of it because seungcheol is the strongest and yes, that serve can break your face) but still,,,

but what caught your attention was not his volleyball skills but

the little things he did for the boys,,, like keeping a headcount, making sure they were okay and they all got to play equally, patting them on the back everytime they did a good job,,,

and the little things he did for you

every time he'd see you, even in between classes,, he'd have a huge smile on his face while waving at you (yes, his dimples are the cutest gosh),,, he'd force the boys to clean rather than you,,, he'd help you carry the cartons of water bottles,,,,

and this one time, mingyu was practicing his serve and you didn't realize because you were talking to seungkwan,,,

yes, seungcheol came to the rescue,,, he stood right behind you,,, his back facing mingyu,,, so that he could shelter you from the ball,,,

you didn't realize till you felt a tall figure hovering over you and well,, mingyu was bowing profusely and seungcheol turned around,,, to kick his ass

and the other day, you remembered that when you were a first year,,, you thought that seungcheol was actually very cute,,, but because his classes were different,,, you didn't really pursue him

basically, life was not going well because you were a choi seungcheol simp

and today was the same as well,, except normally, they'd get done before sunset, so you had enough time to go home

but today with clean up and everything,,, it was almost 8:30 pm

“guys, should we have hotpot together? considering it's already late–” Hoshi asked the others,,,

“yeah I'm up for it–” woozi replied and the others nodded in agreement.

“um– I don't think I'll be able to come,” you told them. “my parents are already waiting for me.”

“NOOOOOOOOOOOO wHY DO YOU THIS TO US DO YOU NOT LOVE US?” dokyeom yelled,,, jun started wiping his fake tears,

god it was like you had refused some grade school kids from taking candy

“guys, we'll make another dinner plan with y/n some other time,” seungcheol smiled.

“yeah,,, and it'll be my treat!” you pat dokyeom’s head and they all agreed.

“alright,,, I'm going– bye guys, see you tomorrow!” you waved,,, but before you could leave, seungcheol stopped you

“i’ll walk you home,” seungcheol told you and you heard jeonghan whistle in the back,,, a smirk on his face,,,

“n-no no, don't you have to go for dinner?”

“i do– but i’m not letting you walk alone because it isn't safe and two, by the time I drop you and come back to the restaurant, the food will be ready,” he explained.

“yeah but none will be left for you–” you chuckled,,, knowing how crazy of appetite these boys could work up.

“s’ fine– and besides, I'm not offering, I'm telling you that I'll be walking you home.”

“okay grandpa, let's go–” you felt as if your heart was going to jump out of your chest,,,,

so you and seungcheol started walking towards your house,,,

“so– do you like being the manager?” he asks, to break the awkward silence.

“uh yeah,,, it's nice but you guys sometimes have way too much energy,” you respond,, causing him to chuckle.

“yeah,,, well it's been like that forever,” he says.

“do you remember that carnival we had when we were first years?” you asked,,

“yes,,, it was so much fun–” he smiled at the memory,,,

“i think,, that was when I first saw you.”

“really? and what was your first impression of me?” he asked,, a teasing tone to his voice.

“well,,, I did think you were cute– but then I forgot your existence,,” you answered

“really? hm– I was thinking of asking you out but now, hearing that you forgot my existence,,, maybe I shouldn't,” he teased,,, a shit eating grin on his face

“y-you were thinking of asking me out?” you repeated,,, shocked that he reciprocated your feelings,,,

“well,, why do you think yoon jeonghan had been begging you to join the club?”

[writersblog20]

Everybody has a hard time, from time to time

Tom Hiddleston x Freader

Warnings: reader being drunk, little bit of anxiety but disguised as nervousness.Angst but not too much. Language. And feeling worthless. Readers boss gaslighting her but it’s not much. age-gap reader is 25. Implied smut sort of? But also not really

Words: 3470

Summary: The reader meets Tom Hiddleston and he asked her out on a date. But on the date she gets a call from her extremely drunken best friend….

A/N: I just went with it and I don’t even know what it turned out hahaha I'm also sorry for the spelling mistakes and stuff

Everybody has a hard time from time to time

Y/N was walking down the streets. Headphones in and 4 coffees on a tray. She sighed and started walking faster back to her stupid job. Her boss gave her a really hard time but lately it had gotten worse. She tried to calm down and take a minute but balancing lunch and coffee was definitely not on her resume. She was so lost in her thought that she got back to it until her butt hit the pavement pretty hard.

Everything went so fast and she felt the very hot coffee on her chest soaking her blouse. “Fuck!” she cursed out. “oh my god I’m so sorry” the man said who was kneeling besides her now trying to help her. “it’s fine. Just going to get fired now. but honestly it’s fine” you said in anger.

You looked up and to your surprise you saw it was your favorite actor Tom Hiddleston. Worry filled his pool blue eyes. you wanted to freak out but honestly you were more freaking out about your boss right now. “God I really am sorry ma’am. Let me pay for some new coffee!” he told you kindly. You carefully tried to dry your blouse. Tom got a dry sweater from his bag.

“please take it, god I’m so sorry” He told you with actual more worry in his eyes. “is there anything I can do for you? I can walk with you to your boss to explain what happened” he told you a little panicked. You chuckled at the sweet gesture and started to feel sorry for him because how bad he felt.

“It’s okay. I doubt that would change much.” He nodded. “are you hurt?” he asked you helping you up. “eh no I’m fine I think.” You told him. “I’m really sorry please take my jumper. I know it isn’t much but at least it’s dry” he told you and almost shove it in your hands. “thank you!” you told him and he looked a little more relaxed that he at least could do something for you.

“well I should go now.” you told him. “I do need that jumper back” he told you with a grin and you started to feel flustered. “right I’m sorry I….” he cut you off before you could finish that sentence. “I ehm never really do this but how about you give it back on our date? If you would gladly accept of course. My treat for what happened.” You were starstruck but you thought he wanted to take you on a date out of pity. “ you don’t have to do that Tom, you don’t have to take me on a date because you feel bad. Gives off the wrong signals.” You told him while cleaning your pants from the dirt on the ground.

“I’m eh Tom” he told you. You chuckled “yeah I know. Big fan” you said still chuckling and he giggled a little. He waited for you to say your name but you were lost in thoughts again. “oh I’m sorry I’m Y/N” he giggled and gently took your hand and placed a kiss on the top of it. “it’s really nice to meet you. And again I’m very sorry how we met” he said scratching his head. “it’s not all your fault. I was very lost in thought so I should've looked where i was walking” you told him.

“I want to take you out on a date because you are magnificently beautiful and now I have more of a reason to make it up to you. That’s why I want to take you out.” He told you with a gentle smile. “oh ehm well then I would love to go on a date with you” you told him flustered feeling extremely dumb at the moment. “Are you free this Saturday evening?” he asked you. “yeah absolutely” you told him. he gave you his phone and you put your number in it. “I’ll text you.” He said with a wink. “okay” was all you could say. You stood there for a minute before going back.

On your way you changed into Tom’s jumper and got new coffee and lunch. You made your way back to your job. You obvious got shit from your boss and you told her what happened but she wasn’t taking it. “you are absolutely worthless! You can’t even get some fucking coffee! I don’t even know why I hired you in the first place. You can go and you don’t have to come back” she told you

It made you furies. There was no way she would take you back and honestly you wouldn’t even want that. “That’s fine cause I wanted to quit either way. You are one horrible person and treat people like shit but honestly you are the biggest piece of shit in this whole building. Probably even in this whole city. So I don’t mind. Bye!!!” you told her and she looked dumbfounded by your sudden outburst.

You walked out of the building with your head up high and a big smile on your face. You really felt more alive at this moment. You got back home and that’s when it hit you that you still had to pay your rent. You started cursing and kicked a chair. You called one of your friends and he came right away to you. “Girl! You got some bad bitch energy! How you stood up against her… I mean damn. That and you have a date with The hot Tom Fucking Hiddleston! Girl you’re so lucky!” he told you while shaking a cocktail for you both.

You chuckled “I’m not gonna drink right now” you told him. “Girl you have better plans? You just got fired and you have nowhere to be right now so just take that drink and live a little! You’re 25 for god’s sake!” You chuckled again and took the drink from him. “you know what you should do? Sell your art! Finish that book that you were writing! I mean I’ve seen your work and it’s absolutely amazing! And since I’m in the art business I might be able to help you out in that and give you an exposition! ” He told you. “let me think about it okay?” you told him a little sad.

“babe you’ve got to stop being scared! You are absolutely amazing on every front! Everyone can see that except for you. So please let me do this for you” He told you. “I just don’t want to get my hopes up and be declined like almost always. I don’t feel good enough and I don’t think I can take another rejection again” you told him honestly.

“it’s life babes…. There will be times where you’re still going to get rejected but don’t let that bring you down. You have to keep fighting for it. And your art is worth fighting for. Believe me! I’m your most honest friend and I’m telling you this from the bottom of my heart. You are good enough! Hell you are more than that! You just have to believe in yourself!” you smiled at his kindness and thought about it. “you know what? Fuck it! Let’s do it!” you told him feeling strong! “yes queen! that’s my girl! Bad bitch energy!” you giggled and got immensely drunk to celebrate it.

~time skip~

The week got by pretty quick and as Luke told you, you got accepted and they were more excited to give you an exposition. You started to search for jobs that you would actually like and started writing again. Life was going good again and you felt so strong and confident until you had the date which would be tomorrow.

You were so nervous. Tom didn’t text you yet and you didn’t have his phone number so it was hard to get in touch with him. Anxiety got the best of you. What if he forgot? What if he forgot about you or changed his mind? Just when your mind got into overdrive you heard your phone pinged. You quickly got it and saw an unknown number. You felt your heart pound in your chest. You opened the text.

“Hello Love, It’s Tom. Are you still up for tomorrow? I’m sorry I didn’t get in touch sooner, it was a chaotic week.” It felt like you could breathe again and texted him back immediately. “Hey Tom, Yes I’m still up for tomorrow. Can’t wait!” You send the message and immediately thought you should texted him a different message. Your phone went off again. But this time he called you. You drowned your wine for some confident.

“Hey Tom.” You said a little nervous. He chuckled. “hello darling” your heart skipped a beat at the nickname and you felt butterflies I mean it was Tom Hiddleston for god’s sake! “I’ll pick you up around 5. Is that okay?” he asked you. “eh yeah of course sure! I ehm am looking forward to it!” you told him honestly. “me too darling” he told you with a chuckle. You both said your goodbyes and you put your phone down.

You tried to watch a movie to get your mind of off your anxiety. When the movie was over you tried to go to bed but you kept staring at your ceiling. I’m not like the other girls he dated. You thought to yourself. But then tried to set it straight by saying maybe that’s the point but then other thoughts consumed you. You tried to fight all the thought by positives one until the early hours of the morning. You finally fell asleep around 5 AM.

Once you woke up you got very excited. It was already 2 in the afternoon since you slept so crappy. You texted your Luke but got no response. You figured he was still asleep. You picked your clothes and 5 PM got around faster then you thought it would. You heard your doorbell and opened up. There he was standing Tom Hiddleston. Alongside with some flowers. No other date had given you flowers. He checked you out with his lips slightly parted. He chuckled: “wow you look amazing!” he said with a small blush creeping up on his cheeks. You giggled. “you too mister Hiddleston” you said boldly which made him chuckle again. He really did look great. He wore a small blouse and a blue blazer over it and jeans. “oh eh these are for you” he told you. You could tell he was nervous as hell which made you feel a little bit more at peace knowing that you weren’t the only one.

“come inside. I’m just going to put these in some water.” You told him and he followed you inside. He loved your apartment. It gave off such a warm cozy vibe. It felt like home. He looked at your art work on the wall. “I adore your apartment.” He told you which made you smile. “thank you” you told him kindly. “I’m ready to go” you told him with a chuckle. You got your coat of the hanger. “Here let me, please.” He told you and got the coat out of your hands and helped you in your coat. It made you flustered and swoon. God you were already falling head over heels for this men.

You both walked into a restaurant but it wasn’t a fancy one but more cozy. You loved it. You talked for hours and both drank some red wine. You both hit it off so well and you were absolutely smitten. And he was too if not more. You both were so much on one line it was amazing. You knew you would never find this again and it kind of scared you. You told him about your boss since he asked if you got trouble that day you first met him and you told the story until you got a call from Luke.

You frowned a little. He knew you were on a date and he would never interrupt you unless it was an emergency. “everything okay?” Tom asked you. “Yeah I just have to take this. I am so sorry!” He chuckled it’s fine” he told you reassuring. You nodded and walked off to the bathroom and picked up. “Luke? What’s wrong?” you asked when you heard him sobbing on the phone. You could tell he was absolutely smashed. “Can you please come to my place? I really need you right now. you can even take Tom with you but please” He begged you with an obvious slur. You felt your heart break for him. You sighed. “alright I’m on my way. Can you hang on?” you asked him. “yeah” he told you still crying. “Thank you so much Y/N I’m so sorry” he told you. “I know it’s okay. I’m on my way okay?”

You hang up the phone and went back to Tom. “everything alright?” he asked you and you felt so guilty. “I eh my friend he needs me right now. he is absolutely smashed and crying and I don’t know what is wrong but he asked me to come to him.” Tom looked at the table “I’m so sorry! I had a lovely time and I would love to do this some time again! If you still want to of course…” You said the last part a little softer. He smiled at you. “I eh could go with you if you’d like and if it’s okay with your friend.” Tom told you. “Are you sure? You really don’t have to” you told him. “I’m going to be honest with you. I really like you and I don’t want this evening to stop…. So if that means taking care of your drunken friend to be with you, I will. But I understand if you feel different.” This time Tom said the last part a little softer. You chuckled and felt your body filling up with love. “I really like you too Tom and in that case… Let’s go” you chuckled. He looked a little surprised but happy.

Tom paid the bill even when you tried to intervene but he wasn’t having it. “next time you can pay” he told you with a wink. You were flustered. He helped you to get your coat on and you both made your way. You slightly touched his hand and put yours in his. He looked a little surprised down at you. “I eh is this okay?” you asked him a little nervous. “it is, love.” You looked down a little with a smile. His thumb caressing the back of your hand softly. “I’m really sorry about this.” You told him honestly. “really it’s okay. I totally understand!” he told you truthfully.

You got to Luke’s house and you used your keys. “Luke? It’s me, where are you?” you asked him. you heard Abba blasting through the speakers. You immediately turned it down a bit. Empty bottles were laying everywhere. “Y/N?” Luke called out to you. You followed the sound and saw him laying by the toilet. You took of your coat and walked over to him and sat him down by the toilet. “What happened?” you asked him. he sniffled a little. “Cooper broke up with me and even over a text message” you looked at him a little sad for him. you went with your hands through his hair. Tom stood behind you but Luke didn’t notice yet. Luke started to laugh. Great mood swings you thought. Tom gave you a glass of water and you smiled a little at him. You gave the water to Luke. He looked up and saw Tom. Tom waved at him a little. “oh he’s so cute and hot!” he told you like Tom wouldn’t hear it. You started to laugh. You looked at Tom and he chuckled.

“I’m sorry I ruined your date” he looked at you and Tom. “we’ll there’s going to be a second so don’t worry too much about it” you told him and you looked at Tom who winked at you. Luke started to throw up and you both looked away. You softly touched Luke’s back to let him know you weren’t going anywhere. “you okay?” you asked after he was done. “yeah I think I can get up now.” he told you. “okay good let’s get you upstairs then.” You helped Luke up which was a challenge on its own. “here let me” Tom said and took Luke over from you. He put Luke’s arm over his shoulders and helped him upstairs. Luke started to stare at Tom.

“Luke…. You’re staring.” You told him. “I know.” Luke told you serious and furrowed his eyebrows at Tom. “Look. I’m thankful you help me but you better take care of my best friend alright! She’s an angel and don’t you dare to hurt her!” he slurred at Tom while you were already in Luke’s bedroom. “I’m not planning on it mate. I promise.” He told Luke. He narrowed his eyebrows. “yeah I believe that. Finally a good guy Y/N!” he yelled happy at you. You flustered again. You mouthed: “I’m sorry” at Tom and he just gave you a reassuring smile. You both put Luke into bed. You put an extra pillow under his head for the nausea. You put down a bucket and a glass of water beside him.

“please stay the night. I don’t want to be alone and your boyfriend can stay too” you were both flustered at the last part Luke said. “I’ll stay don’t worry. But you need some sleep now.” Luke nodded and turned around. “I love you” Luke told you sleepy. “I love you too” you told him and closed the door and leaned against it. “I’m really sorry about this. Normally it doesn’t happen” you told Tom a little embarrassed. He put a hand on your cheek “it’s okay love. Really we all have moments like this” you nodded. “well I need a drink now…. You want one?” you asked and chuckled. “yeah sounds good” he said and chuckled as well.

You both went downstairs and took out the empty bottles and after that made you both a drink. You sat down on the couch and Tom next to you. You both talked into the late hours and started to get drunk. You were leaning against Tom by now. you looked up at him and he looked down at you with love and adoration in his eyes. “please stay tonight.” You kind of asked him. “only if you want me to” he told you. “yeah I do. But just to clarify I never took a guy back home (or well my friends house) to stay the night” You told him with a chuckle. He laughed as well. When it got silence you just stared at each other.

His face ,slowly, started to get closer to you giving you enough time to pull away but instead you softly put your lips on his. His hand caressing your cheek and your hand in his hair slightly pulling at it as the kiss started to get heated. He pulled you on his lap, both of your legs on either side of him. His hands going under your shirt and stayed on your back. He slowly got up and laid you down on the couch with your legs around his waist. You broke from the kiss and put your hand on his chest. “Tom…. I don’t want to do it on the first date and definitely not here” you chuckled which made him giggle as well. “totally understandable!” He told you.

“I can go I you want me to” he told you. “no, please stay.” He gave you a warm smile that made your heart melt. You made some space so Tom could lay down as well. You laid your head on his chest and he went with his hands through your hair. Well this was definitely not the perfect date…. But luckily it was with the perfect guy.

[ditzydawn11]

Neville x reader fluff where they accidentally fall asleep together !!

study session

Neville Longbottom x Female Reader

requested!

warnings: none just fluff!

1290 words

When you and your best friend fall asleep together after studying, feelings only grow stronger

Look, you didn’t mean for it to happen but boy are you glad it did.

Neville Longbottom was your best friend in the entire world. You had first met when you were asked to escort Neville to the nurse when he had fainted during herbology from the Mandrake cry. You two instantly hit it off and you thanked Merlin every day that you got to call him your best friend. However, as you both grew older and were now in your 5th year, you couldn’t deny the fact that you had a major crush on the shy boy. 

“Neville!” You screamed as you ran down the corridor to catch up with him. “Hey y/n.” he said with an instant smile forming on his face because he was greeted by his favorite person in the entire world. He wrapped an arm around your shoulder and guided you down the hall with him. A year ago, Neville would have never been able to find the courage to do this simple gesture but recently both of you have found more confidence in yourself, and little physical displays of friendship, or affection, had become part of your normal routine. You leaned into his side and sighed “Sprout assigned a test on underwater grown plants for tomorrow and I could really use your help. Pleeeaaassseee.”Neville chuckled “of course y/n. But I have plans with Dean and Seamus in the afternoon. Could we do it after dinner in my dorm?” “Sure thing Nev!” you said and gave the hand on your shoulder a squeeze. “I’ve got transfiguration now but I’ll see you later. You’re the best!” you said as you separated and ran to your next class. 

“Would you gits straighten your sides of the room before dinner, y/n is coming over and I don’t want her to think we live in this dump,” Neville said while frantically cleaning his desk and bed. “Ooooh, are you going to finally tell  her that you are head over heels in love with her?” Dean laughed. “God no. She’s my best friend. She obviously doesn’t feel the same way and I can’t lose her when she rejects me and it becomes awkward.” Neville huffed while sitting down on his bed and putting his head in his hands. “Neville you are so oblivious, she has to like you, or else why would she hang around you all these years,” Seamus said. Neville gave him a look of confusion “I don’t know, maybe because she's my friend and enjoys my company?” he said, still stunned by Seamus’ words. “Whatever, y/n will be here after dinner so you two go occupy yourselves so we can study in peace.” Neville huffed while finishing straightening his bed up. “Whatever you say loverboy,” Dean said as he headed out the door to go to dinner.

“Thanks again, Nev. You have no idea how much this means to me,” you said while Neville escorted you up the stairs to his dorm. “Of course, y/n, you do the same for me,” he said while opening the door to his dorm. You two had a mutual agreement to help each other with homework and classes, specifically Neville helping you with Herbology and you helping him with Potions. 

After what seemed like days but was probably only a couple of hours, you finally had a good grasp of the concept and felt prepared enough for the test tomorrow. “Okay I just want to go over one more thing and then I think you’ll be good to go,” Neville said oblivious to your droopy eyes and the clock that read 11:30 pm on the wall. After his rambling about the differences between salt and freshwater plants, he finally stopped to get a breath of air when he saw that you were asleep with your head resting on the desk. ‘Um y/n?” he whispered but you didn’t budge. Neville didn’t know what to do but he would much rather get in trouble for having you up in his dorm than disturb an angel such as yourself. So he scooped you up bridal style and placed you in his bed, tucking you in. He stepped back feeling prideful in what he did but soon panicked when he realized that now he didn’t have anywhere to sleep. 

“I mean we sit next to each other, hug, and even share drinks so what harm is sleeping next to you, right?” he thought to himself. He changed in the bathroom into some pajamas and climbed into bed with you still keeping some sizable space between your bodies in the tiny twin bed. He turned over to look at you and admired your peaceful face and tranquility that exuded from your being. He must have fallen asleep that way because he doesn’t remember anything until he was startled awake but Dean and Seamus talking quite loudly. 

‘Hey, lovers! Are we interrupting something?” Dean laughed out. “What? What’s going o-” Neville was cut off when he soon realized that he was spooning y/n who was still sound asleep. He quickly pulled away which woke you up. “Where am I?” you said while rubbing the sleep out of your eyes. You sat up to Dean and Seamus staring at you and Neville looking mortified. “I’m so sorry y/n, I must have rolled over in my sleep. I swear I-” you cut him off “Neville it’s fine. We're best friends, I don’t mind.” you said with a chuckle trying to calm him down. The two other boys were looking down at you both and were laughing their heads off at everything unfolding before them. “Seamus, Dean, could you give us a second,” you asked. “Sure thing but breakfast is starting, don’t be late!” the Irish boy said as he left the room with his friend. 

“Sorry you fell asleep and I didn’t know what to do and I didn’t know where to sleep and I guess I just grabbed you while I was sleeping and-” you cut him off yet again “Neville! It's fine! Honestly that was probably the best sleep I got in ages. Thank you for looking after me. I’ll see you at breakfast,” you said as you gathered your stuff and began to head back to your dorm for a fresh change of clothes. However, before you left you ran back to Neville and gave him a kiss on the cheek. A kiss that was nothing like any of your previous “friendly” displays of affection. A kiss that had more than “just friends'' written behind it. 

Neville touched the spot on his cheek where your lips had just been and smiled with a dopey grin. “Wow.” is all he managed to say, still starstruck from everything that happened in the past 9 hours. 

That night Neville was actually disappointed that you weren’t there beside him. Nevertheless, he turned off his light and turned over to try and get some sleep. About half an hour went by and he was still wide awake thinking about you. But his thoughts were soon interrupted when his door creaked open and your small frame came into view in the moonlight. “Hi. I was hoping you wouldn’t mind sharing your bed for another night.” you squeaked out in the quiet room with bashfulness in your voice. Neville didn’t say a word but he scooted over and opened the comforter for you to climb inside. He tentatively put his arm around your waist as you shimmied backward into his chest. “Oh, I forgot to tell you that I aced my quiz!” you said trying to alleviate some of the tension in the air. Neville smiled and responded, “I knew you would.” 

[storiesforallfandoms]

first show ~ aaron tveit

word count: 1756

request?: yes!

“I'll take anything Aaron Tveit. (There are not enough fics out there lol)”

description: after years of practice and studying, she gets casted in her first big broadway show, and finds herself falling for her leading man

pairing: aaron tveit x female!reader

warnings: swearing

masterlist (one, two)

I gasped as the costume person pulled out the beautiful black dress I was meant to wear for our run through of Come What May. I couldn’t get over how beautiful my costumes were. I almost felt like I was undeserving of them. I was fresh out of college and already cast in my first big Broadway musical. If this was a dream, I didn’t want to ever wake up.

“You don’t have long to get dressed,” the costume person reminded me. “The dress rehearsal for Come What May is in 10. Although I’d love to see you staring at all your costumes in amazement.”

“I’ll do that after dress rehearsal,” I joked.

I took the black dress and quickly changed into it, longing to look at myself in the mirror but knowing I had no time. With my hair and makeup already finished, I rushed to the stage. Luckily, I wasn’t the only one running a bit late as my co-star was yet to arrive once I took my place.

“There’s our Satine!” the director proclaimed as I stood on stage. “Welcome to the stage, dear. How do you feel?”

“Nervous,” I admitted. “But I look damn good for a nervous girl.”

The director chuckled. “Our Christian should be here soon.”

“He’s here!”

I tried not to seem as starstruck as I felt at the sound of my co-star’s voice. Aaron joined me on stage, dressed in his Christian costume. I had to try my best not to fangirl over him. He was basically Broadway royalty, and I was acting with him in my first show! I had to remind myself how to breathe.

I smiled slightly at him. “Nice to meet you. I’m (Y/N).”

“Nice to meet you, too, (Y/N). I’m Aaron.”

I had to stop myself from responded with I know as I shook his hand.

“While I’d love for you two to get to know one another, I’d like to run Come What May first,” the director told us. “It’s one of the biggest songs in the musical, and the one with the most chemistry. So, we need to nail this song before we can nail the entire musical.”

Aaron and I nodded and took our places for the song. The band started playing the song and I felt my nerves growing. I tried to focus just on Aaron, but that made me even more nervous.

“Never knew I could feel like this Like I’ve never seen the sky before Want to vanish inside your kiss Every day I love you more and more”

No shock that his voice sounded perfect. I already knew this, I had seen the show on its opening night years before. But it was different to hear the voice up close, too have him singing directly to me. It made my heart flutter and I almost forgot my cues.

“Come what may Come what may I will love you until my dying day”

For a moment I feared my voice wouldn’t work, but when I opened my mouth the words came out effortlessly.

“Suddenly the world seems such a perfect place Suddenly it moves with such a perfect grace”

I tried not to break character as pride swelled within me at the look on Aaron’s face. I could only describe it as a look of astonishment, as if my voice shocked him, and that made me so proud.

My heart spiked as Aaron took my hands and we sang together

“Storm clouds my gather And stars may collide But I love you (I love you) Until the end of time”

The music swelled as we reached the end of the song, our voices mixing together perfectly as we held the last line. I looked into Aaron’s perfectly blue eyes, glad that the song had ended because he had taken my breath away.

I had forgotten all about the small audience of crew members and our director until he spoke. “That was great! But can we take it from that last chorus and can you guys end the song with the kiss?”

“O-Oh,” I stuttered, still trying to recover from the song. “Y-You want to do the kiss now?”

“It’s better to get the first one out of the way now to get past any initial awkwardness.”

“Are you okay with that?” Aaron asked me, concern on his face.

I nodded. “Yeah. He has a point, we will be kissing almost every night. We should get used to it now.”

The director motioned to the band and they began playing from the last chorus again.

“Come what may Come what may I will love you until my dying day”

I looked into Aaron’s eyes, the only thing keeping me calm in that moment. One of his hands reached up to gently cup my face, bringing me closer to him. The distance between us was small, but it felt like I was waiting for his lips to touch mine forever.

When they finally did, it felt as though something had exploded inside of me. My whole body felt warm and fuzzy, and my stomach felt like it was full of butterflies. I couldn’t stop myself from putting a hand behind his neck, wanting to keep his lips on mine for a long time.

We were forced to pull away when the director began to clap, completely taking us out of the moment.

“That’s what I’m talking about!” he exclaimed. “That was brilliant! See? Now there’ll be no awkwardness when we run that scene from now on.”

I wouldn’t say that, I thought, glancing over at Aaron. I wondered if he had felt what I did, or if it was just another stage kiss for him. If he felt the latter, it would definitely be very awkward for me.

“Okay, you two take five and then (Y/N), I want you ready for your entrance medley.”

The crew continued on about their work while the director turned his attention to his assistant and began talking about the technical stuff having to do with the show. Aaron and I awkwardly stood on stage together for a moment, unsure of what to do next.

“I guess I should go get ready for my entrance rehearsal,” I said, trying my best to look at Aaron. How the hell did two actors who weren’t already in relationships kiss on stage and not fall in love?

“I’ll walk you to your dressing room,” Aaron offered. “We can get to know one another.”

I smiled at this and the two of us exited the stage together.

“So,” Aaron started, “there’s a rumor on the streets that this is your first ever show.”

I nodded. “Yeah, it is. I’m actually not long out of college. I graduated maybe a month ago? Top of my classes because I was always an overachiever, and most of my teacher’s favorites. Actually, it was one of my teachers that got me this audition. She knows the director and when it was announced that Karen Olivo was leaving the show, she urged me to audition.”

“Looks like it worked out in your favor.”

“Yeah, somehow,” I said with a slight laugh. “I’m sure there were dozens of better, more experienced girls who auditioned. My teacher must’ve slipped the director a bribe or something to get me this role.”

“Or, and hear me out on this one, you were actually that good and got the role on your own.”

I shook my head. “No way. That’s nearly impossible.”

“Nearly being the keyword. Newbies gotta start somehow or else Broadway shows would never have a cast.”

“Yeah, but most newbies start as a part of the ensemble or the company, then make their way to very minor character, then less than minor character, and then, if they’re lucky, they become main characters. It’s not as easy as auditioning fresh out of school and getting the role right away.”

Aaron shrugged. “I don’t know, I think it’s that easy for some people. You have a fantastic voice, definitely a voice worth of a Satine and not just an ensemble girl.”

I smiled up at Aaron. “I appreciate the compliment, and the confidence you have in me. I hope I don’t let any of you guys down.”

“I don’t think you will. I think you’re going to be amazing. You’ll probably steal the show from me.”

I laughed at this. There was absolutely no way that I, a newbie, could possibly steal the show from a Broadway vet like Aaron Tveit.

I was sad when we reached my dressing room, although I knew it wasn’t that far of a walk from the stage. I wanted to talk to Aaron for longer, to have more time alone with him. But we were trying to prepare a show, and that meant that eventually I had to give up my time with him in order to rehearse.

Both of us paused outside of my dressing room. It was almost like we were waiting for the other to leave first. I glanced at the clock in my dressing room and sighed upon seeing the time.

“I have about two more minutes to get into my costume for my entrance medley and to get back to the stage. So, I guess this is where we say goodbye.”

“Well, only for now. I’ll be in the audience watching you absolutely destroy that medley, and then we have basically the entire play together that we have to rehearse,” he told me. “But, if you’re not too tired after rehearsal, I’d love to maybe go out and grab a drink with you. If you’d be interested in doing that, that is.”

Now was when my voice stopped working. I could barley believe that this was actually happening. Too many amazing things going on the one time, I was sure I was dreaming. I had to slip my hands behind my back to pinch myself, and I had to suppress a yelp as I realized I was very much awake.

“Yeah,” I finally managed. “I’d love to.”

Aaron’s smile was as wide as a child on Christmas morning. “Okay! Well, I won’t distract you any longer. Break a leg out there.”

I watched after him as he went back in the direction of the stage before hurrying into my dressing room to prepare for my next scene. The entire time I had a smile on my face so wide that my cheeks were starting to hurt.

I guess dreams really do come true.

[maybeimamuppet]

you happened

hey darlings!! happy wednesday!!!

let’s get right into it shall we?

tw for

discussion of canon events in mg (outing, etc)

discussion of canon events in the prom (homophobia, etc.)

this was requested by @spidy-nugget like forever ago so thank you for your patience and i hope you enjoy!

—

“Oh!” Cady says, interrupting herself in the middle of a sentence. “I just remembered! My cousin is coming to visit next week, do you guys want to meet her?”

“Emma?” Damian asks excitedly. Cady nods. “Yes! Is she bringing the-her… Broadway friends?”

“I dunno, she didn’t tell me,” Cady giggles. “But probably, she said they usually visit her at some point every summer.”

“I should probably be there to stop him from combusting if they do come,” Janis huffs. “But also, yes, I want to meet her too.”

“She’s an absolute icon,” Damian says happily. “God, her song. Still makes me cry.”

“You cried watching Finding Dory yesterday,” Janis retaliates.

“It’s a sad movie! Sometimes!” Damian defends. “Anyway, tell me all about Emma.”

“Okay,” Cady giggles again. “She’s a year older than us, and she’s my cousin on my mom’s side. Um… you know her whole… prom fiasco. I’ve only met her in person once when I was ten, for Rhys’ funeral. But we were pen pals when we were really little. And now we just text and stuff.”

“Cute,” Damian says. “And is her girlfriend coming?”

“Oh! Yeah,” Cady says around a mouthful of Janis’ milkshake. “Her name is Alyssa, she’s, like, super smart. Did every possible activity in high school, that kind of thing. But she’s been with Emma when we’ve Facetimed and stuff before and she’s super sweet.”

“Aww,” Damian coos. “I can’t wait!”

————-

Luckily for him, Damian doesn’t have to wait too long. Emma and Alyssa arrive the following week in Emma’s pickup. Damian has been pressed against the window all day, like a small child watching for the ice cream truck. He gasps dramatically when four people in matching sequined tracksuits also hop out of the backseat, grumbling about being cramped together for such a long trip.

Cady opens the door to let everyone in, and is quickly swamped by a crowd of people much taller than her. Janis pops up on her tippy toes to try and find her girlfriend to save her, but doesn’t succeed.

Everyone heads into the living room, and Janis laughs when she finds Cady being carried in like a sack of potatoes by one of the men that came with Emma.

“Emma, why didn’t you tell me your cousin was so adorable?” He demands. “Look at this, she’s so small.”

“Please put me down,” Cady squeaks. Janis heads over and reaches for her.

“Can I have my girlfriend back, please?”

“And she’s gay!” The man says happily, passing Cady over like she’s a small dog. Janis holds her close and smoothes her hair back to where it was.

“Bi, actually,” Cady grumbles.

“Well, aren’t you something. Oh, my name is Barry, by the way. As if you haven’t heard of me.”

“Barry, we talked about this,” Emma chides. “They haven’t. Except Damian.”

“And where is this Damian? I want to meet him,” one of the ladies says. “Oh, and my name is Dee Dee.”

Damian enters shyly and gives a little wave. Janis cackles, “Dude, you’re totally starstruck, look at you!”

“Uh-hi,” he stutters. “I’m Damian.”

“Aww!” The other lady says. “Look at your little cheeks, what a sweetheart! I’m Angie.”

Damian blushes violently as he’s cooed over by Angie. Barry hauls her off to get a good look at him.

“I like this,” he says. “It’s like a mini me.”

“Just don’t break him,” Emma pleads. “Damian, can I trust you to babysit for a while?”

That prompts a, ‘Hey!’ from all four adults, and an eager nod from Damian. “I can show them around town.”

“This is not a town, darling,” Dee Dee says gently. “But what is there to see?”

“We have… uh-“

“There’s an IHOP!” Cady chirps. “And the mall. That’s kind of it until you get to Chicago. Or the lake.”

“This is the most precious soul,” Barry says happily.

“Dame, we did it. I never thought I’d see the day we found someone gayer than you,” Janis laughs.

“Oh, I like this one too,” Barry says. “Funky little lesbian. She dresses like Emma but goth.”

“I do love the hair,” Emma agrees. “I’m dressed more like Cady today though.”

They both look down at their almost-matching flannels and jean shorts, then back at each other with a nod.

“Same boots though,” Janis cheers, lifting a foot. Emma laughs and nudges it with one of her own doc martens. “Nice.”

“Precious,” Angie says. “Okay, we’ll leave you gals alone now. Damian, show us the sights.”

“It would be my pleasure,” Damian says, leading the adults to the door.

“Yes, show us to the… hopping eyes,” Dee Dee says, sounding both bored and intrigued at the same time. Damian waves goodbye to Janis excitedly and closes the door after him.

“Well,” Emma chuckles. “Oh, I hope he’ll be okay.”

“I think he’ll be fine,” Alyssa soothes. “He’s in good company, and he’s a theatre kid, he gets their… vibes.”

“Theatre kid is an understatement for that boy,” Janis tuts affectionately.

“True,” Cady giggles. “Anyway, we can hang out in my room, if you want?”

Emma and Alyssa nod, so Cady leads everyone up to her bedroom. Janis flops onto the bed and Cady crawls in behind her, lifting her head onto her lap. Alyssa and Emma look around curiously for a second before joining them.

“Who did these?” Alyssa asks, pointing to the paintings and collages adorning the walls. “They’re incredible, especially this one. It looks just like you guys!”

Janis flushes as she points to the one she won her art contest with, of she and Damian and Cady all together. “I did.”

“Dang,” Emma breathes. “You have some serious talent, Janis.”

“Thanks,” Janis squeaks.

“No, seriously! Do you have stuff here?” Emma insists.

“A few things, yeah,” Janis says confusedly, raising an eyebrow. “Why?”

Emma lifts her guitar case onto the bed and flicks the latches open, pulling out her famous instrument. It’s covered in stickers and little doodles, much like Janis’ jackets.

“Will you do something on this for me?”

Janis’ eyes go wide. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, of course!” Emma chuckles. “There’s room down here if you want it visible, or on the back.”

Janis carefully takes the instrument and assesses the material, trying to put an idea together in her mind. She runs to Cady’s desk when one comes to her, where she keeps a supply of basic colors and brushes in case of emergency. Cady doesn’t mind keeping them, they remind her of her girlfriend.

Cady grins affectionately as Emma and Alyssa cuddle in together. “How did you two meet?”

Her cousin turns to smile at her girlfriend. “I kind of always knew of her from school and stuff, but we didn’t really get close until sophomore year.”

Alyssa nods in agreement. “My mom wanted me to be more creative and have another skill or whatever, so she signed me up for guitar classes. Just so happens she was my teacher.”

“You really sucked,” Emma teases. Alyssa scoffs, aghast, and shoves her so hard she nearly falls off the bed. “Ack! Hey, I was kidding!”

“I know,” Alyssa giggles. “I did suck, I’ve never been much good at artsy stuff.”

“I was never good at art either,” Cady chuckles at their antics. “Jay’s tried to teach me to paint a couple times and it hasn’t gone too well.”

She peeks around the other couple to where her own girlfriend is sitting cross-legged on the ground, tongue poked out to the side as she carefully brushes a stroke of paint onto Emma’s guitar. Janis looks up when she feels her gaze, and grins happily when she sees Cady.

“You have the right instincts, I keep telling you,” she says. “You just get cranky too fast and then start attacking me with it.”

Everyone else bursts out laughing. Emma says, “I don’t blame her, I hated art class. What were we talking about?”

“How we met, dummy,” Alyssa huffs, kissing behind Emma’s ear.

“Oh yeah! So, we started off with actual lessons, but then we started getting to know each other more,” Emma explains. “And then I came out and got kicked out, which… a lot of people heard about, so Lyss figured I was a safe person to tell that she was questioning.”

Cady nods, listening intently to the story.

“I came out to her that summer,” Alyssa says. “And she said she’d had a crush on me all along, and asked me out. So we went on a walk and then got coffee and the rest is history.”

“We forgot to mention the serious gay panic I had during our first lesson,” Emma chuckles. “But that’s the gist of it.”

“How cute,” Cady coos.

“What about you two, how long have you been together?” Alyssa asks kindly, flicking Emma’s ear gently as she aggressively plops down onto her lap.

“Four months,” Janis pipes up immediately.

“Man, you crushed on her for that long without saying anything, Cades?” Emma says, impressed. Janis pops her head up and listens in.

“Oh?”

“She never shut up about you for, like, almost a year,” Emma laughs. Cady flushes scarlet and looks down at her lap with a flustered squeak. “I’m assuming it was you, she never gave a name. But it was always a tall, hot artist with cool hair and nice muscles. And I think she mentioned your butt a few times, she thinks that’s cute.”

Janis cackles as Cady flops facedown onto her bed and groans into a pillow. “How cute, I didn’t know that. But I shouldn’t laugh, I definitely wasn’t any better.”

“How did you get together?” Alyssa asks, patting Cady’s shoulder in an attempt to comfort her. Janis snorts from the ground and Cady gives another groan into her pillow. “What?”

“You tell them,” Cady grumbles, poking her face out just long enough that it’s not muffled.

“Baby, it’s cute,” Janis coos.

“No it’s not!”

“Okay, fine, I’ll tell it in a way that makes me look just as dorky,” Janis compromises. “Caddy came to my school in September from Kenya, and she had these adorable little cargo shorts and socks with sandals on, and-“

“Hold on, what?” Alyssa insists. “Kenya?”

“Cady grew up there, her parents are zoologists,” Emma explains.

“How many conversations have we had with her? And you never thought to tell me she’s from Africa?”

“It never came up! We both had a lot going on the first year and then we just didn’t bring it up,” Emma defends. “And now you know.”

“Sorry,” Alyssa says. “Keep going.”

“It’s all good,” Janis chuckles. “Anyway, I fell for her so bad the first day that I dragged Damian into the bathroom at lunch and made him let her join our group.”

Cady pops her head up and looks to her girlfriend. “You did?”

“Yeah, duh,” Janis says. “We’re not known for socializing with the new kids, I just thought you were cute.”

Cady blushes again, but doesn’t return to her pillow. “Keep going.”

Janis chuckles and continues telling the story as she finishes her small painting on Emma’s guitar. “So we became friends that day, and then had… an ordeal, through the rest of junior year and didn’t really reconnect until spring.”

Cady’s told Emma and Alyssa the whole story, so they both nod at Janis’ quick explanation.

“We got really close over the summer, and apparently we were both crushing on each other. But we didn’t notice, somehow. And then I sorta snapped on her birthday this year and decided to fess up, so I made that,” Janis points to the black and white collage hanging next to one of her paintings on the wall. “But before I could give it to her, this little firecracker got wasted and started crying in my lap about how much she loved me.”

“I wasn’t that drunk!” Cady huffs.

“I found you lying on the ground singing yourself to sleep,” Janis giggles. “And you didn’t recognize me, clearly. Just climbed into my lap and spilled your guts. I was lucky it wasn’t literal.”

“Janis Sarkisian,” Cady grumbles. “Behave.”

“Fine, fine,” Janis chuckles. “Anyway, once she sobered up a little bit we had a chat and realized we both had feelings for each other, so we started dating. And now we’re here.”

“That did not make you sound anywhere near as dorky as me,” Cady huffs. “But yeah, that’s… that’s it.”

Emma snorts once the story is done. “That does sound like Cady. But if that’s what it took, then I guess it was worth it.”

Cady turns to look at Janis again. “It was. But you guys went through a lot more than us, that must have been tough on both of you.”

“I wouldn’t say that,” Emma chuckles, trying to sneak a peek at Janis’ work. The angle isn’t quite right, so she gives up before she falls off her girlfriend. “You guys went through a lot. But yeah, it was really tough. I’m so lucky.”

“I’m the lucky one,” Alyssa murmurs back. “You guys know the story?”

“I do,” Cady says. “I think Jay and Damian just know the bare bones. It’s your story to tell, I didn’t want to give too many details away.”

Alyssa gives her a grateful smile, and Cady grins back. “Do you want to hear it?”

“Of course,” Janis pipes up. “I finished, by the way. Um, here.”

“Hey, you stole my idea!” Cady jokingly whines when she sees what Janis has done.

“But it’s so perfect!” Janis defends. Emma takes her guitar to see, and smiles at the new lion with a rainbow mane in the spot they’d picked. “And it’s kind of for both of us.”

“This is awesome,” Emma says. “Oh! I get it, it’s a pride thing! Pride of lions, and then… oh. Clever!”

“It was actually Caddy’s idea, she made me a rock with it at pride last week,” Janis says. “I thought it fit.”

“It does, you’re really talented!” Alyssa says, leaning over her girlfriend’s shoulder to see it. Janis’ text tone goes off, so she pulls her phone out of the pocket of her shorts to check it. Cady peeks over to see what it is too as Janis bursts out laughing. It’s a picture of Damian surrounded by his new friends, now in a matching tracksuit all of his own.

jamian: Sent a picture: JAN LOOKIT

danis: nice outfit

jamian: Thank u it really suits me doesnt it

danis: honestly

danis: yeah kinda

jamian: Sent a picture: Thank u

jamian: Anyway we’re going to ihop next yall should meet us there

danis: kk love u

jamian: Love u too

“I think your little crew adopted Damian,” Janis chuckles at Emma and Alyssa, showing them the photo of a very excited Damian.

“Aww,” Emma chuckles. “I’m glad they didn’t kill him, they can be a lot to handle.”

“He seems fine,” Janis shrugs. “Whose truck are we taking?”

“Oh, is that one in the driveway yours?” Emma says excitedly. Janis nods. “It’s nice!”

“We’ve been in Em’s all day,” Alyssa chuckles. “Probably best to take yours.”

“I call shotgun!” Cady yells, already tugging on her shoes and running downstairs.

“As if I’d let anyone else,” Janis mumbles affectionately under her breath.

————-

The waitstaff at IHOP look more than a little frightened at the size of their group, and especially at the crew in tracksuits.

“Ey, yo!” One of them calls. “Guys, come here! It’s that guy from the thing! That show!”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Trent grumbles under his breath. “Why is it always that? I played Hamlet!”

They’re quickly escorted to a large table near the back, and Trent signs a few menus as a little gift to the now very excited waiters.

“Was Juilliard worth it?” He mutters to himself. Angie, who’s sat next to him, nudges him with an elbow to shut him up.

Janis and Emma both order for their girlfriends, and also order themselves the same meal of chicken and waffles. Dee Dee gets french toast, Angie gets an omelet, Trent gets some crepes, and Barry gets the most horrifically sweet looking pancakes anyone’s ever seen. Apparently they’re cupcake flavored.

Alyssa looks very content with her large Belgian waffle, and Cady seems delighted with her chocolate chip pancakes decorated with whipped cream to look like a face. It’s definitely from the children’s menu, but nobody says anything.

“So tell us about you guys,” Dee Dee says once their food gets delivered. She looks eagerly to her friends, as if to say, ‘Look how nice I can be when I want to.’ Barry claps quietly for her.

“What do you want to know?” Damian asks. Dee Dee puts her head in her hands, clearly not knowing how to continue. Trent takes over for her.

“How do you guys know each other?”

“Oh!” Damian says excitedly. “Janis and I have been friends, like, forever. We met in tap dance class when we were three.”

“And you knocked my fucking teeth out in that class when we were five,” Janis grumbles.

“By accident!” Damian defends amidst the giggles of their whole group. “I got really into it. Anyway, so we’ve been friends forever. And then little Caddy happened along in junior year, and we kind of kidnapped her for a while.”

“No, I needed to be kidnapped,” Cady laughs. “I was a total wreck. They actually sort of rescued me from the school bathroom at lunch.”

“You were eating in the bathroom?” Barry asks, sounding both empathetic and disgusted. “Oh, you poor sweet thing.”

“I was the new kid, y’know?” Cady shrugs. “Nobody wanted to eat with the dork from Africa.”

Angie chokes on a bite of her food, and Trent thumps her on the back. “From what now?”

“I’m from Kenya,” Cady giggles. “Well, technically I was born in Oregon. But I lived in Kenya for thirteen years.”

“Just, like, in the wilderness?” Barry asks in shock. “With the lions and tigers and… bears and stuff?”

Cady laughs out loud. “Pretty much. But there’s no tigers or bears.”

“But there were lions?” Trent insists.

“Oh, yeah,” Cady says like it’s entirely normal. “That’s mostly what we were studying. They were kind of my only friends.”

“And they never showed any interest in… consuming you?” Dee Dee asks worriedly. Cady laughs again.

“Lions are just big cats, you know, guys? As long as you’re careful and respect their boundaries they won’t hurt you,” she chuckles. “I got swiped at a few times when I was little, but I never needed more than fifteen stitches.”

“Fifteen?” Angie yelps.

“That is kind of a lot, Cades,” Emma chuckles. “I never had to get more than three as a kid.”

“Oh. Well, I was kind of asking for it, I was playing too rough,” Cady hums.

“With a lion,” Alyssa insists. “Do you have pictures?” Cady nods and passes over her phone for them to scroll through her camera roll.

“Anyway, please keep going,” Angie says, leaning across the table to try to see.

“That’s basically it,” Janis shrugs. “Until you get into the whole mess that happened junior year.”

Cady and Damian nod in agreement. The adults all look very excited at the prospect of some new drama. “Do tell.”

The art freaks all look to one another warily, wondering who should begin. Cady decides to after a second of back and forth.

“Well, um… I sat with these two on my first day,” she begins. “But then just before lunch ended I met these three girls. We called them the Plastics.”

“Why?” Angie asks curiously. Damian shows them all a photo. “Oh. I already don’t like this one.” Janis snorts quietly as she points to Regina.

“Anyway, they said I should sit with them, and Janis and Damian wanted me to so I could spy on them,” Cady says sheepishly. “They have some… personal history.”

“Oh?” Trent asks. Cady looks to Janis, this bit is her story to tell.

“Regina, the one in the middle, outed me in eighth grade,” Janis says. “Carved slurs into my locker, that kinda thing.”

“Oh, honey,” Barry says sadly. “That bitch.”

Janis chuckles weakly. “Yeah. The other two just kind of went along with it. They were just generally bitchy to everyone. But I didn’t have many friends because of her, and I went through a lot of counseling and stuff because of it. Spent some time in the hospital for… reasons, but that’s not… something we need to discuss right now.”

Everyone nods, respecting her privacy. Cady continues telling the story. “So, I pretended to join them and would kind of report back to Janis and Damian. I learned that they had this book, called the Burn Book, where they would write mean things about people from the yearbook and stuff. And at the same time I was crushing for a long time on this boy named Aaron, but he was Regina’s ex. She had dumped him earlier for another guy. And she was actually cheating on him with the other one.”

“Oh, can I tell this bit?” Janis asks. Cady nods and gestures for her to keep going. “So, around Halloween, Cady went to Aaron’s party, and I don’t know exactly what happened, but he basically got back together with Regina.”

“What kind of idiot-“ Trent begins, getting cut off by a stomp on the foot from Dee Dee.

“So poor Caddy came to my house,” Janis says, trying to keep down giggles at the memory. “Fucking slams my basement door open, but Dame and I were watching horror movies. Caddy was dressed as some corpse bride with a knife in her back and everything, and Damian screamed so loud, like, higher than I’ve ever heard. But she was crying, so we helped her and then came up with a revenge plot.”

Dee Dee suddenly looks very interested, leaning forwards slightly and resting her head on her folded hands.

“Caddy had these snack bars from Kenya, they’re… Swedish, I think?” Damian says. Cady nods. “They make you gain weight, like, really quickly. Regina was kind of obsessed with her weight and image and stuff, so we got Caddy to tell her they were actually a diet bar to help lose weight.”

“No,” Angie gasps. Everyone laughs at her reaction.

“Yeah,” Cady laughs. “I don’t think anything major happened until around Christmas. The Plastics did this dance every year at the winter talent show, and we had to wear these skimpy little Santa outfits. But Regina had already gained a fair bit of weight, so her skirt didn’t fit…”

“It fell off in the middle of the routine in front of everyone,” Janis cackles. Emma and Alyssa both look slightly scared of her. “Sorry. Personal vindication. But yeah, that was kind of the beginning of the end for her. Cady kind of… got lost in it, by that point. It was hard to tell if she was pretending or not.”

Cady looks down at her lap in shame, so Janis takes her hand under the table and kisses the side of her head a few times to comfort her. Damian keeps going with the story.

“So, Caddy basically overthrew Regina as Queen Bee of the school. She threw a little party and didn’t invite us or Regina, so she kind of was attacking both fronts. We got pretty mad and stopped associating with her, and Regina was obviously furious,” he says. “And so as revenge for that, Regina photocopied the Burn Book and spread all the pages around the school. I saw, like, seven fights before first period even started that day.”

“But didn’t they know that she had written it?” Trent asks.

“That’s the thing, she put herself in it,” Janis adds, now holding Cady on her lap. “So nobody suspected her. She went to the principal and blamed Gretchen and Karen, they’re the other two, and Cady.”

“I don’t like this story,” Barry whines. “Tell me something good happens.”

“Oh, just wait,” Janis chuckles darkly. “There was an assembly called that day, and they tried to make us apologize to each other and do trust exercises or something like that. I kind of went rogue and only apologized to myself and rallied the rest of the girls in our grade.”

“Go Janis,” Angie says, sounding impressed. “Stick it to the man.”

“Thanks,” Janis laughs. “But it only lasted a few minutes.”

“Damn it,” Barry groans. “What happened?”

“Regina got hit by a bus,” Cady says. Angie spits her mouthful of lemonade over Trent.

“She what?”

“Yeah,” Cady laughs. “So, that time kind of sucked for both of us. She was in the hospital recovering, and everyone was saying that I pushed her in front of it or that she jumped in front of it on purpose because of me.”

“She didn’t die?” Dee Dee clarifies. Everyone is more than a little concerned at the disappointment in her voice.

“No,” Cady chuckles. “Well, she died for, like, fifteen seconds, but she was resuscitated and she’s fine now.”

“And did you push her?” Barry asks. “We’re all friends here, you can tell us.”

“No!” Cady huffs. “I may have been a raging bitch, but I’m not an attempted murderer.”

“You didn’t feed anyone to a lion back in Kenya?” Janis teases gently.

“I’ll do it to you if you’re not careful,” Cady retaliates with a laugh. “Where did we leave off?”

“Regina got hit by a bus and you didn’t push her,” Trent says helpfully, still dabbing some lemonade out of his sweater with a wad of napkins.

“Oh,” Damian says. “Okay, so, I don’t… totally remember what happened in between that and Spring Fling, but it’s really not important.”

“I was suspended for the Book, that’s kind of it,” Cady says, gesturing for him to continue.

“Oh, yeah! Anyway, Spring Fling at our school is basically prom but for underclassmen, prom is just for the seniors. Jan and I were each other’s dates, she decorated our outfits and stuff, we looked killer if I do say so myself.”

Janis rolls her eyes lovingly and whacks him with an elbow.

“And Caddy was banned, so she wasn’t supposed to be there, but she showed up towards the end with the Mathletes,” Damian continues. “And she had been nominated for queen, and she won. So she went up on stage and gave the most beautiful speech I’ve ever heard and broke her crown, and we all got a piece. So now we’re all friends and life is good.”

“Nice ending, Dame,” Janis laughs. “Hasty conclusions. But that it is basically how it happened.”

Everyone blinks at them. Trent says, “That was like being in a war zone. Just one bombshell after another.”

“It kinda was, our math teacher got stabbed in the leg at one point,” Cady hums. “Anyway, what’s your guys’ story? If you want to share.”

“Oh, yeah, I’d like to know more,” Damian says. “Jan and I really only know the bare bones. What was in the news, and stuff.”

“You guys can start,” Emma says, pulling a face as Alyssa gently dabs some syrup off her lip. Alyssa giggles when Emma tries to bite her hand and kisses Emma’s cheek.

“Ooh, okay!” Barry says eagerly. “We were in a show. Well, Dee Dee and I. We were in a delightful little show called Eleanor.”

“As in…” Janis says confusedly.

“Eleanor Roosevelt,” Dee Dee explains. She seems surprised when the kids all nod in understanding. “You’ve heard of her?”

“Yeah?” Cady says, tilting her head. “She’s one of the most famous first ladies of all time, we learned about her in our history class.”

“Not nearly enough,” Janis grumbles. “Gotta make time for the men.”

“Amen sister,” Angie huffs.

“Really…” Dee Dee hums interestedly. “Anyway, it was… not a success. Poor advance sales, and then…”

“We bombed opening night,” Barry grumbles. “Apparently. But it wasn’t the show, it was… it was us. The media panned us as aging narcissists and we had to close.”

“On opening night?” Damian gasps in horror. Dee Dee and Barry both nod sadly.

“Regretfully, yes. So, we had to try to change the narrative,” Dee Dee says. “We decided to find a good cause and do something. So we were going to build houses for Habitat for Humanity.”

“But Barry has a bad back,” Trent pipes up. “So then we thought about, like, recycling or fixing poverty or world hunger.”

“But that was all too much for us to handle,” Angie says. “So I went on Twitter and found-”

“Me!” Emma says. “Apparently that all happened on the same night as the first assembly where the PTA cancelled prom in the first place. I guess we were trending.”

“And they only cancelled it because you two wanted to go together?” Janis asks sadly.

“Yep. Well, nobody knew about Alyssa, but they cancelled it because they knew I wanted to bring my girlfriend,” Emma explains.

“Those bitches,” Janis grumbles. “Sorry.”

“Believe me, we get it,” Emma laughs. “But my bit of the story isn’t quite here yet.”

“Oh, yes!” Dee Dee realizes. “So, we decided to help Emma, but we were completely out of funds and had no way to get all the way to Indiana from New York.”

“But I had just booked a non-equity tour of Godspell,” Trent half-brags. The other half seems rather depressed at that statement. “So we came on the tour bus.”

“Can I start our part?” Alyssa asks. Emma nods and squeezes her hand under the table. “So, they obviously gave no indication that they were coming. Emma and Principal Hawkins had gone to the State’s Attorney by that point and put some legal pressure on the PTA, so we had another assembly to discuss options.”

“We?” Damian asks.

“Oh, my mom was the head of the PTA,” Alyssa says casually. Damian chokes on his drink and Janis nearly drops Cady on the ground.

“Your mom cancelled your prom?” Janis asks in shock. Alyssa nods sadly. “Oh, because you… she didn’t know. I’m sorry.”

“It was what it was. She knows now,” Alyssa hums. “Anyway, I was there to speak for student council. I was mid-sentence, and then they come barreling into the gym with signs and yelling at everyone.”

“Educating everyone,” Barry corrects. “Loudly and with signs.”

“Right, educating. Sorry,” Alyssa laughs. “So my mom totally loses her shit. It’s chaos. I think Trent had a cowbell at some point?”

Trent reaches into a messenger bag next to him and pulls out a cowbell, resting it on the table with a quiet thunk.

“You just keep that with you?” Janis chuckles.

“For emergencies,” Trent explains. “You’d be surprised.”

Janis tries to think of what emergencies she’s faced that would either be helped or solved with the addition of a cowbell, and surprisingly, she can think of a few.

“Of course he keeps it all the time,” Emma chuckles. “I don’t remember… most of what happened that time. But after a few days they announced that the prom was back on.”

“Because of you?” Damian asks, looking to the stars.

“No,” they all say at the same time Emma says, “I think so.”

Everyone looks her way. “I told you this at the time, but you guys really scared people! I think you at least had a part.”

“How sweet,” Dee Dee says. “Let’s say we had an ensemble part in getting it back on.”

That gets a chuckle from everyone at the table, before Barry continues with the story.

“I, obviously, had to take Emma shopping,” he says. “She only had one dress and it was… a travesty would be an understatement.”

“I’m honestly not sure where it came from,” Emma chuckles. “Just think Little House on the Prarie but somehow so much worse.”

“So we went to the mall, and found this lovely blue dress and some good shoes,” Barry says. Emma looks like she would disagree with his choice of adjectives, but nods. “Did her hair and makeup all fancy, and bought her a corsage.”

“Aww,” Cady coos. “How sweet.”

“That part was fun,” Emma agrees fondly. “But…”

“When we got there,” Barry says. “Poor thing was so excited, but it was-it was just-“

Dee Dee continues for him, as Barry gets too emotional to keep going. “It was totally empty. Barry took Emma into the gym, and it was just horrific. There were barely any decorations, and they were just thrown up. I would be stunned if they spent more than ten dollars on the whole thing.”

“Oh god,” Damian says sadly. “I heard it was a fake, but I didn’t know it was that bad.”

“It sucked,” Emma chuckles sardonically, trying not to get too heavy in the middle of an IHOP. “More than anything. I didn’t care about the decorations, I just… it was so lonely, you know? I realized then that so many people I thought cared about me just didn’t. So many people I thought were my friends, weren’t. I had never felt more alone.”

“It sounds awful,” Janis says.

“It was,” Emma mumbles. Alyssa takes her hand under the table and gives it a gentle squeeze. Emma looks up and gives her a sad but grateful grin.

“I was at the… other prom. The real one,” Alyssa continues, seeming ashamed. “I had no idea what they had done, everyone on student council and the PTA hid it from me too. Some of my friends had seen us together and realized I was the ‘secret girlfriend’ and were trying to break us up.”

“Which worked,” Emma admits sadly. “I called her to try to get her to come to my own personal prom so I could at least have her there, but her mom was at the real one with her and she couldn’t leave. And I just sort of… lost it. I hung up and we didn’t talk again for a week.”

“I never blamed you for that,” Alyssa murmurs gently. “You were still trying to process everything and I just added to it.”

“No, you didn’t,” Emma insists. “We can talk more later. Anyway. I ran out, obviously. And Angie actually came after me, which was nice. She just let me cry and didn’t make me do anything. Helped me get my makeup off and stuff. She even slept on my bedroom floor in case I needed something. It was kind of like having a mom there, which I really needed.”

“How fucking old-“ Angie begins, but Trent claps a hand over her mouth. Emma laughs and continues.

“And then the rest of them came by the next day even though I yelled at them,” she says.

“With ice cream!” Barry butts in. “That’s an important detail.”

“Oh yeah, they brought me Häagen Dazs,” Emma laughs. “It was cute. Especially because they thought I wouldn’t know what it was.”

“Can you blame us? You live in the most yeehaw hick town in Indiana,” Trent says. “And that’s saying something.”

“It’s not that bad,” Emma tuts. “Anyway, they brought ice cream and were trying to convince me to do something to bring more attention to what was happening. Dee Dee actually got me on a talk show at one point, but I knew I would never be able to do something like that.”

“You still owe me a house,” Dee Dee grumbles under her breath. “But what she wound up doing was much better anyway.”

“The song?” Damian asks. Emma nods.

“I had it sort of in my head for a while, and I managed to piece it together in about a week,” she replies. “I was terrified, but it was just an overnight thing. I woke up the next day and it already had two million views.”

Alyssa squeezes her hand with a proud smile. “Half of them were me.”

“The other half were Damian,” Janis chuckles. “He made me watch it at lunch one day and we both watched it so many times we knew all the words by the next day.”

“Aww,” Emma says. “You guys are so sweet.”

“We try,” Janis and Damian say at the same time, locking eyes and glaring at each other once they notice. Cady giggles at their antics.

“Anyway,” Emma laughs. “I wasn’t expecting even that many, but people just kept watching, and then I started getting all these comments on it that were so precious. All these other queer kids all over the world sharing their stories too. Eventually it got back to Principal Hawkins and all of them, and they helped figure out how to set up an inclusive prom. And funded it, which was very helpful.”

“Yeah, helpful,” Dee Dee grumbles under her breath.

“Once we saw where the money was going it was so worth it,” Barry says, gently kicking Dee Dee under the table. “It was beautiful.”

“It really was,” Emma agrees. “But god, it took forever to set up.”

“God, yeah,” Alyssa says. “Oh, and we got back together, like, as we were setting everything up, we forgot to mention that.”

“Oh yeah,” Emma says. “Her mom came when she heard what we were doing in the gym because we never got PTA approval-“

“So she was mad,” Alyssa butts in.

“Very mad,” Emma chuckles. “But you came with her and told her to stop talking, which was both hilarious and terrifying. And then you told me you loved me in front of everyone. I don’t think I’ll ever forget that.”

“Me either,” Alyssa says quietly.

“Aww,” Cady says, even though she’s heard the whole story before. It’s always a good one to repeat. “How sweet.”

“So after that whole thing we finished setting everything up,” Emma continues, smiling at her girlfriend. “And it was beautiful, even I was impressed.”

“You looked so happy when everyone started showing up,” Alyssa says fondly. “I was so proud of you. I still am. You gave so many people an incredible night they wouldn’t have had without you.”

Emma flushes slightly and looks down at her lap. Alyssa squishes her cheeks in her hand to get her to look back up.

“It really was an incredible night,” she says. “And we finally got to dance together, I think that was my favorite part.”

“That was good,” Alyssa nods. “But you’re a terrible dancer.”

“Hey! Just because I didn’t take dance classes for years,” Emma pouts.

“Oh, hush, I’m joking,” Alyssa says, kissing Emma’s cheek.

“You missed,” Emma continues pouting. Alyssa frowns in confusion and kisses her cheek again, but in a different spot. “You missed.”

Alyssa gives her a chaste kiss on the lips this time, and Emma finally smiles. Alyssa rolls her eyes lovingly. “You’re such a dork, goodness gracious.”

“You guys are almost as cute as Caddy and Janis,” Damian says, trying to snap them out of it and get them to remember the presence of the group.

“Almost?” Alyssa says, her competitive side making a slight appearance. “I think you’re biased.”

“Oh, definitely,” Damian agrees. “We don’t really have any unbiased judges though.”

“True. We’ll say it’s a truce for now,” Alyssa says. “Are we all done? I need to get up for a bit. I’m stuffed.”

“I think so,” Cady says, looking around at all the empty plates around. “We could go to the beach for the sunset, if you guys want. It’s not too far a drive.”

“Ooh, yes please,” Emma says excitedly. The adults play rock paper scissors to work out payment, and Dee Dee grumbles under her breath when she loses.

“Hungry kids. Why are pancakes so expensive?”

————-

“Oh, guys, look!” Damian says, pointing to a window of a thrift shop nearby. “We could go try on dresses!”

“We?” Janis chuckles, carrying Cady on her back. “You gonna get into a ballgown, D?”

“Why not?” Damian asks. “I have the figure for it, shut up.”

“I thought we were going to the beach,” Angie says.

“We can do both,” Barry says, seeming strangely excited. “Wear dresses to the beach.”

“Yeah, yeah!” Cady says eagerly, squeezing her legs together a bit to get Janis to go in, as if she’s riding a pony. “Please?”

“I am not paying,” Dee Dee says immediately. Everyone else nods, that’s only fair.

“Fine, fine. Come along,” Trent says, leading them into the shop as their gaggle of children follow like ducklings.

—-

The employees look a bit concerned as all nine of them parade to the discounted gown section and start looking for ones in their sizes. Damian finds his first, a royal purple gown with a high neck and a slit that would reach about to his knee. He takes it off the rack and heads over to the changing room, rapidly followed by Barry with his silver gown.

“How did-“ Emma stutters. “I guess they knew what they were looking for.”

Angie helps Trent find one that would fit him, an emerald green dress with long sleeves and a nice v-neck collar. He shrugs and follows Barry and Damian. Angie then moves on to find one of her own, and picks out a sleek black dress made of lace and with a shorter skirt, about to the knee. Dee Dee follows with one she seems to have grabbed at random, a nice yellow gown complete with a cape.

Alyssa picks a pink dress with a longer train, since she wore a short dress to both of her real proms and wants to experiment a little. Cady picks a yellow one, with longer sleeves and a bow in the back. The skirt is short, which makes her a little nervous, but she decides to give it a go.

Janis and Emma both look a bit lost, staring aimlessly at the racks and flicking through them weakly.

“Jayjay, try this one,” Cady says, offering a long, red, short-sleeved gown that looks like it would have a rather tight fit. Maybe Cady has some selfish motivations here, but she’ll never admit it. Janis raises a slightly suspicious eyebrow, but takes the dress and hauls her girlfriend off to the changing rooms.

“They all look so itchy,” Emma shudders slightly. Alyssa laughs and takes one of her hands.

“If you got one made of something like this it wouldn’t be too bad,” she says, showing Emma one made of an almost satin-like material. “And it’ll only be a couple hours at most. We’re going to the beach, sand is itchy anyway.”

“True,” Emma agrees with a little nod. “I like this one.”

“So try it,” Alyssa chuckles as Emma grabs an amethyst colored ballgown with a big poofy skirt. “Come on.”

Most of their group is waiting outside the rooms, clad in their ill fitting gowns. Trent’s is a bit too big, Barry’s is missing some sequins, and Angie’s has a small hole in the sleeve, but none of them complain.

Cady and Janis open the curtains to their respective rooms, revealing their dresses to one another. Janis is somehow not tall enough to fill her dress out, which makes her look a bit like Morticia Addams, but she doesn’t mind. Cady’s is almost perfect, but the skirt clings to her legs in an odd way.

“You look nice!” Cady says, gently adjusting Janis’ sleeve as Janis tugs at her collar.

“It’s a bit tight,” Janis says, sounding rather choked.

“I can fix that once we buy it,” Barry says, looking at himself in the mirror. Everyone looks at him in concern. “What? I have a stitch kit, I’ll just cut the collar off it.”

“Oh,” everyone says. Alyssa and Emma exit the changing rooms then, prompting coos from everyone.

“Emmy, you look beautiful!” Alyssa says, pulling her girlfriend into a hug. “The color really suits you.”

“Does it?” Emma says, sarcastically striking a pose. “It feels very… purple.”

“I like purple,” Alyssa hums, adjusting Emma’s skirt.

“You look really nice,” Emma replies, looking at Alyssa’s long dress. Hers is the closest to fitting correctly out of everyone’s.

“Thanks!” Alyssa says, putting her hands on her hips and popping out a knee. Emma laughs and kisses her gently.

“Okay, let’s go!” Angie says happily, having been taking pictures of everyone like a proud mom taking photos for her Facebook. Angie, Trent, and Barry split the cost among them, and they unleash their prom-ready selves onto the public.

—————-

“So you guys just graduated, right?” Alyssa asks, strolling down the shore holding hands with Emma. Cady and Janis are also hand in hand walking next to them.

“Yep!” Cady chirps.

“So you must’ve just had your senior prom too, what was yours like?”

“It was so fun! Damian took me shopping and I had the most beautiful dress,” Cady replies eagerly. “And Janis had a suit to match and it was… she looked… so hot.”

“Ooh,” Emma teases. “Scandalous.”

“Hey,” Cady says. “I’m allowed to think she’s hot.”

“Fair enough,” Emma shrugs.

“What about you guys, how are you handling your post-prom fame?” Janis jokes.

“Pretty well,” Emma chuckles. “Or at least I think we are.”

“You certainly are,” Alyssa murmurs.

“Oh yeah, aren’t you starting a nonprofit or something?” Cady asks.

“Wait, what?” Janis asks.

“I’m trying,” Emma laughs again. “Lyss’ mom is actually helping me. And trying to start a charity looks, like, super good on college applications, so that’s nice.”

“I thought your mom started this whole fiasco,” Janis says confusedly.

“Oh, she did,” Alyssa confirms. “But she’s cool with the gays now. She had a lot of questions and stuff, and she’s still having to work pretty hard at it. Changing opinions and thought patterns that were instilled in you from

childhood is tough. But she’s trying.”

“Yeah, she came to pride with us this year,” Emma says. “It was cute, she had a rainbow pantsuit and everything.”

“Go mom,” Janis chuckles. “I’m glad she turned things around.”

“Me too,” Alyssa murmurs quietly.

“Me three,” Emma says, squeezing her hand.

“So what’s this charity you’re getting going?” Cady asks.

“It’s called the Unruly Hearts Foundation,” Emma explains. “It’s a nonprofit that takes donations and stuff to throw other inclusive events around the country. Create safe spaces. And we also donate a fair bit to LGBTQ+ shelters and stuff, too.”

“That’s awesome,” Janis says. “I’m broke but I’ll donate a bit once I get my commissions business going.”

“Thanks, Janis,” Emma chuckles. “You know, we could use some branding. A logo, stuff for our website. If you’re interest-“

“Yes,” Janis interrupts. “I’m interested. Please.”

“Groovy,” Emma laughs. “I’ll be in touch, get Cady to give you my number.”

“You say groovy too?!” Damian asks eagerly as he makes an appearance. “These two always make fun of me for it.”

“Hell yeah I say groovy,” Emma says, giving Damian a fist bump. “Sometimes it’s the only word that fits the vibes, you know?”

“Yes!” Damian says. “See? Emma gets it.”

“I think ‘tits’ is pretty versatile,” Janis says. “You kind of look like Ursula, by the way, Dame.”

“Thanks,” Damian says, swishing his purple skirt around. “I’m gonna take that as a compliment.”

“It was,” Janis huffs. “As if I’d ever insult you.”

“You called me a ‘fucking deplorable kneecap’ on the way here,” Damian retaliates. Emma and Alyssa rode separately and burst out laughing.

“And now I have grown as a person. Developed myself.”

“It was ten minutes ago!”

“And? I’m not the same me I was two minutes ago, let alone ten,” Janis defends.

“Thank god,” Damian grumbles jokingly.

“Hey!” Janis says, breaking away from Cady and running after him. Damian shrieks and holds up his skirts to run away.

“Do we need to intervene here, Cades?” Emma asks with a slight chuckle as Damian and Janis sprint up and down the shoreline in a sort of oval.

“Nah,” Cady shrugs. “They do stuff like this about once a week. Janis knows she needs him, she won’t actually do anything.”

Just as she says that, Damian takes a hard left and runs full tilt into the lake. Janis pauses for a second before shrugging and running after him.

“Or maybe she will.”

“That water must be cold,” Alyssa chuckles in concern.

“Let’s find out!” Emma says boldly, tightening her grip on Alyssa’s hand and running them towards the water as well. Alyssa shrieks as they leap into the lake with a splash. Cady realizes she’s alone and also runs in, managing a cannonball into the water.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Barry yells, walking up on a sort of puddle of teenagers in soaking wet dresses.

“They’re being kids, let them live,” Dee Dee says. “Unrelated, can you swim?”

“Yeah, wh- don’t you dare,” Barry says, turning to face her.

“Oh, I would never,” Dee Dee says, aghast at the mere suggestion. Trent then comes sprinting up and tackles Barry into the lake. “But he would.”

Angie cackles and high fives her. Dee Dee crosses her arms over her chest and smiles down as Barry pops back up with a splutter.

“Dee Dee Allen!” Barry demands. “Get your ass in here.”

“No, I don’t think I will, thank you,” Dee Dee says casually, rocking slightly on the balls of her feet.

“Oh come on,” Angie coaxes. “It’s only fair.”

“I didn’t push him!”

“You had a role.”

Dee Dee ponders this for a moment before she begrudgingly reaches to take Angie’s hand, and they leap in together.

“Yay!” Emma cheers, delighted that all her friends made it into the lake one way or another. Some of them are significantly less happy about this, but everyone is laughing eventually.

“Hey, Caddy,” Janis says. She swims over to her girlfriend and kisses her gently, before booping her nose. “Tag. You’re it.”

Cady laughs as Janis swims away as fast as she can, rapidly followed by the rest of the group. Cady swims around for a second while she ponders her options to decide who to go after. Emma is a strong swimmer, being on her high school swim team and all. Alyssa is okay, but a bit weaker.

Barry seems to be the slowest, and gives her the best chance of success. He looks very anxious as Cady stares him down before lunging for him. He shrieks as Cady manages to snag his skirt and tap his arm under the water before she backstrokes away.

“Damn it,” he puffs. “I’m having elementary school flashbacks.”

“Better than middle school flashbacks,” Angie calls.

“Amen,” Janis says. She screams as Barry goes for her and swims away, huddling behind Damian for protection.

“Hey!” Damian whines, swimming away from her and creating a sort of three-way chase. Janis quickly gives up on Damian’s protection and swims to Cady instead.

“Protect me,” she pleads. Cady smiles as Janis hides behind her, peeking over her shoulder to check where the threat is.

“You’re so cute.”

“No I’m not,” Janis pouts. “I’m being stealthy.”

“Uhhuh,” Cady says as Janis clings to her like a precious little octopus. “If you get me tagged again I’m breaking up with you.”

“That’s fair,” Janis agrees with a shrug. Alyssa suddenly gives a shriek as Barry taps her leg under the water. “Uh oh.”

————-

After an hour or so of tag, the sun begins to set for the day. The water temperature plummets and everyone swims to shore to watch the sky be painted beautiful shades of pink and orange and purple. The adults and Damian head back to the car to go hunt for towels and dry clothes somewhere.

But Cady, Janis, Emma and Alyssa stay behind, deciding they don’t mind so much if they’re in heavy, cold dresses and getting covered in itchy sand. Cady holds Janis on her lap and Alyssa has Emma in hers, all of them staring out over the expanse of the water before them together.

“You guys should visit more often,” Cady says quietly as the first stars begin to make an appearance.

“Absolutely,” Alyssa says, looking down at her girlfriend. “This was an awesome day.”

“And we’ll have more,” Emma says.

Together.

—-

thank you so much for reading! hope you enjoyed!

lots of love,

ezzy

[malereader-inserts]

Just Another Ordinary Day

Fandom: Avengers Pairing: Avengers & Male!Reader Summary: You see, birthdays are suppose to be happy and special, but to you, it’s just another ordinary day. Word Count:  1,250 A/n: My birthday is coming up this Sunday (17th May), so y’all gonna get some birthday stories

“Get a grip of yourself! Look at (Y/n), he’s eighteen and I don’t hear him complaining!”

You tilted your head to the side, “I’m nineteen?”

They looked at you, your eyebrows knitted tightly together as you were confused. Like a lost puppy, you didn’t seem like it was a big thing. You don’t do birthdays so you weren’t offended really however everyone in the Avengers look like you just murdered their pet.

“What are you even arguing about?”

You had walked into Tony and Steve arguing with Peter, whilst Clint was snickering as his eyes continue to look at the television playing on the game console with Thor, whilst Natasha flickers through her magazine and Bruce trying to take a nap. Sam was trying to throw popcorn into Bucky’s mouth whilst Wanda was on her phone.

“Peter wants to go to a party,” Tony says as if it was explaining everything making you even more confused.

“Shouldn’t you be asking May about that, Pete?” You asked, noticing that Thor lost against Clint, smoothly taking the controller to have a go with Clint.

Clint obviously excited for a new challenger. 

“Well, he wants to go in his Spiderman uniform to prove that he knows Spiderman,” Steve continues as you let out an ‘Ah’

“Well, that’s not my problem, buddy,” You responded as you were focused on a different thing.

Peter huffed as he sat down on the armchair whilst Steve and Tony was relieved that Peter let go of the topic at hand, for now, the two joining the team to hang about in the living room. Though despite no one really talking and just the audio from the very big flat screen tv. The rest of the Avengers could not help but dwell the fact that they had missed your birthday.

“What did you get for your birthday then?” Clint asked after a while, whilst watching Thor and Loki go head to head on the game.

You looked up from your laptop then back down, shrugging your shoulders, “Money and a cake.”

“Nothing special from your parents?” He tilted his head and once again met with you shrugging your shoulders.

“Not really, we don’t tend to celebrate birthdays. They do plan to do a big 21st birthday, but that’s two years away so I’m not that bothered. It’s just a regular day to me.”

Clint looked at Natasha who raised an eyebrow, “Well, we’re different,” The woman said as you scoffed.

“Don’t bother,” You replied, scrolling through your laptop, “It’s been a week since my birthday, there’s no point.” 

Clint and Natasha did not like that answer as well as Loki and Thor who was listening to the conversation. You hummed as you continue your day, unphased and unbothered by the topic at hand.

Peter had even dropped his pleads to go to a party in his superhero uniform because he didn’t like how you talked about your birthday. So, you don’t want a party? Or big announcements or such like that. Fine, the team had agreed silently by sharing looks to each other’s way whilst you obliviously turn away. They’ll treat your birthday as just another ordinary day, just with a sprinkle of special.

The next day you woke up with Clint, Sam and Bucky hitting you with pillows. You groaned as you smacked all of them with a pillow in the balls. Rubbing your eyes, you see three full men groaning on the floor. You rolled your eyes as you kick them out, getting ready for the day. 

As you walked into the kitchen, you see Steve cooking up breakfast with Natasha. Serving you pancakes and milkshake, you raised an eyebrow because Steve always go on about how they should be healthy and consume less sugary stuff.

“Everyone is entitled to a cheat day,” Steve plays it off as if it was no big deal.

You say nothing afterwards as you dig into your food, not complaining and eating it before Peter comes and complains about it, he still does as he sees Natasha slapping down another pancake on your plate as you were about to say you were done. You kept your mouth shut when you saw the glare on her face. 

You went on your day as normal, sitting at the dining room table as Tony slides in, proclaiming he over bought some laptop stickers and seeing that you had some on your laptop, he let you pick them. They were splayed over the dining room table, you excitedly took your pick of the litter whilst Peter came rocking in the room with a bag full of recently ordered clothes.

“Why do you have so much?”

“I forgot to take some of them out of my basket and Mr Stark let me use his card to pay so you can take some of my order - I’m not really keen on most of them anyway, so take them before I ship them back.”

You don’t say anything but you, Peter, Tony and eventually Bruce helped pick out clothes from Peter’s bulk buy, turning a blind eye when the other three share a look. You looked marvellous at the new stuff before packing them away in your room.

Lunch came about and Clint was cooking, as he had been travelling the world before SHIELD, he had picked up some great recipes when he was over as Asia. You have a splendid lunch, as Clint kept topping up your plate.

“You’re gonna make me burst in a minute, Clint,” You joked.

“What if that’s what I’m trying to do? Might stop you from beating me in all my games.”

You rolled your eyes but continued to eat, as you offer to wash up. Wanda shoos you away to the living room where you see Sam and Bucky arguing about what video game to play. You sat in between Loki and Thor, the two bickering as always.

“Cool ring you have there, Thor!” You exclaimed as you looked at his ring that was on a chain. 

Loki smiled slyly behind you, glad that you took notice of their plan to give it to you without exclaiming it was a birthday gift. The two bothers took turns, and argued, about the tales the ring had been through before Thor unchaining it and allowing it to slip it to your desired finger. As you were about to slip it off, Loki stops you saying that you should keep it.

You looked starstruck before Sam and Bucky calling you over to their sofa. You give them a smile before hopping to the idiots’ sofa, comfortably sitting between the two, before they start throwing hands at each other.

“Four player Mario Kart?” Bucky says, leaves you with no option for debate as he throws you the wheel.

Clint jumps the back of the sofa and seating next Sam, whilst Bucky promptly lobs the fourth wheel towards him. As the race started, everyone had started to file into the living room, Tony proclaiming he’s ordered takeaway from multiple different places. 

Soon, the game between the four of you had started to be a competition between the Avengers. It was a long shouting afternoon that faded into the evening. As everyone started to get exhausted, you get up, exclaiming you were off to bed. As you were about to leave the room, you stopped at the doorway.

“Thanks for a nice birthday.”

You disappeared as the team smiled to themselves, they really can’t fool you.

[ruzek-halstead]

there’s one thing on my mind (it’s all for you)

i didn’t have a wip for jatp fanworks appreciation week, so i made one?? but i got too into it and finished it in a few hours. thanks to @ourstarscollided for sending in the incredible prompt that led to this fic!! 

home didn't seem like home anymore for luke patterson, and so he was desperate to find a new place to write music. after an especially brutal fight with his mother, he finds himself in front of l.a. books. he isn't expecting to get much out of it, it was solely a last resort. but then he sees her, julie molina, and he ends up coming back every week just to keep seeing her.

bookstore au

masterlist

If three years ago, someone were to tell Luke, he would actively be spending his Friday night in a small, but cozy book store, he would have laughed in their face.

He was a rockstar. If he wasn't jamming it out at some club with his boys, he was doing something wrong.

But life didn't always work out in his favour, and it wasn't long before he decided he couldn't write out of his home anymore. Home. Sometimes the mere word made him laugh. Home was supposed to be warm, welcoming and loving, and he felt none of those things every time he walked through the front door. It was starting to take a toll on him. Not only on his mental health, but also in his creative abilities. The songs he was writing in his bedroom had taken a dark turn, so dark they felt more like a cry for help than anything else.

So, he decided it was time to find another place to write songs; somewhere that could get his creative juices flowing. When Reggie first suggested this bookstore on the corner of Madison, Luke pinched his brows, not understanding how that was a viable solution. Reggie defended his suggestion by saying bookstores were quiet and he would be surrounded by millions of words of inspiration.

Luke never took Reggie's suggestion until one brutal fight with his mom left him pulling at his hair, desperate to leave the house. He would go anywhere at this point, but his fingers were itching to grab his pencil and book; there was so much he just needed to get out onto paper. If he didn't, he would explode. So, he grabbed his song book, a few pencils and stuffed everything into his backpack before he hopped out his window. At first, he just started walking to nowhere in particular. In the back of his mind, he was intending to drop by Alex's, but instead he found himself standing in front of L.A. Books.

He walked in with the intention of taking one quick walk around and most likely walking right back out. He was pissed off at the world and he didn't think Shakespeare would solve his issue.

But then he saw her.

She was stocking a book shelf, putting up new books as far as he could tell. Her curls kept getting in way of her vision and she was continuously tucking them behind her ears. He could only see the side of her face at this point, but when she was approached by a younger girl to help locate a book, Luke quite literally forgot how to breathe. She was stunning in every which way; her soft smile to the young girl made an unconscious smile spread over his own lips. There was no specific thing about her that drew him to her, but for some reason, he was rooted to the floor. Even when she started moving in his direction, leading the girl to a new section, he couldn't even move just enough to grab a book and look like he wasn't creepily stalking her.

But she only sent him a warm smile as she walked by.

So, maybe Reggie wasn't so wrong about this place after all.

After that, Luke found himself stopping by at least once a week, maybe twice if things at home were really bad. It was a quiet establishment for the most part, and Luke found a corner table that was perfect for his writing. He knew his song writing was starting to take a hit; he knew that. But since he started writing in the bookstore, an obvious shift was clear in the words he scribbled down.

Even the boys noticed.

"What the hell is this?" Alex had demanded one late night after Luke handed him his songbook so he could filter through it. They'd mostly been playing their old originals while Luke worked on some new stuff, and he was finally starting to share.

Luke frowned, biting his lip nervously. "What? Is it that bad?"

"Reg, look at this," Alex ignored Luke, reaching over to show the other brunette. "When were you going to tell us?"

Luke merely blinked, gaze flickering between the two. Reggie, to his credit, looked just as confused, meanwhile Alex was fighting a smirk. "Dude, I'm so confused. What the hell are you talking about?"

Alex placed the book down in his lap, finally letting the smirk take over. "When were you going to tell us you were in love?"

Luke immediately started to sweat. "What?"

"If you're writing these love songs about me, I'm flattered," Alex teased, to which Luke could only roll his eyes and snatch the book back into his possession. "But you know I'm taken."

"I'm not in love," Luke muttered under his breath.

And he wasn't. He would stand by that.

But he'd be lying if he said he didn't stop by the bookstore solely to see his curly-haired goddess. Every time, he would look at her and a sudden burst of inspiration would blindside him and he would be writing into his book without even realizing. He wasn't going to tell the boys that, though.

After about a month of hidden glances and polite smiles, he figured it was about time to say something. He also figured it could only look a little strange, him being at a bookstore every week and never buying anything. To his credit, many others took advantage of their tables to work quietly; he wasn't the only one. But he was the only one who couldn't take his off the employee with kind eyes and a mega-watts smile. Sometimes she came over to organize the tables, or wipe them down, and so Luke decided it was now or never.

"Hi," he blurted one night when she came to grab a stray book someone had left on his table. Her gaze lifted to meet his. Her face broke out into a warm smile and he nearly broke his pencil from how hard he was holding it.

Luke's eyes dropped to her name tag. He'd never been close enough to read it (with the exception of the first time he saw her, but he was understandably starstruck and couldn't focus on anything).

Julie.

He debated saying something else, it almost looked like she was waiting for him too, but the words were caught in his throat. He merely sent her a pained grin as she retreated. God, that was awkward.

Over the next few months, his confidence grew some, but he was never able to hold a full conversation with her. He was working up to it, but in the meantime, he was content in his corner writing songs about the girl who had unknowingly captured his heart.

This week had been particularly gruelling. School had taken a lot out of him (every mark counted for college admissions) and his parents were on his ass about his grades. He knew he had to do well, even if he wanted to pursue music, he needed the grades to get into a good music program; he knew that. He didn't need his mom yelling at him about it every day. So, this Friday he'd spent the entire evening at L.A. Books, anything to just get away for a bit. He knew it was almost closing time; there weren't many customers left and he could see Julie cleaning up out of the corner of his eye.

He was trying not to spend all his time watching Julie, instead focused on his latest creation. So, he didn't see Julie apprehensively watching someone shove a few books into his backpack. He was young, but probably a bit older than Julie. Why he would want to steal some books, Julie had no idea, but it was the wrong day to mess with Julie Molina.

She hadn't had her best week either, and watching someone blatantly try to steal like he was, severely pissed her off. Protocol be damned, Julie stalked over to the individual and blocked his exit. Protocol insisted on not confronting the shop-lifter by any means, but Julie was too annoyed to care.

"Are you going to pay for those books you put in your backpack or can I have them back?"

Julie was impressed with how confident she sounded. Even when he met her glance head-on, she wasn't the least bit intimidated.

"What? Sorry, I think you're thinking of someone else," he replied, but after meeting her gaze the first time, he couldn't hold it as he spoke.

"Just give me the books and I won't call the police," Julie reasoned. She sounded exhausted, and that was because she was; this was honestly the last thing she needed this week, and yet, here she was.

But as soon as the man noticed her change of tone, his mouth twisted into a scowl. "I already told you, you have the wrong guy."

"I saw you put them in your backpack!" Julie argued, her anger crawling back up her throat.

"No, you didn't, because I didn't do anything!" He replied angrily. "Are you going to move, now?"

Julie stood her ground. It was probably quite comical, considering she was a full head shorter than him, but she wasn't moving. "No. Give me back the books."

The man let out a furious snarl. "Get out of my way, bitch."

His words didn't offend her in the slightest. Honestly, she felt sorry for him, that this was how he was raised to treat women, especially someone as young as her. But she was perceptive, and she could tell he was getting agitated and possibly aggressive. She didn't know this guy, she didn't know what he was capable of.

Luke had kept his eye on Julie the entire time, he always did. But as soon as he realized what she was doing, he swore under his breath. He tried to keep his distance, to let her do her thing, but the second the man called Julie a bitch, Luke was up and out of his chair, ready to throw hands.

There was a point in his life where he wouldn't even think about the consequences of his actions, but as he approached, he caught Julie's eyes and figured punching this random guy in the face probably wasn't the best course of action. So, he hung back, close enough to be noticed, but not enough to be considered a threat.

Or so he thought.

The man noticed Julie's eyes focused on something behind him, so he whirled around to see Luke. What with his height and obvious biceps (that were currently on display because what were sleeves anyway?), the man scoffed.

"Is he coming to your rescue or something? Need someone to fight your battles?"

Luke merely raised his eyebrows.

The fact that he was saying all this to a high school girl seriously baffled him.

When the man tried to step around Luke, he side-stepped to be in his way again. Luke didn't smirk, didn't show any facial emotion. It was enough to unnerve him.

With an angry huff, he reached into his backpack to pull out the two books in question. He slammed them into Luke's chest as he stormed past him, muttering, "I don't need this crap."

The moment they heard the door slam closed, Luke's eyes slid over to Julie. Her face was blank, but her eyes were stormy, angry even. He didn't blame her; that guy was a right dick. He hesitantly handed the books back to her. Her gaze flickered to the books and back to him. She probably had no idea how absolutely intimidating she looked.

But then she smiled. A proper, full smile that had Luke merely staring. "Thank you," she said, reaching forward to grab the books. He was hoping she'd say more, but instead she took the books and walked away to put them back in their place.

It was fine, because she had talked to him and he was so ridiculously happy about that. He had also helped her out in that less than stellar situation, but not overbearingly so that he treated her like a damsel in distress who couldn't handle herself. Julie definitely held her own, but he wouldn't be able to live with himself if something happened to her and he was right there sitting in his corner. Pleased with himself and how the situation played out, he skipped back to his seat in the corner, feeling more inspired than ever to finish the current song he was working on.

He glanced up one more time, surprised to catch Julie's sparkling brown eyes already looking at him. She immediately averted her gaze, mouth twitching as she held back a smile.

That was when he decided, no more pining around; it was time to officially ask her out.

What was the worst that could happen? She would say no. And he'd be okay with that, because it was 2021 and respecting women and their decisions shouldn't even be questioned. He'd be disappointed, sure, but for now, he was still holding out hope that maybe she would be into him too.

It was nearing eight, and Luke could tell when he saw the remainder of customers heading for the door. He spotted Julie making her way over too, getting ready to lock the door behind the last customer. He gathered up his things and shoved them into his backpack as slowly as possible. His heart was hammering in his chest and his palms were sweaty; he was actually nervous to ask Julie out.

How couldn't he be? She was absolutely gorgeous.

Luke made it to the door, taking a deep breath before he met her eyes.

Julie stepped in front of him, blocking his exit.

He stumbled in his step, grabbing onto the door frame to keep from toppling straight into her.

"Sorry," she mumbled, tucking a curl behind her ear. For the first time literally ever, Luke observed the tell-tale signs of her shy and apprehensive behaviour. She was always so confident, so in tune with what she seemed to want, this was unusual to him. Not only because of that, but he'd never been this close to her, and he was suddenly finding it extremely hot (and he was barely even wearing a shirt).

Luke tugged on his backpack strap, because he needed to do something. He needed to focus, or else he'd end up doing something stupid, like blurt out that he was in love with her. "No, it's okay. I actually wanted to ask you something anyway."

Her sparkling brown eyes widened for a split second. "Actually, I want to ask you something — are you free to grab a coffee?"

It was safe to say Luke's brain started to short-circuit.

"Uh, what?"

He was so intensely focused on gathering the courage to ask her out, he didn't even know how to reply when she suddenly flipped the plan on him.

He started to lose his mind even more when a soft blush spread over Julie's cheeks. "I'm just closing up, and I could really use a dose of caffeine. I'd really like if you came with me."

Luke can't do more than simply stare at her; his body was failing on him. Julie held his gaze, biting her lip apprehensively with a nervous smile because he wasn't saying anything, and she really hoped she didn't misinterpret his signals. But then he finally fights for control of his body again, and a soft grin spreads onto his lips. "Yeah. I'd really like that."

She matched his grin, closed and locked the door behind her. "I only have a few more things to do. Just a few more minutes."

"No worries," he replied, shoving his hands into his front pockets. "Oh! I'm Luke, by the way."

Julie mulled over the name for a moment. "Julie," she responded.

"I know," he mumbled, eyes solely focused on hers. Even when she looked to him in surprise, he couldn't focus on anything but her eyes. God, she was so gorgeous. "Your name tag," he added, just to ease her fears about him being a stalker (I mean, he was there almost every week...).

Luke leaned against one of the tables as he waited for Julie to finish closing up. He watched her silently, unable to remove the excited smile from his lips the entire time he waited. When she told him he was ready, he diligently held open the door for her and then waited, hands dug into his front pockets, as she locked up behind them.

There was a coffeeshop right around the corner, and as they both started walking in that direction, there was an unspoken agreement, that was where they wanted to go. Luke hated himself and his weirdly awkward nature on their walk over. He couldn't find any words to say to her, none. He chanced a few glances in her direction, but she seemed content with just walking in silence, so he went with the flow.

Once again, he held the door open for her and smiled when looked at him with amused eyes. Julie headed straight for a table near the window, removing her jacket and setting it on the back of her chair. Luke followed, lingering when she didn't sit back down.

"I can go order," he offered, "What would you like?"

Julie looked up at him with a smirk, and dear God, his knees nearly buckled. "I invited you. It's my treat."

"Oh, come on," he nearly whined. "Let's not do this, please."

Julie pursed her lips. She was a very determined person, and if he didn't know that yet, he'd be quick to learn. "I invited you. It's only fair."

He ran a hand through his hair, shooting her the most charming smile he could manage. "Julie, I've been waiting to take you out for months. Please let me buy you a coffee."

All her determination died there and then on the tip of her tongue.

"Okay," she replied with a cheeky smile. She diligently took a seat. "I'll take an iced coffee, please."

Luke nodded, once again, skipping away from her for the second time that night. He ordered Julie an iced coffee (and a cookie because who doesn't like cookies) and a regular coffee for himself. He was already jittery enough but he could never say no to coffee.

"Here you go." He said softly, placing her treats in front of her.

Julie took a quick sip of her coffee and narrowed her gaze on Luke. "I want to hear more. You said you've been waiting to take me out for months."

Luke had never felt him blush so quickly before in his life. He nearly choked on the coffee he was currently drinking. "It sounds really creepy when you say it like that."

"I know you've been coming to the shop for months," she continued, breaking apart her cookie. She wasn't looking at him, and it honestly made Luke all the more nervous. She made him nervous. "And you've never bought anything, but you're always writing in a book."

"I needed a quiet place to write music and I found your shop."

Julie nodded along, humming. "I catch you looking at me a lot."

Luke scratched the back of his head. "Well, honestly, that's not entirely my fault. I can't help but stare at beautiful things."

Julie looked up at him with a smirk. "That was smooth. I feel like it's only fair I be as honest." She leaned her elbows onto the table, leaning in close. Luke started sweating again. "I always look for you during my shifts."

It was as if the air was entirely knocked out of his lungs. It was the reassurance he was looking for, the acknowledgement that his feelings weren't one-sided, but it was a lot to take in at once.

"You're the reason I come back every week," he admitted, the words flowing freely out of him now that he knew with certainty she felt something for him too.

Julie leaned back in her chair. Her eyes tracked his movements, mostly because she didn't know what to say next. Where do they go from here?

Who makes the next move?

"I'll keep dropping by. But under one condition," Luke reasoned, hiding his smirk with his coffee mug.

Julie found herself leaning in again. There was something about him that was so alluring, always drawing her in for more. "What's that?" She didn't want to give her real answer: anything.

"I'll keep coming by if you give me your number," he told her, running his finger around the rim of his mug. "Maybe go on another date with me?"

Julie didn't reply at first; she kept him waiting until he looked at her with curious eyes. She kept him on the hook, just enough that for a moment, he wavered in his confidence. "I'd love to give you my number."

He let out an obvious sigh of relief. Julie was definitely going to wreck him in the most beautiful of ways.

"And that date?"

Julie clicked her tongue, monitoring the way his eyes absentmindedly dropped to her lips. "I'll decide that after you walk me home. But your chances are looking pretty good."

A delicious smirk crawled over Luke's mouth, and now it was all Julie could focus on.

"Then I guess I should up my game," he winked, shrugging as he added, "Just in case."

When Luke walked Julie home hours later, she confidently latched onto his hand, mostly just to give him an ego boost because he acted like the perfect gentleman all night. And when he lingered at the door, unsure whether it was too soon to kiss her or not, she leaned up on her tiptoes and pressed a kiss dangerously close to the corner of his lips.

"How's next Friday night?"

It took Luke a moment to form the words after that, but he was anxiously waiting for her response.

"I'm off at eight, you know where I'll be." Even with all the coy flirting, she couldn't help but shoot him an excited grin.

Luke stuffed his hands back into his front pockets and started retreating down her walkway. "I'll, uh — I'll text you."

Julie leaned against the front door. "I'll be waiting."

And somehow, after months of pining on both ends, all it took was one attempted theft to bring Luke and Julie together.

It would take a lot more than that to separate them now.

x

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